Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) (14 page)

Steph stopped short, staring at him. “Meg,” she said, through gritted teeth. “Get away from it.”

Meaghan stepped next to Sam. “Not until you hear us out. He’s not the same as the one downstairs. Not even close.” She leaned and placed a hand on his small shoulder. “Show her what you showed me.”

Sam pulled the twisted nail pendant from his gray shirt and held it up for Steph to see.

She stared at Sam, eyes narrowed, for a long moment. “That doesn’t prove anything. The one downstairs was wearing iron, too, and it still screwed with us.”

“Sam’s wearing it voluntarily,” Meaghan said. “It’s in honor of the smith, he says, who his particular persecuted subset of the fair folk view as a legend to be honored. I’m assuming he means Terry.”

“Lift your head,” Steph said to Sam. “I want to see your face.”

Sam lifted his head and stared back at her.

Steph circled him slowly, surveying him. She stared down at the top of his head and said, “Huh. You are different. Your skin’s better and you don’t have the bulge on the top of your head.”

“They have always told me my head is smaller because I am stupid and not a—” He screeched something in the rusty hinge voice. “I am sorry. There is no exact word in your language. ‘Person’ is the only word and that . . . What they mean is that I am not one of them, that I am a . . .” He shook his head. “It does not translate. I am worse than not one of them. My existence disgusts and mocks them, and I am fit only to do their will.”

Meaghan noticed Steph relax slightly. It wasn’t much, but it was start. “He doesn’t have magical ability,” Meaghan said. “He escaped from a slave labor camp.” She glanced at Melanie. “You knew these places existed? When the truce was made?”

Melanie nodded, but looked away, unable to meet Meaghan’s eye.

“Which means Matthew knew, too.” Meaghan shook her head, trying to control her anger. “Now I’m the one who’s disgusted. Some truce.” Meaghan squeezed between Steph and Sam. “I’d rather you were on my side, but if you can’t do that, go home, because the only way you’re getting to him is through me.”

Steph glared at Meaghan, who glared right back, until Steph wilted. “I’m still on your side, Meg. That doesn’t mean I trust that thing behind you, but I’ll leave it alone for now.”

“You’ll leave
him
alone,” Meaghan said. “And he’s got a name. Sam.”

“Dude,” she heard Dustin say to Sam behind her. “Get up. Your pants are all wet. You’re shivering.”

“We’re going inside,” Meagan said. “Where’s Terry?”

“Across the street with John,” Steph said, still scowling.

“Get them back over here.”

Steph nodded, and, without a backward glance, stomped around the side of the house toward the street.

Meaghan put her hand on Sam’s small shoulder. Dustin had been right. She could feel Sam’s small body shake, but whether it was from cold or fear, she didn’t know. “Dustin, help him inside. Let’s get you boys warmed up and get you something to eat.”

And look at me. I’ve adopted another stray.
Meaghan shook her head as she followed everyone into the warm kitchen.
Who am I, Mother Teresa?

Chapter Seventeen

R
USS WASN’T FAZED
in the least by Sam. If Meaghan and Melanie said Sam was okay, that was good enough for Russ.

“Thank you,” Meaghan breathed into his ear, as he stood at the stove. She kissed him on the cheek. “If I’m wrong and he tries anything—”

“I’m surrounded by steel pans and steel knives. Not particularly worried. Go. Deal with shit. I’ll take care of these two.”

Sam approached Russ, bowed, and said, “Mister Russ, how may I assist you?”

Russ bowed back. “Call me Russ. No need for mister. Sam, you are a guest in my home, and it would be my honor if you would take a seat at the table and let me fix you some lunch.”

Sam looked confused. “I am . . . I eat last, yes?”

Russ shook his head. “Nope. Not in my kitchen. If anybody’s eating last, it’s me.” Seeing Sam’s befuddlement, he added, “How about you help me clean up when we’re done?”

Sam bowed again. “Thank you. I will do that.”

Russ gave Meaghan a wide-eyed, open-mouthed, what-the-hell look. “That schmuck downstairs,” he whispered, “I gave him a plate of food and he threw it at me. Told me it was fit only for human pigs.”

“This one is different.”

“No kidding.” In a regular voice, Russ asked, “Guys, you want grilled cheese? Got some tomato soup, too. But first, Sam, you need some dry clothes. Let me grab you something to wear and a towel and you can change in the bathroom under the stairs.”

Sam looked a question at Dustin, who nodded and said, “Sounds great. Thanks.”

“Don’t ask him for Doritos,” Meaghan said. “Them’s fighting words around here.”

Russ made a face as he moved toward the hallway. “Don’t you have any strategizing you need to be doing?”

“Yes. And don’t put any fancy mustard on my grilled cheese,” Meaghan called after him as he ran up the stairs. “That’s just wrong.” She glanced at Melanie. “We should probably go head off Terry and Steph before things escalate.”

Melanie nodded. She still hadn’t been able to meet Meaghan’s eye. When they were on the front porch, Melanie said, “Meaghan, you have to understand. It wasn’t a victory, it was a draw. We had to make sacrifices.”

Meaghan turned on her, fury in her eyes. “No, you didn’t. Sam did, and all those of his kind before him who were lost to their death camps. You should have kept fighting.”

For the first time since Meaghan had met her, Melanie lost her temper. “Don’t you tell me, girl, what I should have done,” she hissed, her orange eyes glowing. “You weren’t there. You were never there.”

“How could I be there?” Meaghan said, her voice rising. “Nobody told me about any of this. I had to find out by accident, after you all blew up my life with magic. And you still don’t tell me anything. Why am I only finding all this out now? If you needed my help, why didn’t you ask?”

