The Starless Sea

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. He also sees an urn full of ashes.

Some of the columns in the crypt have indentations carved into them, which makes them look like podiums. One holds an ancient-looking, loosely bound book. Zachary picks the book up and it breaks into pieces. He is able to read a sentence from the fragments: “Hello/son/of the fortune-/teller” (277). He continues to find fragments with cryptic instructions: “There are three/things lost/in time […] sword/book/man […] find/man” (277). He considers the man lost in time in Sweet Sorrows and wonders how he is supposed to find, at the behest of ghosts discussed in old books, someone lost in time.

Zachary takes the key back from the door, which swings shut. He hangs the key back on its hook and returns the lamp to its shelf. He glances down the hallway to see a shadow in the shape of a human staring at him. As soon as he blinks, it disappears. Zachary runs back up the stairs as fast as he can.

An account of a nightmare, number 113: A girl cannot get out of a big chair. Her arms are tied to it, but she has no hands. She is surrounded by people without faces who feed her pieces of paper. On the paper are written “all the things [she] is supposed to be” (279). They never ask her what she is.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins heads back to the elevator and ascends from the Harbor, attempting to go back to the life he had before all of this. He makes it halfway home before he realizes the door at the Collector’s Club was burned down, and he has no way to return. He goes back to his room in the Harbor to find a blue sticky note on the center of his door, “All you need to know has been given to you” (280). He takes it inside, reading it over and over again, then puts it on the frame of the painting of the bunny pirates.

Zachary sends a note asking the Kitchen if “this” is real. The Kitchen answers in the affirmative and says they hope he feels better soon, sending along cupcakes and a warm drink. The next morning, he considers that he does not understand what time really is. The Kitchen sends up coffee and breakfast and says they hope he has slept well. Instead of the usual gratitude, he writes back, “I love you, Kitchen” (283). The Kitchen responds, “Thank you, Mr. Rawlins. We are quite fond of you as well” (283).

Zachary wonders where a man lost in time would be, then remembers that he supposedly has all he needs to know. He continues reading the book Rhyme gave him, The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, but the text stops midway through the book, leaving nothing but blank pages. He wonders whether the stories in Sweet Sorrows, Fortunes and Fables, and The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor are all part of the same story. He also wonders how to find Simon, ponders the burned room and the broom now in the Keeper’s office, and considers how the story ends for the son of the fortune teller.

Zachary picks up the origami star he collected before and notices writing on it. He unfolds it into a long strip of paper and sees that it describes another nightmare. Zachary returns to reading The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, pausing at the final word in the book. He goes to find Mirabel.

On exceedingly rare occasions, acolytes choose to sacrifice something other than their tongues. The painter mistakenly believes that choosing the path of the acolyte will rekindle her love of this place, which has changed over time just like everything else. She expects to sacrifice both of her eyes instead of her tongue, but the acolytes only take one. Suddenly, her mind is flooded with images beyond her ability to paint and she realizes that “this path was not meant for her” (286), but it is too late.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins sets off to find Mirabel. He collects a bottle of wine and finds another hidden room. Inside the hidden room, he notices several framed paintings, one of which draws his attention. It depicts a forest at night, with a crescent moon shining between branches; a massive birdcage sits in the forest, but on its perch, a man sits and faces away. Keys and stars litter the trees around the cage; they sit in nests and on the ground, and they hang from the branches on ribbons. The painting reminds Zachary of the bunny pirates, and he wonders if these paintings—and the bee lady—were all created by the same artist.

Dorian, standing barefoot, also observes the painting. He is surprised to see Zachary; he believed he was having a dream. Dorian rests his hand on Zachary’s chest to feel his heartbeat and assure himself that they are both truly there. Zachary tells Dorian about his unsolved mysteries and his search for Mirabel. Dorian is skeptical about his new commission to find the man lost in time, but Zachary convinces him to read Sweet Sorrows and The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor before casting judgment.

The two discover that within the Harbor, both books and spoken language are translated for the reader/listener into whatever they can understand. As they read, Dorian informs Zachary that the story in Sweet Sorrows, about the boy watching a book for a woman in a green scarf, is about Dorian. Only the beginning applied to Dorian; he never underwent additional tests.

When Zachary calls him a guardian, Dorian corrects him, saying he was a member of the Collector’s Club, which may have evolved out of the guardians. He goes on to explain that Allegra promised all the Club’s members passage to the Harbor, but only after securing it properly through destroying the doors. He shares that he was a devout follower until one night—and becoming acquainted with Mirabel—made him run away. The Collector’s Club responded by destroying his aliases, but he successfully disappeared into Manhattan.

