Crushed (City of Eldrich Book 2)

by Laura Kirwan

  “Oh, that.” Jamie scratched his arms absentmindedly. He could barely stand still. “That was kinda cool. I sort of floated out the window and down to the lawn. I couldn’t bring down the building like I thought, but I can fly . . . well, not fly really, more like fall slowly. It’s sort of like flying, but only in one direction.”

  Natalie shoved Brian aside. She seemed angry. “How the hell did you do that? You’ve never been able to do that. I can’t even do that.”

  Jamie smiled at her. “Nat!”

  She shoved him away when he tried to hug her. “Don’t you Nat me, you tweaker. How much of that lorazepam stuff have you taken?”

  He sighed. “Don’t be pissy. I’m fine.”

  “How much?”

  Jamie rolled his eyes and started walking in a tiny circle in front of her. “I tried cutting back, but when I heard the wizards coming I knew that was a mistake, so I jammed a nice full needle into my vein before they broke the door down.” He stopped circling and tried to stand still, but within moments, he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “I can handle it.”

  Natalie snorted. “The hell you can. Eliot said too much of that shit would kill you. Give you a heart attack.” She punched him hard on the arm. “If you die, I’m gonna be so pissed at you. I’ll hold daily séances so I can tell you what an asshole you are.”

  He grinned at her, rubbing his arm where she’d hit him. “I love you too. You can drag me to rehab when this shit is over, but now we’ve got wizards to fight.” He looked over at Meaghan, still grinning. “Where’s this Eliot guy anyway? I’d like to meet him.”

  Brian stepped to Natalie’s side. “Injured. In the hospital in Williamsport.”

  Jamie squinted in the dim light. “Brian? What are you doing here?” He stared at him a moment. “Wait. You were at my house. When I . . .” He shut his eyes, the manic energy draining from his face. “When I . . . did what I did. Oh, God. I’m . . . it’s . . .” He looked back at Natalie. “I lied. I’m not fine at all. If I live through this, I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to her. And to you. To all of you.”

  Natalie grabbed him into a fierce hug. “Shut up. Nobody’s dying tonight. Except those damn wizards.”

  Jamie let himself be hugged for only a moment before pulling away. He looked at Meaghan. “What are you doing here? Is my father here?”

  Meaghan shook her head. “We locked him and Russ away somewhere safe.”

  Jamie giggled. “I’m guessing John didn’t agree to that.”

  “No. He’s pretty angry with me right now.”

  Jamie gave her a small smile. “He’ll get over it. He really likes you.” He took a deep breath. “So, what’s going on out here?”

  Sid finally stepped up. “Did the leprechaun sell us out?”

  “Sid!” Jamie gave him a beaming smile, then looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

  “You didn’t see a leprechaun in city hall? He was supposed to find you and help you.”

  “There was nobody there but me and the wizards.”

  “I knew it,” Sid said, his voice grim. “I knew we couldn’t trust him.”

  Meaghan glared at him. “You know nothing. You don’t even have circumstantial evidence. For all we know, the stairs collapsed under him and he’s lying dead at the bottom of the tunnel. Give it a rest.”

  “But—”

  Meaghan silenced him with a furious look. “Enough.” She turned back to Jamie. “Did you see Marnie? Was she with the wizards?”

  Jamie shook his head. “No. Not that I noticed, but it was crazy in there. But I did see the bonfire the mob was building. Whether that was for me or Marnie, I don’t know.”

  “What about the wizards who took you in June? Or that thing that was inside your uncle? Are they involved in this?”

  Again Jamie shook his head. “I didn’t see them, but I heard somebody calling for . . .” He shivered and for a moment looked small and lost. “Cooper. The one in charge. The one you confronted at the gateway. And if he was there, then the other two—” He squeezed his eyes shut, but not before a tear slipped down his cheek. “That big one, the one who . . . cut me . . . he . . .”

  Natalie drew in a sharp breath through her gritted teeth.

  “He’s dead,” Meaghan told Jamie. “We watched him die.”

  Jamie sagged with relief. “He’s dead? Really? He’s dead? Oh, thank God.”

