The Lurker at the Threshold : A Horror Mystery by Brandon Berntson (books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

is to save Millie,” Armitage said.  “And to find The Necronomicon.  We have to make sure the portals don’t open.  We must close the gates or Yog-Sothoth, and whatever other cosmic nightmares will be free to roam Innsport.  And beyond.”

“This is madness!” Macky said.

The lantern light reflected in Henry’s glasses.  “We are meant to be sidetracked, confused.  That is the Mad Arab’s priority.  To get the book into as many hands as possible, to read from its pages.  To open doorways while he lays traps.  The hound, Sarnath, Capshaw, and the book.  These are all meant to separate and keep you occupied.”

“At least three gates are open already,” Macky said.

“My guess is perhaps five.  You said the book was stolen.  That means at least one more, and in that time, it may have fallen into other hands.”

“They’re opening too fast.”

“Precisely.”

“And what if we’re too late?” Macky said.  “What if we can’t get to them fast enough?”

Armitage looked at him for a long time.  “We pray.  That’s the only thing we can do.”

“That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.”

Silence followed before Armitage spoke:  “Yog-Sothoth is referred to as the Lurker at the Threshold.  Yog-Sothoth is the gate, the key to the gate.  Gomory is the first gate, which you witnessed.”

“Yes,” Macky said.  “That was the name we heard.”

“I heard something else,” Capshaw said.  “I can’t remember exactly, but it was speaking.  Zagan, I think.  Yes, that was it.”

Armitage continued to nod.  “Yes,” he said.  “Zagan is the second gate.  Sytry, the third, and Eligor, the fourth.  Cthulhu is the last.  They are trying to unleash chaos.  There are other horrors unleashed on the city, I’m sure.  We won’t know until we get back.  But we have time.”

Macky shook his head.

“Abdul Alhazred worships the Old Ones, who are the Outer Gods, bound by time and space,” Armitage said.  “Yog-Sothoth, mainly, and then Cthulhu.  He’s acting as their disciple.  Proving his loyalty.  Doing their will, while adding more and more arcane knowledge to his own energy, spirit, manifestation, what have you.  No doubt, they are granting him power.  He wants to let loose the Outer Gods, perhaps the Old Ones on Earth.  In the words of Yog-Sothoth, he refers to us as ‘the irrelevance of humanity.’  They want to obliterate us.”

“So how do we close the gates?” Macky said.

“Incantations in The Necronomicon.  I have some books here that may help us, though, but nothing for that, I’m afraid.  Let me gather a few things.”

—

“Thank you for your help, Doctor,” Macky said.

The doctor ignored him, put a couple of tomes under his arm, and started around the table.  There was something on the other side of the lamp he grabbed and put in his pocket.  Macky thought he saw the glimmer of gold, a green jade on a chain.

“What is that?” Macky asked him.

“Something that may help us.  But I’m clueless as to how it works.  The books may help.  Creighton, could you grab that book there.  That should give us time to research and do what we need.”

 Capshaw grabbed the volume Henry was pointing to and carried it under his arm.

“I appreciate your help,” Macky said.

Armitage smiled, came around the table toward him, and patted Macky on the cheek.  “Anything to save Millie,” he said.  “I’ve grown very fond of that young lady.”

Macky looked at the two men.  He looked at Capshaw.  “I guess we’re ready.”

Both men nodded and they followed Macky to the elevator.

—

“So, what happened to Arkham exactly?” Macky asked, once they were on the road to Innsport.  Capshaw was in the back seat.  Dark had fallen.  They had been in Arkham for longer than Macky had hoped, over an hour.  “Do you know anything about Adelaide Bannister?  She and Tiki ran the Bannister Inn.”

“Still does,” Armitage said.  “She burned down asylum with the help of some of the townsfolk.  The whole thing.  What you saw earlier was the second growth.  The reanimation serum mixed with Lot Twenty-six is still doing its work . . . where it spread anyway.  I helped with some of it.”

“How?”

“I got to know Addy,” the doctor said.  “Knew of her, of course, but got to know her more after you and Millie went back to Innsport.  Lots of chaos after that, things that needed to be . . . put back where they belonged.”

“Let me ask you a question,” Macky said.

“Go ahead.”

“Do you think Shub-Niggurath is still . . . underground?”

Armitage didn’t say anything for some time.  He shrugged.  “I’m not sure things like that can be fully destroyed, Dev.  They take more than human intelligence to do away with them.  I think Shub-Niggurath lives in some way or another.  But she is limited if she does.  Her influence has weakened.  The robed figures were caught, the Children of a Thousand Eyes.  Every one of them.  They were jailed and convicted.  Addy had taken over as a sort of authority on everything, not just taking care of the people.  Much like Tiki did, she hunts things in the dark . . . of which there are plenty.

“We looked for every entrance to the catacombs we could find.  We found quite a few . . . filled them with cement.  That was the biggest thing.  Every now and then you run across some blasphemous creation that should not be.  So, we . . . destroy it.”

“Not a good bedtime story, it sounds like,” Capshaw said from the backseat.

“If Shub-Niggurath still lives below, she’s trapped,” Armitage said.  “She might influence what lives in the ground, but that’s all.  For now anyway.  Which is why we stay vigilant.”

“Isn’t it frightening living in a place with so much uncertainty?” Macky asked.  “Don’t you think, after enough time, she’d find a way out?  Or find someone else to do