Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1)

by Laura Kirwan

  “You’re a giant from the other world. They’ve spent their whole lives hearing what a threat humans are. Their whole society fell apart because of John buddying up with your dad.”

  “Hmm. Yeah. I can see why they’d think that.” A thought began to churn in her head.

  “I’m sure they’re watching,” Sid said. “If you do pull this amazing plan out of your ass, maybe then they’ll side up with us. But I wouldn’t count on them.”

  Meaghan ignored him. “Dad? What was that you used to say?”

  “I used to say a lot of stuff, honey,” Matthew said. “You need to be more specific.”

  “It was something like if you can’t make people respect you, then at least make sure they fear you.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Matthew said, his voice cautious. “Where are you going with this, Meg?”

  Sid threw his hands in the air. “Here we go with invisible Dad again.”

  Meaghan ignored Sid some more. “I’m an evil giant wearing a nuclear necklace. An evil giant lawyer wearing a nuclear necklace. Scary things should be scared of me.”

  Matthew shook his head. “Don’t joke about the amulet. I assume Natalie told you what will happen if you take it off? That’s the kind of bluff you don’t make unless you’re ready to back it up.”

  “Well, it’s not Plan A.”

  “So, what is Plan A?” Sid asked. “Please tell me you have an idea other than you exploding and taking us all with you.”

  “Plan A is the plan I haven’t come up with yet.”

  Sid buried his face in his hands. “Oh, God. We’re all gonna die.”

  “Don’t be such a drama queen,” Meaghan said. “We’ll be fine.” She pointed ahead of them. “That way. I can feel them.”

  Chapter 46

  Sid had the presence of mind to bring along Meaghan’s backpack and refused to go until she drank a bottle of water and ate some of the food Russ had packed for her.

  The food and water grounded her further. The loopy effects of the hallucinogens were finally gone, but she could still see Matthew and feel Jhoro. He wasn’t far.

  And she could feel stirrings of something else. Something wrong. She wanted to ask Matthew, but she could barely find the words to express it to herself. Meaghan finally dismissed it as anxiety. Even if her mind didn’t have the sense to be afraid, her body knew what lay ahead.

  The Fahrayan encampment may have been close by air, but for Meaghan and Sid it was a slow, arduous hike over the rocky terrain. There was no trail, only a haphazard path formed by empty spaces between the rocks. After half an hour of frustration, they stopped trying to walk around the rocky outcrops and scrambled over them instead.

  “How long has John been with them you think?” she asked Sid. “It couldn’t have been much faster going for him.”

  “You were out for hours after he left. If he waited until dawn to enter the camp, they’ve had him a couple of hours at least. Long enough to beat the shit out of him.” Sid looked grim. “They only did half the job last time.”

  “That’s not the feeling I’m getting. He’s not in physical pain, at not least not yet. It’s all mental. His plan to offer himself for Jamie didn’t work and now he’s torturing himself worse than they ever could. ”

  “For the only non-magical person around, you’re sure getting creepy with the long-range sensor thing.” Sid tripped and would have fallen if Meaghan hadn’t grabbed his arm. “Can we stop a minute?”

  “Sure. Want some water?

  Sid shook his head. “I don’t need it. Save it for yourself. You’ll dehydrate long before I do. Got any other insights on John?”

  Meaghan smiled at him. “I thought this psychic stuff was creepy.”

  “It is but in a useful way.”

  “What girl doesn’t love to hear that,” Meaghan said. “I’m creepy but useful.”

  Sid found a large flat boulder and sat. “Turns out these boots weren’t make for walkin’,” he groaned. “Look at it this way. Better creepy and useful than creepy and superfluous.”

  “I guess.” She rubbed her arm.

  “You hurting?” Sid asked.

  “A bit. Not terrible.”

  “Hang in there,” Sid said. “We gotta be getting close. Is Matthew still along for the ride?”

  “Yeah. He says he likes Fahraya a lot better now that he’s dead.”

  “Well, that’s a comfort, I suppose. Maybe we’ll like it better dead too.”

  Meaghan shook her head. “Sid, they have no fight with you. We may die, but you won’t. So quit worrying.”

