Free Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) by Laura Kirwan Page A

you’d like the company.”
    John smiled. “Sure I’d like the company. Or is it babysitting?”
    Terry laughed. “A little of both. And not only for you. These things have me rattled, too.” He turned to Meaghan. “Meet me downstairs, okay? We need to talk about this some more.”
    Meaghan nodded, then turned to John. “We still need to talk too, but—”
    “Now is not the time.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I understand. Go. Do your job.”
    “My job . . . Oh, shit. I’m supposed to go into work today and walk through the new offices and finalize the furniture and—”
    “Can somebody else do it? Jamie, maybe?”
    “No, it has to be me. How is he, by the way?”
    John shrugged. “He seems to be better, but—”
    “You don’t believe it.”
    “I don’t know. I think maybe I am seeing too much of myself in him. And he still doesn’t tell me much. More than he did, but some wounds are slow to heal. I can’t make up for all those years away when he needed me.”
    “All you can do is be here now.”
    He nodded. “And then there is Patrice.”
    Patrice, Jamie’s wife, had exhibited mysterious superpowers during the Order’s siege of city hall. Cooper, the head wizard and all-around bad guy, had made cryptic sneering references to Patrice’s “sisters,” and Patrice—or more accurately, whatever had possessed her at the moment—had called herself a vessel. As soon as the danger was past, Patrice’s powers receded and hadn’t reappeared. At least not as far as anyone knew.
    Meaghan sighed. “Yeah. We need to figure that one out, too. But first, there’s the evil elf infestation to take care of. Let me go talk to Terry and get you sprung from house arrest.”
    “It never stops,” John said.
    “Look on the bright side,” Meaghan said. “At least we haven’t seen any evil wizards.”
    His look grew dark. “Yet. We haven’t seen them yet . ”

Chapter Eleven

    T ERRY MET MEAGHAN at the bottom of the stairs.
    “So now what?” she asked.
    Terry pointed at the floor and shook his head. In a cheerful voice, he said, “Why don’t you come over to my place for a cup of coffee?”
    She gave Terry a quizzical look and pointed at her ear and then the floor.
    He nodded.
    “Let me get my boots and coat,” Meaghan said, then added in a whisper, “Should I let them know I’m going?”
    He nodded, then leaned over and murmured in her ear, “Keep it casual.”
    Meaghan made her way back to the kitchen and pulled open the basement door. She took a steadying breath. “Guys? I’m running across the street for a minute.”
    “Okay,” Natalie called back.
    “Who’s down there with you?”
    “Owen, Gretchen, and Lynette. We’re fine. It won’t be pulling anything else on us.”
    “Call me if you need me,” Meaghan shouted. She pulled on her boots, found her coat in the hall closet, and followed Terry outside.
    The gray clouds were back and the air was still and hushed. “It’s going to snow again, isn’t it?”
    Terry nodded. “Feels like it.”
    “Is it safe to leave them?”
    He nodded again. “I took a look and made some threats. They’ve got it locked down tight.”
    “So why the secrecy?”
    “Not here,” he said, his voice tight.
    Meaghan raised an eyebrow. She pointed back toward her house.
    Terry shook his head, pointed at his eyes, and then gestured around the neighborhood.
    “Here?” she whispered, her heart pounding.
    “Maybe,” he said. “Let’s get indoors.”
    In silence, they trudged across the street to Terry’s house. He and Steph were in the middle of remodeling and the place was a maze of plastic sheeting and construction materials. They found Steph, still in her quilted bathrobe, sipping coffee in the outdated kitchen.
    “Meg,” she said, with a smile.
    Terry shook his head, put a finger to his lips, and pointed toward the backyard.
    Steph nodded and headed toward the tiny mudroom. She stepped out of her slippers and into her boots, grabbed a