The Starless Sea

There is a stag standing in the snow amongst the trees, and he will vanish in the blink of an eye. He may be a stag, or he may represent something else: “The stag is a shot left untaken. An opportunity lost. Stolen like a kiss” (273). He may pause longer than he used to in these new times, which are more forgetful than they once were. Although it would have been unthinkable once, the stag waits now for someone to take the shot, piercing his heart. He waits “to know he is remembered” (273).

A Persian cat follows Zachary Ezra Rawlins as he descends down the stairs that appeared behind the Bee Queen. When the cat executes a graceful move, Zachary calls it a “show-off.” A voice repeats the word back. Zachary tells himself it is only an echo, but the cat hisses at the darkness. He continues on, finding a lamp and a key. At the end of the hall, he sees an alcove with a second lamp and an arched stone door with a keyhole. Zachary unlocks the door. The cat hisses into the darkness and runs away, but Zachary enters the crypt, where bodies lie wrapped in memories of each person’s life before their death.