  “Yeah, no worries. Because there won’t be any ass kicking waiting for me at home if I let you guys die.” Sid stood up. “I’m in this to the end, same as you.”

  They trudged on in silence until they could detect the aroma of smoke and hear the murmur of voices. They crouched low and crept closer.

  They almost fell over Jhoro. He grabbed them each by the arm and pulled them flat to the ground, next to him. In the cave, he hadn’t been close enough for Meaghan to notice the stink. But here, lying next to him, she nearly choked from the physical assault on her sense of smell. Sweat, blood, and smoke all rolled together into a body odor that could peel paint off walls. Her eyes began to water.

  “There you are,” Meaghan said, breathing through her mouth. “I knew you were around here somewhere. You’re going to help us.” It wasn’t a question. She could feel the resolve radiating from him. “Thank you.”

  Jhoro looked at her blankly. Sid translated. Jhoro flashed her a dazzling smile, whispered something to Sid, and crawled away. Considering the grime and stench, she was surprised by how perfect and white his teeth were.

  “He said to stay here and he’ll be right back.”

  Meaghan shook her head. “We need to get down there now.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon enough.”

  Jhoro slunk back, this time accompanied by a dark-haired Fahrayan. Another looker, Meaghan couldn’t help but notice.

  Sid, Jhoro, and the other Fahrayan, who was called Finn, whispered back and forth for a while. Meaghan sensed a deep emotional bond between Jhoro and Finn. They’d been out here fighting together for years, Meaghan thought, so it made sense. There was something else between them, but before she could grasp it, Jamie’s pain exploded in her mind, drowning out everything else. Meaghan curled into a ball, gasping, as electric agony burned along her spine. She could feel his screams as well as hear them.

  They were slashing at his wings, hacking them from his body.

  We’re on our way, she told him as soon as she could think through the pain. Soon. I won’t leave you here. I’m taking you home. She felt him teeter on the brink of defeat, then something stirred in him. She felt him dig deeper inside himself for strength. “Dad,” she whispered.

  “Right here,” Matthew said, suddenly at her side.

  “Can Jamie hear me? Can he sense me like I sense him?”

  Matthew shook his head. “Probably not. If he does, it won’t be anywhere near as strong and he won’t know where it’s coming from.”

  She had just gotten her breath back when John’s shame knifed through her. Seeing his son suffer his fate was unhinging him, and driving him deeper into the abyss opening in his mind. She could feel his sanity slipping away. She was losing them both. She had to get down there.

  She started to rise to her feet. Sid grabbed her and hissed something at Jhoro, who moved over to her. Meaghan simply stared at him. We don’t need words for this, she thought. I’m going and you can either get out my way or kill me. You won’t stop me any other way.

  Jhoro scrutinized her with his deep blue eyes, so similar to John’s and Jamie’s.

  After a long moment, he nodded and gestured for them both to go. He and Sid whispered back and forth for a minute, and then Jhoro crawled away.

  Sid grabbed her arm. “We stay low until we’re on the other side of this outcrop so they have time to get under cover. Then we walk down into the camp. They�
��ll do what they can to help, but they won’t sacrifice themselves.”

  Meaghan nodded. “Somebody needs to keep fighting. I get it. His obligation is to his men.”

  They crawled to the other side of the outcrop. All they had to do was stand up and they’d be plainly visible to the Fahrayans below.

  “Ready?” Meaghan whispered.

  “No,” Sid hissed back.

  “Too bad.” Meaghan stood and waved at the crowd of Fahrayans. “Here we go.”

  Chapter 47

  On her way down the rocky slope, Meaghan had time to ponder her aversion to scorpions and wonder whether she was giving them a fair shake. The one that bit her did her a huge favor. Even with a head full of drugs, Meaghan felt anxiety bloom in her gut. Without the high, she would have been batshit crazy with fear.

  There were hundreds of Fahrayans, men and women, all of them beautiful and terrifying, clustered below them. The women were only marginally less intimidating than the men. Tall, strong, and armed to the teeth, they looked like angry Olympic sprinters. Not a fairy prince or princess in the bunch.

