Crushed (City of Eldrich Book 2) (17 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

“
W
here’s Natalie?” Meaghan
asked. There was no sign of her in the garage and Meaghan hadn’t seen her since Brian had left with Eliot and Ruth. “Oh, shit. Please tell me she’s still with us.”

“The bathroom,” Sid said.

“They put the door back?”

Sid nodded. “She’s meditating. She’s trying not to get all giddy about Jhoro again.”

“Is it working?”

Sid shrugged. “She’s not out here wrapped around him. That’s a good sign, I guess.”

Meaghan banged on the bathroom door. “You ready to get out of here?”

Natalie cracked the door open and peeked out. “Is Jhoro going with us?”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

Natalie sighed. “God, I hope not.” She pulled the door open, then stared down at her feet without moving. “I’m . . . I was kind of into him before all this happened.”

“Yeah,” Meaghan said. “I figured that out on barbecue night.”

“I have to confess something.” She looked up at Meaghan, then looked away quickly. “Marnie wasn’t the only one messing with love magic.” In a rush she added, “He’s so hot and I was lonely and I should have known better but . . .”

Meaghan sighed. “So how much of this insanity did you cause? And what can you do to fix it?”

Natalie chewed on her lip a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t think my spell is the one that went wild. I cast it like three weeks ago.”

“And it didn’t work?”

“Oh, it worked. Sort of. I made him hot for a woman—which took some big magic, let me tell you—only it was the wrong woman. I didn’t factor in all the time Marnie spent with him combing out his dreadlocks.” Natalie groaned. “You saw them at dinner the other night.”

“He was more interested in the ribs than either you or Marnie,” Meaghan said. She decided not to mention what Jhoro and Marnie had been doing before dinner. Better Natalie fawning and lovesick than scorned and vengeful.

“Yeah, but I still came in a distant third.” Natalie sighed again.

“What happened to your spell?”

“I shut it down as soon as I heard they were together, but he’s still with her, so Marnie must be casting her own spells. Like last night.” Natalie shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Meaghan relented a little. “Honey, you weren’t thinking. At least not with your brain. That’s the problem with love, at least at the beginning. We’ve all been there. But, I really need you to keep it together now. Jamie needs you to keep it together.”

Natalie buried her face in her hands. “It didn’t help,” she said, her voice muffled, “that Jhoro looks so much like Jamie.”

Meaghan gasped. Here was a wrinkle she hadn’t anticipated. Everything she’d seen and been told about Natalie and Jamie’s relationship led her to believe that they were like brother and sister.

“I know,” Natalie said, running her hands through her tangled curls and looking back at Meaghan. “It surprised me, too. I’ve never had those feelings for Jamie. At least I don’t think I ever have. Patrice is my friend and I’d never try to get in between them. But he’s my best friend and he doesn’t need me anymore. Even if we get him better, without the amulet to maintain, what am I to him?”

“Family. You’re family. Hell, my dad—
our
dad—helped raise him. And I’m . . . doing whatever it is I’m doing with his father. And I’m your sister.”

“Which makes John my brother-in-whateve-it-is -you’re-doing.”

“Exactly,” Meaghan said. “Which makes me Jamie’s not-quite-stepmother.”

“Which makes him my . . . not-quite-step-nephew?”

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

Natalie grinned. “I’m totally gonna lord that over him.” She grew serious again. “If he survives this. If any of us survive this.”

Meaghan grabbed Natalie’s hand. “You’re our best shot at making sure that happens. I need you on deck. You need to remember what’s real and ignore the hex. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “I’ll try, but if I start getting stupid again, hit me with something, okay?”

“Gladly. Now let’s get out of here.”

They found Annie, Sid, and Jhoro out in the main bay of the garage, standing outside of the forge’s still open door. Sid turned toward them and smiled. “Oh, the
profanity
. English and Fahrayan. They are not happy boys.”

“I know,” Meaghan said. She pushed the door closed without a word to John or Russ and waited for the second click. “There. Time-locked for twelve hours. Nobody’s getting through that door but Terry.”

“So, boss,” Sid said. “Now what?”

“City hall by way of the historical society. Unless somebody has a better idea?”

Nobody did.

“I’d like to get a look at city hall if we can sneak up,” Meaghan said. “See what we’re dealing with on the outside so we can tell Jamie—” She stopped short and looked around in panic. “Has anybody tried to call Jamie? I can’t believe I’m only thinking of this now.”

“Yeah, because nothing else was going on,” Natalie said. “Relax. I called him when you were in the bathroom.”

Meaghan looked at her blankly.

“Right before the police car crashed through the door and the wizard exploded.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Meaghan laughed and then abruptly stopped when she felt the hysteria well up. “Jamie’s okay?”

