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"Missouri Smith took these photos. He researched the loss of the Flying Scotsman. Time to go. We have a long road ahead of us still."
Laughing we raced back to the truck and slowly backed up to the street below. We took Main Street to the outskirts of Arkham and I felt Jynx grab my arm as we passed Arkham Asylum. It was called a mad house back in Missouri's time and the treatments would be considered barbaric nowadays. Today it was a place of healing for the poor souls that couldn't cope with mental illness or events that pushed them over the edge. We left Arkham behind us and hit the four-lane highway leading west to Nightshade. We wouldn't reach our destination before nightfall, so I had made reservations at a small inn along the way. It meant staying the night in a town well known for strange happenings and the famed news blackout of 1923. To this day something happened that neither the locals, newspapers, or law enforcement agencies would discuss. We drove on enjoying the lush scenery and as the sun dropped down in front of us we pulled off the highway to the haunted town of Dunwich Massachusetts.
"Are you serious?!" Jynx asked. "Why here? Can't we stay somewhere else?"
"Open the glove compartment." I said, and she pulled out the second brown envelope marked Dunwich.
"I get it. We are walking in his footsteps. Fine. I don't have to like it though. This place gives me the creeps."
"I'll keep you safe." I promised, and she giggled.
I parked in front of the Black Pharaoh Inn. The faded sign had seen long years in the sun and its original color could only be guessed at. We walked in to the lobby and I felt like we had walked into Rick's Café from the movie Casablanca. The 1930's were alive and well within the confines of the inn. An overwhelming Egyptian theme was apparent, and the centerpiece was a tarnished silver sarcophagus. I stared at it and it almost looked genuine. I was drawn to it and walked around the scratched glass case that housed it. How many children and adults had gawked at this thing over the decades.
"It is real." A man said in his heavily accented voice. "My great grandpa brought it back from a dig in the deep desert. You an archaeologist?"
"Why do you ask?" I replied staring at a few hieroglyphs I didn't recognize. "These are strange."
"You are as real as it is. Tourists never notice those. Hold on, you must be Morgenstern. You got a reservation for two days." He said smiling revealing two gold teeth poised prominently out front.
"That makes you Mr. West. A pleasure." I said sticking out my hand and shaking his.
"You got His room." West said smiling again. "We don't get many celebrities way out here. The last dude that claimed to be famous was some guy named Tarantino. Never heard of him myself but he was nice enough. He wanted Smith's room too."
"Quentin Tarantino stayed here, how cool is that." Jynx said excitedly. "I love his movies."
We walked over to the front desk and I took the measure of Mr. West. He was tall, thin, and dressed in a worn black suit. He seemed to be a personification of the town of Dunwich. His features were subtly disturbing, and it took me a bit to figure out why. His left eye was lower than the right. The original organ had been replaced with an old glass eye whose color didn't quite match that of his good eye. The overall affect was as Jynx had said earlier, creepy. I signed the register and got our room key. We took our bags to the room and we sat on the bed looking at the photos Missouri had taken all those years ago.
"Let's see if we can find these buildings." I said.
"What the hell is the Esoteric Order of Dagon?" Jynx asked as she held up the photo of the dilapidated church. "It is hard to tell since it is black and white, but the sign appears to be made of gold or brass."
"Time to find out."
I closed the door and slipped a piece of paper between the frame and door before locking it. It was a trick to see if anyone snuck into our room after we left. I took her hand and we strolled around the town. The weather was nice and cool. Jynx was holding the photos and we stopped as we recognized one building after the other and compared them to the photos.
"They haven't changed much." She commented. "Ooh, there it is! That old church that must be the thingy of Dagon."
"You were right. The plaque is made of gold. The building is barely standing but they keep the damn gold. You'd think they'd fix up the place."
"Do you hear chanting?" Jynx asked in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah," I said and closed my eyes. "It is coming from below us. There must be an underground chapel."
I climbed the steps to the double doors. The wood beneath me protested and creaked. I utilized the technique I had learned from Titania and the sound lessened but didn't stop altogether. Jynx did her best to follow as quietly as she could. I gripped the left door and pulled. Jynx cried out as a figure standing in the doorway stepped forward startling both of us. He was short and hunched over. He wore a filthy gray hoodie with the hood obscuring his features. His hands were thrust into the pockets in the front of the sweatshirt. His jeans were equally muddy. They were covered in a mix of dried mud and damp algae.