Going back to his new mission, Zachary says that a book, a sword, and a man are lost in time. The book, Sweet Sorrows, has been returned, and the Keeper has a sword in his office—“all conspicuous”—so Zachary reasons that the man is the only one still missing. Dorian suggests that Simon is the man lost in time. Zachary mentions his bunny pirate painting—he believes the same painter created all the paintings in the Harbor—and Dorian asks to see it. On their way back to Zachary’s room, Dorian looks through a telescope at a cracked ship that was once on the Starless Sea, books stacked on its deck.

Zachary asks why Dorian helped him in New York, and Dorian answers that he helped because he wanted to do so. After reaching Zachary’s room, they look at the bunny pirate painting; Dorian thinks it was painted for Eleanor, who loved rabbits. They share the bottle of wine, and Dorian thanks Zachary for rescuing him from the Collector’s Club. Zachary is once again startled by the intimacy of his thoughts, feeling as though he has known Dorian forever. Zachary asks why people came to the Harbor of the Starless Sea. Dorian answers that, like them people come “in search of something […] Something more. Something to wonder at. Someplace to belong. We’re here to wander through other people’s stories, searching for our own” (297).

Dorian then toasts “to Seeking,” and Zachary responds “to Finding”—it’s the expected response given in Fortunes and Fables. Dorian observes that it is nice to have someone read the stories which he knows “so intimately.” Dorian asks Zachary’s favorite and he responds that he likes the three swords story and the innkeeper’s story, but he feels that so many of them are sad, leaving him wanting “more”—not necessarily a happier ending, but a more complete and satisfying resolution.

Dorian notices the wardrobe and asks whether Zachary has checked it for Narnia. Zachary is shocked that it had not occurred to him, and Dorian goes to have a look. As Zachary ponders Dorian’s storytelling ability, which transcends the need for words—and how much he would like Dorian to touch him the way he is touching the sweaters—Dorian disappears into the wardrobe.

The acolytes cannot predict when the man lost in time will find his way back in or out of it again. There are not as many acolytes as there once were, so when the man appears and knocks a candelabra over, they are not in the room to put out the fire. The fire blazes down the halls until it reaches the room with the dolls, which “it claims it for its own, an entire universe lost in flame. The dolls see only brightness and then nothing” (300).

Zachary follows Dorian through the wardrobe into what seems to be a dark stone tunnel. They hold hands, ostensibly to keep from being separated in the dark. They find a room filled with doors that have unique images on them. One shows a girl holding a lantern up toward the sky, which is filled with angry birds that direct their fury at her; Zachary and Dorian agree not to open that door. The next door displays a city with curved tower, an island under the moon, and a figure in a cage reaching for another figure in another cage (it reminds Zachary of the pirate and the girl). He wants to open it, but Dorian directs him to another door: a celebration under a banner with the phases of the moon carved on it. They both enter but are separated.

Zachary finds himself in a hallway and meets a man with red hair. The sensation of touching his shoulder does not feel quite right; it’s more the idea of touch than the actual feeling. The man sees him, and asks if he is there for the party, but refers to him as a ghost moments later to someone else. The book he was reading has poetry by Sappho: “someone will remember us/I say/even in another time” (303). He follows the music into another hall, then the tide of people into the ballroom. An acolyte has a bowl of gold paint, into which people dip their hands. Suddenly, someone presses a piece of paper into his palm. Written in gold is the beginning of a story:

The moon had never asked a boon of Death or Time but there was something that she wished, that she wanted, that she desired more than she had ever desired anything before. A place had become precious to her, and a person within it more so. The moon returned to this place as often as she could, in stolen moments of borrowed time. She had found an impossible love. She resolved a way to keep it (305).

Zachary cannot see Dorian, but he is sure that Dorian must have written the story and must be somewhere in the ballroom. A woman is dressed in ribbons with stories written on them. One ribbon catches his eye: “First the moon went to speak with Death” (306). He finds another continuing the story: “She asked if Death might spare a single soul. Death would have granted the moon any wish within her power for Death is nothing if not generous. This was a simple gift, easily given” (306). No other ribbons mention the moon or death, so Zachary walks away. He thinks he sees Dorian, so he continues in that direction, but the red-haired man from before catches him, asking him when he is. The man touches Zachary’s face and, this time, he feels it properly. He moves to bring Zachary to the dance floor, but the crowd separates them.

