CHAPTER 25
George recoiled from the mirror in his hand, then brought it back into view. The antlers were enormous and nearly scraped the tall ceiling in the room, even at their natural slant. He noted, somewhere behind the shock, that they were shaped as red deer, the great deer of the west that the Celts and Scythians were so fond of portraying.
He shifted the mirror to his left hand and raised his right to touch the antlers. They were cool and smooth to the touch, and longer than he could reach, stretching back above and behind him with many tines. He brought his hand down to the top of his head and felt the strange ridges where they joined his head. Some distant part of him wondered if they shed every year and grew back in velvet.
He ran his hand further down his head and stroked the
