Crushed (City of Eldrich Book 2)

by Laura Kirwan

  An Eldrich police car, light bar flashing, blocked the entrance to the parking lot, hemming in Ruth’s minivan.

  A traffic stop. A cop had pulled the wizards over. The cop stepped out of the cruiser and walked slowly to the minivan, gun drawn. Meaghan recognized him as the officer who’d accompanied Brian to Jamie’s house the previous evening. Lyons, she thought, remembering the name tag on his uniform shirt. Meaghan crept up to the front counter and crouched behind it to get a better view.

  “Sir,” Lyons shouted toward the minivan. “Stay where you are. Stay in the van.”

  The large wizard Meaghan had nearly run over stepped out of the driver’s seat, holding up his hands, seemingly in a placating gesture, then shouted something. Lyons flew backwards against the cruiser, hitting it hard enough to dent the door panel. He crumpled to the ground and didn’t move.

  The wizard walked over to Lyons, checked his pulse, then unbuckled Lyons’s utility belt and handed it to one of his gray-robed companions. The wizard conjured a small hovering ball of light that dimly illuminated the parking area. He pulled off his gray robe to reveal black paramilitary clothing and poked around Lyons’s still form with his foot, then bent to pick up something.

  Lyons’s gun. The big wizard took back the utility belt, pulled out the spare clip, and dropped the belt in the bushes next to the driveway. He tucked the gun in the back of his waistband and shoved the clip in his pocket. In the dim light, Meaghan recognized him as one of the wizards who had kidnapped Jamie back in June. Not Cooper, the malevolent ringleader, but the one who had waited in the SUV with a knife to Jamie’s throat. The one who most likely had carved the sigils into Jamie’s chest and back.

  Meaghan felt her temper rise, now sorry she hadn’t tried harder to mow him down with the food truck.

  With a grim smile, the wizard turned back to Lyons and kicked him hard in the gut. Lyons groaned and curled into a ball.

  Not dead, Meaghan thought, relieved. The wizards dragged him to the back of the minivan and shoved him into the cargo area. The big wizard climbed into the police cruiser and backed up to let the minivan exit the lot. She could see him talking to the wizards in the van. He pointed toward city hall and they drove off.

  Meaghan thought he was going to follow the minivan. Instead he cut the light bar and headlights and, in darkness, pulled into the parking lot and down the driveway towards the back of the garage.

  Meaghan ran down the hall. “We got trouble,” she shouted. “The big wizard in a police car headed straight for us.”

  “Shit,” Brian said. He stood outside the door to Terry’s forge. “I need my gun.”

  “Won’t do any good,” Eliot answered, grabbing Brian’s arm. “Everybody in the forge. Now.”

  Meaghan made it to the forge a moment before the police cruiser rammed through the closed garage door.

  And smashed right into the back of Russ’s truck.

  The truck bumped up a few inches and that was all. The police cruiser absorbed the remaining shock, crumpling like an aluminum can as the airbags deployed with a loud bang.

  Natalie had been right, Meaghan thought. That truck was built like a tank.

  For a moment, everyone stood silent in shock. Brian moved first, but Eliot held him back. “Stay here. Big magic.” He motioned to Natalie. “C’mon, Red. You hold him, I’ll stun him.”

  They didn’t need to do either. When they got to the shattered cruiser, they found the wizard trapped in the wreckage, barely conscious. Eliot motioned to the group. “Meaghan, come over here. The rest of you stay back, okay?”

  Meaghan felt a savage joy, which ended abruptly as she neared the mangled car. Eliot had deflated the air bags and Meaghan could see that all they had done was give the wizard behind the wheel a few extra moments of life. Blood bubbled from his nose and mouth with each wheezing gasp. The lower half of his body was encased in the remains of the car. A piece of jagged bone jutted from his upper arm.

  Up close she saw how young he was, no older than Jamie. As much as she hated him for the things she knew he had done, she felt a pang of shame at her initial delight. He’s somebody’s son, she thought. Once upon a time, a woman gave birth to him.

