The Legend of Silver and Gold Book Two The Old Ones

Later that day, Carver, Molly and Tora arrived at a motel. None of them expected to see the motel out there since they were in the middle of nowhere. The motel didn’t look that impressive. Rather, it looked old and run down. Like no one had been there for years. There wasn’t even a parking area outside the motel.

Carver parked his car on the side of the road before turning the car off. He looked at the sky. “The sun is getting low.” He told Tora and Molly. “Might not be an ideal place but the Old Ones shouldn’t be able to find us out here.” He hoped that he sounded convincing.

Tora looked at the old motel. “What is this place even called?” She asked. She didn’t see a welcome sign anywhere.

Molly went onto the porch of the motel. She noticed that the door looked dusty. She wiped some of the dust away, coughing a little as the dust went in her face. She saw a sign start to appear. She wiped away more of the dust. “It’s called Crossroads Inn.” She told Tora and Carver. She didn’t know what that meant but it sounded like an old name.

“Are we really going to spend the night here?” Tora asked as she looked at the old motel. Something about the place didn’t seem right to her.

Carver looked at the old motel. He didn’t want to spend the night there but with the sun going down, he knew that it would be bad if they ran across Shub-Niggurath on the gravel road. He just hoped that they would have extra time by hiding out in the motel until he could make a real plan. “Come on Tora.” He said. “We should be safe here for now.” Carver opened the door and the three went inside…

…and appeared in what looked like a fancy lobby area. The three were startled. The inside looked nothing like the outside of the motel. It was almost as if the place was in it’s prime. The lights revealed a polished floor and a large television. The counter looked like it was crafted for someone important.

Tora frowned and turned around. She could see the gravel road through the door and the dust on the porch. She turned around so she was facing the inside of the motel again. She definitely didn’t trust the place. “What is this place?” She asked.

A concierge in a black suit with slicked black hair went up to them. “Welcome to Crossroads Inn.” He told them. “I’m Charon. I will be your host tonight. Right this way.” He ushered them to the counter and took out a register book.

“Did you say your name was Charon?” Carver asked. There was something about that name that seemed familiar to him.

Charon nodded. “Charon, one of the many concierges of Crossroads Inn. Strange name I know but what can I say? You’re named what you’re named.” He told them as he opened the book. “So how long do you plan to stay with us here?”

“Us?” Molly asked before she looked around. There wasn’t any sign of anyone else there.

“Of course, us.” Charon replied. “The motel and it’s staff.”

“Just tonight.” Carver replied. “We’re just passing through on our trip.”

“Just one night?” Charon asked. “If you say so. What are your names?”

Carver, Tora and Molly looked at each other. They all knew that with how strange the motel was, they shouldn’t give their real names. “I’m Richard Storm.” Carver replied. “These are my daughters, Lily Storm and Emily Storm.”

Charon smiled as he wrote down the names. “Welcome to Crossroads Inn.” He told them. He turned around and took a key off of the wall. He handed it to Carver. “You have room thirteen.” He said.

Carver took the key. “Thank you.” He told Charon before he looked at the two girls. “Let’s go.”

A few minutes later, the three were in their hotel room. Tora locked the door behind her. Carver went over to the windows and pulled the curtains shut.

Molly sat down on the bed. “Does anyone else find this place really weird?” She asked even though she already knew the answer.

“It really is.” Tora said. “From the outside, it looks like a rundown abandoned motel. On the inside, it looks like it was just opened.” She shook her head. “How does that work?”

Carver turned to the two. “For now, let’s just hope that the Old Ones don’t find us here.” He said before he took out his phone. “Great. No signal.” He pocketed his phone. So much for trying to call Elizabeth. He was worried something bad had happened to her.

Tora shivered. “This whole place seems off. Like it was just dropped here.” She said.

“There’s no way that the Old Ones know where we are.” Carver said. He had to believe that. He didn’t even know where they were. He turned on a lamp before turning off the main light. “But best not to jinx it.” He added. “We’ll keep a low profile here for the night. As soon as the sun is up tomorrow, we’ll head out quickly.”

“You have a plan?” Molly asked.

“Not exactly.” Carver replied. “I’m still trying to figure out a plan.” He sat down on the other bed. “We’re not ready to go to Providence yet. Neither of you have been taught magic or how to use your auras. I don’t know any spells that would be best used to keep the Old Ones locked away.” Carver realized that he was making it sound like none of them stood a chance but he couldn’t help but feel like that. Only Nichallo had had any experience with dealing with the Old Ones and that was back when they had all been sealed away.

“What are we going to do then?” Tora asked. “We can’t let the Old Ones rise up.” She refused to let the Old Ones win.

Carver looked at Tora. “We’ll find a way to beat them.” He told her. “After all, Nichallo must have had a spell ready in case Lovecraft succeeded at releasing all of the Cthulhu Mythos.”

“Except that two of the Old Ones did escape and Nichallo did nothing about it.” Tora reminded Carver.

Carver realized that Tora was right. There were two of the Old Ones on the loose. “If I know Nichallo as well as I do, he had a plan for them or didn’t know that they had escaped. Seeing how they captured him so easily, I would say he didn’t know that they had escaped.”

“Well, with Nichallo their prisoner, we can’t exactly ask him what the spell was that is supposed to seal the Old Ones away for good.” Molly reminded them.

“We can’t ask him but we can ask the one Nichallo would have gotten the spell from.” Carver replied. Seeing both girls giving him a confused look, he continued. “Nichallo has spent thousands of years living on this Earth, fighting the Dark Ones’ servants. Most of the stuff in his shop were relics or replicas of relics that he came across.” Carver smiled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had gotten a copy of the spell from someone.”

“Carver, if that is true, we wouldn’t be able to speak to that person even if we wanted to.” Molly said. “After all, Nichallo has been on this earth for thousands of years. For all we know, that person is most likely dead.”

“If the person is who I think it is, we have nothing to worry about.” Carver quickly told them. “He’s still quite alive and well even if he now prefers to spend his days far north of the world.”

“Who are you talking about?” Tora asked. She was still confused.

“The Old Ones had a city that sank below the ocean.” Carver told the two. “They were located in the Pacific Ocean but an immortal that Nichallo and I know very well said the city sank in the Atlantic.”

Molly put two and two together. “Atlantis.” She said. “The immortal is Plato, isn’t it?”

Tora shook her head. “No way is Atlantis a fictional place.” She said. “There’s been traces of it throughout all of history. No way can it be fictional.”

Carver smiled. “Hate to tell you the truth but Plato himself told me that in confidence.” He told Tora. “Plato and the humans of the ancient past wanted to ensure that the Old Ones never returned and the best way they figured to do that was to erase all traces of them. He knew that it would be hard to forget a sinking city so he changed the story to hide the truth. He told Nichallo and me the truth, making us swear to keep it a secret until the time was right to reveal the truth.”

“And he didn’t tell you the spell to seal away the Old Ones if they should escape?” Molly asked.

Carver shook his head. “Sadly he didn’t.” He replied.

Tora’s ears perked up as she heard something that sounded like a hissing. She looked around. “Do you guys hear that?” She asked.

Carver and Molly looked around. They heard the hissing too. It didn’t sound like a snake hissing.

Carver then noticed what looked like gas coming from the vents. “Cover your faces!” He shouted as he quickly held his hand over his nose and mouth. He had a feeling that someone was trying to knock them out. He couldn’t figure out though who had found them so quickly. Before he could say anything, he felt something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out.