The Starless Sea

Mirabel and Zachary take Dorian back to the Heart, discussing recent events along the way. Zachary is concerned for his mother, but Mirabel assures him that Allegra will only have Madame Rollins killed if she feels she has no other choice. Mirabel reminds him that Allegra had her chances to kill all of them but has not done so. Mirabel says that she hires people to do the work for her, nudging Dorian as an example. Mirabel asks for Zachary’s story, which he gives her. She asks where Sweet Sorrows is now, and Zachary answers that he thought Dorian had it until Allegra asked where it was.

They arrive at the Heart. Since Dorian has never been there, he has to take the “entrance exam.” Since he is unconscious, Mirabel and Zachary serve as his proxies. Mirabel warns Zachary to focus on Dorian and to concentrate on how Dorian would roll the dice; Zachary rolls one of each symbol, a flush. Mirabel drinks from the “drink me” glass because Dorian would. When they enter the Heart, Zachary hears Mirabel and the Keeper argue before the Keeper inspects Dorian and, although wary of the proxy exam results, lets them in anyway.

They take Dorian to Zachary’s room, and Zachary notices that the paper flower in Dorian’s lapel (the one Zachary brought to their initial meeting at the library, which he took from an arrangement at the hotel), which contained Italian text, has now been translated into English. After settling Dorian in, Zachary’s world spins. Mirabel asks if he drank anything at the Collector’s Club. He falls to the floor before he can answer.

Eleanor sneaks around the Harbor, wearing a Venetian bunny mask and exploring rooms she is not allowed to enter. She writes her nightmares down, then makes paper stars out of them, leaving her fears about for the cats to play with. She does the same with pages she does not like in books. Once she lets the nightmares go, they are just another thing she does not remember, like the time before the Harbor.

In her explorations, Bunny Eleanor—who is different from the regular Eleanor who forgets things—goes places she is not supposed to go and opens doors she is not supposed to open. Bunny Eleanor finds a “burned place” hidden in the Harbor. Large bookshelves block it, but she crawls under them. Inside, she sees burned books, soot, what may have been a cat, and a door with a brass feather set into its middle. No matter what Bunny Eleanor does, the door does not open. She tries talking through the keyhole, but no one answers. Eventually, she writes a small note, signs it with a bunny face, and pushes it under the door. Nothing happens, so Eleanor leaves. While she is in another room, the door opens, pauses, then closes.

When Zachary Ezra Rawlins wakes up, Mirabel berates him for drinking Allegra’s tea The Kitchen has sent them incense, the strongest antidote it has. As the incense burns, an acolyte named Rhyme appears, silently asking what has happened. Mirabel gives a glib, one-sentence summary and introduces her to Zachary. Remembering a scene in Sweet Sorrows, he raises two fingers to his lips. Before he can feel too embarrassed at his presumption, Rhyme looks delighted and gives him a hand-over-heart bow. Mirabel leaves with Rhyme and instructs him to light another incense if it goes out before Dorian wakes up.

Curious, Zachary searches Dorian’s chest for a sword tattoo. He doesn’t find one, which prompts him to wonder how much in Sweet Sorrows was accurate. He does notice a tattoo of some kind on his back and neck, but all Zachary can see are “branch-like shapes.” He returns to his chair to read Fortunes and Fables. He reads part of the story about the innkeeper and the traveler, then muses that at least Dorian has his book, even if he does not have his own. Then, Zachary hears Dorian’s voice and is startled; Dorian says he put Sweet Sorrows in Zachary’s coat.

Simon lives with his uncle and aunt, though they do not treat him as a son and only mention his mother when they have something to blame her for. When Simon turns 18, he receives an envelope with a wax seal in the shape of an owl. Inside the envelope, there is a key, an address, and a note: “memorize & burn” (215).

Simon takes the key and goes to the address, where he finds a stone cottage in disrepair. Inside a book, he finds his mother’s name: Jocelyn Simone Keating. When he opens the back door, it reveals a spiraling stone staircase. He follows the light down the stairs to an elevator and enters it; it opens to reveal a room with two pedestals and a large door. The pedestals have instructions. He drinks the contents of a glass and rolls the dice on the other pedestal: all crowns. The door opens, and he is greeted by an older man with white hair. The Keeper asks which door Simon used and confirms he is the son of Jocelyn Keating. The Keeper frowns at the report of the dice and notes it in the ledger. He hands Simon a locket which will direct him to the entrance. The Keeper says that “initial visits are best kept short” (218), but Simon is welcome back any time.