  Except for the wings.

  Meaghan now understood how someone could confuse a Fahrayan with a fairy.

  It was the wings.

  Up until now, Meaghan had only seen Fahrayan wings in relatively bad office lighting, old photos, and in a poorly lit cave. Nothing prepared her for how they looked fully extended in sunlight— delicate, iridescent, and utterly impossible. Even angels were portrayed with more solid, practical wings.

  Someone already predisposed to see fairies would be so dazzled by those wings, particularly when sprouting from a tiny man or woman, that the Fahrayans’ more unsavory characteristics—like the dirt and the smell and the razor-sharp stone weapons—could be easily overlooked.

  You’re the giant here, Meaghan reminded herself. Even if they’re all taller than you right now. Don’t let them rattle you.

  She could feel Sid’s terror rolling off him in waves. She took his hand. “I thought you were the Fahrayan expert.”

  “I learned Fahrayan from Melanie. And Jamie,” he squeaked in a high strangled voice. “This is different.”

  “You aren’t going to freeze up on me, are you?” Meaghan asked, already knowing his answer.

  Sid puffed up a little, his vanity overcoming his fear. “I’m not going to freeze up. I’ve been in scarier places than this.”

  “Good, because I haven’t. I’m counting on you and Dad to keep me on track. You’re as big as these guys right now, remember?”

  “Yes, but inside I’m still small. I’m like a Great Dane who thinks he’s a Chihuahua.”

  “Yeah, but they don’t know that.”

  “Somehow I think they do,” Sid squeaked, his fear reasserting itself.

  “Here’s a secret,” Meaghan said, squeezing his shaking hand. “They’re even more scared than we are.”

  Terror swirled around her, monolithic and palpable. Within it, Meaghan could feel Jamie throbbing like an exposed nerve. He was close and aware that somebody was coming down the hill.

  A Fahrayan woman stepped in front of Meaghan and buzzed something at her, scowling. The crowd closed in behind her.

  “Keep moving,” Matthew said to her. “Stare her down. Don’t let her turn you back. You have to be the alpha dog here.”

  Sid swallowed hard and stopped, but Meaghan kept going, pulling him behind her, until she stood in front of the Fahrayan woman.

  Meaghan stared up at her. The woman was several inches taller, younger, and appreciably more fit. Meaghan’s only advantage was attitude. She knew backing down would be fatal. “Move,” Meaghan said. “You won’t turn me back. Don’t even try.”

  The woman stood her ground and buzzed something back.

  “She’s says they don’t want you here,” Sid breathed.

  “Too bad.” Meaghan took a step closer, still staring. Eye contact was critical.

  The Fahrayan woman fingered her stone knife, appraising Meaghan, who stared back.

  Neither woman moved for a long moment.

  Meaghan could feel the Fahrayan woman’s terror under her surface arrogance. The woman was using all her control to master her fear but was close to cracking. Meaghan’s intimidation evaporated. So much fear. Time for another approach.

  “Let her save face,” Matthew whispered.

  Meaghan’s glare softened. “My fight isn’t with you. Please. Let me help them.”

  Taken aback, the woman stared a moment longer, then with a slight bow, stepped aside. Taking her cue, the crowd parted and provided Meaghan and Sid their first clear look at Jamie.

  Chapter 48

  Meaghan gasped. Even though her new senses told her he was still alive, her eyes refused to believe it. There was so much blood. No one could be that battered and still live.

  Naked, he slumped between two higher outcrops, his arms stretched over his head, tied by each wrist to what looked like bones hammered into crevices in the looming rocks. Ugly red gashes cut across his body, joining the crusted symbols the wizards had carved into his chest the day before. His wings, now cut from his back, hung like blood soaked curtains from the outcrops where they were tethered. Blood ran down his legs and puddled at his feet. His head was bowed and she couldn’t see his face.

  A man about John’s age stepped forward, twined his hand in Jamie’s hair, and jerked up his head. He leaned close to Jamie and spoke.

  Jamie opened his eyes, vivid blue in his bloody, bruised face.

