by Amy Plum
CREPE
There are two types of crepes in France. There are dinner crepes, made from buckwheat flour and served with ham, eggs, and other savory fillings. And there are dessert crepes, made from regular flour and filled with lemon and sugar, Nutella, or other sweet fillings. Although there are plenty of good crepe restaurants all over France, the dish originated in Brittany and is served in restaurants with cider made in that region. It is one of the few foods that is acceptable to eat in the street in Paris, and can be bought at outdoor stands. Kate buys one from an outdoor vendor before following Jules and Vincent into the Métro at Saint-Paul.
REANIMATION PLATTERS
When the revenants reanimate after dormancy, they nourish themselves from platters of fruits and nuts. The platter they prepare for Vincent at Theo Gold’s house includes almonds, bananas, jars of French yogurt, a loaf of whole-grain bread, a carton of orange juice, and bottles of water. When Kate animates on the houseboat, Louis serves her water, figs, walnuts, oranges, and apples.
JEANNE’S FOOD PLATTER FOR KATE AND VINCENT’S REUNION
The platter that Jeanne makes after Kate finds Vincent in the rainstorm: thinly sliced charcuterie (sliced cured meats like ham); saucissons (dried pork sausage, sliced into thin rounds); cheeses (this particular tray had tiny goat-cheese balls called billes de fromage de chèvre, Saint-Marcellin, Cantal, Bleu d’Auvergne, and a Pouligny-Saint-Pierre); baguettes (fresh French bread); olives (a mixture of spicy olives with hot peppers, garlic olives, almond-stuffed olives, lemon and rosemary-steeped olives, and others); bottled water (San Pellegrino); juice (freshly pressed blood orange juice); a pot of tea (Earl Grey); exotic fruits (lychees, passion fruit, mango, papaya, and starfruit); mini-macarons in different colors (from Stohrer); and oil-drenched sun-dried tomatoes.
ROASTED CHICKEN AND FRIES
Jeanne makes this for lunch the day Kate discovers she can talk to Vincent while he’s volant. Roasted chicken is traditional takeout in France. The butcher will give you a whole or half a roast chicken that was roasted on a spit, accompanied by potatoes that were cooked in oil and chicken fat in the bottom of the roaster.
MAGRET DE CANARD
A juicy cut of duck breast that is usually cooked in duck fat. This is what Vincent orders at the cave-like restaurant in the Marais during his first date with Kate. When that restaurant was still open, they served the magret two ways: with honey sauce or with figs, grapes, and sea salt.
SAUMON EN CROÛTE
Salmon baked in a flaky pastry. The one Mamie serves for family dinner one night is shaped like a fish, as is commonly done. She says she didn’t have time to make it—she bought it from Monsieur Legrande at the fine food boutique down the street from their apartment.
LASAGNA AND GARLIC BREAD
One of Jeanne’s favorite meals to serve at La Maison. It is a recipe from her Italian grandmother.
CHEESE GOUGÈRES
Savory pastries flavored with cheese. Kate has a tray of these with apple slices and melon balls in her room at La Maison after her escape from the boat. This is my favorite thing to make for dinner parties, served before the meal with aperitifs.
CHAPTER 14
PARLEZ-VOUS DIE FOR ME?
HERE’S A DIE FOR ME DICTIONARY, SO YOU CAN converse easily with the French revenants next time you run into them patrolling your street.
À bientôt—See you later
À lire—To read
Allez, file!—Go on, get out of here!
Argile—clay
Arriviste—Newcomer
À table—Time to eat (literally “To the table!”)
Attention!—Watch out! or Careful!
Au revoir—Good-bye
Bienvenue—Welcome
Bises—Cheek kisses
Bon appétit—It’s what you say before you start eating, meaning “Enjoy the meal.”
Bonjour—Good day or Hello
Bonne année—Happy New Year
Bonne nuit—Good night
Bonsoir—Good evening
Boulangerie—Bakery
Château—Castle
Chérie—Dear
Chignon—An up-do hairstyle
Cochon de lait—Roast piglet
En anglais—In English
Entrez—Come in!
Épée—Sword
Et voilà, mademoiselle.—Here you go, miss.
Et vous le parlez parfaitement.—And you speak it perfectly.
Grand-père—Grandfather
Guérisseurs—Mystical healers
Hôtel particulier—Mansion in a city
Je t’adore—I adore you
Le Périphérique—The ring-road going around the boundary of Paris, dividing the city from its suburbs
Ma belle—My pretty one
Ma chère dame—My dear lady (formal)
Ma chère madame—My dear lady
Ma chère mademoiselle—My dear lady (to an unmarried or younger woman)
Ma chérie—My dear
Ma Kate, qui était à moi, qui n’est plus à moi.—My Kate, who was mine but is mine no longer.
Ma princesse—My princess
Ma puce—My flea (an affectionate term)
Merci—Thank you!
Merci, mon chevalier—Thank you, my knight.
Mes enfants—my children
Mise-en-scène—Stage direction
Mon ami—My friend
Mon amour—My love
Mon ange—My angel
Mon coeur—My heart
Mon Dieu!—My God!