  Meaghan’s eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want to feel compassion for this man, this monster, as he lay dying, but she couldn’t help herself. He no longer seemed huge and menacing, but small and fragile, smashed beyond repair.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Not . . . telling . . . you,” he gasped. “They’re almost here.”

  “Who’s almost here?”

  “Them . . . they . . .” He groaned and spit up a wave of fresh blood. “You’ll all burn . . . soon.”

  Even with his threats, she couldn’t hate him anymore. “What have you done to Jamie? What are those things you carved into him?”

  “The rift will . . . open. You . . . you . . .” The defiant look in his eyes vanished, replaced with fear. “It hurts . . . I . . . hurts.” He looked at Meaghan, a plea in his eyes. “Please . . . I . . .” He let out a final shuddering breath and was still.

  The three of them stared down at him, silent for a moment. Natalie broke the silence. “How do people get so wrong?” She turned to Meaghan, tears in her eyes. “I can’t even hate him. I should. What he did to Jamie was vicious and evil, but . . . look at him.”

  Meaghan put her arm around Natalie and pulled her close. “I know. I can’t hate him up close either.” She looked past Natalie to Eliot. “Whatever these things are, they need Jamie to help them get here and he told me he’ll pull the building down on top of himself and the Order to keep that from happening. We have to get inside city hall and help him.”

  Eliot was staring at the dead wizard. “Oh, shit. They didn’t.”

  Meaghan followed his gaze. “What?”

  “They rigged him.” He shoved her and Natalie hard. “Go!”

  Meaghan and Natalie ran, Eliot behind them. She heard a soft whoosh and felt a wall of air shove her from behind, then the world went dark.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Meaghan heard screaming. And voices. But she couldn’t tell what they were saying.

  She lay on her stomach on the gritty concrete floor. Hands touched her back and legs. Go away, she thought. She felt the hands shake her gently. Go away and let me sleep.

  The hands moved to her neck and head. She heard a voice, close to her, calling her name.

  Why’s Natalie calling me?

  “No major injuries that I can feel,” she heard Natalie’s panicked voice say. “Help me turn her over.”

  More hands rolled her body face up. She couldn’t see. After a moment of panic, Meaghan realized that her eyes were closed. She opened them and saw John’s worried eyes. She smiled, reached up a clumsy hand, and stroked his cheek. “What’s going on?”

  John, trying not to cry, took her hand and kissed it. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  He helped her into a sitting position. Meaghan shook her head, hard, trying to wake up. She glanced around. Russ crouched next to her, a relieved smile on his face. Everyone else clustered around something out in the garage. She heard the rough hiss of a fire extinguisher.

  The police car. She remembered the crash. And then . . . the memory rushed back. “That wizard, his body, it exploded?”

  “Yeah,” Russ said. “You scared the shit out of us.”

  “Natalie? I heard her talking a minute ago.”

  “She’s fine. You broke her fall. Which is how you ended up face first on the floor.”

  Eliot had been behind them. Meaghan’s stomach clenched. “Eliot?’

  “Over there,” John said, looking at the knot of people. “He’s hurt.”

  “Help me up. I need to see him.”

  With John’s help, she walked with unsteady steps into the garage. Everyone stepped aside. She slumped back to the floor next to Eliot.

  He smiled up at her. “How you doing?”

  “I’m fine. How about you?” Gent
ly, she took his hand. Blood streaked his face and his clothes hung in shreds, but the real damage was to his leg. A twisted chunk of steel jutted from his thigh. Someone had torn away the blood-soaked trouser leg, and used strips of cloth to secure the object in place.

  “I’ll live, so long as nobody pops the cork.” He gestured at his leg. “Impervious damn shit. Goes right through a protection spell. I gotta get me to the hospital.”

  Meaghan squeezed his hand. “We’re on it.” She looked up and said in a loud voice, “We need a car.”

  “On my way,” Brian said. “Unless anybody else knows how to hot-wire a vehicle?”

