Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1)

by Laura Kirwan

  “You got bit by a . . . a thing,” Sid said.

  “A thing? Like a snake?”

  “No. More like those scorpion thingies you hate so much.” Sid took her hand. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  “Where are we?” She felt odd, feverish. Fatigue washed over her in waves.

  “In a cave. They dragged you in here after John killed that thing.”

  She felt a sudden panic. John. She was supposed to be saving Jamie and John, not lying here like an invalid. She tried to sit up again. “John? Is he here?”

  Sid pushed her down. “Lie still. Give it a chance to work.”

  “Give what a chance?” Meaghan’s voice was weak and raspy. A spasm shook her. “What’s happening to me? Where’s John?”

  “They gave you an antidote to the venom. But you need to lie still and let it do its thing.”

  “Who’s they?” Her words slurred. The world spun and the blackness took her again.

  When she awoke, gray daylight filled the cave and the pain in her arm had lessened. It still hurt but at a distance, like her arm was on the other side of the room. She felt lighter, like she could float. Float to the sky, she thought, like a big balloon. Like the Goodyear blimp. She giggled at the mental picture.

  Meaghan sat up. Her arm felt much better. Someone, Sid probably, had dug the first aid kit out of her pack and bandaged the wound. Her head—it was like the opposite of a headache. She felt awesome. Her head felt huge and full of light and very far from the ground.

  “Shit, I think I’m high,” Meaghan said to no one and then started howling with laughter. Then she decided to simply howl. Which made her laugh even more.

  “Ahem.” A deep voice interrupted her.

  Meaghan looked in the direction of the voice. Matthew, but younger, his hair dark and eyes shining with the fierce light she remembered, sat on a rock a few feet away.

  “Uh oh,” Meaghan said. “Am I dead?”

  “No, kiddo. I am.” Matthew smiled at her. “About damn time.”

  “You’re dead? I’m sorry.” Meaghan knew she should be feeling grief, but he was right there talking to her, looking better than he had in years.

  “Don’t be. I was sick of being a turnip and you needed my help. So I died. Right after you walked through the gateway. I’d have been wearing diapers in a couple of weeks anyway. Like being a baby in reverse. Damn undignified way to go.”

  “So, you’re really dead? I’m not just imagining this?”

  Matthew shrugged. “Well, you are imagining it, I suppose. But that doesn’t make it any less real or me any less dead.”

  Meaghan stared at him for a moment, then nodded. For now she’d take him at his word. She was too loopy to do anything else. She’d grieve when she got home, she knew. If she got home. “Okay. Am I asleep?”

  Matthew shook his head.

  “Am I high?” she asked.

  “Like a van full of hippies on their way to a Dead show.” He grinned. “It’s the antidote. As much venom as you got, if you weren’t impervious, you’d be dead. You only got the biological whammy, not the magical one too. But they needed to give you a lot more antidote than usual to counter it and the antidote includes some hallucinogenic mushrooms.”

  “Shouldn’t I be seeing freaky stuff? I’m not seeing anything freaky but you. And even you look normal, except for being dead . . . and a lot younger.” She giggled. “Shit, you’re younger than me right now.”

  “I’m monopolizing your perception at the moment. It’s the first time I’m communicating like this, and I’m not very good at it—taking up too much brain space. Otherwise you’d be seeing more freaky stuff.”

  “Seeing you this young is pretty freaky, Dad.”

  “For both of us, honey. Believe me. But hallucinations aren’t the only things this stuff causes. This being a weird magical place, these particular mushrooms also have strong psychic properties.”

  “But I’m impervious.”

  “Psychic isn’t magic. It’s organic. Something in the brain. Everybody has the equipment, but most can’t use it. This stuff activates it. But it’s not magic.”

  Meaghan nodded. ESP was not a hard sell after everything else she’d encountered in the last week. “So are you going to have to jet out of here in a minute like Mom and Lou did?”

  “Nope. Not now. I was hanging around hoping you’d take a nap so I could talk to you and then you conveniently got dosed with Fahrayan peyote. I can be here until you come back down.” Matthew paused, serious now. “If you want me here, that is.”

  “Hell, yeah, I want you here,” Meaghan said. “I don’t have a clue how to deal with this mess. I’m sorry I was such a bitch for all those years.”