"Why are you here?" The man asked his voice garbled and sounding as if he were suffering from a serious chest cold or perhaps even pneumonia.
"Are you okay?" I asked ignoring his question. "You sound ill. Can I take you to a hospital?"
"I am fine." He replied angrily. "Why are you here?" He asked followed by a violent coughing fit. He finished it up by spitting out a foul smelling yellow fluid.
"Yeah... you sound great." Jynx said. "We were curious."
"A woman!" The stranger said as if only seeing Jynx once she spoke. Alarmed Jynx to take up a position behind me. "Perhaps I was too harsh. We don't get many visitors."
"I believe you." I said squinting and seeing that his body temperature was noticeably cooler than was good for most people. "I guess a tour is out of the question." I said as the chanting below us ended. "Pity. It sounds like services are over."
"I will ask Father if he will entertain guests. Are you staying at the inn?"
"Yeah." I said as he lifted his head slightly to stare at Jynx. "What is wrong?"
"Where did you get those pictures?" He said staggering forward forcing Jynx to cling closer and clutch the photos tighter.
"None of your damn business." I said extending my arm with palm facing outward.
"You sound just like him. So arrogant. So full of yourself. Go! I will speak to Father about you."
He turned and nearly fell over. He regained his balance at the last second and hobbled into the church slamming the door behind him. Jynx was nervously shaking and I didn't blame her. It was a mistake coming to this town. I had wanted to follow in Missouri's footsteps. I had envelopes with photos of places he had stopped at along his way to Nightshade. I had read his notes and there were veiled warnings in his diary about Dunwich and its inhabitants. It was a queer town filled with strange folk. They had odd beliefs that had endured generations. Take the Esoteric Order of Dagon for example. The cult had driven off all other religious affiliations in town and spent much of their time at a large lake near the southern end of the town. The outlying region of Dunwich as well as surrounding counties were dotted with ancient standing stones that legend said had already been here long before even the Native Americans had arrived. There was no proof of course but it made for a good story.
"Let's go. We can take a quick walk around town, grab a bite to eat, and then then leave tomorrow."
"I don't want to rush you." Jynx said bravely. "But, if you have the same uncomfortable feeling I have then I won't stop you."
"I didn't like the way he looked at you, but I don't want to start trouble we can avoid by leaving."
"Did you hear what he said?" Jynx said clinging closely to me. "You are just like him after he saw the photo of the church. Do you think he actually met Smith?"
"Nah! I imagine his grandfather encountered him and passed down his dislike to his kids and grandkids." I said thinking out loud. "He'd have to be in his seventies, but he sounded barely out of his twenties."
Jynx let the matter drop. She wanted to leave, and I would indulge her at first light. We walked a small circuit around the center of town where the photos seemed to point out buildings that had fallen into a serious state of disrepair. I didn't tell her that those structures were owned by the followers of Dagon back in Smith's time. I didn't understand the appeal of a Phoenician god in modern day America. I had looked on a Wiki about him and he was a fertility god four and a half thousand years ago. His symbols were a fish and a mermaid, and his followers back then were sailors and fisherman. Whatever the reason I didn't want to start a fight with people that might be a bunch of fish worshipping lunatics.
Jynx and I ate at the local diner. It was the only one in town and one of the few buildings that didn't appear in fear of being condemned. Our luck was holding out when we ran into other outsiders that were passing through Dunwich on the way to a sleepy little coastal town called Innsmouth. I hadn't heard of it but then again there were dozens of little out of the way places all over the eastern seaboard. The couple, Gillman by name, were around retirement age and looking into moving to Innsmouth to be closer to family.
"I am a Missouri Smith fan and we are following in his footsteps. He passed through Dunwich on his way to Nightshade." I explained, and they lit up when they heard the name Nightshade.
"We've skied there." Gary Gillman declared. "They have some great slopes and interesting personalities."
"We spent Christmas there a few years back on holiday. It was before the Olympics and we met some of the athletes. It was very exciting!" Mrs. Gillman said her face lighting up.
