Dead Ravens Society

Chapter 12 - Turned to Clay

I ne'er was struck before that hour

With love so sudden and so sweet,

Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower

And stole my heart away complete.

My face turned pale as deadly pale,

My legs refused to walk away,

And when she looked, what could I ail?

My life and all seemed turned to clay.

- First Love, John Clare

Blue

They were almost too late for the church watch.  

Blue had been in charge of the directions and thought she'd done a really good job with them, but somehow Neeve had come to disagree with this fact. She went left when Blue said 'right' and drove past the gravel path to the abandoned church twice before she finally paid any attention to what Blue had to say.

It was Saint Marks's Day; an occasion that passed without note for everyone but the residents of 300 Fox Way. It was not a day that warranted time off from school or work, which also meant that it didn't warrant attention. In fact, most people didn't know that Saint Mark had a day named in his honour.

Every year on this date, Blue and her mother would visit the old church at 11 p.m. The church watch was traditionally held at midnight, but it never hurt to be early, as the dead didn't own clocks. They would sit and watch the path, impervious to weeds, that snailed past the church's fallen walls and into the forest. All the headstones were broken by either time or human hands; vandalized by the cold, water or with hammers and spray paint.

Blue and Neeve now sat on the outer wall surrounding the churchyard, Neeve elegant in her plumpness, while Blue felt like a small child in comparison, wearing her home-knitted orange gloves that were fraying at the edges. They weren't made for this cold fall weather, but they looked much more trashy-chic than the ones she'd been given for Christmas last year by her mother's friend, Persephone.

Blue had never been with anyone but Maura to the church watch before, but it hadn't been a real question when her mother asked her if she would still go even if Neeve went in her stead. Maura knew Blue liked feeling needed by her psychic family, and the church watch was one of the few occasions when she could be of help despite her own lack of psychic powers.

It was not long after she was born, that Maura realised her daughter had the ability to make other people's psychic abilities stronger, and from the moment Blue could consent to it, she brought Blue with her to the church watch to make it easier to see the spirits that would walk the path towards their future deaths. Without Blue, the spirits wouldn't see Maura and therefore not give her their names.

"Does Maura have you at all her readings as well?" Neeve asked now, the bottom of her dress swaying in the slight wind.

"Not unless it's a very important one," Blue answered, thinking about all the customers at 300 Fox Way. They were mostly desperate people looking for money or love. Truth be told, Blue was impressed that her mother hadn't asked her to join readings more often to make those particular meetings go by faster.