  Meaghan put a supportive arm around him and he clung to her. She could feel his body shaking. She gave him a moment to calm down, then asked. “That . . . thing in your uncle. The Power. Is it involved?”

  Jamie nodded but seemed calmer. Of the two, Meaghan would have expected him to be more afraid of the Power. “It’s . . . I could feel something, but I don’t know if it was that or the other . . . things that are trying to get through. I think they’re related somehow.”

  “The things the wizards are trying to let in?” Meaghan asked.

  Jamie nodded.

  “But Cooper can’t let them in without you, right?” Natalie looked back and forth between Meaghan and Jamie for confirmation.

  “Wrong,” Annie gasped from the periphery as she slumped onto her knees in the grass, holding her head. “They’ve got a replacement.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  “Is this what you felt in the basement?” Annie asked. “When you got sick?”

  Before Meaghan could answer, Annie vomited onto the grass. Meaghan rushed over to her and pulled back her hair as she vomited again.

  Annie rubbed her mouth with her hand and grimaced. “Ewww. I wish I hadn’t eaten all those cookies.”

  Meaghan stroked her back. “What happened?”

  “Someone stabbed me in the forehead with an icicle dipped in acid.” She crawled away from the puddle and then curled in a ball on the grass. “Gah. That was awful.”

  The group stood silent, staring at Annie, while Jamie crouched down next to her. “Who’s my replacement?”

  Annie smiled faintly. “Don’t get jealous. Your cousin. They took your cousin from the mob.”

  Jamie squeezed her shoulder gently and smiled. “Of course they did. That show-off. Where did they take him?”

  “Inside. The vortex.” Annie shut her eyes tightly and seemed to be listening to something.

  “What are they doing to him?” Meaghan asked.

  “Hang on a sec.” Annie, eyes still shut, nodded. “I can hear the—” She curled into a ball and cried out in pain. “Oh, they . . . it’s the blood. They’re going to use his blood.”

  “But, I thought they needed Jamie,” Natalie said.

  “No,” Annie said. “They’re far enough along that painted sigils will do. Jhoro’s blood is close enough to Jamie’s to work.”

  “Oh, shit,” Natalie said. “They’ll use his blood to draw them. Like Alastair did.”

  Meaghan nodded. “The conduit and the sacrifice. That’s what Finn told me. Blood and fire. The symbols and blood must be the conduit and they’ll burn Marnie as the sacrifice. Only whatever Alastair summoned scared him so badly he set himself on fire.”

  “Who’s Alastair?” Jamie asked.

  “So Alastair torched himself as a sacrifice to these things?” Natalie said. “That doesn’t make any sense. Those things didn’t get into our world then or we wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Who’s Alastair?” Jamie asked again. “When did you talk to Finn?”

  Meaghan scowled. “Maybe he did it wrong. Maybe it didn’t work because he burned himself instead of somebody else. Who knows? But we’ve got the same scenario unfolding here and we can’t allow it to happen.”

  “Who the hell is Alastair?” Jamie asked, frustration in his voice.

  “Scottish guy,” Annie said, still curled in a ball on the ground. “Welland Eldrich’s many times great grandpa. Nuttier even than Welland. Barbecued himself after painting bloody sigils all over the church wall. Owen knew him.”

  “Who’s Owen?” Jamie asked. “Who are all thes
e new people?”

  “Owen’s the leprechaun,” Meaghan said distractedly. “The one who was supposed to join forces with you in city hall.”

  “I’m so confused.” With a heavy sigh, Jamie slumped down next to Annie. Even in a reclining position, he couldn’t stay still. His legs twitched and he shuffled his feet restlessly in the grass.

  Annie reached out a hand and patted him clumsily on the head. “You aren’t the only one.” She pulled herself awkwardly into a sitting position and looked at Meaghan. “So, what do we do now?”

  Meaghan flashed suddenly on a memory from her first year of law school. A professor had grilled her about a concept she didn’t understand, badgering her for an answer despite her obvious confusion. When he had asked her in exasperation what she would tell her client, she had replied, in tears, “I’d tell him to find a real lawyer.”

