The Immortalists: Chapter 27 Summary & Analysis

Daniel arrives in West Milton at 10:30 p.m. He scans the neighborhood and can’t find the RV—but he sees a nearby gorge that could serve as a good hiding spot. He gets out of the car and takes the gun with him. As he walks toward the gorge, he slips on a slick rock and is soaked in a stream. He wonders why he thought this was a good idea and realizes that he could turn around and tell Mira he fell asleep at the office. Instead, he decides to continue on toward the gorge and sees an RV.

The door to the RV is unlocked. Daniel walks into the RV’s bedroom and sees Bruna asleep. He tells her to get up and says he has a gun. He brings her into the living area. She recognizes him from when he was a child, and Daniel tells her that Simon and Klara are dead. He asks her why she tells fortunes. When Bruna refuses to say anything, Daniel fires two gunshots into the floor and asks about her upbringing.

Bruna tells Daniel that she left home when she was young because she didn’t want to be a wife or mother. While she wanted to be a nurse, she didn’t have any education, so instead she did what she knew how to do: she gave readings. Bruna wanted to help people, like nurses do. She says that nurses help people who suffer, because people don’t know what’s going to happen to them. But, she says, if they know when they’ll die, then they can live.

Daniel says that Bruna should have turned him and his siblings away—they were children. She says that he can just live like he doesn’t believe her. He affirms that he does live like that, but his head starts to grow cloudy—he’s exhausted from the drive. He asks her if she knows her own death, and she says no. He tells her it could be today and aims his gun at her. Bruna realizes then that it’s Daniel’s predicted day, and that’s why he came. Daniel suddenly worries that he didn’t come intentionally but was compelled by the same forces that led Simon and Klara to their deaths.

Suddenly, Daniel and Bruna hear footsteps outside the RV. Eddie’s voice calls out to Daniel, and he realizes that Mira must have found Eddie’s business card and Daniel’s search history. Daniel grows furious, and he slams a folding table into the wall. Daniel is very afraid, but he can’t stop himself. He knocks some religious icons from the counter beside the sink. Daniel grabs Bruna and points his gun at her.

The door of the RV swings open, and Eddie appears with his gun drawn. He tells Daniel to drop his weapon. Daniel shakes his head; he feels for the first time that he is acting with courage. Killing Bruna would be an act of faith—faith in his own agency, faith in the idea of choice. Eddie threatens to shoot Daniel, and Daniel raises the gun to Bruna’s temple. Eddie tries to reason with Daniel, but instead Daniel cocks the gun. Bruna says a prayer as Eddie fires.