Zachary finds a wall with more of the story on it. The moon asks Time to leave a space and a soul untouched. Time eventually agrees, only if the moon will help Time find a way to hold onto Fate. The moon agrees, though she does not know how to undo what has been done. “And so Time consented to keep a place hidden away, far from the stars. Now in this space the days and nights pass differently. Strangely, slowly. Languid and luscious” (307).

Still looking for Dorian, Zachary sees the Keeper, who is watching someone intently, but Zachary cannot tell who it is. Zachary sees the Starless Sea, full and resplendent. He steps toward it, but Dorian pulls him back and whispers the continuation of the story in his ear:

And so the moon found a way to keep her love […] an inn that once sat at one crossroads now rests at another somewhere deeper and darker where few will ever find it, by the shores of the Starless Sea […] It is there, still […] This is where the moon goes when she cannot be seen in the sky (308).

Their lips are not quite touching, but before Zachary can close the distance in a kiss, they hear a thunderous noise. The ground shakes and suddenly, they are in an empty room. The carved door has fallen from its hinges. Another tremor strikes, sending rocks over their heads.

The owls watch as the Starless Sea rises, and they fly over its waves. They screech, calling out warnings and celebrating that the long-awaited time has finally come. The Starless Sea floods the Harbor, reclaiming the Heart and all the books within the Archives. The end is here and the Owl King arrives, “bringing the future on his wings” (310). 

Zachary Ezra Rawlins and Dorian fall back through the wardrobe as the tunnel collapses behind them. Zachary grabs his bag, and the two of them run for the Heart. Before they reach it, they hear shouting and Dorian pulls him back. He announces that he needs Zachary to know that what he feels for him is real. Stunned by both the confession and the timing, Zachary cannot form a reasonable response before Dorian continues walking.

When they arrive the Heart, the universe clock is broken, and the shouting grows louder. The Keeper’s voice insists that he did not allow anything and that he understands. Allegra answers coldly, insisting that he does not, but she does because she has seen where “this” leads and will not permit it to occur. Seeing Zachary, she remarks that she knows someone who will be pleased that he is still alive. Zachary cannot tell who she is addressing, but she announces that someone (either him, Dorian, or both) does not know why he is there. She declares she has unfinished business with Dorian and draws a gun on him. The Keeper pulls her arm back, causing the bullet to ricochet instead of killing Dorian as planned.

A fissure opens up in the floor and Allegra slips, falling toward it. She grabs Dorian’s coat and pulls him in after her. Zachary’s eyes meet Dorian’s as he and Allegra fall, and he remembers Dorian’s last words to him: “I don’t want to lose this” (314). Dorian is gone, and the Keeper is pulling Zachary away from the edge of the fissure as he screams.

The son of the fortune teller walks through snow, carrying a sword whose sisters are long gone; one melted down and the other sunk into the ocean. The sword is now in a scabbard that was once used by an adventurer who died trying to protect someone she loved. The sword, her love, and the rest of her story were lost, though songs were sung about her at one point, however inaccurate. The son of the fortune teller looks toward a distant light, clothed in history and myth. He believes he is almost there but actually has far left to go.

Twenty years before the present day, the painter packs up to leave after years of “watching and painting and trying to understand and now that she understands she can no longer simply watch and paint” (316). On her way out, she leaves a case of paints and brushes outside a door, instructing a cat to make sure that “she” gets it. This request is a decision the painter will later regret.

The painter takes the scenic route to the Heart. She has left a painting in her studio, which she is sure will be hung up by someone at some point. She does not know the subjects of the painting,  but “they are there in the story of the place, for now” (317).

She looks up at the clockwork universe, seeing two different images through her different eyes: one it is as it is, perfect and complete; the other, burning and broken. She resolves to change this particular story. She passes the area where she had once rolled dice: all swords and crowns. In that moment, she sees “a golden crown in a crowded room” and “an old sword on a dark shore, wet with blood” (317). As she rides the elevator upward, her eyesight clouds and the images fade, to her relief and terror.

Of all the countless stories she has seen in that eye, she has never seen herself leave the Harbor. By doing so, she is breaking her vow, but she feels that if she can change this part of the story, she can change the fate of the place.

The painter steps through the door onto a beach. She kicks the wooden door until it breaks, then burns the remaining wood. She has an object in a jar in her bag that will be “insurance.” If she closes the doors, she can stop the return of the book and everything that happens in her vision after that. She keeps the doorknob as a way to keep a piece of the Harbor with her, then sobs next to her fur coat. Then, she resumes the identity she had before becoming an acolyte: Allegra Cavallo.