Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) (20 page)

Meaghan looked at Owen. “Was this the same magic sword that got you in trouble with everybody?”

Owen rolled his eyes. “No. Well, yeah, that was also Tyr’s sword, but a later version. Honestly, those monks. They know how magic works. They should know better. They’re such a bunch of fanboys. ‘But the Norns decreed,’” he said in a whiny voice. “‘That’s what the Druid priestess said. There’s a prophecy. Whoever wields it will rule the world.’ Morons.”

Meaghan looked at Steph, who grinned back, and said, “Yeah, that was me. Vitellius wasn’t the first guy we suckered with that sword.”

“So that’s why Vitellius fell for it. There was a prophecy.” Meaghan rolled her eyes.
And look how he dodged the original question.
She stared at Luka. “Tell me how you know Cooper.”

“Cooper?” Terry asked.

“The wizard from Labor Day? With the tacky witch girlfriend?” Owen looked to Meaghan for confirmation.

She nodded.

“He’s the one we were supposed to sell the sword to on the night we left London.” Luka looked at Terry. “When we left you.”

Terry nodded slowly. “Right. A sword I never delivered to you guys because I was too drunk to finish it.”

Owen stared into space a moment, then went pale. “I thought he looked familiar.”

“The wizard who caused all the trouble last summer?” Terry shook his head. “Can’t be the same guy. The guy back then came at me in an alley with a sword the day after you left. Seemed pleased with himself to find me unarmed. Kind of the sneering gloater type.”

“Yeah,” Owen said. “That’s him.

“I tried to warn him off, but he wouldn’t listen. I had a really bad hangover, and I’d just read Steph’s goodbye letter, so I had even less control than usual. I fried the bastard where he stood and for once I didn’t feel that bad about it.”

“You killed him?” Meaghan asked.

“I didn’t stick around to check if he was breathing, but it blew him right out of his boots. He sure looked dead.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Owen said.

“He was smoking
,
” Terry said. “Actual smoke rising off him.”

Owen shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. It was him. Cooper. I mean, I only saw him a couple of times back then, but . . . I’m sorry, Meg. I should have put it together a whole lot sooner.”

Terry frowned. “That was almost a thousand years ago. This guy’s like us?”

Luka nodded. “It appears so, but not as old. I’m sure he was genuinely a young man back then. Vicious and lethal, but still kind of wet behind the ears.”

Steph started nodding. “He was the barrel maker’s son, wasn’t he? I remember him. Sneered at the family business, but he was only too happy to spend daddy’s money.”

Luka stared at the fire. “Cooper is another name for a barrel maker. He eventually did the work to become a real wizard, I guess. He doesn’t need a sword anymore.”

Now Meaghan was confused. “Witches and wizards don’t live longer than normal people.” She glanced around the room. “Do they?”

Luka sighed. “Not usually, but there’s some old magic, dark stuff to prolong life. You need to make a blood sacrifice. Family blood.”

Meaghan had a quick mental flash of Jamie, bloody and battered, clinging to her in terror as the Power offered John a deal.
This has something to do with Fahraya.

“Oh, hell
.
” Owen shook his head. He looked sick, his face pale. “The cooper—the father—he and his whole family were killed, did you know that? A few years later. In a big fire. There was all that pitch and tar in the workshop. The bodies were burnt so bad they looked like lumps of charcoal.”

Luka’s eyes narrowed. “You sure it was the same family?”

“Yeah, their workshop was down near the docks. Where we were supposed to meet him that night. I always thought his father was a merchant, not a cooper, so I never put that together either.”

Terry frowned. “The guy survives a direct lightning strike and the fire that burned up the rest of his family, and now he’s a wizard?”

Steph sighed. “Sweetie, he
killed
his family. The blood sacrifice. The fire was probably to hide it and to make it look like he died, too.”

“Yeah, giving him extended lifespan and now he’s wizard,” Owen said. “A powerful one.”

Meaghan looked at Luka. “You said he didn’t have any power.”

“Not then,” Luka said.

