Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

window. Glass wasn’t impervious and neither was plastic or rubber or aluminum. But a car was enough of a barrier to scare off casual predators. Most scary monsters would wander off in search of easier prey.
    Except for the ones who’d love to kick my ass . She shivered, pulled the space blanket thingy out of the survival kit, and hunkered under it to wait for Russ.
    Something else got there first.
    She saw the shadows slink from the trees and surround the car. They weren’t from the Order. Too short. The Order contained children, but they weren’t sent out as decoys and magic fodder until they were tall enough to masquerade as full-grown wizards. Meaghan had grown adept at telling the difference. The dangerous wizards were well fed, while the decoys were bony and half starved.
    Leprechauns? She dismissed that idea immediately. The figures outside were a bit too tall and the leprechauns liked her, as far as she could tell. And even if they didn’t, she didn’t owe them money, their magic didn’t work on her, and leprechauns generally didn’t slink. Leprechauns were thugs, but direct and plain dealing thugs.
    There was an element of theater to this . . .
    The fair folk—was she finally meeting the notorious fair folk?

Chapter Five

    T HE FAIR FOLK were a magical race with the ability to shift their appearance and manipulate magic. Unlike true shifters, who could physically rearrange their bodies, the fair folk used magic to project a desired appearance into the mind of the viewer.
    Their actual name was about thirty syllables long and unpronounceable with human vocal cords, but translated into something like “glorious wonders who are better than you.”
    The fair folk fed off emotional energy and were the source of much elven mythology—most particularly the tall, graceful, supermodel/movie star variety. They had a particular taste for fanaticism, judgment, and dogmatic belief, with the occasional meal of awe and wonder when they could find it. They liked to co-opt belief systems and, in addition to the glamorous elf routine, tried to pass themselves off as gods.
    But they were neither. In reality, they were short and skinny with pointy ears and bad skin. Their vanity had made them hate Meaghan’s father and now Meaghan, because impervious humans could see their true faces, could see how physically unimpressive they really were. But that didn’t make them any less dangerous.
    They despised the modern world, hated humanity’s ongoing advancement, hated how they were steadily losing sway over the human mind. They wanted to see the world plunged back into the pre-Iron Age. The fair folk had been waging a simmering war on humanity for centuries, possibly millennia.
    Meaghan still didn’t have all the facts because, under the terms of the last truce, all references to the war in magical and non-magical lore had been expunged. The only reason she knew about the war at all was something her mother had told her in a dream when she’d first arrived in Eldrich. She still knew only the barest outlines of the story.
    She reached under the seat for the tire iron her brother had placed there for her when she’d bought the car. “If I get a flat, I’ll call for help,” she’d told him.
    “This isn’t for changing tires. It’s for bashing monsters,” Russ had replied. “Humor me, all right?”
    “Whatever,” Meaghan had said, rolling her eyes, but she’d kept the tire iron under her seat as directed. She now sent a wordless message of thanks to her brother.
    The cloaked figures surrounded the car.
    Meaghan gripped the tire iron and tried to think. Physically, without magic, they were no match for her, but they could still drop a tree on her. She could hear the windows rattling and smelled burning rubber. The car wouldn’t protect her for long.
    “I’ll be damned if sit here and wait for them,” she muttered. Meaghan started the car, flicking on the high beams and leaning on the horn as she revved the