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

into the hallway with the others.  Macky and Armitage slammed the door shut.  Mrs. Newson’s door opened from across the hall.  She took one look outside, screamed again, and slammed the door shut.

Chapter 12

Millie reared back and slapped Macky again.

“Ouch!” he said, rubbing his cheeks, eyes blazing.  “What the matter with you?”

“I demand to know the meaning of this!” Millie demanded.  “What are your names?  Who sent you?  What tribe do you belong to?”

“Millie, honestly, don’t you recognize me?  It’s, Dev.  You’re under some spell.  Snap out of it.  This isn’t you!”

“How dare you shorten my name for your convenience!  Who told you you could take such liberties!”

“Can you guys help me out?” Macky asked Capshaw and Armitage.

“Give me my dog!” Millie shouted.  Armitage handed her over, eyebrows raised.  Millie took the dog and coddled the cocker spaniel.  “Have they hurt my wittle, precious doggie, schnook-ems, upset poor, licky-face, Mr. Kalabraise?”

Mr. Kalabraise licked her face.  Macky raised his eyebrows, amused.

“It’s worse than I thought,” he said.

“Here, let me try,” Armitage said.

Macky motioned for Armitage to go ahead.

“Millie, it’s me, Henry Armitage,” the doctor said.  “You remember Miskatonic?  The University?  The library?  We had some laughs, didn’t we?  Well, maybe laughs is the wrong word.”

She looked at Armitage and frowned.

“Offer her money,” Macky said.  “That might help.”

“I’ve never killed a man before,” Capshaw said, hand to his brow.  “What on earth has become of me?  What am I turning into?”

“Hey,” Macky said.  “You did what you had to do.  You saved our lives.  Besides, the whole situation happened about ten-thousand years ago.  It was like running an old film.  We just got a front-row seat.  It had a few variances, sure, but it wasn’t the real thing.”

Capshaw continued to shake his head.  He tried to ponder this, but it didn’t help.  “I still . . .” he said.  “I never killed anyone before.  I feel sick, Dev.  Do you think this is the Mad Arab?”

Macky put his hand on his shoulder.  “I think it’s the instinct for survival.”

Millie was looking at Armitage in some sort of trance.  Her eyes were glassy.

“It’s no use,” the doctor said.  “I don’t know how to snap her out of it.”

“Off with their heads!” Millie said, waving her arm dramatically in the air.  “Where are my guards?  I demand you return me at once!”

She reached for the door.  Macky stepped in front of it.

“Creighton killed them anyway,” Macky said.  “The loyal soldier.”

“Oh, jeez,” Capshaw said.  “this weighs heavy on my heart.”

Mr. Kalabraise barked.

“I am the Queen of Sarnath!” Millie shouted.

“This is getting old,” Macky said.  “Millie, dear.  Let-me-make-your-dreams-come-true.  It’s-part-of-all-I-try-to-dooo.  Won’t-you-come-home? Oh, won’t-you-come-home?”  

“You, sir, have a terrible voice,” Millie said.

“I think she’s coming back,” Macky said.

“I want to know who you people are and why you’ve kidnapped me!  My city is being invaded!  I need to save my people!”

“It’s a little too late for that, sunshine.”

“So help me, if you call me one more pet name again, I’m going to scream!  Then I’ll cut off your head!  That’s Queen von Clydesburgh, you private gumshoe!”

Macky couldn’t help it.  He burst out laughing.

“Millie, look,” Armitage said.  “You’re city is under attack. We know that.  It’ll be gone.  It already is, but that’s not who you are.  You’re in a dream state.  This is where you live.  Apartment 6C.  You’re in Innsport.  You work for Macky, here. Devlin.  You’re his secretary.”

“Work?  As in servitude?  Don’t be ridiculous!  I wouldn’t throw an oyster at him!”

“Look,” Armitage said.  He went to the door and pulled it open, as much as he could.  In the time they’d been here, the branches, vines, and twigs had lost their hold.  The flowers had faded.  The apartment was returning to normal.

“Wait!” Macky said.

“Macky,” Armitage said.  “She needs to see.”

“Does this make me some kind of brute?” Capshaw said, shaking his head.  “Am I a ruffian?”

Armitage grabbed the knob, turned it, and pulled.  Beyond was the silence of a thousand years.  The city of Sarnath was in ruins.  It was daytime.  The sun shone high.  But the ruins were just ruins, moss-covered, grown over, and silenced.  Sarnath looked 10,000 years old.  The place was not only deserted, it was gone.  There wasn’t a soul anywhere.  The cry of a lone bird added a further sense of desolation.

Millie stared at the world she’d come from.  Macky could see it on her face. It wasn’t registering.  He thought it might be the Mad Arab, not disillusionment.  The towers had fallen, invisible under the growth.

“Ib sought revenge,” Armitage told her.  “And succeeded.”

“What are—?”

“Monsters.  Warriors.  The tribe of Ib—of the moon.  Sarnath is no more.”

Millie’s knees buckled.  She hit the floor and sobbed.

—

Capshaw managed, also, to snap out of his delirium.  Millie was petting the head of Mr. Kalabraise, who was the only one among them undaunted by the entire episode.

“I’m getting sick of moving all the time, Dev,” Millie said.

“I know.  It’s not my fault.”

“Yes, it is,” she said.

“It’s good to have you back, Mill.”

“‘If only I could’ve been Queen for a day.’  I guess it was worth it to some extent.”

“You slapped me pretty hard.  Twice.”

“That wasn’t the real me.”

“I just remembered!” Capshaw said, eyes brightening.

Everybody looked at him.

“Mike, the security guard!” Capshaw said.  “I wonder if he . . . Oh my goodness!  Somehow, I kept thinking . . .”

“Mike?”  Macky asked.  “I don’t remember a Mike.  The security guard I met was named . . . Wilbur.  That was it. Odd name.  Who would name their kid . . ?”

“Wilbur?” Armitage asked, alarmed.

“Yeah.  Why?” Macky asked.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Wilbur is the name of . . .”  He looked