Simon explores, eventually finding a door with the brass emblem of a heart on fire, partially blocked by a wardrobe full of books. It opens, prompting a black cat to exit the room. Inside, Simon sees five other doors, marked with different symbols. Across from the heart door he entered through, there is another; then, the five other doors have, respectively, a key, a crown, a sword, a bee, and a feather on their fronts. Above each door is a lamp, though the one above the key is out and the one above the feather is dim. A piece of paper slides out from under the feather door. The note reads, “Hello. Is there someone behind this door or are you a cat?” (220) A rabbit is drawn beneath the text.

He unlatches the feather door, opens it, and finds no one there. He writes, “I am not a cat” on the back of the note (221), then slides it under the door. He opens the door again, and the note is gone. Then, the door opens suddenly, revealing a woman with bunny ears. She says her name is Lenore and she came from the “burned place.” Simon confirms that he wrote the note, but while he wrote it only moments before, she wrote hers—and delivered it—eight years before. As she inspects the door, Simon realizes that Lenore is quite pretty with her dark skin, darker eyes, and pretty, braided curls. She asks if there are bees “in here,” but he says there are not.

When asked, Simon tells Lenore about his cottage and its door. They eat Lenore’s honey as they talk, sharing information and secrets, and his attraction to the strange girl intensifies. She wants to show him her favorite book, so she pulls him along through a door. When she steps out of one room and into another, she disappears along with the room. He is in the burned place that she mentioned, and she is gone. After a few minutes, she reappears in different clothing with a gilded book. To Simon’s surprise, she informs him that it has been six months since she has seen him and she has regularly opened the door to find the space he stands in empty. Simon says that it is impossible and goes to prove it by stepping back into the hall. When he turns, Lenore is gone. He is left with only the book as proof that he did not imagine her.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds Sweet Sorrows in his coat pocket, just as Dorian said. Relieved, he thumbs through it, finding more missing pages than expected. Zachary explores the Harbor again; in one room, he finds a fountain with coins in it and an entryway to a dimly lit hall, which is blocked by an armchair and a bookshelf. The hall has closed doors with no doorknobs or handles, only locks. One of the door has charring along its jambs. He sees something move at the end of the hall, but when he looks up, he sees nothing.

Zachary returns to the fountain, considering his prolonged and arguably growing attraction to Dorian and finding it annoying. He passes by a painting of a candle only to notice it is not a painting, but a frame hung around an actual, burning candle. When he blows it out, the frame lowers, showing an opening in the wall. He climbs through and finds himself in the room with the dollhouse, which he’d read about in Sweet Sorrows, but the whole room is burned. He finds a single, porcelain, female doll, unbroken but cracked. Zachary realizes that he wanted to see the doll universe as Sweet Sorrows had described it. He notices a few other surviving pieces: a shipwreck, a grandfather clock, and a deer.

Zachary finds his way to the Heart and asks the Keeper what caused the fire. The Keeper responds, “An accumulation of unforeseen circumstances, an accident” (233). Zachary confirms that the Keeper, Rhyme, Mirabel, Dorian, and himself are the only current residents of the Harbor. The Keeper informs him that the others have left, died, returned to their original places, or left to find new ones. When asked, the Keeper says that he stays because it is his job and calling. He asks why Zachary is there. Zachary repeats what the Keeper said before, that he is there “to sail the Starless Sea and breathe the haunted air” (234).

Zachary asks if the Harbor ever housed anyone named Keating, causing an unreadable expression on the Keeper’s face. The Keeper answers that several people who held that name visited long ago. Zachary decides not to show Sweet Sorrows to the Keeper and returns to his room to find a note slipped under his door. He wonders if the lines are a puzzle or part of a poem or story: “The Queen of the Bees has been waiting for you/Tales hidden within to be told/Bring her a key that has never been forged/and another made only of gold” (235).

