Until I Die - By Plum, Amy Page 0,45

and you and I have hung out . . . well, not as much as I’d have liked.” A flash of guilt crossed his face before he forced it to disappear.

“So what are you up to tonight?” I asked.

“The usual boring revenant stuff,” he replied, visibly squirming, and then he sighed and looked me in the eye. “Kate, you know what I’m doing.”

“Not exactly.” I couldn’t help the trace of bitterness in my voice.

Vincent pulled me close and said, “You want to call it off? You say the word.”

“No.” I shook my head, and Vincent wrapped his arms around me. “I love you, Kate,” he whispered. I closed my eyes and nestled in closer to him.

“We’re still on for tomorrow night, aren’t we?” he murmured.

I pulled back from him and smiled. “Pizza and a movie in our own private cinema? I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“Yeah, I try to go out in style. Can’t have you forgetting about me for the three days I’m dormant.”

“As if!” Pulling him to the door, I said, “Papy’s due back in a few minutes, and I wouldn’t want him to think I was slacking on the job.”

“Hey, your Papy loves me,” Vincent said.

“He’s not the only one,” I said, and opening the door, I pretended to push him out onto the street. Closing it securely behind him, I blew a saucy air-kiss through the glass. Laughing, he turned and headed up the avenue toward our neighborhood.

I sped back to the office, slipped the small book into my purse, and then carefully put the boxes back into their places in the storage closet. As I locked it, I heard the key turn in the front door and Papy’s voice calling to tell me he had returned.

“I’m in the back,” I called, my voice quivering in my panic. I still had the closet key in my hand. How could I get it back into the drawer without Papy noticing? I walked out to the main gall ery, and composing myself as much as possible, I gave him a winning smile and asked how his meeting had gone.

“Top-notch property, ma princesse.” He bustled to the back to hang up his coat. “There’s another dealer bidding for it, though, so I’m not sure it’s mine yet,” came his muffled voice from behind the divider. I quickly peeled a piece of tape off the tape dispenser, pressed the key to the sticky side, slipped the desk drawer open, and reattached it to the spot I had found it. Just as I slid the drawer closed, Papy turned the corner.

“Anything exciting happen while I was gone?” he asked, coming to stand next to me behind the desk.

“Let’s see . . . the French president dropped by. Brigitte Bardot. Oh yeah, and then Vanessa Paradis came in with Johnny Depp. They bought a million-euro statue. You know, the usual.”

He shook his head in amusement and began scribbling in his appointment book. I kissed him good-bye and tried not to break into a sprint as I headed for the door.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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FIFTEEN

AS SOON AS I GOT HOME, I THREW MY HOMEWORK on a chair and sat down on my bed with the book. In the beginning it was difficult. Like reading Beowulf in English—there were a lot of words I didn’t understand. But gradually, the magic of the story pulled me in, and I felt like I was right there with the characters: Goderic, a nineteen-year-old revenant, and Else, the girl he married just months before he died.

It was Else who was there when Goderic awoke, the day he was to be buried. She gave him food and drink, and he attained his immortality. They learned what he was from a seer who had followed his light.

Else and Goderic became transients, moving every time he died so that the locals wouldn’t become suspicious. As she got older, they had to change their story, claiming to be mother and son. After several years Else became sick. Goderic called a guérisseur to heal her, and the healer recognized what Goderic was by his aura.

Goderic pled with the man to find a way to let him age normally with his beloved—to resist the powerful desire to die. The guérisseur didn’t have that knowledge, but told him of another healer who had great power in the way of the immortals.

The next part was full of words I didn’t understand. It was phrased in a peculiar style—like a prophecy—but I tried to decipher it