Free The Weird Company by Pete Rawlik

Ephraim, the Daughters, the Order, those who have been tainted by the Dreaming God. They are united in their opposition to the Vugg-Shoggog, but that is all. Once the danger has passed . . .” He coughed violently. “Barnabas will run things, but you Ephraim, ye’ll make sure to keep them ship-shape. There are plans my friend, and plans within plans.”
    Ephraim shook my head, “Why me Obed? I’m an outsider. I know nothing. I’m not part of this thing you’ve done.”
    The dying man hissed and wheezed. “That’s why ye’ve been chosen. Ye’ve no allegiance to anyone. That makes ye perfect for the job.” His claw patted Ephraim’s hand again. “Ye have talents of yer own, that much is clear. Ye’ll learn more, they will teach ye, but be careful, they know more than they’re willing to teach. Ye do the same.”
    He coughed and gasped. His hand withdrew and clawed at his neck. One of the women leaned in to comfort him and in Obed’s frenzied struggle for air his claw-like hand tore away the veil of his attendant and for the first time Ephraim Waite saw what lay beneath that cloaked visage. As he had suspected, the Innsmouth look had been inherited from these women, though it pained him to call them that. They were hairless ichthyic things with huge, lidless eyes, lipless mouths and pulsating membranes where ear should have been. There were slits in the throat that flexed in and out exposing the crimson gills beneath. Like their children their skin was scaly, but also covered with a thin layer of slime that shimmered in the light. Panicked, Ephraim turned, scrambled to his feet and, overcome with fear, could do little but gasp in terror and run. Those who had gathered to witness his passage tittered in amusement as Ephraim fled from Obed’s deathbed and into the night, seeking refuge in the sanctuary hidden beneath his home.
    For more decades than he had cared to imagine Ephraim had avoided complicity in the shadows over Innsmouth. Now he had no choice, the time had come to understand the truth, and if a man such as Obed could not only accept such arrangements, but embrace them, who was he to deny his own part in that plan? What was happening in Innsmouth was clearly important. There was a threat, a vague one to be sure, but through his communal with the things that dwelt off of the reef, he soon learned it was something that threatened not only men, but all life on the planet, and even beyond. Obed Marsh had made a pact, but while it may have seemed wholly demonic in nature, the truth was far more terrifying. He pressed for details but was denied. The threat was real, they promised, but to intervene too soon was to risk a completely different kind of catastrophe. The future was fraught with peril, and there were few paths that led to a favorable outcome for all involved. If the allied forces were to move to early the result would be just as catastrophic as not acting at all. There was the plan, and that was all Ephraim needed to know. He did what he was told, not because he believed, but because he had no reason not to. He surrendered himself completely to the task at hand, and when in 1905 the Daughters came and told him that it was time to take a wife and have a child, he did so without protest. The plan was everything, and though he could not see what was being built or why, he knew that it had to be done.
    Ostensibly, her name was Zulieka Marsh, and she was supposedly amongst the third generation born in Innsmouth. She was not unpleasant to look at, though Ephraim would be hard pressed to say she was attractive. She was a plain girl, thin but not overly so, she had the look, and the strength that went with it, but bore none of the traits that would cause people to question her parentage, or humanity. Despite this, she still wore the veil that had become common amongst women of Innsmouth, and outside of the home none saw her without it. That their marriage was arranged was not lost on her, and together they