  “Take Red,” Eliot wheezed. “In case those shithead wizards are still roamin’ around.” He smiled up at Meaghan. “Whee. Your girl did something to ease the pain. Making me high. My bayou voice is coming back.” He grew serious. “You lean in close, Meg. We gotta talk.”

  She bent closer.

  “I can’t help you anymore, but you’ll be okay. You don’t need me.”

  “But you have power,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t.”

  “Shit, you don’t have power,” he rasped. “You’re the only one here whose head they can’t screw with. Whatever’s coming at us, you’re the only one who’ll be able to see its real face. Just because it looks big and scary to everybody else, doesn’t mean it is. You remember that.” His eyes fluttered shut for a moment. “Wooh, I’m off to dreamland here. Where was I?”

  “Why you think I have power,” Meaghan said.

  “Why I know you have power. You see the world the way it really is, not the way these magical bastards want you to see it. That’s power. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise . . .” His eyes fluttered again. “That’s why they’re so scared of you. Ooh, I think I’m going sleepy-bye for a while. Ruthie’ll take care of me. You take care of the rest of them.”

  His breathing grew deeper as he lost consciousness.

  Meaghan looked up at Ruth. “You’re taking him to the hospital?”

  Ruth nodded. Her eyes were red and swollen in her pale face.

  “Is everyone going to get stupid again with him gone?” Meaghan asked.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Eliot’s had some help.” She pointed at Jhoro, who was examining the remains of the police cruiser. “This one has some power of his own. Not magic. Something else.”

  Meaghan glanced over at Jhoro. Even in his baggy mismatched clothes and ball cap, he still drew attention.

  She remembered the utter devotion she’d felt in his followers when she was on her psychic high in Fahraya. And how easily he had read her intentions when she had tried to communicate with him mentally. It was Jhoro who had mixed up the hallucinogenic antidote to the scorpion bite and the foul-tasting drink that dialed Meaghan’s high back enough so she lost the giddiness but retained all the psychic benefit. Jhoro had assured her she would still “see whole” and not lose her connection to her dead father.

  “Annie said something,” Meaghan said to Ruth. “Something about how his grief was so strong it was manifesting memories. Like ghosts, but not. She said she’d never seen anything like it. And she said her empathic skills around him were goosed way beyond normal.” She turned to John. “What’s the deal with Jhoro?”

  “He’s a . . . what’s the word I hear used for ones like him? Shaman. A seer. Trying to be at least. He had to teach himself because V’hren killed the ones who would teach him.”

  Ruth nodded. “That might explain it. A self-taught Fahrayan shaman. Alex will go nuts over that.”

  John looked at Ruth. “Who is Alex?”

  “Our anthropologist. He works with me and Eliot.”

  John looked at her blankly.

  “Somebody who studies different cultures,” Meaghan said.

  John nodded.

  There was nothing to do now but wait for Brian. Meaghan, remembering Lyons’s dropped utility belt, sent John out to look for it. The gun was gone, but there would probably be pepper spray and maybe a collapsible baton.

  And handcuffs.

  Meaghan watched her brother work his way around the room. Russ, falling back on his instinctive response to stress, was handing out sodas and snacks he’d found in the small fridge under the front counter. He had even less power than she did, but he’d follow her into hell whether she wanted him there or not. Eliot had said a forge was the safest place to be during a magical attack. The handcuffs would make sure he stayed there.

  Brian appeared at Ruth’s elbow. “The car’s outside. I can’t get it in here. We’re going to have to carry him out.”

  Meaghan almost told him about Lyons, his kidnapped fellow officer, then stopped. Brian couldn’t help Lyons now. All he could do was get himself killed or turned into a weapon for the wizards.

  Brian, John, and Jhoro popped the hinges on the bathroom door and used it to carry Eliot to the big SUV parked outside.

  Annie laughed when she saw it. “That’s Tony’s Escalade. You stole the mayor’s car.”

  Brian grinned. “He gave it to me. He lives a couple blocks north of here. He was home getting freaky in his living room with his latest girlfriend. And some of her friends. Nat and I told him we needed his car, he gestured at his pants, I took his keys, and here we are. Speaking of which . . .”

