Notes: If you'd like to refresh your memory on Neal's hybrid nature, I've written an introductory post for the blog: "Strange Signals."

Chapter 1: Summons

Arkham, Massachusetts. Friday, October 15, 1976.

Neal darts into an alley. He doesn't think he was spotted. Someone is pursuing him. But who? His heart beats faster. He's propelled forward by the overwhelming compulsion to flee.

An Elnath flies overhead. Its barrel-shaped body is surprisingly graceful. Neal is reminded of zeppelins, but no zeppelin has a head crowned with starfish tentacles.

The architecture seems oddly familiar. Where has he seen buildings shaped like fern fronds? No time to stop and admire them. A steep mountain range is visible in the distance. Will it provide refuge?

Dusk is falling, but there's no guarantee darkness will hinder his pursuers. If he can reach the city limits, he should be harder to capture.

He takes off at a run, heading toward the mountains. The streets are strangely empty, making him feel more exposed. By the time he reaches the outskirts of the city, he's exhausted. He has to find shelter before continuing his flight. A structure is built into the side of a mountain, and he sprints toward it. Something tells him no one will find him there. He darts inside to discover he's standing in a magnificent chamber. The walls are covered with brilliantly colored murals of the city of the ancients. He's sure he's seen the city before. It neighbors an ocean. Giant penguins are depicted on the beach.

The air thickens. A portal opens on one wall. The kaleidoscope of swirling colors reveals no hint of what lies beyond. He wavers as the sense of imminent danger grows stronger. He hears a roar and spins around. A dragon stands behind him with scales of sapphire blue. They sparkle like gemstones. Is it a friend or foe? Before he can say anything, the dragon seizes him in his claws and hurls him into the wormhole.

He finds himself in the same ice cave he'd visited before in Antarctica but he doesn't feel the cold. On a pedestal in the center of the cavern is the orb of Yog-Sothoth. He reaches for it.

With a start, Neal Carter opened his eyes. The maelstrom of colors in the portal has been replaced by the familiar bookcases of the library vault. What a bizarre dream. He glanced down at the monograph in front of him. He'd been researching the Yahgan language of Patagonia. His notes were in front of him. But images of the city continued to tease his mind.

Two months ago, he and Peter discovered an ancient cave at the site of a Yahgan archaeological dig. It contained a wormhole that took them to an underground cavern in Antarctica. The murals on the cavern had been made by the Elnath, the ancient aliens who first colonized Earth thousands of years ago. They depicted a city they called Gwandala. The buildings appeared organic in shape and were similar to those in his dream.

His subconscious must have played a trick on him, drawing on memories of that long-vanished city. Peter was currently in Kyiv, exploring an ancient Scythian tomb. Neal had found compelling evidence linking the Yahgan and Scythian languages. Both scripts were most likely derived from Elnath. An altogether reasonable hypothesis explaining why he'd dreamed of Gwandala.

As for the dragon, a psychologist would probably attribute its inclusion to the unease Neal continued to feel about his possible connection.

He'd already adjusted to being an alien hybrid with both Meropian and Celaenian DNA. Lavinia refused to describe the true appearance of Meropians so worrying about turning into a blue-skinned humanoid or something else was a waste of time. As for Celaenians, they now existed only as pure energy. The chance of learning about their true corporeal appearance was remote.

Were Celaenians and dragons related? Coppelia, the head of their newly formed intergalactic league, was convinced there was a relationship. Why else did his aura resemble that of a dragon? Coppelia speculated that a dragon would somehow alert Neal if his assistance was needed with a world suffering from chaos contamination. That could mean the dragon he saw was a messenger.

Neal longed to dismiss the idea, but last month he'd had a vision of Tolkien's One Ring. He hadn't mentioned it to the others, but later discovered it was a source of contamination not only in his world but also in Neal Caffrey's world. This could be something similar.

He checked his watch. At three o'clock, Sara would still be at the newspaper office. Should he feel guilty that he was relieved? Wasn't it simply that he didn't want her to become anxious about something that hadn't been proven to be noteworthy? That sounded good.

Neal reached for his com-link and called Lavinia. She was Coppelia's liaison. She had the best chance of knowing if this was a false alarm.

#

At quitting time, Sara grabbed her bag to head for happy hour at the chem lab. She smiled. If only her chemistry professor had scheduled happy hour sessions during the course, she might have switched majors.

Cyrus Dexter was moonlighting from his official position as head of the chemistry department at Miskatonic and his covert role of advisor to their team to be the brewmaster of the new brewpub, a joint venture with the university. Students were tasked with crafting beers in a wildly popular beer-making course. Cyrus promised to have several different blends available for tasting this evening.

For once, she was early, but Mozzie and Neal still beat her. She wasn't too surprised that Neal was already there since he didn't have any Friday afternoon classes. But their faces looked unusually serious when she entered. Neal quickly slapped a smile on as he strode over to greet her, but he couldn't fool her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Mozzie and Lavinia think a dragon may have summoned me," he said. "I had a vision in the library vault. Lavinia's gone to confer with Coppelia."