Simon is tired, hungry, and confused by his situation. He returns to the Heart and tries to open the door, but it will not budge. The Keeper informs him that he cannot take the book with him without leaving something in its place. He offers the broom he had brought with him from the cottage. When he gives the Keeper the name of the book, Sweet Sorrows, the Keeper asks where he got it. Simon answers that Lenore had lent it—her favorite book—to him. The Keeper gives the book back.

Back in the cottage, Simon finds a trunk that belongs to his mother. Inside are documents, notes, and papers of stories, “long rambling things about reincarnation and keys and fate” (239), a letter from someone named Asim, and books and maps in various languages he cannot read, with a variety of notes and symbols: crowns, swords, and owls. Finding Sweet Sorrows again, Simon remembers that his journey isn’t a dream. He returns to the Harbor and makes his way to the door with the heart on it. The feather door opens and he sees Lenore. They waste no time, kissing and stripping each other. Lenore keeps the bunny ears on. Their love is passionate but doomed.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds the statue of the woman covered in bees. He wonders if she is the Bee Queen from the poem, and if so, how to give her keys. He walks down a new hall and finds something like a gumball machine, which dispenses copper balls filled with long, thin stories printed on something like ticker tape. Zachary receives a story about “lost loves and castles and crossed destinies” (241). He continues past a ballroom and finds Mirabel, who is reading A Wrinkle in Time to find out whether tesseracts affect space as well as time.

They share a drink, and Mirabel suggests that Sweet Sorrows might have come from the Archive, which only acolytes may enter. Zachary asks who wrote the book and why he is in it, but Mirabel answers that she has heard that “records kept in the Archive aren’t exactly chronological” (245). Allegra, Mirabel explains, wants to keep all of it locked up to keep it safe from something—though she is uncertain whether that something is people, progress, or time.

Mirabel confirms she was the woman with the necklaces that Zachary saw in the photo—the photo that sent him in search of the literary masquerade ball. She lets Zachary borrow the golden key from her necklace. He asks where the Starless Sea is, and Mirabel takes him down a long, dark stairwell. The stairs end far above the sea; the champagne bottle Mirabel drops takes minutes to hit something. Mirabel explains that the sea receded. Zachary asks if that is what caused the exodus or if the exodus caused the receding of the sea. Mirabel answers that it could be neither or both, but she feels that time is the culprit: “The old doors were crumbling long before Allegra and company started tearing them down and displaying doorknobs like hunting trophies” (248).

Mirabel informs him that the “heyday” of the Starless Sea was over long before her birth, but Zachary protests that Sweet Sorrows suggests differently. Mirabel says the book is only an interpretation of reality: He wants the real place to be just like the book, but this is not possible because the words in a book don’t encompass a place. The place lives in the imagination of the reader. Zachary asks if fixing the doors would make people come and restore the Starless Sea to its former state. Mirabel says that people come, but they do not stay. He returns through the ballroom and pirouettes, making Mirabel laugh.

Zachary follows Rhyme, watching her go through a door in a stone wall after pressing something metal into the bee design imprint. When she returns, she places a book on a table. It is small, gilded, and reminiscent of Sweet Sorrows. The text is handwritten, and the title is The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor. 

Simon and Eleanor spend as much time together as they can, but they eventually need food. Eleanor suggests that they try another door besides the feather door. The bee door will not open, the sword door has no knob, and the crown-door opens into a pile of stone and a collapsed hall. Eleanor picks the lock of the key door with her necklace. They entwine their fingers and step through it.

Immediately, Eleanor fades from Simon’s grasp. He calls out for her, but she doesn’t answer. He makes his way back to the heart door, but its doorknob is missing and its keyhole has been filled in. Simon goes back to the Heart and asks the Keeper to open the door, but he answers that access to the room beyond that door is forbidden.

Simon protests that he has gone through it before and met Lenore there. At the Keeper’s direction, Simon describes his lover. The Keeper states that there is no such woman in residence and he must be confused. Simon insists that he is not. The Keeper finally tells Simon that there are places deeper than the Heart, where time is “less reliable.” Simon resists the idea, insisting that the Keeper unlock the door. The Keeper answers that the door has not been locked but has been closed as a necessary precaution; it will not open for any key.