They seemed nice enough but as time wore on I noticed a definite lack of blinking from Gary. It was like talking to a cat. By the time we were ready to get our check I wanted to scream, blink damn it! We finished our dinner and went our separate ways. I glanced at Jynx and she frowned but nodded. I told her I wanted to see Dunwich Lake. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I had memorized Smith's map of Dunwich. I remembered a small hopefully little used path to the lake. I guided Jynx and we stuck to a poorly lit portion of the town. I found the path and it was terribly overgrown. Jynx softly cursed the entire time. On the bright side it meant the townsfolk of Dunwich no longer used it. We could see it now. The perfect reflection of the thin sliver of the moon cast upon the still waters. The waning moon was nearly done. We crept to the edge of the lake and I heard Jynx gasp behind me.
"The statue." She whispered in my ear and pointed.
I crept in that direction and took a better look. It stood upon a pillar of polished granite. Unlike the rest of the town the statue was well maintained. There was a plaque on the front of the pillar. The script on the plaque wasn't in any language I recognized. I focused my attention on it and memorized every character. At the bottom was a name and a date, Obadiah Marsh 1752. It appeared to be a commemorative dedication from Marsh to the town of Dunwich. Another sound made me look over my shoulder at Jynx. She was smiling and staring upward.
The statue was obviously their sea god Dagon. It was twenty feet high and had a definite aquatic theme to it. Dagon was depicted as a merman armed with a wicked looking trident. Speared on the tines of the trident was a large fish. The scales and textures of the god were done with loving care and realism. The head and torso were different than most merfolk. The head was fish like but with just enough of a hint of humanity to be disturbing. The thick muscular chest was accented with functional gills and around its neck was a necklace of huge perfect black pearls. The necklace alone was worth a small fortune. I moved close enough to touch the pillar and confirmed that the statue was in fact cast from solid gold. There must be hundreds of pounds of gold here. Why would they let the town fall to ruin with this kind of wealth here? It didn't make sense. I suddenly felt Jynx's hand on my wrist and I was being pulled into the woods.
"Lake!" She whispered harshly.
A head stuck up from the water. Ripples formed outward from where it had breached the surface. The light was poor and so we couldn't make out many details. The head was smooth and hairless and a hint of large unblinking eyes as well. It must be someone scuba diving. They were wearing a rubber headpiece and the goggles kept the eyes hidden. The head sunk back down with barely a disturbance. I looked at Jynx and she mouthed hotel. I agreed it was time to return to the hotel. I took one last look at the statue and it hit me.
"Whale!" I whispered in her ear. "It isn't a fish but a whale on the trident."
"Let's go."
It was nearly eleven o'clock when we walked back to the inn. I took my phone out and performed a search for Obadiah Marsh. What I found was unusual. The Marsh family had been running a gold refinery for centuries. It was still in business today. When I searched for its location I got another surprise. It was in the sleepy little town of Innsmouth.
"What was the name of that couple we had dinner with?" I asked.
"Let me think. It was Gillman I believe. Yeah Sarah and Gary Gillman. Why?"
I showed her my phone and she shivered. I didn't believe in coincidences either. I returned to the silver sarcophagus. I snapped a few pictures making sure to get a clear image of those odd hieroglyphics. I was so intent that it wasn't paying attention to the symbols. I lowered my phone and stared at them. I took a step back when I realized they were like those on the plaque of Dagon. We went straight to our room and as we walked down the hall and I took out our key I saw the piece of paper on the carpet. Jynx didn't seem to notice it so I kept it to myself. I kept my smartphone in my hand as we entered our hotel room. I used one of the 'spells' Jacen had created and scanned the room. Jynx went to her luggage and began opening it so she could change and stopped
"What the..." She growled angrily.
"I think I hear the Gillman's." I said interrupting her. Jynx looked at me and showed her the screen on my phone. It read possible surveillance in use.
"The beds here squeak." She said pouting. "I am not sleeping with you if the entire hotel can hear us."
Jynx plopped onto the bed and the rusty mattress creaked in complaint. I shook my head. She moved to sit on the chest of drawers and one of the legs was shorter than the others. I opened the sliding door to what passed for a balcony, but it looked like it was about to come crashing down. Jynx slid into my arms and I pulled her close as voices from down the hall grew in volume and intensity. We laughed and Jynx suddenly shivered in my arms.