“He sure had plenty in September,” Owen said. “If it hadn’t been for Natalie and whatever crazy shit Patrice was channeling, we’d all be dead now.”

Meaghan glanced at Terry when Owen mentioned Patrice. This time his face was rigid. Too rigid, like he was making an effort not to react.

Luka sighed and sank down onto the metal chair not burned by the lightning strike. “Yeah. About that.”

“What did you do?” Steph’s voice had a growl in it Meaghan had never heard before.

“Honey,” Terry said. “Calm down. We don’t need any more weather disturbances in the house today.

Luka looked at them. “You may want to rethink that. I may deserve smiting for this one. This Cooper guy getting big power may be my fault. I threw him in the path of the fair folk to keep them away from us.”

“But there’s no way he got his power from the fair folk. They’d only promise it, bask in his worship, and then get him to do something awful . . .” Terry’s eyes widened. “Right. His family. Which is why he’s still alive. But the power—the fair folk wouldn’t give him that. Where did the power come from?”

Meaghan glanced over at Owen. “When you hear someone else say it, it’s so obvious.” She looked back at Terry. “The Power. His incorporeal sidekick.”

Terry looked confused again.

This is about to turn into who’s on first.
“Power with a capital P,” Meaghan said. “The thing that possessed John’s brother.”

Luka nodded. “And whatever that thing is, it’s worse than the fair folk. We may have a two-front war on our hands.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“T
HE STINKY SPACE
squid,” Meaghan said. “Cooper calls them his masters, but thinks they’re working for him. Or at least he did until they showed up.”

Luka laughed, but it was harsh and without humor. “Yeah, he would think that, but I’m sure it’s the other way around.”

“What do you know about them?”

He shook his head. “Not much more than you do. They’re rumor mostly. Something ancient and evil from before time.”

“More evil than the fair folk?” Meaghan grimaced. “That creepy Power thing seems to be on a similar diet, except for the awe-and-wonder part.”

Luka nodded. “Those creatures’ disappearance seemed to have opened an ecological niche for our nasty little elf friends. And it sounds like these things also use magic to manipulate the minds of their prey.”

“Yeah, everyone was shitting bricks in city hall when they showed up,” Meaghan said, “including Cooper.”

“They were . . .” Owen shuddered. “I’m still having nightmares.”

“What did they look like?” Steph asked.

“They . . .” Owen trailed off and stared into space for a long moment. “It’s funny. I don’t remember exactly. I can’t describe them, only how they made me feel.”

“I can describe them,” Meaghan said. “The smell was beyond disgusting, but honestly, they weren’t that scary to look at. I’ve seen worse stuff on TV. All I saw were some gray, slightly scaly tentacles. Hence the name stinky space squid.”

“Wait,” Terry said. “They’re from space? Like aliens?”

“No,” Meaghan answered. “I don’t know. Maybe. Or another dimension? But wherever they came from, they’re stuck between worlds.”

“In a demiworld,” Luka said. “Like Fahraya.” He paused a moment, then added, “I think.”

“I was told it was a space between the worlds,” Meaghan said. “I assumed it was similar to the void the Power stepped into when it destroyed Fahraya.”

Luka shook his head. “That . . . nobody knows what that is. And nobody else is able to do it as far as I can tell.”

“Nobody still here, at least,” Steph said. “You said they were ancient, right?”

“Maybe,” Luka said. “But if they could go around tearing holes in reality, why are they trapped?” He looked at Owen. “Isn’t that what Cooper said? That they were trapped?”

Owen nodded.

“But Finn—”

“Finn?” Luka asked.

“Jhoro’s dead boyfriend,” Owen said.

“Right,” Luka said. “Sorry. What about Finn?”

“Finn described them as the Power’s masters. So did Cooper and the Power.” Meaghan sighed. “But then I’ve worked for plenty of morons who I called boss even though I was the one really in charge.”

Owen smiled at Luka.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Luka said back.

“Whatever you say,” Owen shot back.
“Boss.”

“Boys, behave,” Steph said.

“So, how did they get into a demiworld?” Meaghan asked.