  He pulled Natalie into his arms and kissed her. She resisted for only a moment. When the kiss was done, Brian brushed the red curls off Natalie’s face and smiled at her. “Something to remember me by in case you get stupid for Blondie again.”

  Natalie, looking dazed, simply nodded.

  Brian held out the car keys to Ruth. “You know how to get to Williamsport?”

  Ruth shook her head. “Not without the magic bus I don’t. I don’t have a great sense of direction in normal landscapes, let alone the haunted forest out there. No way I can drive out of this valley at night without a navigator.”

  Meaghan felt relief. Ruth’s refusal to drive would save her an awkward conversation with Brian, who was even less likely than Russ to voluntarily stay behind. She dragged him away from the others so they couldn’t hear her. “Brian, you need to go with them. Eliot’s no help right now and Ruth needs you.”

  Brian looked at her, eyes narrowed as he gestured at the wreckage in the garage. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where that police cruiser came from.”

  Shit.

  “From somebody you can’t help right now. I need you to think strategically here, not heroically. You can’t defend us against magic. Even if you had your gun, it wouldn’t do you any good. And they could hex you, turn you against us.” She shook her head. “Get Ruth and Eliot out of here. Keep them safe. If we live through this mess, we still have to deal with the Fahrayans before winter and they’re our best resource.”

  “But, I can’t leave. Natalie—”

  “Has a lot more power than you do in this situation. And if she gets all love addled for Jhoro again, you really want to stick around and watch that?”

  Brian sighed. “No. But running away sure won’t win me any points.”

  “First person who says that’s what you did is getting his or her ass kicked. I need someone I can trust to do this. Eliot’s out cold and, as far as I can tell, Ruth’s a civilian. You need to get them out of town as fast as you can and stay with them until this is over.”

  “What about your brother? And John? They don’t have any more power than I do.”

  Now it was Meaghan’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, and they won’t go with you or stay behind willingly. I need somewhere safe to stash them.”

  “Like the forge,” Brian said. He dug into his back pocket and pulled out another set of handcuffs. “Take these.”

  She smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “And then there were seven,” Sid intoned, in a sepulchral voice as the Escalade pulled away.

  Meaghan motioned to Annie to wait while everyone else drifted back into the garage. “Soon it will be five. I need your help with something.”<
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  “Russ,” she said. “We need to keep him out of harm’s way.”

  Meaghan nodded. “And John.”

  “They won’t leave just because we ask them.”

  “That’s why I have these.” Meaghan showed Annie both pairs of handcuffs—the set Brian had given her and the set John had found in Lyons’ abandoned utility belt.

  Annie giggled. “Ooh, you naughty girl.”

  Meaghan rolled her eyes. “If the forge is as safe as Eliot claims—”

  “It is. Ruth was telling me about it. Something to do with all the iron molecules getting into everything and making it super-impervious.”

  “But this forge has a magical lock.”

  “Yeah, but that’s outside.”

  “That makes a difference?”

  Annie shrugged. “Apparently. Don’t ask me to explain this crap. I don’t understand it any better than you do.”

  “So, do you know this Terry guy? What’s his deal?”

  “He and his wife moved here right before you did. They’ve been renting a place on the east side, out by the river.”

  “Not anymore,” Meaghan said. “According to John, they bought the house across the street from me and are about to move in.”

  Annie raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. I’ve seen him around, but I don’t know anything about him. He’s John’s AA sponsor?”

  Meaghan nodded. “John told me he’s clued in and he used to be a big deal to his people, but isn’t now.”

  Annie snorted. “Well, that narrows it down. That only describes practically every leader ever.”

  “Except this guy has pissed off somebody magical. Or he’s magical himself.”

  “Or both.” Annie glanced at the handcuffs Meaghan held. “You want to lock Russ and John in the forge for their own safety and you want me to help you.”

  “Yeah. Any suggestions?”

  “Go find something to cuff them to and I’ll round them up. Provided Russ isn’t drooling over Jhoro now that Eliot’s gone.”