  Matthew waved his hand. “You weren’t any bitchier than I deserved. No need to apologize. I’m sorry I was such a crappy father.”

  Meaghan smiled. “No need to apologize for you, either. I get it now. I’m too high to be mad.”

  “And I’m too dead to be mad. I’ve been this way for only a few hours and already I see how pointless all the resentment is.”

  She smiled back. “It really is. I love you, Daddy, and I’m glad you’re here.” She realized she was crying. “There I go again. But it’s all good. I should have gotten bit by a giant scorpion and dosed with funny mushrooms years ago.” An earlier part of the conversation finally caught up with her. “So, who exactly gave me this antidote?”

  Matthew pointed at the entrance of the cave. “There he is now. The fugitive son himself. Meet Jhoro.”

  Tall, lean, and blond, Jhoro was as handsome as Jamie, despite the dirt and those crazy dreadlocks. He appeared to be clean shaven, which even in her impaired state she found odd. He certainly had plenty of hair on his head. His wings were drawn in close so she couldn’t see much of them. He wore animal skin leggings and a loin cloth and that was it. Nothing covered him from the hips up but grime.

  Meaghan struggled to her feet, gave him a goofy smile, and waved. “Hey gorgeous, thanks for the ‘shrooms.” And she started giggling again. She knew she should be more freaked out than she was, but everything was so funny. And sunny. And her brain was all runny. “I’m turning into Doctor Seuss,” she said.

  Jhoro looked over his shoulder and barked something with the singing buzzsaw voice she’d heard earlier. Sid appeared behind him, then dashed to Meaghan and threw his arms around her.

  “Oh, honey, I was so worried, you’ve been out of it for hours, and they weren’t sure how the antidote would work on you.” He paused to take a breath and then examined her face. “You’re stoned off your ass.”

  “Oh, yeah. Like . . .” She looked over her shoulder to where Matthew was sitting. “Dad, how did you phrase it? Van full of hippies off to see the Dead?”

  Matthew nodded.

  Sid gripped her arms. “Meaghan, sweetie, who are you talking to?”

  “My dad.”

  “Your dad’s not here. He’s back in Eldrich.”

  Meaghan shook her head to indicate no, then kept shaking it because it was fun. “Ooh, that makes me dizzy,” she said and stopped. “No, he’s here. He died a little while ago and now he’s here as a . . . ghost? Spirit?” She looked back at Matthew. “What are you? Technically?”

  “Hallucination, I suppose. Technically. Not that it really matters. No one can see me right now but you.”

  Meaghan looked back at Sid. “He says he’s technically an hallucination.”

  “No kidding,” Sid said, eyes wide. “What’s in that antidote anyway?”

  “Lots and lots of magic mushrooms,” Meaghan said, smiling. “Well, not magic like magic, because that wouldn’t work on me, but lots of fun druggy stuff. You going to introduce me to your smokin’ hot friend over there?”

  “Oh, right.” Sid buzzed something at Jhoro and bowed. Jhoro bowed back and replied to Sid. Then Sid turned to Meaghan. “Meaghan, meet Jhoro, son of V’hren.”

  Meaghan giggled some more. Jhoro was disconcertingly handsome, even with the g
rime and animal skins. She waved again. “Hey. Pleased to meet you.” The clean face in the midst of the Stone Age bothered her. She leaned closer to Sid and whispered. “How does he shave?”

  “No body hair,” Sid hissed back.

  Meaghan’s eyes widened. “None? Wow.” She giggled, leaned closer, and whispered, “Anywhere?”

  Sid shook his head. “We are so screwed.”

  Jhoro buzzed something at Sid, who nodded back. Jhoro stuck his head out of the cave, called to someone, and turned back. He spoke to Sid again.

  Sid turned to Meaghan. “Meggy, you’re a little too high to do what we need to do, so he’s going to give you something to mellow you out a bit.”

  “Not if it means I can’t talk to Dad. I need him on this. You tell him.”

  Sid shook his head. “Fine.” More buzzsawing ensued and then Sid turned back to her. “He says that the drink won’t keep you from speaking to your spirit guide. You’ll still—as close I can translate this—see whole—but with less distraction.”