“Why didn’t we ask?” Melanie’s voice rose. “What would you have done if your father had tried to explain all this to you? You’d have thought him insane. Like your mother did. Like Matthew himself did for the first few years. You wouldn’t even take his calls back then. He could have told you the sky was blue, and you’d have called him a liar.”

She was right, Melanie was right, but Meaghan couldn’t bring herself to admit it. “Too bad,” Meaghan said, a snarl in her voice, “this impervious shit didn’t pass to Russ, since you all seem to trust him so much more than me.”
Stop now,
the rational voice said.
You like Melanie, she’s your friend and ally. Shut up. Now.

And for once Meaghan did.

Russ had stored the wicker furniture in the garage for the winter and there was no place else to sit, so Meaghan sat down the porch steps and patted the space next to her. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Melanie sat down, stiffly, and stared at her feet. They sat silent for a time, until Melanie said, “So am I.” She sighed and finally met Meaghan’s gaze. “Don’t think the decision to abandon the non-magical fair folk was made lightly. It was one of the most shameful decisions of my life, and I tell myself it was unavoidable, but in my darker moments, I know better.”

“I’m thinking the truce is over,” Meaghan said. “We can’t—I can’t—let this go on. Besides, now they’re bringing the fight to us.”

“That’s not how they see it.”

Meaghan yelped and jumped off the step. Owen was standing right behind where she’d been sitting. “Shit, Owen. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Magically appear like that. The hiding-in-plain-sight shit.” Meaghan tried to catch her breath, but the burst of adrenaline made her heart thumb like a jackhammer.

“That doesn’t work on you,” he said. “This is me being sneaky in a totally normal way.” He plopped down on the step and patted the space Meaghan had vacated. “I won’t bite. Mel, I’ve told you, and I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen. We need to stop bullshitting around and accept that the truce is over. And we need to tell
her
”—he jerked his thumb toward Meaghan—“everything. Including about me and Luka and Terry and Steph. All of it.”

Meaghan sat back down, Owen on one side, Melanie on the other. “Thank you,” she said. “Finally somebody gets it.”

“Provided,” Owen added, “you tell us about the bug you’ve had up your ass since Labor Day. Don’t complain about us keeping secrets when you’re doing the same thing.”

Meaghan’s heart started pounding again.

The bitch needs to learn her place.

“I have to tell John first,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “I owe him that.”

A red hatchback pulled into Holly Lane and slowed to a stop in front of the house.

Kady Cressley climbed out of the car. She still had three weeks until her due date, but the baby she was carrying overwhelmed her small frame. “Hey, boss,” she called. “You back?”

Meaghan pushed herself to her feet and headed for the curb. “I’m back. I thought you’d be downstairs.”

“Why? What’s downstairs?”

“The elf?”

Kady’s eyes widened. “The what? I was getting an ultrasound.”

“Natalie didn’t call you?”

Kady shook her head. “She texted me to say you were home, and I texted her back to remind her about the ultrasound. Did you go look at the carpet samples yet?”

“Hah,” Meaghan said. “You’ve missed some stuff. Give me your arm and I’ll help you up the driveway.”

Kady snorted. “I’m pregnant, not disabled. I got it. Is that Melanie? And Owen? What are they doing here?”

They made their way slowly to the house “We’ll be focusing on my other job today, I think,” Meaghan said. “Where’s Jamie?”

“Court, down in Williamsport, with Buzz. He’s still helping out, until we get back into city hall.”

Meaghan nodded. She still hadn’t met Buzz Hallam, the city’s outside counsel, in person, even after so many months in Eldrich. He had handled all the city’s litigation while Jamie was out of commission, and Meaghan had still only talked to him on the phone. He was a friend of her father’s, clued in, and competent, but beyond that, she didn’t know anything about him. “Buzz is human, right?”

Kady shrugged. “I guess. As far as I know.”

“But he knows all about Eldrich.”

“Plenty of people know about Eldrich.”

They got to the porch without incident until Kady slipped on a tiny patch of ice. Meaghan grabbed her arm and kept her on her feet.

Melanie’s not the only one who regrets leaving them behind.
The voice rang through Meaghan’s mind, clear as a recording. It sounded like her father.

“Whoa. I guess I do need help,” Kady said, with a laugh.

Meaghan shook her head to clear it.

“Meg?” Owen was watching her closely. “You okay?’

The voice was gone. “I thought . . .”
If I tell them I’m hearing voices, they’ll start nagging me about therapy again.
“My ear was ringing. It’s better now.”

Kady looked at the three of them. “So, what did I miss?”

Melanie, Owen, and Meaghan exchanged looks. Owen gestured to Meaghan. “Why don’t you take this?”

Meaghan sighed. “Okay. Let’s see. I got attacked by the fair folk in the woods last night and got rescued by Terry Donner. The Italian design firm the mayor stuck us with sold us sigil-covered office carpet that opened a gateway to that mystical archive place, and then they skedaddled. And there are two elves in the house. One’s chained up in the basement being guarded by witches. The other is eating grilled cheese and tomato soup in the kitchen with Russ and the guy who does the IT work for the monks who run the mystical archive. Oh, and Terry and Steph are immortal. Sort of.”

“Uh-huh,” Kady said, gazing up at the sky as a few snowflakes floated in the air. “And here I was all excited because I saw the baby’s little dingle in the ultrasound.”

Chapter Eighteen

O
WEN AND MELANIE
went across the street to find out what was keeping Terry and Steph, while everyone else went inside.

Meaghan ate lunch while Kady put Dustin and Sam to work. “The city’s idiot IT guy is not clued in,” Kady told Dustin. “He can’t figure out why the system keeps crashing.”