The City of Crows

by Bethany Anne Lovejoy

  Leo was, in his own way, magical.

  “And then it started to rain,” Yvie breathed, tears in the corner of her eyes as she recounted leading the neighborhood children on another chase around the neighborhood. “And the poor guy’s nose went back to the way it looked before. He was so mad, I thought he’d just about kill me there. Good thing Rowan was around, roughed him up a bit and made sure that he couldn’t touch me. Those were the old days though, when he and Lyra were dating-”

  I cleared my throat, shooting her a warning look.

  “--Very old days, long gone,” Yvie stumbled, a heavy grimace playing on her features. She knew better than to get into that topic when we had guests, there were few limits to our friendship, but that was one of them. Beside her, Leo shifted, a look of confusion on his features that Yvie responded to with an awkward smile.

  He settled back in beside her, concerned but unquestioning. That was one of the nice things about Leo; he knew when to stop asking questions.

  The air lapsed into a momentarily awkward silence, and Yvie quickly clambered to fill it. “So, Magictown, witches, curses,” she cringed. “I suppose the easiest place to start is... do you know exactly who cursed your family?”

  “He doesn’t,” I answered for him, eyes flashing towards him to affirm the fact. The less he talked to Yvie, the better. As it was, it seemed like he was all too capable of getting her to say too much. “Again, he wasn’t the one who got cursed initially, and if we’re being technical, it was his great grandfather.”

  “Well then, it’s just as simple as a little name drop and some veiled threats to get that information, isn’t it?” Yvie asked, quirking her head as if it was an obvious solution. “I mean, I highly doubt the Society of the History of Magic is going to argue with you. Thankfully we’re not exactly talking about a centuries-long curse, that life span has been getting ten years shorter every round.”

  “My family is from Vietnam,” Leo began, “I’m a second-generation American. ”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Yvie interrupted. “It’s still worth a shot, if she or any member of her family within three generations left the country, or even bothered to register properly, then her name’s recorded in one of the spell records by Leo’s. And if Lyra so much as mutters mommy dearest’s name,” I shot her a scowl, “then she’s in. And if one of your witchy woman’s ancestors are alive, the odds are that you two could go about things the simple way and write to them to remove the curse. Way better than trying to do the absolute impossible here, and way less likely to upset her bloodline if you were somehow able to remove the curse without permission.”

  “Right,” I began sarcastically before Leo could so much as open his mouth. “And in the years upon years that Leo’s father and grandfather had to solve this problem, they didn’t think to write a letter? Not to discredit your brilliance here, but I have a little bit of faith here that those two might have been able to remember the witch’s name. Considering the fact that they thought to get my name written down, perhaps…”

  Yvie groaned, her head falling back against the couch, “gotcha, you’re right.”

  “Nice try, though,” Leo said quietly. “I would have loved for it to be that easy.”

  “Right then,” Yvie continued. “Magic, real magic. Spells that don’t fade. I mean, that’s…” She sucked in her cheeks, thinking. “I’ve heard whisperings, just rumors, but that’s-- You’d need more than that, wouldn’t you? Good witches don’t exactly go around looking for more power, the ones I know are content. You’d have to venture a little out of our circle…”

  “Your circle?” Leo asked.

  “We don’t exactly hang out with criminals,” Yvie deadpanned, a trace of annoyance to her voice. “I mean, not all aspects of magic that our friends use are currently legal, but we’re also not hanging around the sort of doom and gloom, ‘good old days’ guys who are just waiting for an excuse to shoot a spell.” The offense on her face was visible, but my mind was already drifting away from her.

  We needed to go somewhere, somewhere that wasn’t open to humans. A little closer to the underside of Magictown.

  There were two parts to The Stakes, much like any other city district. There was the cleaned up, presentable part with modest people just trying to make a living, lots of families and the elderly who had sought out the company of their own kind. The Stakes was, in that regard, a clean place and kind place. You could make friends on the streets in an instant, and everyone always wanted to help each other. Whether it be carrying groceries or spotting the change for someone else.

  But there was another part. A part that blossomed in dark corners, that sported neon signs leading to nowhere; a part where cops walked up to vanishing doors and young men cornered each other in restaurants. A place where back-alley dealings were part of everyday life and spells that only lasted for only a few minutes sans water were a tangible scam: the part where humans didn’t go, the part where humans couldn’t wander.

  When good, innocent people needed information, they took a walk on the light side. They asked questions of grandmothers in velvet robes, and they exchanged cups of sugar and pleasantries for local gossip. When others were looking for information, well; I shouldn’t know, but I did.

  I’d been there far too recently, I’d spoken to people far too much. Back when I was young and stupid, back when I couldn’t think of any place outside of Magictown. They wouldn’t let Leo in, of course they wouldn’t. Humans were, on the other side of our neighborhood, just as bad as witches. And yet, with only one glimpse I knew that he would be stupid enough to come with, that he’d try his luck over and over again if that meant a fair chance of progression.

  I had run out of options; there was no saying that you’re trying to do what’s best for someone when that person lingered on the line between life and death. “The Green Man,” I concluded through tightened lips. “If we’re going to go anywhere, I mean that’s--”

  Yvie gaped, her mouth staying open as she gasped, “Lyra.”