  Meaghan looked at her father. “What do you think?”

  Matthew nodded. “Take it. I know the stuff he’s talking about. I took a little trip of my own with John back in the day. You’ll still feel good but a little more grounded.”

  Meaghan turned back to Sid. “Okey dokey, artichokey,” she replied and burst out laughing again.

  Sid shook his head in disgust.

  “Don’t get sniffy with me, Caffeine Boy,” Meaghan responded. “I’ve seen you after too much coffee. The only thing different is the hallucinations. Unless coffee makes you hallucinate?”

  “Coffee does not make me hallucinate,” Sid said.

  “Think of all the great stoned-out Meaghan stories you’ll be able to tell.”

  “If we get home,” he said.

  “Nope,” Meaghan replied. “When we get home. Trust me. I’m going to have a plan.”

  “You don’t have it yet?”

  “Nope. But I know I will.” She grinned up at him. “Sid, honey, I can’t get used to you tall. The plan is on its way. Can’t you feel it? We’re golden. We can’t lose.”

  “That’s the mushrooms talking.”

  “And they’re talking sense. I say we listen.”

  Sid threw up his hands and walked away. Matthew laughed out loud.

  Jhoro entered with a small cup, made from an animal horn or some type of bone. He held it out to her. She took it and sniffed. It smelled awful, like a dead fish wrapped in a dirty gym sock.

  “Just throw it back,” Matthew said. “It tastes like shit.”

  “Smells like it too.” She held her nose and drank it down fast. And started to cough. “Damn, Dad. Calling this shit is an insult to shit.”

  Meaghan felt it work almost immediately. Like music from an audio speaker set too loud, the sensations in her head had been distorted. The awful drink dialed back her high enough so the distortion cleared. She still felt great but less giddy.

  “Well?” Sid asked.

  “Better. Still on a trip but at a more leisurely pace.” She turned her head back and forth. There was a nimbus effect around objects that was new, but otherwise she felt relatively normal.

  “Anything else I should expect?” she called to Matthew.

  “Oh, yeah. The heavy psychic stuff should be hitting you any time now.”

  “There’s more?” she asked. Before Sid or Matthew could answer, the psychic wave broke over her head, and the mysteries of existence were revealed. Speechless, Meaghan collapsed and the world grew black again.

  Chapter 45

  Meaghan woke up knowing she’d received some profound truth, that she was the beneficiary of a greater wisdom than she’d ever known. If only she could remember what it was.

  There was a moment of oneness, of completion, of . . . something. Like a dream she couldn’t quite remember, it remained out of her grasp. She could feel the basic shape of it, how it made her feel, but the details dissolved like cotton candy.

  “And now it’s gone.” Meaghan sat back up. “Shit.”

  “What’s gone?” Sid asked. He crouched next to her, fear coming off him in waves. She could feel his fear, actually feel it. Like heat rising from a Phoenix sidewalk in July.

  “Divine wisdom. Ultimate answer. Ultimate question. That kind of stuff. What was it Jhoro said—see whole? I did. All at once. And now it’s gone.” Had Matthew gone with it?

  Her heart in her throat, she looked around the cave. Matthew stood near the doorway, leaning on a large boulder.

  “Oh, thank God,” she said. “Dad’s still here.” Turning back to Sid, Meaghan asked, “How long was I out this time?”

  “Only a few minutes,” Sid said, eyes wide.

  “What happened? Something bit me, right?”

  “One of those giant scorpion thingies came out of nowhere, stung you in the arm, and was going in for the kill.” Sid shuddered. “Then John comes tearing up the trail, jumps on top of the thing, and skewers it with his spear.”

  “He killed it?”

  “Oh, yeah. He was crazy frantic by the time he got to you. Then Jhoro and his guys appear from out of nowhere and bring you here. They’d been following us since we arrived.”

  “And they decided to help us?”

  Sid shrugged. “I think they decided to help John. They were all pretty damn impressed at how fast he ran back up here and how quickly he killed that thing. They rely so much on their wings they don’t have a real good sense of what they can do with their feet. John won back some respect, I think.”

  “Is he still here? Or does he still think handing himself over is a good plan?

  Sid couldn’t meet her eyes. “He left as soon as Jhoro told him you’d be okay.”