"Tell me everything you saw," Sara said eagerly. When Neal had finished describing his experience, she called on her journalist skills to quiz him some more. Why wasn't he more excited about a summons by a dragon, and a gorgeous one at that? She was already picturing sapphire scales in her head. Neal had sketched a few of the scenes for Lavinia to take to Coppelia, and she'd pored over copies of them till they were embedded in her memory too.

Cyrus handed her a glass of ale. "We named this blend Arkham Sunset. If Neal's vision proves accurate, I may need to come up with a dragon brew."

Sara ignored Neal's wince and exchanged smiles with Cyrus. "Dragon's Breath, perhaps. Who wouldn't want a taste of that?" She turned to Neal. "Those buildings look just like the murals of the lost city of the Elnath in the ice cave."

"Ah yes, Gwandala," Mozzie said, swirling the contents of his glass thoughtfully. "I'd speculated the mission has to do with time travel. Perhaps a return to Gwandala when it was prosperous. But we'll need to be patient until Lavinia returns."

"If it is a mission, it will undoubtedly concern the Ymar," Cyrus said. "Otherwise, I assume the librarians and dragons would handle it on their own. I wish I had a better handle on the Fae. They remind me of an unexpected chemical reaction—not a comfortable situation."

Sara nodded in agreement. Their knowledge of the aliens in Coppelia's universe was dismayingly sketchy and Coppelia didn't appear willing to elaborate. The Fae appeared human but weren't. They had the equivalent of magic powers, including the ability to charm others. They also liked to immerse themselves in fictitious worlds while remaking themselves into literary archetypes. So far the team had only encountered one Fae—Walter Olmstead. He had molded himself into a character from an H.P. Lovecraft novel.

Neal frowned. "I keep thinking we missed something in that ice cave. I wish we could have stayed longer."

"I do too, but we were running out of oxygen during our last visit," Sara reminded him. "When we return, we'll need to take along an air supply."

"So that cave's on your destination list as well," Neal said with a smile. "Perhaps a crystal cavern lies next to it. We didn't have much time to explore it."

"Being the voice of caution isn't my normal role, but I'm obliged to point out an issue with any return trip," Mozzie said, his expression unusually serious. "I was able to pinpoint the cave's location, and directly overhead is a Soviet research facility—the Zapad Astronomical Research Station. I don't have a precise reading on the depth of the cave, but the Soviets could conceivably discover it." He paused and shrugged. "If they haven't already."

"In that case, we shouldn't delay to make a return visit," Sara pointed out.

"I agree," Neal said. "But we'll need to wait till Peter and Henry return from Kyiv. With only one compendium to serve as our backup, we can't risk two simultaneous potentially dangerous missions."

A possible connection between cult activities and the Soviet government continued to trouble the team. Since their nemesis Chad Lawson had ties to the Soviet Union and an Ymar cult was entrenched in Kyiv, Soviet officials could have been informed about algolnium. That break-in at Cyrus's lab was still an issue. The only item taken was paperwork in connection with his application to make algolnium a new element. They knew Chad was the thief but what was his purpose in taking the documents? Was he acting on Phyllida Cartwright's orders?

The last they'd seen of the British botany professor, she'd fled through a wormhole with Chad. The enchanted dagger she'd used for mind control was now secured in the library vault. But no one knew where Chad and Phyllida were. They could have returned to Earth to resume cult activities at another location.

The same day at the Kyiv Astronomical Observatory.

Henry paused to scan the file room, verifying that nothing was out of place. He'd made an early morning raid of the SETI offices—picking a time early in the morning when the astronomers had already left but before the day staff arrived. This was one time he was glad to report that he'd come up blank. He hadn't found any files on Neal or any other member of their team. Correction—he'd found one note written by the head of SETI that Mozzie was a helpful contact.

He'd also unearthed a summary for a discussion that was held at the time of Cyrus's submission of algolnium to the international certification group. The members were intrigued by a possible extraterrestrial origin, but when his submission was rejected, they seemingly lost interest.

That meant Henry didn't have to linger in Kyiv. Peter was here in his official capacity and didn't need him. Henry could fly home under an alias, leaving the compendium for Peter to use in case of an emergency.

Henry was eager to refocus on the brewpub. He would have felt guiltier about abandoning Tracy to the construction chaos if she weren't so capable. Even so, she shouldn't have to shoulder all the supervisory decisions on her own. And then there was Eric. He was now a member of their group and had his own com-link. Eric's level of algolnium was rising rapidly as was Henry's. Only Neal's was growing at a faster rate.

The algolnium in Eric's system was a different isotope from that of the others. Cyrus believed his algolnium originated from a naturally occurring deposit near his family's home in Mexico. So far the only symptom he displayed was a heightened sensitivity to aliens. El and Cyrus had started a new line of research on so-called psychics—people with paranormal abilities. They suspected that those with genuine abilities—like Eric's—were a result of algolnium.