“Fine,” Natalie said. “City hall’s a mess, though. We’ll need new office space.”

“One crisis at a time. What’s the best route to get there?”

Eldrich’s town square was more accurately a rectangle, bordered on the west by Main Street and on the east by Eldrich Avenue. Eldrich Brew fronted on Washington on the north end. At the south end, across the aptly named South Street, sat city hall.

The historical society house was located on Iron Street, about two blocks west of the square. Iron intersected with Main about halfway down the square. From there they could get a closer look at city hall. If they ran into trouble before Iron they could double back and take the side streets.

Meaghan expected to see robed wizards, but instead saw a crowd, about a hundred people, milling around the south end of the square, their attention focused on city hall.

“We need to get closer,” she said. “Any ideas?”

“Yeah, hang on a sec.” Natalie stared intently at the light poles on Main while muttering a spell, then turned her focus to Eldrich Avenue. The street lights didn’t go out. Instead they slowly dimmed and the pools of light contracted and faded. The lights were still lit, but the north end of the square had been plunged into darkness.

“Nice,” Meaghan said, impressed. Every time she began to take Natalie’s power for granted, Natalie did something amazing.

“If we shut off the lights, they’d notice. This way, it’s almost as dark and nobody’s the wiser.”

“Where’d you learn that?”

Trying to sound nonchalant, Natalie said, “It’s a little something I came up with on my own.”

They stayed on the other side of Main and worked their way slowly down the street, hiding behind parked cars, ready to bolt into the darkness at the first sign of the Order. They stopped at Iron, where Natalie dimmed a few more street lights, and then crept closer to city hall.

The Order had constructed barricades on either end of South Street, blocking access to city hall. As they crept closer, Meaghan realized that the barricades were made mostly of overturned cars. One car, in particular, looked familiar.

“My Audi,” Meaghan whimpered, as they stopped to crouch behind a low hedge. “The bastards smashed up my Audi. I love that car.”

“You’ve never driven around here in winter,” Annie said. “Trust me. You would have been trading it in for an SUV after the first snowstorm.” She pointed to a knot of people, mostly women but also a few men, on the green lawn in front of city hall. “We’ve got bigger problems.”

The smaller group was stacking up a pile of what looked like firewood and junk from people’s garages—odd-sized pieces of two-by-fours, sheets of plywood, cardboard boxes, a few old doors, broken pallets. The pile was built around the base of one of the twelve-foot tall decorative street lamps dotting the city hall grounds. Loops of heavy steel chain hung from one of the lamp’s arms.

Several small gas cans sat next to the pile. The very combustible pile, Meaghan realized.

She looked at Annie, eyes wide with shock. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes,” Natalie hissed in her ear. “Gee, who do you think they’re planning to burn? A witch maybe?”

Meaghan felt sick. “Marnie. Oh, God, no. We have to find her now.”

Jhoro crept up next to Annie. Meaghan heard the hiss of his sucked-in breath, then heard him whispering something in Fahrayan. Sid whispered back furiously.

“What?” Meaghan asked. “Sid, what’s he saying?”

“He says we need a diversion. Something to clear the crowd out a little. Natalie, he wants to know if you still feel Marnie’s spell.”

Carefully avoiding looking at Jhoro, Natalie nodded. “Definitely.”

“Do you think the mob’s affected?” Meaghan asked.

“It’s mostly women up there,” Natalie said. “Some of them are witches. What do
you
think? Why else would they be participating in this?”

Sid relayed everything to Jhoro in Fahrayan. He nodded and reached around Annie to give Meaghan’s arm a gentle squeeze. Then he stood up and sprinted toward the group assembling the bonfire, yelling in Fahrayan.

As he got closer, he pulled off the ball cap, letting his long blond hair stream free. He stripped off his oversized Hawaiian shirt, whirled it around his head, and threw it. Finally he dropped his baggy shorts. Clad only in snug jersey boxer briefs, he let the crowd get a good look at him before running into the darkness on the east side of the square.

Meaghan heard shrieks as the crowd realized who it was. The pile was abandoned as a stream of people followed Jhoro into the night.

“If they catch him, they’ll tear him apart,” Natalie said, as she began to rise to her feet to give chase.

Meaghan, Annie, and Sid yanked her back down.

“You need to stay here. I’ll go,” Sid said. “So at least he’ll have a voice if he needs it. Plus, I’m the only one here besides Marnie who’s actually slept with him.”

“You
what
?” Natalie lunged at Sid as Meaghan and Annie tried to hold her back.

Before she could reach him, Sid was on his feet. He stuck out his blue tongue at Natalie, then grinned and ran after the mob.

“I’m going, too,” Natalie snarled as she tried to wriggle out of their grasp. She hissed something at Annie, and Annie was thrown back several feet.