  For a moment, Meaghan wanted to throw back her head and wail, “Find a real leader.” Instead she took a deep breath to steady herself and said, “Let me think.”

  Smaller problems. Meaghan shoved aside her worry for Jhoro and Marnie for the moment. Rushing in unprepared wouldn’t help them.

  She did a quick mental inventory. She now had two witches on her side as well as Jamie and his current abilities. And she thought she could trust Emily for now.

  As for Jamie—at the moment he was firmly on their side, but for how long? His ability to fight the influence of the sigils was pharmaceutically induced and she had no clear idea how long she could count on it. He was fidgeting like a strung-out junkie. When the magically supercharged lorazepam wore off, what would happen? Would he merely fall back under the sigils’ influence or would something more dramatic occur? Worse, could he go from ally to enemy without anyone noticing? Provided he didn’t have a heart attack first.

  For now, she’d ask Natalie and Annie to keep an eye on him. That was the best she could do in the circumstances.

  Owen was on the missing list—he might still be in play, but without knowing more, Meaghan couldn’t count on his assistance. She had been surprised by her furious reaction to Sid’s accusations about Owen. Sid wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t said herself only yesterday. She knew she shouldn’t trust Owen, but somehow she did. Whether that was wise or foolish remained to be seen, but Meaghan didn’t want to believe that he’d sold them out.

  And then there was Sid. She didn’t want to be angry with him. He’d been a brave, loyal companion in Fahraya and he’d nearly given his life helping her get Jamie back.

  If it was only his mistrust of Owen, she could deal with it. But Meaghan knew he was hiding things from her. She knew him well enough to believe that he was trying to protect her, but somehow that made it worse. Sid was keeping things from her that he didn’t think she could handle. What if he was right? What if he and everyone else could see what she herself believed in her deepest heart—that she was too weak and too powerless to fill her father’s shoes?

  How was she supposed to believe in herself if nobody else did?

  She sighed and shoved down her insecurities. For good or ill, everyone was looking at her for answers. She didn’t have time for self-doubt.

  Smaller problems . . . could she count of either of the mobs circulating through Eldrich?

  From what Meaghan could tell, most of the band following Nate were non-magical. Witches seemed drawn to the mob building the Order’s bonfire. But why? That made no sense. Why would the witches want to burn another witch? Why was the spell so strong when it came to the witches?

  Meaghan glanced around to see what everyone was doing. Nearby, Emily stood alone on the sidewalk, staring at her feet, trying to avoid Natalie and Jamie, who were sitting together on the grass whispering to each other and glaring at her.

  Meaghan knew that asking them to trust Emily was impossible. The best Meaghan could hope for was to avoid outright mutiny. Nate and Emily’s companions were also getting restless, some pacing, others whispering in small groups.

  Meaghan needed to get a handle on things fast or there’d be trouble. She grabbed Sid and Nate and pulled them aside. “Let me get the chronology straight,” she said in a low voice. “We were on the square and Jhoro took off to lure the mob away and you followed him.”

  Sid nodded.

  “And then the wizards headed to the square to find us, so we headed over to the historical society,” Meaghan said.

  “Which was where I figured you’d go when I saw the wizards cross the road.” Sid laughed nervously. “Hey, that sounds like the start of a joke. Why did the wizard cross the—”

  He wilted under Meaghan’s glare.

  “What happened then?” Meaghan asked through gritted teeth.

  “Uh, well, we ran around a bit, letting the mob chase us. Mobs don’t move very fast, by the way. You’d think they would, but—”

  “Sid,” Meaghan said. “Not a great time to be cutesy. What happened?”

  “We tried to lure the mob away from the square and ran smack into his bunch.”

  Sid pointed at Nate, who nodded and took up the story. “They grabbed Jhoro, then Brian pushed to the front of the pack and tried to shield him from Emily, who wanted to blast him into chunks right there.”

  Meaghan nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. What happened next?”

  Nate shook his head. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t believe it. Hell, I did see it and I can barely believe it.”

  “Jhoro did something?”