Mon petit—My little one
Mon petit chou—My little cabbage (affectionate term)
Musée—Museum
N’importe quoi—Don’t be silly
Non—No
Non, madame la capitaine!—No, Madame the Captain! (means “No, ma’am!”)
Ou est la gare?—Where is the train station?
Oui—Yes
Oui, allo?—Yes, hello?
Pain au chocolat—Chocolate croissant
Pas du tout!—Not at all!
Peu importe—It doesn’t matter.
Prefecture—Police station
Promenade—Walk
Santé!—Cheers! or To your health!
Volant—Flying (in the context of revenants, this means when their spirit leaves their body)
Voulez-vous diner avec moi ce soir?—Would you like to dine with me this evening?
CHAPTER 15
TEST YOUR REVENANT KNOWLEDGE
SO YOU’VE READ THE DIE FOR ME SERIES A FEW times. You feel like you know the stories by heart. You suspect that if you rang the bell at La Maison, the gates would swing open for you, the expert on all things revenant. Well, go up against the Die for Me Trivia Quiz and see just how well you do!
LEVEL 1:
YOU GET TO JOIN THE KINDRED FOR
A COFFEE AT CAFÉ SAINTE-LUCIE
1. Did Vincent prefer coffee or tea?
2. Who replaced Charles and Charlotte at La Maison?
3. How did Kate manage to kill Lucien?
4. What day were more revenants made than in the entire history of New York City?
5. What present did Kate help Vincent choose for Charlotte at the Village Saint-Paul?
6. Where did Kate and Georgia grow up?
7. How did Kate’s parents die?
8. What hung on the bedroom walls of all the bardia?
9. Who discovers Kate in Vincent’s room when she finds him dead?
10. What does Kate see on Vincent’s beside table that freaks her out?
11. What supernatural being did Ambrose tell Kate they were?
12. Where did Kate and Vincent have their first kiss?
13. What was the name of Vincent’s first love?
14. Who performed the wedding ceremony for Charlotte and Ambrose?
15. What was the name of Kate’s favorite café?
16. Where did Kate first see Vincent?
17. What nickname did Papy use for Kate that her father used to us
e?
18. Who called Kate “Katie-Lou”?
19. What monument in New York did Jules want to visit?
20. Who called Vincent “Vince” and Kate “Kates”?
21. What colors are a bardia aura and a numa aura?
22. Who did Vincent spot at the Village Saint-Paul?
23. What hung above the fireplace in Vincent’s bedroom?
24. What two weapons do American bardia use together to kill numa?
25. What did Vincent feed Kate since he knew she wouldn’t kiss him with morning breath?
26. What was inside the “forget-me-not” locket that Jeanne gave to Kate?
27. Which other revenants were at the café the first time Kate saw Vincent?
28. Where did Vincent take Kate on her seventeenth birthday?
29. Where did Lucien hold Charles’s body captive after he killed him?
30. When Ambrose got stabbed and killed by two numa, how was he able to get up and walk to a taxi?
LEVEL 2:
YOU GET AN INVITATION TO A
BARDIA NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY
1. What flowers did Kate take to Vincent’s room their first night together?
2. What two nicknames did Georgia call Kate?
3. Why did Jean-Baptiste make Charles and Charlotte leave La Maison?
4. What incident triggered Charles’s obsession and suicidal thoughts?
5. What did Arthur do to make Kate hate him?
6. What was Kate and Vincent’s ritual before Vincent went into dormancy?
7. What was the name of the relic shop where Kate found the guérisseurs?
8. What were the numa looking for when they broke into Jules’s studio and Geneviève’s house?
9. How did Papy discover that Vincent was a revenant?
10. What nickname did Jules, Vincent, and Ambrose give Kate before they knew her name?
11. What did New York’s bardia call their headquarters?
12. Where did Charlotte and Ambrose hold their wedding?
13. Who saved Kate from the falling masonry?
14. What school did the sisters attend?
15. After Kate finds Vincent dormant, where did Jules take her (against her will) in order to wait for the revenant meeting?
16. Which two revenants voted against telling Kate what they were?
17. Until I Die began with a fight scene from Kate’s point of view. Who was she fighting?
18. Violette sent Nicolas to tell Kate that she was about to destroy Vincent’s body. What object did she have him give Kate, and why?