Meaghan smacked Natalie hard across the face. “Knock it off. You promised me you’d keep it together. Annie, you okay?”

“Fine,” Annie said with a groan. “Mostly fine.”

Natalie shook her head, hand on her cheek. “Ow. That hurt. You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that?”

“You told me to hit you if you got stupid again. Is your head clear?”

“I didn’t think you’d really do it. Yes, thank you, my head is clear,” Natalie said petulantly. “
Bitch
.”

The wizards were moving across the street and into the square calling to each other.

Looking for us
, Meaghan thought. “We’re not getting in that way.” She shuddered. “Back to Iron Street. We’re taking the tunnel.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

M
eaghan, followed by
Natalie and Annie, crept back up Main Street, hoping none of the wizards saw them.

When they hit Iron, they ran, trying to stay on grass to muffle their footsteps. The decorative lamp posts on the street, similar to the ones outside city hall, cast a feeble glow that created shadows but no useful illumination.

The historical society house sat at the end of the second block. With its ornate trim and cheerful yellow paint, in daylight it looked like a lemon frosted wedding cake.

At night, in the dim shadowy light of the street lamps, the sunny clapboards were bled gray. The ornate structure loomed in the darkness, hulking over the smaller houses that surrounded it, like a child’s nightmare.

And it’s only gonna get worse,
Meaghan thought, with a shiver. Better a haunted mansion than a dark cramped tunnel.

They stepped onto the shadowy porch.

“Well, it’s about goddamn time,” a male voice said from the darkness.

The three women screeched in unison.

Owen Finnerty stepped into view.

Hand over her pounding heart, Meaghan said, “You scared the shit out of me, you little bastard. What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you. What took you so long?”

“You’re supposed to be with Edna.”

Owen gestured dismissively. “Edna’s fine. Sound asleep, probably having X-rated dreams about Blondie. Where is everybody?”

Natalie grabbed Meaghan’s arm. “We need to have this conversation inside. Anybody got a key?”

“It’s open,” Owen said. “I took a look around while I was waiting. Come on.”

Once inside, with the door locked behind them, Meaghan and Annie slumped to the ground. Natalie stood near the front window, putting up a protection spell and watching the street.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Meaghan announced, lying on the hallway floor.

“Me too,” Annie said.

Owen snorted. “I’m a hundred times older than both of you and you don’t hear me complaining.”

“That’s because you haven’t done anything yet,” Meaghan said. She pulled herself into a sitting position.

“Because I’ve been waiting for you. Where the hell is everybody?”

“Brian, Ruth, and Eliot are on their way to the hospital in Williamsport,” Annie said, “and—”

“
Hospital?
What happened?”

From over by the window, Natalie said, “A wizard blew up. After he crashed a police car into the garage.”

“But—”

“Long story,” Meaghan said. “We’ll fill in the details later. Eliot got a chunk of steel through his thigh and Brian and Ruth are civilians so I got them out of here. John and Russ are locked away safely, and Jhoro and Sid ran off into the darkness a few minutes ago to draw the mob away from the square.”

“And we’re going to get into city hall through the secret entrance in the basement,” Annie added.

“That’s what I thought,” Owen said. “The Order’s brought in reinforcements. You aren’t getting in the regular way.” He paused, then sighed. “And you’ve seen the mob. That’s got potential to get really bad. They’re building—”

“A bonfire to burn Marnie on,” Meaghan said. “Yeah, we saw it.”

“Not for her,” Owen said. “I did some eavesdropping. It’s for Red here.”

“
Me
?” Natalie stomped over from the window. “Why
me
?”

“Because you’ve got the most power. And Meaghan relies on you so much. And because . . . they know about Matthew and your mom.”

Even in the dim light, Meaghan could see Natalie flinch.

“What about Matthew? What are you talking about?” Annie looked back and forth at the others. After a moment, understanding dawned on her face. “Oh. So that’s why Russ kept calling you sis. Which, now that I think about it, isn’t really surprising considering how much time Matthew and Vivian spent together. Why should the Order care about that?”

Meaghan looked at Owen. “It’s the impervious witch thing, isn’t it?”

“Well, partly,” Owen said. “But it’s more about the prophecy.”

Natalie sank onto the stairs, her face in her hands, and moaned. “Oh, God, that is what it means. They told me it didn’t mean me, but who else could it be?”

Meaghan threw up her hands. “
What
prophecy? Will somebody tell me what the hell this is all about?” She could feel a rant building. Suddenly furious, she didn’t try to suppress it. “Why all the secrets? Everybody keeps telling me how powerful I am and how I’m even better at the job than Matthew and how scared the magical bad guys are, but you’re all still hiding shit from me.”

Annie, in a meek voice, said, “I’m not hiding anything. I don’t know what they’re talking about either. Unless . . .”