  He saw Meaghan and smiled as best he could with cut and swollen lips. She felt hope and relief flare up in him again.

  Then John’s shame and guilt crushed her so hard she felt her knees buckle and she would have fallen if Sid hadn’t supported her.

  John was kneeling nearby, hands bound behind his back, head down, a stone spear tip pressed against the nape of his neck. She knew he registered her presence but was too ashamed to look at her. She could feel the madness biting into him, could sense the deep, dark pit into which his mind had been cast. In his present state, John was no help at all.

  “Time for that plan,” Sid hissed.

  “Yes, Meg, it’s time,” Matthew said to her. “Trust yourself.”

  “Is that V’hren?” Meaghan asked, inclining her head in the direction of the man who still gripped Jamie’s hair.

  “I don’t know,” Sid said.

  “Yes,” said Matthew.

  “It’s him,” Meaghan confirmed for Sid.

  She closed her eyes, feeling out toward V’hren.

  The oddness she’d sensed on the hike from the cave, the unsettling energy she’d dismissed as anxiety, now hit her but a thousand times stronger than what she’d felt before. Something twisted and vile, living but not alive, something wrong in every way a thing could be wrong assailed her now, and it was all she could do not to fall to the ground, curled in a ball, weeping in terror.

  She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. “V’hren’s dead. Or as good as. I don’t know what that thing is, but it’s not human or Fahrayan. Even if V’hren’s still alive in there, something else is in charge.”

  Matthew grimaced. “Whatever it is it’s strong and it doesn’t want me here.” He began wavering like she’d seen her mother and Lou do in her dreams. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to get back. You can do this.”

  And then he was gone.

  Meaghan was alone. It was all on her now.

  She tried to quell her panic, but it was raging like a wildfire. If it weren’t for Jamie’s wordless plea, deep in her mind, she would have turned and fled. Instead, her body shaking, Meaghan took a step forward. She was having a hard time controlling her legs and her breath was shallow and ragged. The horrible presence began to wrap tendrils around her mind. She felt doubt and fear and self-loathing churn inside her. She fought it, pushing it away, but it continued to search for a way in.

  The V’hren thing grinned at her, the cruel twist of his lips a mockery of a smile. He stared into Meaghan�
�s eyes, his blue eyes washed out and flat like a corpse. Once he was sure he had her attention, he pulled Jamie’s head back even farther with the hand still twined in his hair. He drove the heel of his other hand into Jamie’s face.

  Jamie cried out in pain, blood bubbling from his broken nose.

  Meaghan felt a fierce wave of maternal protectiveness rush through her, scouring away her panic like a desert flash flood scoured a canyon, replacing it with a righteous anger. The probing presence in her mind recoiled and fled.

  “Enough,” Meaghan shouted. Her heart raced. She was still shaking but from adrenaline now, not fear. Her instinct to protect Jamie was so pure, her anger so fiery, it left no room inside her for fear, no room in her mind for the thing that stood before her.

  V’hren’s cruel leer melted from his face. For a moment he looked shocked and unsure, then his vicious smile returned. But Meaghan could see it was forced, that she had unnerved him when she pushed him from her mind.

  Fear, she thought. It’s my fear he wants. She remembered what Caleb had said about the thing he called the Power feeding on fear. Whatever it was, it had consumed V’hren so effectively that it now wore him like a coat. But Caleb had also said it didn’t like its food to fight back, that it didn’t like the fierce rage now coursing through her.

  When angry, Meaghan had the tendency to let her mouth get out ahead of her brain. Over the years, she had damaged relationships beyond repair with vicious words and had learned through bitter experience when to bite her tongue. She had to stay cool. Fahrayans respected strength. She couldn’t let them see her lose control. To Sid, she said, “Start translating.”

  She stood tall, chin lifted. With the most imperious air she could muster, she began to speak. “I am Meaghan Keele and I come from the other world. Eighteen years ago, you entered into a treaty negotiated and signed by my father, Matthew Keele, a treaty you are now violating. Release these men,” she said, gesturing at John and Jamie, “allow us safe passage back to the gateway, and in return, I will allow your world to survive.”