19. What was Kate’s favorite movie?
20. Who let Kate into La Maison on her second visit after she saw Jules at the museum?
21. In which Métro station did Kate see Jules get killed?
22. What special ability does a bardia Seer possess?
23. How do Kate and Vincent travel to the south of France to see Charlotte and Geneviève?
24. How did Vincent die in the 1968 obituary that Kate found in the library?
25. What are three affectionate terms that Vincent calls Kate?
26. Which two New York boroughs did Jules choose to walk?
27. What nickname does Arthur use with Violette?
28. When Mamie was in the Crillon Hotel with Violette, who held the sword to her back to make sure she didn’t escape?
29. What did Violette sacrifice when she bound Vincent’s spirit to herself?
30. Why does Jules decide to stay in New York after Vincent’s re-embodiment?
LEVEL 3:
YOU DESERVE A SIGNUM BARDIA
1. What purpose does the signum bardia serve?
2. Where did Kate find the two copies of Immortal Love?
3. After which event did Vincent give Kate the signum bardia?
4. What Parisian monument was Arthur going to when Kate and Georgia followed him?
5. What was the Light Way and what was the Dark Way?
6. What street did Kate’s grandparents live on?
7. What did Theodore Gold wear for the revenant battle in New York?
8. Where in New York did Jules move to in order to distance himself from Kate?
9. What nickname did Jules use (in his thoughts) for Ava before they became friends?
10. Where did Bran’s family have a hiding place, dating back to World War II?
11. What was in Bran’s backyard in Brittany?
12. What was Jean-Baptiste’s rule about human lovers?
13. After their chat on the Île Saint-Louis, what three things did Kate demand from Vincent in order to consider dating him?
14. What did Vincent whisper to Kate after she told him she hoped she never saw him again?
15. Where did Vincent take Kate for the “best hot chocolate in Paris”?
16. What gifts did Vincent bring Mamie and Papy when he was invited to their house for dinner the first time?
17. When was Kate’s birthday?
18. The first time Kate ever heard Vincent speak while volant, what did he say?
19. What did Charles do before storming out of La Maison and running away?
20. What trick did Kate use to keep herself from crying in public while reading?
21. What were Jean-Baptiste’s three ulterior motives when he took his painting to be restored by Mamie?
22. What four things did Vincent get Kate for her seventeenth birthday?
23. How was Violette able to weaken Vincent enough to destroy him?
24. Where was Bran’s signum bardia?
25. What did Georgia call La Maison?
26. Kate said Louis’s aura had flickering gold inside the red. Where had she seen a representation of a similar aura?
27. Bran got his guérisseur abilities when his mother passed them to him. However, when did Bran acquire his VictorSeer gift?
28. What made Kate freak out when she was entering the guérisseurs’ archives?
29. What was painted on all the doors in the guérisseurs’ archives?
30. What was the name of Ava’s fiancé when she was human?
HARDCORE:
YOU ARE THE NEXT CHAMPION
1. Who were the two main characters of the book Immortal Love?
2. What was the name of the numa crime boss in New York?
3. What was the name of Jules’s model?
4. What topic did Kate choose for her history paper?
5. What painting was Jules looking at in the museum when Kate spotted him after he died in the Métro accident?
6. What was Papy’s favorite saying about Paris?
7. What are the four skills of the flame-fingers?
8. What two lovers’ tombstone did Kate end up at when she sneaked away from the funeral at Père Lachaise?
9. What performance did Vincent and Kate see at the Opéra Garnier?
10. What were the names of two of Kate’s friends back home? One was mentioned at the beginning of the series as Kate tried to write her an email, and the other she visited in Brooklyn.
11. What did the symbols in the signum bardia mean?
12. What did Jules say his name was when he pretended not to know Kate in the Museum of Modern Art?
13. What animal shape was the teapot in that Vincent served Kate from after she saw Jules die in the Métro?
14. What did Kate say Vincent smells like?
15. What were Kate’s first words spoken as a revenant?
16. What are the three “anterior powers” that the Champion is said to have in the prophecy?
17. What was Kate’s shoe size?
18. What were the seven symbols on the thymiaterion?
19. Bran could see the auras of normal revenants as well as the Champions. What was the difference between the two kinds?
20. After he was re-embodied, Vincent told Kate that his body was “marked by you forever.” What did he mean?
21. What kind of dress did Kate wear to the New Year’s Eve party?
22. What three numa were with Violette at Sacré-
Coeur?
23. In America, the revenants didn’t have leaders, but instead did everything democratically through their council. How can a bardia qualify to be on the council?
24. What did the waiter at Café Sainte-Lucie remind Kate of?
25. By the final battle, what three things did Kate have on her necklace?
26. What was Jean-Baptiste’s “triple recon plan” regarding the humans bardia saved, and why did he instate it?
27. What did Ambrose call Gaspard’s strategy that was supposed to help Ava plan for an underground offensive attack against the numa?
28. Who walked Kate home after the New Year’s Eve party?
29. When did Vincent first tell Kate he loved her?
30. When talking about the jousts outside the Église Saint-Paul, what did Kate offer Vincent, her knight in armor, since she didn’t have a “favor”?
ANSWERS
LEVEL 1
1. Coffee
2. Arthur and Violette
3. She let Vincent possess her body and fight through her.
4. 9/11
5. A necklace: leather cord with a single teardrop-shaped silver pendant
6. New York (Brooklyn Heights)
7. In a car accident caused by a drunk driver
8. Photos or drawings of the humans they rescued
9. Jules
10. A photo of her
11. Zombies
12. Pont des Arts
13. Hélène
14. Gaspard
15. Café Sainte-Lucie
16. Sitting across the terrace from her at Café Sainte-Lucie
17. ma princesse
18. Ambrose
19. The Empire State Building
20. Jules
21. A bardia’s aura is golden and a numa’s is red.