Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) (41 page)

M
EAGHAN SURVEYED HOLLY
Lane.

We’re not done yet. The archive needs to be cleaned out.

Black smoked billowed from Edna’s and from the MacDougall house, but the other four homes on the street appeared unharmed. The Franzettis’ blue spruce had burned itself out along with the snowplow and her Audi.

“It still had the new car smell,” Meaghan said.

“I am sorry about your car,” a small voice said behind her.

Startled, Meaghan yelped, and spun around. Sam, angry red burns on his face and arms, stood behind her. She yelped again, but this time with joy. “Sammy! We did it.”

He threw himself at her and wrapped his small arms around her. “You did it.”

Meaghan hugged him the best she could with one arm. “No, we did it. If you hadn’t jammed the sword into its mouth, I’d be a lump of charcoal right now. And if you hadn’t stabbed it in the tail first, everyone else would be dead along with me.”

He looked up at her. “I—even with all they have taken from me and done to me—I did not wish to see them die that way.”

“Me neither.”

“And the dragon. It made me sad to hurt it. Like they hurt it. Like they hurt me.”

Meaghan grimaced. “You noticed that, too.”

“I didn’t understand why the smith felt sad to have to kill it until then.”

The smith
 
.
 
.
 
.
“Where’s Terry? Have you seen him?”

“Here,” Terry said, trudging up the street. He’d exchanged the hammer for a fire extinguisher. He eyed the sword in her hand. “What did I tell you? That’s a good sword. You used it well.”

“I didn’t use it,” Meaghan said. “Sam did. He’s the one who jabbed it in the dragon’s mouth.” She glanced at Terry’s fire extinguisher. “I don’t think that’s gonna get it done.”

Terry shrugged. “Better than nothing.” He sprayed the burning rosebushes closest to Meaghan’s house, then dropped the empty extinguisher on the ground. “I bet all the outside faucets are frozen solid, even if we could find a hose. And no fire department. Shit.”

The street flared with golden light and all the fires winked out as if smothered.

Don’t ask me how I did that,
Marnie said in her mind.

Terry looked around. “Huh. Never mind. Did she do that?”

Meaghan nodded, not needing to ask who he meant.

The front door of the Keele house opened and people began pouring out, led by Natalie.

John was right behind her and ran when he saw Meaghan.

“I broke my wrist,” she called, raising her arm in the air. “Gentle, please.”

John skidded to a stop in front of her. “You are hurt?” He took her injured hand in gentle fingers. “Marnie will fix this.”

Natalie skidded to a stop behind John. “Holy shit. You did it. Sorry I couldn’t help. I was out cold.”

“Dragonsleep,” Meaghan said.

“Yeah, what was that? Something the elves did?”

“No, the dragon,” Meaghan said. “A variation of the stunning magic. Only affects witches and wizards.”

Natalie looked dazed for a moment. “Yeah, I thought it was the elves.”

Meaghan rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it was the elves. Marnie picked up the slack while you guys were out.”

Natalie stared at the dead dragon, avoiding Meaghan’s gaze. “Brian seems really happy with her. Happier than he would have been with me.”

“Owen seems pretty happy with you,” Meaghan said.

“When I woke up, he was kissing me.”

“Like Sleeping Beauty?”

Natalie snorted with derision. “I said ‘don’t be creepy’ and then I punched him.”

Meaghan couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“I hear you guys had a big night,” Natalie said, with a sly grin.

“Yeah, I killed a dragon,” Meaghan said.

“Not what I was talking about.”

John smiled, while Meaghan blushed. “We still have work to do,” he said as he led her toward the house.

As they climbed the porch, Russ appeared at the door holding a chain saw and wearing a yellow rain slicker and safety goggles, with a blue tarp wrapped around him like an apron.

Meaghan raised her eyebrow. “You’re late. The dragon’s already dead.”

“Yeah, and it’s not gonna butcher itself,” Russ said. “I’ve been talking to Hank.”

“There’s good eating on a dragon,” Hank rumbled behind him. “If you dress it proper.”

Russ grinned at her, kissed her on the cheek, and trotted down the steps. A moment later, Meaghan heard the burping of the chain saw.

The hallway was crowded with people.

“How are Kady and the baby?” she asked.

“Fine,” Gretchen said, her voice raspier than normal. “But Terry drank all the goddamn coffee.”

Everybody laughed.

“What about Luka?”

The laughter abruptly stopped.

“Upstairs with Marnie,” Gretchen said. “He’s in bad shape.”

“His eyes?”

“Not only his eyes,” Natalie said in a small voice behind her. “You better go up.”

Terry pushed his way past everyone and took the stairs two at a time.

“What about the archive?” Dustin asked, in a dejected voice. “What if the elves are still there?”

“Then we will fight them,” Sam said, taking the sword from Meaghan’s hand and holding it out to Dustin. “You brought the weapon that saved us all. Together we will go and defend the archive.”

“Hang on,” Meaghan said. “Let me talk to Marnie and Luka first. And then we’ll all go.”

“But—”

Sam gave Dustin a gentle smile. “We will not abandon the archive. But we must make a plan. Is there food in the kitchen?”

“Yeah, but—”

“The kitchen. I must eat.”

Dustin nodded and followed Sam down the hall.

With John’s help, Meaghan peeled off the silvery apron and chaps, and made her way upstairs. She poked her head into Kady’s room first.

“You killed a dragon,” Kady said, with a beaming smile. “Bad ass. Come see what I did.”

The baby lay wrapped in a cocoon of blankets in Kady’s and Jeff’s arms. His tiny face was perfect, not squished like some babies, and he wore what looked like a serene smile.

