Fifteen: Of the Visitation in the Barn

Rainbound in a barn, Thomas challenges Père Matthieu’s confession, deducing the priest’s “girl” was actually a boy. Matthieu lies to preserve their alliance, and Delphine gently affirms she would not abandon him for such a truth. Night falls as unease lingers.

Above them, a mouse witnesses a black, tentacled mass force its way through the thatch and seep between the loft planks toward the sleepers below.

Thomas dreams of a burning waste and a perfect pear guarded by thorns, a temptation he recognizes as damnation. He refuses it, gouging his hands on the thorns. Waking in the dark, Thomas finds himself half-undressed and gripping a naked Delphine as an oily presence flees upward. Delphine, shaken, tells Thomas he stopped the assault; the blood on her gown is largely from the thorn wounds in his hands.

By morning, Delphine realizes she has begun to menstruate. The grim night gives way to awkward humor: Thomas tends the mule to master his pain, and a flustered Matthieu observes that their “kitten is a cat,” marking Delphine’s passage into womanhood after a demonic visitation Thomas barely overcame.