As for Henry's algolnium growth spurt, Lavinia believed Eric was the likely cause, but no additional side effects had been identified. He'd been injected with algolnium close to a year ago, but aside from the ability to see Neal's aura and travel through wormholes, he didn't have anything to show for it.

When his com-link vibrated, he pulled it out of his pants pocket.

"Good time to talk?" Peter whispered. He knew what was on Henry's agenda that day.

"It will be in a minute. I'll call you back." Henry then used the com-link to send a signal to Milly. She'd reconfigure the settings on the compendium in his pocket to zap him back to his hotel room.

"What's up?" he asked when he returned Peter's call.

"We found the tomb! It's adjacent to a quarry, but fortunately still intact. And as we suspected, it's recently been looted."

"You think this is where the enchanted dagger came from?" Henry prompted.

"It looks increasingly likely. The professor who bought the dagger in a Kyiv market had purchased it about six months ago. Traces of plant material found at the site indicate looting operations were going on around that same time."

"Six months ... is the tomb just an empty shell now?"

"You could call it that but what a shell!" Excitement reverberated in Peter's voice. "Magnificent paintings cover the walls. As you can imagine, the Ukrainian archaeologists are overjoyed. This is by far the best example of Neolithic Scythian art to date. The inscriptions are the first documented evidence of the written Scythian language. Of course, I'll be able to bring home photographs ..."

"But you won't know if the tomb also contains a portal to a wormhole," Henry pointed out.

"Exactly. That's why I want you to use the compendium to return to Arkham. I'll give you the tomb's coordinates. Neal can be transported directly there, preferably at night, when no one will see him."

"Not a problem."

Thanks to the compendium and Milly, what would have normally been impossible was a cinch. After ending the call, Henry used the alien device to transport himself back to Arkham. He arranged with Neal and Sara to leave the next afternoon for Kyiv. They'd travel to Peter's hotel room and then Milly would transport the entire group to the tomb. He'd still have enough time to spend the night with Eric and check in with Tracy.

#

Twenty-four hours after Henry returned to Arkham, Sara stood in the Scythian tomb alongside Neal, Peter, and Henry. They were feeding off each other's jubilation. Neal was positive the script was Scythian.

"Many of the words are the same as ancient Yahgan," Neal said, sweeping the text with his flashlight. "This provides further evidence that both languages derived from Elnath."

"You won't be able to go public with that yet, but the Soviets are eager to announce the tomb's discovery," Peter said. "I'm happy to let them take the credit."

"My article will give you the proper credit you're due," Sara assured him.

"Really it was Laban Shrewsbury who showed the way," Peter said modestly. "His notes indicated where we should search."

"Any sign of a portal?" Henry asked.

Neal shook his head. "I'm not sensing algolnium anywhere. It's not too surprising. A portal would indicate close contact with the Elnath. In that case, we'd likely find their images in the wall art."

"So we head back," Sara said, trying not to sound disappointed. She'd yet to experience her first Elnath crystal cave and had hoped this would be the time.

"There's no reason to stay," Neal agreed. "But look at it this way. We don't need more crystals. If the portal were present, we'd worry about what the Soviets might discover."

"Plus we won't have to hide the tomb's significance," Peter said. "I'll stay here a couple more days to document the paintings and then I'll head home too."

Sara consoled herself that although this site didn't pan out, they still had options. That return trip to Antarctica for one. The vision Neal had in the library vault could also result in an off-world assignment.

There were still a few weeks left before the Halloween bash. Plenty of time for missions, given the speed of wormhole travel.

Notes: And that next mission is just around the corner. Details are in Chapter 2.

The events surrounding Phyllida Cartwright, Chad, and the enchanted dagger are in Ritual of Varda. The cave in Antarctica and the orb of Yog-Sothoth are featured in The Tower of Koth.

Introduction to Arkham Files for new readers: Background information is on the Arkham Files page of the blog I co-write with Penna: Penna Nomen & Silbrith Conversation.

Main Characters:
Neal Carter: Linguist. Human x Meropian x Celaenian hybrid.
Peter Gilman: Archaeologist. His wife Elizabeth Wayland is a neurologist. Their baby son is named Skylar.
Dante "Mozzie" Atwood: Astrophysicist.
Sara Pabodie: Investigative journalist. Neal's girlfriend.
Henry Chaseman. His boyfriend Eric Torres is an architect.
Lavinia Armitage. Head Librarian at Miskatonic University. Meropian.
Cyrus Dexter. Head of the chemistry department.
June Parker: Neal's landlady

Alien Races:
The Elnath: the first to colonize Earth
The Ymar: hostile aliens. They conquered the Elnath on Earth and usurped control of Elnath colonies till they were banished by the Celaenians. Five Ymar are known to exist: Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Yidhra, Cthulhu, and Yog-Sothoth.
Meropians: Allies from the planet Merope. Lavinia is the primary example currently on Earth. Fei Hong is also a Meropian. She manages Talmadge Holdings when Gideon Talmadge is off-world.
Celaenians: Allies from the planet Celaeno. The species has evolved into entities of pure energy. Known to reside in wormholes.