“He’s smiling,” Meaghan said. “He’s happy to be here.”

“No,” Kady said, brushing his tiny cheek with her finger. “That’s gas. He won’t start smiling for real for a couple of months. You want to hold him?”

Meaghan shook her head. “Not yet. My wrist is busted up and I’m covered in dragon snot. I need to take care of a couple of things first.”

Jeff began to cry. “Thank you for keeping my family safe. You said you would, and you did.”

Kady smiled. “Don’t cry on the baby, you big marshmallow.”

“You guys have everything you need?” Meaghan asked.

Jeff gazed at her with tear-filled eyes. “Everything. Thank you.”

“Thank Sam, too. I’d be a pile of charcoal right now if it hadn’t been for him.”

Meaghan stopped in the hall bath. With one hand, she couldn’t do much, but she scrubbed some of the blood and soot away with a washrag and washed her good hand the best she could.

Her wrist was throbbing and the pain was growing. She couldn’t ignore it for much longer, but first she had to see Luka.

She let herself into the guest room. Luka lay on the bed propped up with pillows, his eyes bandaged. Steph, Owen, and Terry sat around him. He stiffened when he heard Meaghan step into the room.

“It’s Meg,” Steph said in a soothing voice that belied the worry on her face.

Luka relaxed. “You killed it?”

“Sam and I killed it,” Meaghan said.

“The job’s not done,” Luka said.

“I know. That’s why I’m here. Is there anything you can tell me before I go over there?”

“Don’t,” Luka said, an anxious edge to his voice. “Stay away from that place.”

“How many elves are over there?”

Steph gave Meaghan a warning look.

Meaghan ignored her. “I need to know what I’m walking into.”

“I saw about half a dozen.” He shook his head. “The last things I’ll ever see.”

“You don’t know that,” Steph said.

Meaghan glanced at Marnie.

Marnie shook her head.
His eyes are gone. There’s nothing for me to fix and even I can’t grow new body parts.

How do you know?

I’ve been trying since he got here. The other stuff I’ve done I only had to think about.

Meaghan felt a warm pleasant tingling in her wrist and the pain evaporated.

See? I fixed your scalp wound, too.

“Luka,” Meaghan said. “Please. Any help you can give me.”

“They’re scared of you,” he said. “I know that much. Even before you killed the dragon. And I did manage to convince them that their salvation lies in the archive.”

“So they won’t burn it?”

“I don’t think they will. But they won’t abandon it without a fight either.”

“Of course not,” Meaghan said. “What did they do with the other monks?”

“They had them locked up down in the cellars somewhere, but I convinced the elves to release them so they could help with the search.”

Meaghan rolled her wrist around in the air, marveling at the improvement, then she remembered Luka’s lost eyes and put her hand down. “Will the monks fight?”

“To save the archive?” Luka nodded. “I’m sure of it.” He smiled for a moment, the first smile Meaghan had seen on his face since she’d stepped in the room. “And we’ve got another ally. Eamon O’Malley’s wizard abandoned him over there and stiffed him on his fee.”

“There’s no surer way to turn a leprechaun against you,” Owen said, relief on his face from Luka’s smile. “Even Eamon isn’t slimy or stupid enough to help the elves. Too much bad blood.”

“Meg, trust Sam,” Luka said. “He knows the archive as well as the monks do. He snuck me out of there, blind . . .” There was a slight catch in his voice. “And in pain, and right under their noses.”

“I trust him,” Meaghan said. “He saved my life a few times already today. All our lives. We’re going over there as soon as I get downstairs.”

“Take Sparky with you,” Luka said. “He’s got his old firepower back.” He smiled again at the shocked silence around him. “What? I may be blind, but I’m not deaf.”

Chapter Fifty-One

M
EAGHAN HAD STEELED
herself for another fight—literally as well as figuratively, taking the sword and her favorite saucepan—but the elves had cleared out.

The monks were sitting in the main hall of the castle with tankards of ale, toasting Eamon O’Malley.

“I’m a hero,” he said, a beaming smile on his homely little face.

Terry raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”

Eamon wiped his mouth on his grubby sleeve. “Yeah, first I told them I got you back in the game, boyo, then I told them I was friends with Meaghan of Keele, the world killer, and she’d kick their arses into jelly.” His voice slurred and he swayed slightly in his seat. “Then the tall skinny one, the one you had locked up in your cellar, he shows back up, and they all buggered outta here fast as they could.”

“I hear your mystery wizard stiffed you,” Meaghan said. “Still want to protect his identity?”

“That shifty bastard? Shite, no. T’was Cooper, that feckin’ wanker what heads the Order.” Eamon took another slug of ale. “Me and the lads are going after him and his pansy wizards.” He let out a thunderous belch. “Soon as I sleep this off.”

“I thought you were scared to go to other worlds,” Terry said, as he and Meaghan wandered around checking out the archive. Monks, most of them appearing human, scurried around them, awed looks on their faces.

“I got over it.”

“After you slay a dragon, everything else is small potatoes, I guess,” Terry said. “These aren’t exactly a scary bunch of guys.”

“They’re totally freaked out by you,” Meaghan said. “Thor.”

Terry snorted with laughter. “Me? A little awestruck maybe, but it’s Meaghan of Keele they’re scared of. And please don’t call me that.”

“What your original name anyway?”

He said something that sounded like “Taya-duh.”

“How do you spell that?”

“Not a clue. I didn’t learn to read or write until we headed for Rome. Luka made me learn.” The smile dropped from his face. “His sight isn’t coming back, is it?”