The Stag in the Ceiling

On the second floor of the Briar Hollow Museum of the Unseen, the ceiling begins to change.

At first, Rowan thinks it's stress cracks-old wood settling in a Texas house that remembers too much. But the fractures spread like antlers branching through plaster. At night, something stands upside down above his bed, watching. It does not stomp. It does not roar. It listens.

When Rowan speaks the words, "We do not consent," the museum answers back.

Reality tilts. Rooms stretch vertically. Reflection...