A child suddenly slammed his hand against the display case, dragging one finger up the glass to point at the deer’s nose, where a tiny stream of blood was dripping.

“Mommy, look, look! C’est quoi, ça?” he shrieked.

A woman briskly came over and gripped his arm, dragging him away and leaving a streaked smudge on the glass. A drop of blood fell from the deer’s nose to the wooden floor of the case.

“It’s only temporary, the real replacement will be much more convincing,” a voice said over his shoulder.

Valentin turned quickly and saw a slim man in a dark coat walking slowly away. His palms were briefly turned toward Valentin, and they were stained red.

Laurine squinted her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the earth clock without leaving the taxidermy shop behind. Was it running more smoothly now that the deer was back? Would she be able to tell? They had to wait for the shop to close again before they would be able to leave with the resurrected deer. She had walked upstairs for a little while among the zebras, lions, antelopes, polar bears, and other animals brought  from all over the world to be sold as decorations. She couldn’t help but feel bad for them, knowing their souls called to her from each permanent snarl and forever open eye to bring them back. But they did not need to come back, not yet at least. She wondered if some day they would lose, and all the animals would start to disappear too quickly to keep the world in balance.

She was pulling open drawers of metallic beetles, pinned in perfect rows, when she heard a clicking of a cane and Renard tapped his way slowly to her side.

“It’s when the beetles start to go that we have to worry,” he said. “You would be surprised how much weight they have. Individually, they are nothing, not even a tick of the second hand, but together they are hours.”

She nodded silently and slid the door shut, wondering how many beetles were in the Deyrolle cabinets. Enough for five minutes on the earth clock? Maybe not even one. She followed Renard back downstairs, this time trying not to look at the dead things around her.