Children of the Clergy

Season 2 | Episode 13 | Road kill

*There's a song to go along with this episode: Abstract (Psychopomp) by Hozier*

The low droning of the fan was the only sound that permeated the room. Seren had been lying awake for hours, unable to shake a strange feeling of dread that was pressing at the back of her mind. She hoped it was just her reaction to sleeping without Sister Aria in the room for the first time in a while, but it felt like more than that. Like something had happened and, if she didn't help soon, it would mean the end of someone.

Her thoughts kept drifting to Secondo and his infected water ghoul, endlessly worried for them. The last she'd seen of them, Water had been hysterically taring himself apart and Secondo seemed much more short tempered from the stress.

She wanted to help them both, but Secondo wouldn't be letting her anywhere near the Quarters. Especially not after her recent freedom from the shackles.

She missed Terzo too. They'd been good friends ever since she'd first arrived at the abbey. He was kind and playful and the two of them got along great. It often made some of the only sibling jealous how close they were.

Seren missed talking to him about random things and complaining about his parents together. Despite not fully understanding everything he'd been through during the divorce, she could still empathize with his wish for proper parental care. The love he'd missed out on in his childhood, she'd lost instead. They were similar in that way and it made it very easy to talk to him about everything. He was one of the only people she'd told about what had happened that night, when she'd walked in on the communion ritual.

"Doughy?"

Seren immediately sat up in bed. Her mother's voice was back, and it was much clearer this time.

"Doughy?"

She stood up slowly, already feeling tears falling from her eyes. She couldn't tell if the voice was really her mother speaking to her from beyond the Vail, or just her imagination. Considering where her mind had just been though, either were equally as likely.

"Doughy!" Her mother called as Seren jumped out of the car, racing towards the poor thing in the road.

She knelt down beside it, not caring for the damp tarmac as she wrapped her arms around its thin body and pulled it close. The wounded deer glanced up at her, its eyes still glistening for an instant. Seren could feel the tears threatening to spill as she stared down at it, shaking as she hugged it closer to her chest.

The shimmering light in the deer's eyes suddenly gave out and Seren saw the golden soul of the creature finally slip away.

"Doughy?" Her mother whispered, placing a gentle hand on the small witch's shoulder. "We're in the middle of the road, honey. We need to get back in the car."

Seren sobbed, tears flowing down her cheeks as she cuddled the lifeless body of the deer. "We killed it." She whimpered.

Her mother wrapped her arms around the shaking girl, humming to her and swaying gently to help relax her. "It's just road kill, Doughy." She reassured, combing her fingers through Seren's black hair.

As the young witch's tears dripped onto the deer's body, a sudden flash of light enveloped it and the creature stirred. Seren stared at it, noticing the golden sparks of its soul slowly coming back to life. The gorgeous shine of its eyes returned and she could have wept with relief as it stood again, completely healed.

"It's alive...Mum, it's alive!" She cheered, watching as the soft browns of its coat disappeared into the darker shades of the forest it swiftly returned to.