James Palmer - Shadows Through Time

“The Deep Ones are not our primary concern,” said Burton. “The Awakened are.”

“Well, that’s the beauty of it,” said Challenger. “Call your Inspector Abberline. Have them arrested for the theft of the Wold-Newton fragments.”

“I can’t,” said Burton. “Mycroft Holmes has ordered the police to leave them alone. We must learn what they are ultimately planning first. Besides, my friend Swinburne would be among them.”

“Oh fiddlesticks,” said Challenger. “I swear that pretentious fop causes more problems than he solves with that vast intellect of his. We could end this once and for all tonight.”

“Perhaps it’s the brandy talking,” said Herbert, “but I agree.”

Challenger laughed and clapped the young Time Traveler on the back so hard he almost spit out his latest sip of brandy.

“How did you get involved in all of this anyway, Herbert?” said Burton.

“It was quite horrifying. I awoke to a clamorous noise coming from my basement laboratory and found a pair of shoggoths studying my Time Machine!”

“Bismillah! You built another one? After I sent the last one hurtling unmanned into the future to keep Mycroft Holmes from getting his hands on it?”

Herbert shrugged. “I was only tinkering, really. More importantly, I had shoggoths in my basement. Apparently, they congealed under the basement door. I screamed, and next thing I knew Professor Challenger had kicked down the door and turned his flame-thrower on them.”

“Searched round for the bloody things all evening,” said Challenger. When I found signs of them in Kew Gardens, I knew they were up to something especially sinister. I tracked the ghastly blighters right to Herbert’s doorstep. After convincing Herbert to join me, we tracked their spoor to the Theosophes, where Swinburne and the rest of that Awakened lot were holding their unholy court.”

“Then we came to get you,” Herbert added, his cheeks reddened. He had clearly had enough brandy.

“What did you do?” asked Burton, “Peek at them through a window?”

“Heavens no,” said Challenger with a derisive snort. “I hid my flame-thrower behind a mail receptacle next to the building, and we walked right inside. The hour was late, but there were at least a hundred people in attendance, all wanting to know who or what they had been in a past life. The Awakened were quite convincing. By the time we left I wanted to get in line to have my fortune read.”

“Was Swinburne there?” Burton asked.

“Yes, but not for long,” said Challenger. “He appeared to be merely watching the proceedings, nodding his head approvingly. In the middle, he up and left. I’m sorry, Burton. I did not think to follow him, so enraptured were we by the rest of the Awakened’s performance. But your friend appeared to be in charge.”

“Tell him about the shoggoth we saw on the corner,” Herbert said to Challenger, his face grim.

“Oh yes. As we neared Gloucester Place, another of the protoplasmic fiends showed itself. I destroyed it with my flame, but it appeared to be standing guard on your place.”

“I had the feeling one of them was watching me,” Burton said.

Challenger touched the tip of his bulbous nose with his right index finger. “Yes. Perhaps they’ve been watching all of us. But why?”

“Because of our connection to one another,” said Burton, “and my connection to Swinburne. Perhaps they fear my interference. Perhaps Swinburne’s mind, wherever it is, has told them about me and our work with the Shadow Council, though I told my friend very little. He never wanted the gory details.”

“Whatever the reason, we have a way to stop them,” said Challenger, picking up the flame-thrower and hefting it.

“They are going to catch onto that sooner or later,” said Burton. “And we can’t very well use it on the Awakened, now can we?”

“Why the bloody hell not?” shouted Challenger.

“Because they are human beings,” Burton whispered. “Human beings in the grip of something beyond their control.”

The sitting room door creaked open, and every head turned at the sound, half expecting a shoggoth to be sitting there. Instead, they found Miss Angell. “Captain Burton! Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“I do, Mother. I am very sorry we woke you. My friends were just leaving.”

Burton’s housekeeper nodded and left the room, mumbling “Worse than that Cannibal Club lot,” under her breath as she departed.

Challenger chuckled. “Feisty woman. I think I rather like her.”

“Let’s convene this gathering for a more appropriate time,” said Burton. “The Inspector will be along in the morning. I suggest we meet here then.”

“To do what?” asked Herbert.

“To draw out these Awakened once and for all,” Burton declared.

“Oh, there was one other thing,” said Herbert.

Burton arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“There was a large black stone in the center of the room. It looked incredibly ancient. They were lighting candles they had placed around it.”

“A stone?” said Burton. “I wonder where they got it, and what use they have for it. Whatever it is, I don’t like it. Meet me here tomorrow morning.”

After seeing Challenger and the Time Traveler off, Burton trudged back upstairs to his bedroom, though sleep did not return to him for another hour. He kept thinking about his friend Swinburne, and what else might be lurking in the shadows along Gloucester Place, watching him through his bedroom window with myriad eyes.

Burton, Challenger, and Herbert told Inspector Abberline what had transpired last night over a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage. Abberline took it all in stride. He dabbed at his mouth with a linen napkin and said, “I wish we could go and arrest the whole lot of them this instant, but my orders are to continue watching them to determine what their ultimate plan is.”

“Agreed,” said Burton, happy to know that his friend Swinburne would not be clapped in irons this day. “We still don’t know exactly who or what we are up against.”

“It has something to do with those ghastly diadems, said Herbert. “They certainly seem to give off some strange vibration. I left that meeting with a headache, didn’t you Professor?”

“I did indeed. Bloody hell. I thought it was just me. Though by the time we reached Gloucester Place it was gone, and I forgot to mention it.”

“Perhaps they focus what powers, if any, the Awakened already possess,” said Burton thoughtfully. He picked at his breakfast, and instead drank two cups of coffee in quick succession. “Perhaps they work to make the minds of the Theosophes more pliable, so that they can be manipulated.”

“Something else occurred to me last night,” said Burton after a long moment, “before I drifted off to sleep. Something else that might tie us all together.”

“Do tell,” said Abberline.

“Dreams,” said Burton. “Dreams and visions of other times and places. You have experienced them yourself, Challenger.”

The Professor seemed taken aback by the accusation, but he nodded slowly and uttered a deep sigh. Dabbing eggs from his beard, he said, “You are correct, Captain Burton. I thought I was going mad.”

“If you are mad, then we all are,” said the Time Traveler. “I too have suffered from strange dreams, around the time that the Awakened were first reported in the papers. I dreamed that my Time Machine carried me not into the past or future, but into alternate versions of our own present. Sidewise in Time, as it were, instead of forward or backward. It was very strange. It was our familiar London, but with sometimes remarkable, even ghastly differences.”