"What are you going to do?" She whispered in my ear. "I don't want to stay here."
"Someone is watching, hold on." I said as I swiped the smartphone's screen until I reached the folder marked spell book. "Let's work a little magic."
"What are you going to do?" She asked again.
"This." I said and tapped on the icon marked passive scan.
'Evidence of optical and audial surveillance, shall I disable?'
I chose yes and the lights in the room flickered and went dark. Jynx clung tighter and as I looked around I saw that the entire town was dark. Whatever the phone had done it had disrupted the entire power grid. If the buildings were any indication the electrical system was as antiquated as the rest. Jynx and I walked to the open balcony and peered out careful to not actually step on the sketchy platform. Dunwich had been plunged into darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck went up.
"I think we need to go." I whispered. "Quick and quiet."
"I'm on it." Jynx said as she shivered a second time.
It didn't take long to pack our shit and head for the front desk. The man at the desk had several tarnished silver candlesticks arrayed on the surface of the desk and was lighting them. He spotted us and was apologetic. I held up my hand and halted him right there. I told him we were leaving. He saw my determination through the flickering candlelight and acquiesced. He tore up our agreement and hoped we would visit again in the future. I wished him the best and we headed for the exit. I loaded our luggage into the truck and was opening the passenger side door when I saw Jynx's expression. She was paralyzed with fear. I looked in the direction she was staring and saw the hunched figure of the man from the church. He wasn't alone. Whatever affliction he was suffering from wasn't his alone. There were other figures shambling in the shadows. The darkness had brought them out onto the streets of the ancient town.
"Get in!" I said as I propelled her into the vehicle.
I started the truck and pulled away. I kept the headlights off. I didn't want to see what was beneath the hoods. I had seen enough ugliness in my own mirror not to be curious of another's if they chose to conceal it. I had been called a freak for all those years who was I to judge anyone. I remembered the path I had mapped to Nightshade and aimed the truck in that direction. Jynx reached out and turned on the headlights. The inhabitants caught in their illumination fled from the light. I had caught brief glimpses beneath the hoods and counted myself lucky not to have been as deeply afflicted as those poor souls. Jynx buried her face against my arm and wept. I didn't know the reason for so many to be warped and misshapen, but I was glad to be leaving Dunwich.
"Let's just get the hell out of here." I muttered as I reached for the sound system.
Jynx buckled up and closed her eyes. We still had a five-hour drive ahead of us. Ten minutes out of Dunwich we picked up a four-lane highway which followed the course of the Miskatonic River. The road and the river were intertwined for most of our journey. I felt bad when I realized I could have rented a boat and traveled upstream with the scenic backdrop of farm houses, grain elevators, and the occasional Neolithic standing stone. Jynx fell asleep and I turned down the music. I relaxed and enjoyed the landscape around me. The traffic was light and once I turned onto the road leading to Nightshade there was no other vehicles on the road besides mine. The sky began to lighten, and I caught the first silhouettes of the crescent shaped mountains surrounding the town. The road into town was also the only road out of town. I slowed down and stopped at the only apparent electric signal in town.
"Where are we?" Jynx asked as she yawned.
"Welcome to the town of Nightshade, population hovering around thirteen hundred souls."
"Hey! You owe me a story. You called that wooden sword pigeon killer, why?"
"It goes back a few years, before the accident. My mom was having a garage sale. It was early spring, and the birds were out building nests. One bird, a pigeon, kept flying through the breezeway between our house and our neighbor. It kept flying so low I kept having to duck. My mom got a kick out of it, but I was getting annoyed. I went inside and took out the bokken I had gotten for my birthday. I stood outside waiting. I feel bad now for what happened but at the time it was the coolest thing ever. The next time it flew through by I took a swing at it and missed. It was weak and didn't have any force behind it. My mom mocked me and said I had lost my killing spirit. I got pissed so the next time that pigeon flew by I swung. I made contact and the body fell where I hit it. It just dropped to the ground. It wasn't until I examined it that I realized I had decapitated it. The head had flown almost to the street. That is when I named it Pigeon Killer."
