I Should Die by Amy Plum

Author:Amy Plum [Plum, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: english eBooks
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-27T23:00:00+00:00

A man of clay is only mud

Until his brother spills his blood.

Mortal breath will animate

The dead’s own ashes re-create.

Once these elements combine

The cooling flames will entwine

Spirit with inanimate form

For wandering soul to be reborn.

“The dead’s own ashes? Does that mean Vincent’s ashes?” I asked, a cold wave of alarm washing through me.

“That’s what it seems to suggest,” Papy said. He cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “Is there any way for us to get Vincent’s ashes?”

“I seriously doubt it,” I said. “It’s been days since Vincent was burned.” I felt sick. I couldn’t believe we had come this far only to run into an unsolvable problem.

“Maybe Violette kept some of his ashes. For some sort of use?” Bran suggested doubtfully.

No, I heard Vincent say. To both suggestions. I was there afterward. And I saw one of Violette’s people sweep my ashes into a bag and dump it in the trash. It was one of the more horrifying things I’ve experienced.

I transmitted this to Papy and Bran, and they both fell silent.

“Ashes,” I said, thinking it through. “That must be what the symbol of the box represents.”

Papy nodded. “And do you remember the carved image on the side of Theodore’s funereal urn? The man with the torch held a box in his other hand. It makes sense. Ashes were kept in stone boxes—such as the boxlike urn presenting that very re-embodiment scene.”

I chose a muffin from the bread basket and munched in silence while the men studied the picture. “Bran, what was your poem again?” I asked.

He turned the paper over to show the verse already transcribed onto the page: That’s what he and Papy had been studying when I arrived. I read it out loud:

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