CHAPTER 8

AN IMMORTAL INTERVIEW:
READERS’ QUESTIONS
FOR AMY PLUM

When did you know that you wanted Kate to be the Champion?

Since I don’t really plan what I write ahead of time, I didn’t even know there was a Champion until I had already written the first draft of Until I Die. And in the beginning, I thought it was Vincent. The characters obviously knew what was going to happen, but they didn’t let me know until the day I sat down to write the next section. And at the end, when all of the loose threads began weaving themselves together, I was astonished at how the whole mythology and story fit together—truly like a crossword puzzle.

Are all of the places in your books real?

Most are. The Café Sainte-Lucie is fictional, because there wasn’t the right kind of café sitting where I wanted it to be in real life. La Maison is loosely based on the building housing the Musée Maillol. I made up Le Corbeau, although there are plenty of strange little shops around the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. And the courtyard to the east of the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, where the fight scene took place at the end of Until I Die, is an addition I had to create myself. So don’t go looking for it—you can’t leave flowers on the spot where Vincent died because in the real world it doesn’t exist.

Can’t Jean-Baptiste be brought back to life by using the same ritual that re-embodied Vincent?

Unfortunately, Jean-Baptiste’s body was burned before he could become volant, and therefore he is gone forever. It is only because Violette waited until Vincent was volant before burning his body that his spirit remained.

After she became Champion, did Kate finish school and continue to live with her grandparents?

Kate didn’t go back to high school. Georgia and her grandparents told everyone that she had fallen ill and was being kept out of school for treatment. They arranged for her to take the baccalauréat (“le bac”). That’s like a combination of a GED and the SATs, so she could go to university later, if she wished.

As for living with her grandparents, she spent about half her time with them and half at La Maison. After she took le bac, she moved in with her immortal kindred full-time. But she goes back for Mamie’s cooking at least twice a week, so she has the best of both worlds.

How does Vincent cope with becoming the head of France’s bardia?

Vincent had been training to replace Jean-Baptiste for decades. But although he was ready for it, he was devastated that JB was gone. Both Vincent and Kate are natural-born leaders. Working together, they’ll accomplish very big things.

When did Vincent first realize he was in love with Kate?

Vincent was intrigued with Kate the first time he laid eyes on her. It wasn’t “insta-love.” It was more like “insta-curiosity.” When Kate left for the countryside with her grandparents for a few months, he realized that after spending so many years alone, his heart had suddenly come back to life.

So I can’t pinpoint the exact moment Vincent fell in love with Kate because it was a gradual process. But by the time they were done with the long chat over coffee at the Picasso Museum, he realized he had feelings for her.