Meaghan glared at her. “Unless what?”

Annie wilted. “Nothing. Thinking out loud. Never mind.”

Meaghan turned on Natalie. Part of her mind registered how terrified Natalie was at the moment, but the fuse had been lit and Meaghan couldn’t hold herself back. “Does Russ know about this? Is he still lying to me? Or is it only you? It’s pretty fucking pathetic that the only one who’s been straight with me is a damn leprechaun.”

Natalie, eyes wide with fear, backed away, shaking.

“Leave her alone,” Owen said, anger in his voice. “Your brother doesn’t know about the prophecy. Your sister has had to carry this particular bucket of shit all by herself. And maybe if you hadn’t been off in Arizona all those years feeling sorry for yourself because daddy went away and pissing on Matthew every time he tried to reach out to you, all of this wouldn’t be such a surprise now.”

Owen’s angry words quenched her fury like a bucket of water thrown on a fire. Meaghan tried to respond, but the words wouldn’t come. The stress of the last few hours—the last few months—hit her like a sledge hammer. The room started to whirl. Her breath hitched in her lungs and her heart pounded in her chest, anger replaced with gut-twisting fear.

She hadn’t been this scared since Fahraya, since her first encounter with the Power, when all she’d wanted to do was turn and flee. Meaghan wanted, desperately, to be anywhere but here.

Because Owen was right, everything he’d said was right. She’d pushed her father away and now everyone she loved was going to pay for it.

Like Jamie had already paid for it.

His face, the one from her nightmare, battered and bloody, rose up in her mind, his dead lips whispering in reproach.
You promised you’d save me, but you let me die. You failed. This is your
fault.

And then a new image appeared in her mind’s eye. Natalie, screaming in agony as flames engulfed her. Meaghan’s heart pounded harder in her chest, and her legs gave way. She dropped onto the staircase behind her, clutched her knees, and curled into a ball.

They were all going to die. Jamie, Natalie, Russ, John—the people she loved were going to die because she was weak. Because she couldn’t stop crying. Because she had failed.

“Meg,” she heard Owen say in a gentle voice, as a small hand touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry. That was harsh. What do we—”

She pulled away from him and shook her head. “You don’t get it. I don’t know . . .” Her voice rose. “I don’t . . .”

Somewhere in the back of her mind, her calm, rational self tried to regain control, but it was too late. The wave of guilt and self-loathing swept over her, followed by the hated tears.

“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. People are getting hurt,” she gasped through her sobs. “People will die and you all keep looking at me like I have the answers. I don’t have any power and I don’t have any answers and I can’t stop crying and everybody’s keeping secrets from me because nobody can tell me what’s really going on because I’m such a fuck-up they don’t dare.”

Meaghan felt arms around her. Natalie, it was Natalie. Meaghan tried to pull away, but Natalie held her tight.

“I know,” Natalie murmured in her ear. “I feel the same way all the time. You’re not a fuck-up. Not even close.”

Meaghan resisted for a moment longer, then let go. Aching from injuries old and new, exhausted from weeks of broken sleep, Meaghan clung to her newly discovered sister and let the tears flow.

After a minute or so, Meaghan felt the storm begin to pass. She realized for the first time that Natalie was crying, too.

“I think maybe I need to talk to somebody,” Meaghan whispered in Natalie’s ear. “A professional. About Fahraya. About all of this.”

“Ya think?” Natalie squeezed her tighter. “You’re as messed up as Jamie, only without the special effects.”

“You’re squishing my ribs,” Meaghan said, “and I need to blow my nose.”

“I know,” Natalie said, releasing her grip. “I can hear it bubbling.”

Meaghan gave a weak laugh. “Hang on.” She dug a raggedy tissue out of her pocket. One tentative blow and the tissue disintegrated.

“Here.” Annie appeared at her elbow with a roll of toilet paper. “I’m making tea back in the break room. We need a time-out.”

Meaghan and Natalie rose to their feet and pulled Annie into a hug. There was more crying, this time including Annie, but it was punctuated with the occasional giggle.

“Oh, my God,” Owen said. “Are we done yet? Or are we waiting for Oprah and Dr. Phil to arrive?”

“Shut up,” Meaghan and Natalie said in unison. This made them laugh again.

“Humans,” Owen said in withering tone that didn’t match the look of relief on his face. “You live five minutes and waste four of them crying.”

This time, Meaghan ignored him. She blew her nose again. “Come on. I need that cup of tea.”

“I found cookies, too,” Annie said. “Those fancy chocolate-covered, foo-foo Pepperidge Farm ones.”

“Even better,” Meaghan said. “And while we have our tea, Owen’s going to tell me all about this prophecy.” She glared at him. “Right?”

“The world is about to end, and she wants to have a tea party.” He shook his head. “
Humans.
”