The Chamber of Shadows

Amanda Jones awoke… dazed, confused… and cold… on a stone floor. She looked about, finding herself in shadows. Where was she? Dim light was creeping in from somewhere nearby, but Amanda cold not discern its source. She groaned and swooned as she sat up. “Dr. Jacoby,” she remembered who subdued her. She remembered the pungent taste and smell of chloroform clasped over her mouth. As her consciousness faded, Miss Jones remembered the warm breath of Dr. Jacoby’s voice whispering into her ear, “You are too talented to be squandered, my dear.” Squandered? What did he intend to do with her?
“Miss Jones,” the disembodied voice of Dr. Jacoby greeted. Amanda glimpsed a silhouette blocking the faint light. “Pardon my discourtesy for leaving you on the floor. Bringing a bed down into this chamber would be neither easy nor expedient. I hope you were not too uncomfortable.”
Amanda sought a means of defense or escape. Dr. Jacoby assured her, “You shall find neither weapons nor egress readily available here.”
Where was she? Amanda’s keen senses and restless mind soaked in every discernable detail. The voice asked her, “You remain silent? Why? Miss Jones, as your teacher, I have always appreciated your insatiable curiosity. Ask your questions and perhaps I shall answer them.”
The sleuth enquired, “Are we under your house?”
“My house is a façade. We are in a temple of the old religion.”
Amanda remembered Dr. Jacoby’s lectures: the myths of yore may be the embellishments of a fantastic prehistory. Amanda remembered asking, “Dr. Jacoby, are you implying the gods of old may have been extraterrestrial visitors?”
The professor chuckled. He grinned, “They were only gods to those who worshipped them.”
In the shadows of the here-and-now, the voice of Dr. Jacoby explained, “The deeper the truth the more unsettling it is to hear it. I wanted to confide in you but was not at liberty to do so in the presence of the ignorant masses. My dear, you always understood me beyond my candor. I knew you were the one. I’m glad you came to me… of your own free will.”
“Dr. Jacoby, I’m your captive. I’d appreciate you letting me go. I was on your property illegally so don’t worry about me telling the authorities anything.”
The man insisted, “Join me and I shall tell you everything.”
“Everything?”
“Miss Jones, I am privy to the secrets of the ancients. I know why we fear. We are right to fear. The power that scares us, however, is a knowledge that can be learned. What terrifies us can be harnessed.”
“Dr. Jacoby, what exactly do you want with me?”
“Be my apprentice. Join me in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge and inhuman power. Miss Jones, you shall think nothing of human science when you see what I have to show you.”
“Magic and aliens? Dr. Jacoby, are we talking about magic and aliens?”
The professor answered, “Human ignorance mystified the inhuman science of our world’s visitors. Actually, our ‘visitors’ never really went away.”
Amanda snickered. It actually saddened her to hear such tabloid nonsense from an archaeologist she once admired. She entertained her captor’s lunacy by claiming, “Dr. Jacoby, I’d be more than happy to review your findings. I’m sure you’ve documented everything you’re telling me.”
“I have written many notes, yes, but the ‘documents’ in question were not written by me.”
“Really? Did you find an old tome?”
“The ‘documents’ are engraved in stone… but written in blood.”
Amanda cringed and shivered. She dared ask, “Doctor, what do you mean by that?” The man did not answer. Miss Jones could barely hear him… chanting. The silhouette in the dim light suddenly looked like a man with arms outstretched. A hum that sounded vaguely like a chanting choir of fallen angels suddenly sounded all around Amanda, as if she were in the eye of a whirlpool of sound! As the humming became a crescendo, Amanda heard the unheard voice of Dr. Lazarus Jacoby tell her, “I send you out… that I may follow you.” A white flash filled the chamber!
Amanda awoke in darkness that brightened into her room. She was on the floor, wide awake. What did Dr. Jacoby mean by “follow you” and was he somehow watching her now? Everything he claimed rang true but felt sinister. Amanda had to stop him… but how? “He wants me to investigate,” Miss Jones concluded aloud. “He’s missing a piece of some puzzle. He wants me to find it for him.” Miss Jones considered doing nothing, so as to foil Dr. Jacoby’s plans with inaction. Amanda Jones was Amanda Jones, however, for better or for worse. It was simply not within her power to do nothing. She had a line of inquiry to follow. She would follow it… and hope for the best.