  “The Green Man, then,” Leo said with a tone of finality, evidently glad to have caught some sort of lead. He didn’t notice the way that Yvie’s mouth fell, lips pressing tightly together as she stared across the room at me.

  6

  The Green Man

  Tall, thick walls of Ivy stood in front of me, climbing across brick and stretching to the sky. They weren’t out of place, at least not completely. The dense overgrowth of Magictown’s under-maintained park sat behind me, a much begged for addition to this portion of town some hundred-odd years ago. Of course, there was supposed to be more than one park; these neighborhoods made up more than a third of the city. But all those promises vanished, taken away from disappointed children when generation after generation of the same family was elected to office. Our current mayor, Pat Lobdel, hated witches just as much as her father before her, while having only half the reasons to do so. All that remained of those dreams was Adams’s park, where the grass was the only trimmed thing. There wasn’t so much as a swing set or slide, because the city knew that smart people didn’t take their children to Adams Park.

  Of course, one could argue, look at what we did with the park they gave us. But if you were to bring up such an argument, then I would love to remind you; working-class people are too busy sweating their lives away to actively engage in treachery. No, it was the rich, always the rich, who sat behind the green curtains right under our noses. They’re what made Adams the gateway to the underbelly.

  My hand tightened around the hand of the man beside me, pulling him out of his stupor. Just minutes prior, he’d managed to regard the wall with a passing interest, nothing more. But when I stopped, so did he. A questioning look soon grew into a look of awe. It was only my hand that prevented him from stepping forward, his fingers reaching longingly towards the foliage. He was quick to pick things up, he knew that something laid behind there. A part of me wanted to tell him exactly what right away, another part of me knew that just telling him woul
dn’t be enough; no, let him see, maybe if he started to get an idea of what magic was really like, he’d go home and face reality. The chance of a cure laying behind that wall was slim to none, but when you don’t know better, then slim must sound pretty good.

  “Wizards don’t marvel,” I said underneath my breath, flexing my hand around his once more to keep him from wandering, “and since you’ve refused to stay home, you have to at least attempt to look like a wizard. I can’t guarantee that nothing will happen to you if you don’t.”

  “Right,” he replied with pinkened cheeks, his hand slipping out of mine. “A wizard, I am a wizard. Things like this are normal to me, all of this is normal to me.”

  “Try to sound a bit more like you’ve seen magic before in your life.”

  “I’ve seen magic every day of my life,” Leo said unconvincingly. “And in no way have I walked past this very building, in this very park, multiple times over two years without a second thought. Nor have I walked by other shops and buildings with the same walls of ivy, completely unsuspecting of what may lay beneath.” He shook his head, hand reaching for my arm as if I would be the one to steady him. “No, I knew. I was completely aware… I’m just in awe of the landscaping.”

  “Landscaping,” I said, looping my arm around his. “Right.” He wasn’t fooling anyone. “You know, it’s not too late. You can go home; I promise that I will try to get information. I can’t exactly back out on you, just in case you forgot.” He needed to go home, he wasn’t the type of person who belonged in that bar. One look at his face and the constant wonder covering it, and everyone in that bar would have questions. “I can take you back and then come straight here.”

  And yet, “Yvie said it’s dangerous,” Leo reiterated once more. “I’m not letting you go alone. Especially not somewhere that I know you don’t want to be, it’s not right. I may not be a wizard, but I’m still going to do my best to protect you.”

  A part of me desperately wanted to remind him that, had he not entered my life, I would not be going into the Green Man period. More than that, any danger that could befall me was not the sort of threat that a human could easily take care of. But I knew he wouldn’t stand for it, his jaw was set, and his fingers only clutched harder to my arm. He was going in, whether I liked it or not.

  I inhaled, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. “Grab my shoulder and stay close to my side; we need to make it look normal like we’re two friends entering the bar. You won’t be able to get through the barrier alone if you aren’t touching me.” I stepped closer to him, ducking underneath his arm and pressing close into his side. My arm wrapped around his waist as he reached around my shoulder; the warmth of his body almost immediately enveloped me.

  His eyes closed, scrunching at the corners as if he didn’t want to watch. I sighed, pushing him forward with me as I took a step into the greenery. Leaves and stems parted, brushing against my hair and skin as we walked through the door. A tightness, one that made my ears pop, occurred that had not happened before; magic trying and failing to keep out humanity.

  The Green Man was the oldest bar in New Haven. Created when the town was founded; the bar had a physical location, but no one was really quite sure of where. Over time memory of the crumbling brick building was lost, the trademark vines that filled darkened corners of the city replaced the storefront, entryways coming and going with every round of pesticide and case of arson New Haven faced. Many kids had tried to hunt for the actual door, but none had found it. The big, red double doors towards the front of the bar were now enchanted to lead to various places in the city; rumor has it one of the previous owners did that because too many witches and wizards had gotten lost over the years.