  “He smiled at her,” Nate said. “He nudged Brian aside, and took hold of Emily’s hand. She was so stunned she didn’t resist. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Emily began to cry. Big, sobby, weepy crying. She gave him a big bear hug and then turned around and told us to knock it off, that Jhoro wasn’t the enemy, and our job was to help him keep our loved ones from doing something stupid that they’d all regret.”

  “What did everybody else do?” Meaghan asked. “Emily got them to back down?”

  “No,” Sid said. “Jhoro got them to back down. It was . . .”

  Nate stared into the darkness. “I’m not sure I can even describe it.”

  “What did he say?”

  Nate shook his head. “He didn’t say anything. He . . . showed us. It was like . . . well, like doing ’shrooms. Ya know?”

  Meaghan nodded. “I know. Believe me. I know.”

  Annie had wandered up while Nate was talking. “Did you see the memories?” she asked. “Like ghosts but not? I’m sorry to be so imprecise. I can’t really describe it, either. Ghosts are the closest thing I can think of, but that’s still completely wrong.”

  “I suddenly had all these memories and feelings that weren’t mine,” Nate said. “I could . . .” He grimaced. “It was like for a moment I knew everything about everything and then it was gone.”

  “You saw whole,” Meaghan said.

  His face lit up. “Yeah. Saw whole. I like that. I can’t exactly remember what it was I saw, but I can feel it. Only I can’t find the words to explain it.”

  “It sort of transcended words,” Sid said. A moment later, he shook his small blue head. “No. That’s not right. It didn’t transcend words because it wasn’t . . . of words.” Sid looked at Meaghan. “I’m sorry. I can’t describe it either.”

  “Did everything seem clearer and brighter afterward?” Meaghan asked.

  “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”

  Meaghan smiled. “Same thing happened to me in Fahraya. After drinking a concoction brewed up by Jhoro. John said he was teaching himself how to be a shaman.”

  Nate nodded. “Shaman. Cool. That makes sense. So, then Em did some kind of counter hex to the love spell and we all got sane again.”

  Emily had joined them. “And then the other mob arrived,” she said. “The one with all the witches. That’s when things got weird.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  “That’s when things got weird?” Jamie bounced to his feet and walked over to Emily. “At the beginning of the summer, you handed me o
ver to those Order fucks so they could torture me to death, and now I’m supposed to trust you? You really expect us to believe you went from hating me and the rest of my species to being all warm and fuzzy because my super awesome cousin held your hand?”

  “You have no reason to trust me,” Emily said in a soft voice. “None at all, and it’s my fault. I did a terrible thing to you and asking for forgiveness now is beyond presumptuous. That level of forgiveness has to be earned.” She looked around the crowd. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s what happened.”

  Jamie glared at her. “You bet it’s presumptuous. If I live through this, which is far from certain, I’ll carry the scars of what you did to me for the rest of my life. I’ve lost my family. I’ll share the blame with you on that one, but I doubt it makes any difference to my wife, who’s never coming back, and who can blame her?”

  Natalie shook her head. “Jamie, you don’t know—”

  “Yeah, I do. Now shut up.” He pinned Emily under his furious glare. “I don’t know who I am anymore, but I’m not the guy she married. He died in Fahraya and you helped kill him. I think you’re an evil, conniving bitch, and this little performance is more of your bullshit. Nothing is forgiven. You try to betray us, and I won’t need that bonfire to burn a witch.” He tapped his temple. “Right now I can do it with a thought.”

  Nate stepped toward Jamie. “Yo, dude, that is so unfair.”

  Jamie glared at him. “What the fuck do you know about it, dude?”

  Emily stepped between then. “Nate, it’s all right. God knows, it’s the least I deserve.” She looked up at Jamie, who towered over her. “Do what you have to do. I don’t know who I am now, either. I want to believe I won’t betray you, but even I don’t know that.”

  “Knock it off,” Meaghan said, pulling Jamie away from Emily. “We don’t have time for this shit.” She glared up at Jamie, then turned to Emily. “What happened when the mob arrived?”

  “They were wild. Like those films of early Beatles’ fans. Screaming and crying. I thought they were going to tear him to pieces along with anybody else who got in their way.”