Despondent, Simon asks how he can find Lenore again. The Keeper answers that he must wait and that he understands the pain of separation. They argue, but Simon’s frustration has no effect on the Keeper. The Keeper describes time as a river with inlets: Simon has stepped into an inlet, as has Lenore, albeit from a different time. Simon asks if there are other inlets, and the Keeper answers that it is not wise to think that way, suggesting that Simon go home as he will not find what he seeks. Simon takes a compass and continues walking away from the Heart, intent on going as deep as he can toward the Starless Sea, in search of the inlets where time may run differently.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins reads the book Rhyme left for him until the words are jumbled again. He finds his hotel keycard and realizes that it is a key which has not been cast; along with Mirabel’s golden key and his uncast hotel key, he now has both keys that Bee Queen requires. He knocks on Dorian’s door only to find him very drunk and reciting the story of the three swords, where the girl kills the Owl King in her dreams. When he says that the owl remained with her for the rest of her life, he motions to the nearby painting of a white and brown owl with a crown above his head.

Dorian falls asleep, and Zachary walks to the Heart, where he overhears a conversation between the Keeper and Mirabel. The Keeper insists that something will not work, but Mirabel argues that he cannot be sure of it and that “he has the book” (259). The Keeper says that Mirabel should not have gotten Allegra involved, but Mirabel protests she was already involved since she began closing doors and, along with them, their associated possibilities. Mirabel insists that they needed “him” and “that,” motioning to something Zachary cannot see, and reminds the Keeper that the book has been returned. She says that the Keeper has given up. He responds that he doesn’t want to lose her again; Mirabel says that maybe this time will be different.

Zachary returns to the Bee Queen statue. In one hand, he places Mirabel’s golden key; in the other, he lays the keycard. The sculpture moves, grasping the items and revealing a staircase beginning from the back of the chair. Seeing a light at the bottom of the stairs, Zachary steps down into the darkness.

Eleanor is overwhelmed with caring for her perpetually crying infant daughter and heartbroken over never seeing Simon again. Sometimes, the painter or the poets watch the baby for a few hours, but Eleanor has her the rest of the time. The Keeper, not helpful with the baby, informs Eleanor that she never sees Simon again. The Keeper knows this because Simon never saw Eleanor again—he was there to know, after all.

Eleanor sends the Kitchen notes asking for help and advice. The Kitchen sends up milk for the baby and suggests that she read to the baby to calm her. Eleanor misses Sweet Sorrows and regrets having torn out the pages she did not like as a child; they still litter the Harbor as stars. She tries to remember why she did not like those particular pages and remembers a few things: a sorrowful part about a stag in the snow, a rising sea, someone with a lost eye. She considers that she herself may be a page torn from a story, made into a star.

Eleanor remembers enough of Sweet Sorrows to recount some of it to her baby: the pirate and the girl, the dollhouse, and the unusually familiar story about the girl who knocked on a door and fell through it. That story seems so familiar she sometimes believes she may have lived it. The Kitchen sends up a stuffed brown bunny for the baby. Eleanor has never felt a sense of belonging there, but if she ever did, she feels it less now. She asks the Kitchen what to name the baby. It answers: Mirabel.

Two weeks earlier, Dorian sits in the local bar, nursing a scotch and ostensibly reading a book. He watches Zachary, Kat, and Lexi. He expected Zachary to be a collegiate cliché of a boy and a socially anxious hermit, but instead, he sees an intriguing young man. For some reason, Dorian finds that he cannot read him the way he can read everyone else: “A man he can’t read. It is as vexing as having a book he cannot touch. An all too familiar frustration” (266).

He watches as a girl slips clear powder into the sidecar prepared for Zachary. Despite having done the same thing before when working for the Collector’s Club, Dorian decides to stop it. He knocks into the waitress on her way to deliver the poisoned drink, ensuring that Zachary does not drink it. He wonders how everything had led to this: one book and one excessively interesting man. Kat catches Dorian staring at Zachary and he realizes he should not be here: “He should have walked away a year ago, after a different night in a different city when nothing went according to plan” (269). He could forget everything and run, but instead, he watches Zachary through the window and thinks, “Let me tell you a story” (269).