  It was huge. I think that was the best way to put it, but that did it no justice. A long bar that made one feel tired by the time they’d reached the other end, endless groupings of round tables with ever-changing amounts of chairs, and a sprawling dancefloor. That was just what you could see. To the sides were the darkened red of cherry wood doors, repeatedly slamming open and shut as people filed in and out of the VIP rooms. Giggling young women, the kind with diamonds on their fingers and cash in their wallets that most certainly wasn’t theirs, filed in and out of view, clad in tight-fitting tops and jeans but somehow radiating the glamor of years past. Their painted smiles and framed eyes were as much decoration for the bar as the dense vegetation that grew on the ceiling and stray dead leaves that scattered across the floor. The Green Man was more than framed photographs and heavy smoke clouds; the Green Man was people.

  And boy were there a lot. I struggled to remember if it’d always been this dense in my youth as bodies careened in all directions, shoulders smashing into each other and drinks spilling as witches and wizards chattered away without a care in the world. Leo’s hands reached for my shoulders, pulling my back against his chest just in time as a reddened man came storming by, feet stomping in a way that suggested he would have barreled me down if given a chance.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, stepping away from him, his firm grip bringing me back to reality.

  Leo’s hands withdrew from my shoulders, and he placed them up in the air as if in a sign of innocence. “No problem,” he said, yet his face suggested it was anything but that. Awkwardly he shuffled and my hand returned to his person once more, wrapping around his wrist. He eyed it with a questioning glance, his fingers wiggling under my grasp.

  “I can’t have you getting lost,” I explained to his raised eyebrow. It seemed like he would.

  He nodded, his hand relaxing. “So, where do we start?” He asked, stooping down so that he was closer to my ear, his breath playing upon my skin. “How does any of this work?”

  “Right, well,” I leaned into his ear, my hands cupped around my mouth as the noise grew louder, wanting to make sure that he could hear. “Here’s how things work, Leo. You don’t go to the Green Man to meet someone new; you go to the Green Man to see people you already know, then you ask those people about people they already know, who ask those people about people they know; you’re getting the picture, right? Eventually, somewhere down the line, someone has to know something. Or, with impossible things like your problem, everyone will inevitably know nothing.”

  He ignored my last statement, instead favoring my previous explanation. “People you already know? But if they already know you, how are you going to explain…” Wordlessly, he mouthed ‘me.’ He didn’t really have to indicate what, because someone else did it for him.

  “Lyra!” A voice rang out, as clear and high pitched as the chime of a bell, immediately my face fell and I fought the urge to either step in front of Leo or as far away as possible from him. “My god, Siobhan isn’t lying, there is a man!” An auburn haired girl, one in a white turtleneck that clung to her curvaceous form, slunk into view; scarlet lips painted into a look of amusement. Autumn. Not a true friend, not even one from my circle, but of course-- “Oh, and Rowan was so upset, nice to see it was for a good reason this time, though, isn’t it?” The witch bounded closer, reaching up to pinch Leo’s thin cheeks. “Just look at him, wow! A catch, I didn’t think you had it in you, Lyra!”

  Autumn was one of those friends who you have and never talk to for a reason. She was a pleasantries, good news only sort of friend; lest she exaggerate your faults to the whole neighborhood. She wasn’t instinctually two-faced, and I’m sure in her mind there was no malice in any of her actions. But you never told her anything, no one ever told her anything. And when engaged in conversation with her, well…

  “Now Siobhan was going around saying that Yvie called her a liar, can you believe that? Just looking at the boy right here, Yvie owes that girl an apology. Of course, she’s not the only one that Yvie owes an apology too; Sunny is still upset about that rat potion, damn near killed her cat. She really ought to start making labels for those things.” Autumn was the type of person to talk until her perfect scarlett lipstick had nearly flecked off her mouth, then reapply it and talk some mor
e. “But then again, maybe you didn’t tell Yvie for a reason--”

  “Autumn,” I began with a grimace, interrupting her. “You’re here! I honestly was not expecting that--” Leo shot an incredulous look at me. “Don’t you normally stay on the other side of town?” She wasn’t the type to frequent a place like the Green Man.

  “Oh!” Autumn’s mouth popped open, her red lips shaped in a perfect circle as she pulled her hands off of Leo’s face, leaning forward to me. “Well, I’m not supposed to be, of course. You know how men are, this and that, don’t go here or wear that, definitely don’t say this to anyone, and please girl, don’t talk too much. But I’ve never been one to care much about those rules, so here I am,” she declared. Suddenly, however, she realized something. “Oh, you probably don’t know, you’ve been gone for far too long and haven’t been visiting like you promised! I always forget that not everyone’s in the know.” Her hands clapped together, body turning to me but her eyes still wandered, “you are not the only one who has got a new beau--”

  “He’s not my boyfriend, Autumn,” I replied with a roll of my eyes, loosening my hold on Leo but not letting go entirely. Beside me, he straightened.

  She ignored me. “Rowan’s cousin or something, you know how they’re related to practically everyone? Well, the short one, Landon. Love of my life, bless him.” Her head quirked, lips spreading impossibly thin as her mouth only widened, “Have you met him? I don’t think you have. And I,” she said with a poke at Leo’s chest, punctuating every word with an additional stab, “Have. Not. Met. This. One.”