Chapter 1: The Missing Man

On a cold October night in Boston in the year 1936, a strange reunion took place. Spurred by a mysterious warning from Count Rostov in Berlin and a frantic missive from Buck Martin in Brazil, four men who had not seen each other for a decade joined forces again to struggle against the rising tide of darkness.

Only Spencer Thompson was expected to be absent; his incarceration after a failed burglary attempt was well-known. But it soon became clear that Dr. Robert Harger was missing as well. A hastily organized search of the Doctor's house yielded vital clues: three letters to Professor Rutherford, never mailed, written over the course of several years.

The first letter told of Harger's piecing together of several clues about the horrible fate that befell the Olympia survivors – knowledge of which had driven him to seek forgetfulness in a bottle. The second letter recounted his attempt to find a way to rid himself of the cursed amulet, culminating in a meeting with Gus Paul, an expert on the Jewish Kaballah. In his final letter written several days before the reunion, Harger admitted he had discovered how to rid himself of the amulet, but feared the steps he must take. Now, at last, he had decided to make the desperate attempt, renting a boat and performing a strange ritual upon midnight seas. Should he fail to return, he urged his friends to contact Gus Paul, now under threat due to his association with the doctor.

The investigators made an ominous discovery: Harger had rented his boat near the beach where De Roca had made his final attack a decade past. The boat had been rented a week ago and had never been returned. Still haunted by the memory of De Roca's horrible half-human minions, the investigators did not dare to explore the beach at night. Instead, they turned their attention to Harger's last request and placed a long-distance call to Gus Paul in New York City.

They quickly arranged to meet Paul in New York that morning. Paul was already acquainted with Harger's account of the fantastic events of 1926, and his own mystical studies inclined him to give it some credence. Over a mediocre breakfast at a local café, Paul recounted his own experiences with a man named Conrad Witten, chairman of a veteran's charity called the Beneficial Society for the Care and Treatment of Veterans of the Great War.

Years earlier, Witten had sought Paul's expertise in analyzing a photograph of a mysterious amulet thought to be of cabalistic design. Witten said it was a gift from an anonymous donor, and because of its unique design the Beneficial Society was having difficulty getting it appraised. Paul could offer little help – the amulet clearly had nothing to do with Kaballah – but he readily assented to Witten's request that the matter be kept confidential. Several weeks ago, Witten had returned, angrily accusing Paul of having broken his promise; in recent years, there had been word of several inquiries among scholars and academics about a strange amulet matching the design in Witten's photograph. Paul realized that these must have been triggered by Harger's investigations, but he kept the doctor's confidence, insisting to Witten that he had made no such inquiries. Clearly unsatisfied, Witten left with a vague but ominous threat. Since then, Paul had several times felt he was being watched or followed. Fearing for his and the doctor's safety, he had contacted Harger.

In an effort to learn more about Harger's fate, the investigators called the boat rental shop. To their dismay, they learned that the boat had been found washed ashore in pieces. Furthermore, the shop owner claimed that it was "full of bullet holes." There now seemed little doubt about the fate of their friend, but the pressing matter of Witten's threat left no time for grief.

After some artful maneuvers to evade potential followers, Paul, Rostov and Huxley paid a visit to the offices of the Beneficial Society. There, an apologetic Witten attempted to make amends for "losing his temper" with Paul. He offered to seek his donor's permission to discuss details about the amulet (assisting the investigators in their fictitious attempt to appraise a similar artifact). There was no doubt in Paul's mind that Witten was lying; his years of haberdashery had given him a keen insight into human nature. Nonetheless, the investigators accepted Witten's promise to contact Rostov – whom he seemed to recognize from a lecture years before – with the results of his discussion with the donor.

After the interview, Paul distracted the vacuously charming secretary, Mary Cooper, while Rostov listened at the door of Witten's office. Despite some early successes, Paul's charismatic demeanor ran afoul of Mary's time-consuming hair-care regimen. Meanwhile, however, Rostov was able to discern the sound of furniture being moved within Witten's office. A cautious peek into the office was spotted by Witten, whereupon Rostov boldly entered and remarked upon the curious aquarium he had just noticed, the very piece of furniture Witten had been dragging across the floor.

Witten explained that the aquarium, enclosed on all sides, was designed for deep sea creatures that could not survive the low pressure of an ordinary tank. Within, strange, translucent spidery creatures crawled in an eerie silence. Witten called them "sea spiders," another exotic gift from an anonymous donor. "They are not true spiders, of course," he explained. "Rather some type of polyp. I don't know the scientific name."

There was something else odd about the aquarium, but Rostov could not place what it was. The ghost-like creatures drew him with an uneasy fascination, but he knew he could not push his luck any further. With an aristocratic bow, he bade farewell to Witten and the three men left the office.

Guarding against being followed, the investigators returned to the hotel room that Rostov had secured. It was now time to plan their next move, but Rostov had an unnerving feeling that their time was very short…