“Somebody put them there,” Luka said. “Demiworlds don’t happen without magical intervention.”

“Like the explosion that created Fahraya?” Meaghan glanced around the room. “That created you guys? You said it was an accident.”

Luka nodded. “Yeah, but an accident that wouldn’t have happened unless somebody was playing with big scary spells.”

“Like trying to lock up these squid things?” Steph asked.

“No,” Luka said. “The timing’s wrong. These things were gone long before us. I think somebody was trying to free them.”

Meaghan felt a chill in her gut. Cooper had pried open that door in September and Meaghan had only managed to close it at the last moment. “Somebody else who thought he could control them?”

“This Cooper guy really thinks he can control them?” Steph asked.

Meaghan nodded. “Although he might be rethinking that after Labor Day. He was as terrified as everybody else when they arrived.” She looked back at Luka. “What exactly do you know about them?”

“Like I said, it’s mostly rumor and conjecture.”

“Do they have a name?”

Luka shook his head. “Not really. It’s all along the lines of the ancient ones, the old gods, the terror that sleeps, that sort of stuff.”

Meaghan nodded. “Then stinky space squid it is.”

Luka raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not dignifying these things with a fancy euphemism.”

“These things are dangerous, Meg. Even to you.” Luka said. “Especially to you, because I’m betting they won’t like the idea of impervious humans any better than the fair folk do. Don’t underestimate them.”

“I’m not. I was there. The only thing that stopped them was that damn stapler I chucked into their prison.” She took a deep breath. Meaghan had never articulated this before to anyone, not even to herself, but she’d known it that moment in city hall. “A lump of steel worked last time, but the day may come when the only impervious thing to throw at them is me. Trust me. I get how dangerous they are.”

“Who’s dangerous?” a female voice asked.

Natalie.

Meaghan had been so focused on Luka she hadn’t seen her come in. She leapt to her feet and pulled Natalie into a crushing hug.

“What?” Natalie tried to wriggle out of Meaghan’s embrace. “You’re squishing me. Did you see all that snow out there?”

“Where have you been?” Meaghan released her grip and glared at Natalie. “Why didn’t you call? We’ve been worried sick.”

“As soon as I got over there, the door slammed shut and I couldn’t open it back up. What did you do? Rip out the carpet yourself? And there was some kind of dampening magic on this end.” Natalie glanced at Terry. “That was you, right? Do we still call you Terry?”

“Yeah. Please. I’m still me,” Terry said. “I’m not him. I never really was.”

“Tell Russ.” Natalie rolled her eyes. “He’s in full geek-out mode. He’s getting the boys all wound up, too.”

“The boys?” Meaghan asked.

“The monks.” Natalie rolled her eyes again. “They’re even geekier. Dustin is actually the cool one, if you can believe it.”

“Aw, hell,” Terry grumbled. “I’d better get in there. Before it gets any worse.” He rose to his feet, and stomped out of the room.

Meaghan glanced at Owen. She could see the relief on his face, despite his obvious efforts to be nonchalant.

Ah. Haven’t told the family about Natalie yet, have we?

Meaghan looked over at Steph.

Steph winked at her.

Meaghan chuckled.

“What?” Owen said.

Meaghan gave him her best innocent look. “I’m happy to have Natalie back in one piece. Aren’t you happy to see her?”

“Of course I am.” Owen’s face flushed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason,” Meaghan said.

Steph snorted back a laugh. “Owen, you dope, we know all about you and Natalie.”

Owen’s mouth opened. He and Natalie exchanged a quick look.

“Everybody knows about you and Natalie,” Steph said. “Worst kept secret in town. Give the girl a kiss already.” She stood up. “Take my seat. I have to go check on my husband.”

Natalie and Owen sat on the sofa next to Meaghan.

“You must be Luka,” Natalie said. “The boys are even more geeked out about you.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “Of course they are. Thanks to dear old Dad and his stupid stories. Time for damage control. Nice to finally meet you by the way.”

“You know, too?” Owen stared at Luka, a shocked look on his face.