Gaspard shoots a glance at Bran who nods his approval. “You were fighting Maurice. I visited you, volant, and told you, I had alerted Kate and Vincent of what was happening.”

I nod to show that I remember. “Wait, Odette. Is she okay?” I ask, the scene from the park flooding back to me.

“Amazingly, she is fine,” Gaspard said. “I’m sure you’ll see her soon. She keeps asking about you and trying to come in to see you.”

I feel comforted, and Gaspard continues. “Kate and Vincent arrived on the scene minutes after you were killed,” he explains. “Maurice had been attempting to coax Siaka’s cousin to come out of the cave, but when he saw Kate and Vincent, he fled. Vincent took chase but lost him. When Kate confirmed that both you and Siaka were dead, the cousin...Livia?” Bran nods at him, and he continues. “She became hysterical. Kate convinced her to accompany us in the ambulance that transported your bodies back to La Maison.”

Bran takes over the story. “As soon as Kate phoned, I came right back from Brittany, but Liv left before I could arrive and speak with her. Apparently, she told Kate that she blamed herself for everything. She said she had to leave France or Maurice would hunt her down. Kate offered to send her to stay with Charles in Berlin, but Liv said she’d rather rely on her own network of contacts. We have no idea where she is now. Her mother is frantic.”

“And Siaka’s father?” I ask.

“My cousin is in mourning.” From Bran’s tone, it’s clear that he shares the same grief for his lost nephew.

I reach out my hand to him and let the tears course down my cheeks. Bran and I sit there crying for a moment, and then I say, “Liv forced Siaka to give her the Flame-finger gift so that she could retrieve the revenant-creation formula for Maurice from the archives.”

Bran nods sadly. “She gave Kate a full confession, including that Maurice had recruited her to be the Flame-finger for the numa.”

“Not just a Flame-finger for the numa,” I say, trying to contain my anger. “A numa Flame-finger. He had promised her eternal life but didn’t specify that she’d have to die after betraying her cousin to his death.”

“What?” Gaspard looks like he’s been slapped. Clearly, Liv had skipped this part when confessing to Kate.

“Maurice was trying to coax Liv out of the cave because she had already betrayed Siaka, so all that was left was killing her and taking her back to his lair or whatever. That way, she would animate three days later a fully-fledged numa Flame-finger, capable of helping him build a Numa Army from regular humans using a technique he hoped was in the books.”

“Why in the world would Maurice think Liv would animate?” Gaspard asks. “The chances of that happening are one in—”