  Meaghan took Sid’s hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t start ranting again. At least now we have some allies and I’ve still got Dad. Help me up. It’s time we got moving. Where’s Jhoro?”

  “Outside.”

  “Is he coming with?” Before Sid could answer, Meaghan said. “Of course he is. I can feel it.” She shut her eyes and concentrated, feeling for Jamie and John. She could sense individual lives pulsing all around her. She wasn’t reading their minds, exactly, but she knew all she needed to know about them.

  Jhoro felt like a roaring fire. He was easy to find. No fear there, only resolve and righteous anger. And love for John. Seeing his uncle again had freed something in his heart. But the rest of them—the fear was so pervasive it was hard to pick out individuals. The people of Fahraya were terrified and had been for a long time. Even Jhoro’s companions struggled with it although the fear was tempered by their utter trust in Jhoro. They would follow him wherever he led regardless of their fear.

  “Seeing whole,” she murmured. So this is what Jhoro had meant.

  Meaghan pulled Sid into a one-armed hug and, on tiptoes, planted a kiss on his blue cheek. She felt full of light. Her head no longer felt huge, because huge implied a boundary, something that could be compared to something else. Huge was a concept that simply didn’t apply because there were no boundaries, no separation. Her mind contained and was embraced by the whole of creation.

  Closing her eyes and breathing slowly, she concentrated. She soon found Jamie and John. Jamie, exhausted and racked with pain, struggled to hold back the despair that threatened to engulf him. He hadn’t given up yet but couldn’t hold out much longer. He was waiting for Meaghan to save him. She was his last hope.

  For John had already given himself up, Meaghan knew, and had failed in his plan to offer himself for Jamie. Now they both were at the mercy of V’hren. She could feel John’s shame pummel him like angry fists. He felt no fear for himself, only for Jamie, but his self-loathing cut through Meaghan like a knife. Whatever they were doing to him, it wasn’t causing him physical pain, beyond bumps and bruises. He’d been roughed up a bit but wasn’t being tortured like Jamie, not physically at least. His torment lay deep inside his mind.

  Meaghan tried to let them know, deep in their bone
s, the way she knew them at this moment, that she was on her way and they’d soon be home. Then with a calm that would have astonished her only a day before, she put her fear and concern aside. She would crumble if she focused on their misery for too long. They needed her to be strong. She had to keep moving.

  “Time to go, Dad,” Meaghan said. “You too, Sid. I need you to translate.”

  Matthew nodded and walked out into the daylight.

  “Are you still talking to your invisible father?” Sid asked.

  “Yeah. Let’s do this.” She walked out of the cave and into the weak sunlight. The nimbus effect around each object was gone, replaced by a clarity of vision that made even barren, lifeless Fahraya look beautiful.

  “Do what?” Sid asked, following close behind her.

  “Save Jamie and John. Thwart V’hren. Help Jhoro. Liberate Fahraya.”

  “Are you high?”

  Surveying the landscape, Meaghan said, “You know I am. Wow. With a head full of drugs, I’m liking this place a lot more. It’s kind of beautiful, in its way.”

  “That’s definitely the mushrooms talking. Think up that plan yet?”

  Meaghan shook her head. “Not yet. But something will come to me as we go along.” She gave Sid a wide, dazzling smile. “Trust me.”

  “So says the stoned lady. What’s Dad think about it?”

  She turned to look at Matthew. He shrugged.

  “He’s noncommittal at the moment. Seriously, don’t worry. I’m a lawyer. I’m always making up shit at a moment’s notice.” She heard Matthew snort with laughter as she looked around the deserted landscape. “Where is everybody?”

  “Hiding, scouting, hunting—the usual stuff they do,” Sid said. “There’s only a few of them so they don’t do a lot of hanging around. When you can fly you get gone in a hurry.”

  Meaghan frowned. “I thought they were coming with us. Sure felt like it.”

  Sid gave a hollow laugh. “They aren’t suicidal. They’re outnumbered and don’t want to end up like John and Jamie. And despite taking care of you for the last few hours, they still don’t trust you.”

  “Why not?” Meaghan asked. She was surprised that she didn’t feel her usual indignation, only curiosity.