The City of Crows by Bethany Lovejoy (novels in english .txt) 📗

it and run.” His eyes had a glint that assured me that statement was far from true.

5

Cat’s Out of the Bag

The creak of the window woke me at noon the next day. The curtains moved aside allowing long ribbons of sunlight to invade the room and violate my eyes just as they did every time I chose to take Yvie’s sleeping spot on the couch. The floorboards moaned with careless feet stomping across them a peal of light laughter sounding quietly as my roommate once more tried and failed not to wake me. I shifted on the couch, huffing as I threw my blanket over my head, a movement that only confirmed to Yvie that I was awake. A hand grabbed the blue, snowflake printed fleece blanket from my shoulders, exposing me once more to the sunlight.

“Skipping work again, Lyra?” Her voice purred into my ear as the thin body of her human form slid into the narrow gap between my body and the back of the couch. “Or are you finally going to tell me that you’ve quit?” Her voice was hopeful, but her body lounged against me in a way that suggested she was only kidding. “Gotta say, it’s surprising to see you home two days in a row. I support it, though, screw the old man.”

“I didn’t quit,” I grunted, blindly swatting at Yvie. “I’m just taking some time off, using some of my meager savings to take a break.”

Ugh, meager did them too much justice; it was practically an embarrassment to call what I had savings; more like the remnants of paychecks past. Still, I needed a head start if I was going to get rid of this guy. Considering the fact he’d all but revealed that he had no idea what he was doing last night, it seemed in my best interest to take a day off and at least attempt to get an idea of where precisely I needed to go. Luckily, I had a fairly decent resource to refer to about the goings-on of Magictown living and breathing in my own home. Five seconds with Yvie and I would at least be able to take my uncaring companion somewhere that would satisfy him for the time being.

“Oh, and be short on rent again?” Yvie asked, resting her head against my hip as she pushed into my gaze, her messy violet hair flopping in front of her eyes as she grinned. “God, you are practically begging to be sent to Magictown on another ingredient run. Miss it much?” She purred. “And here I was, thinking that you were so grumpy last night because you were doubling down on the whole never wanting to go back thing,” she rolled her eyes in mock irritation, unable to fight back the Cheshire grin that spread across her face. “Lucky for you, I gained a few more potions clients last night, so you’ll have lots of favors to make up for being short on rent this month.”

“Ah,” I said, finally sitting up on the couch. “Thank god for portions and the tiny vial shaped business cards that you keep in your back pocket.”

“I hardly need the business cards,” Yvie informed me, satisfied that I was finally awake. She stood away from the couch, looking down at me with a cocky grin, “my potions are so good they practically advertise themselves. You know what someone said to me the other night?” She didn’t wait, bending over so she was in my face once more, “Yvie Pas? Why, word of mouth says you’re the greatest potioneer in New Haven. Ha, my father is rolling in his grave!”

“And yet they still wash away with water,” I replied.

“Three uses per vial,” Yvie countered. “I’m telling you, charms and potions aren’t old woman’s work anymore; they’re the magic of the future. A way around recasting all the time, you just gotta time your showers and surprise rainstorms correctly.” She paused, seeming to remember something momentarily before speaking once again. “Of course, there are all sorts of surprises around these parts these days. You know, you were right to stay home in the end. Rowan showed up.” Her wide amber eyes watched me, waiting for any inkling of an expression to drip over my features.

She wasn’t disappointed.

“He seemed okay, I mean, didn’t look great. I didn’t get too close to him, from what I can tell he avoids me these days. But you know, he looked a little handsome and little charming. Just a little. I heard he asked a lot about you, big surprise there.” She was unimpressed, shrugging off his questions with an air of ‘I can believe it, but I’d rather I wasn’t able to.’ Shaking her head to herself, she began to walk away from me and towards the cabinets, evidently finding the news to be worthy of a cup of coffee. “Of course, Siobhan tried to answer questions for him, like she knows anything. Little liar was saying she was walking through Marlow Heights just that afternoon. I stopped her before she could speak any further; what business would she have in Marlow?”

“What business,” I repeated hoarsely. Perhaps that should have bothered me, it didn’t. Not as much as the implications.

As if to confirm my fears, she carried on speaking. “So…” She peered over her shoulder, eyebrows raised, “why is there a guy downstairs insisting that he needs to get into our apartment?”

My breath hitched, my body practically launching across the couch as I scrambled to pick up my phone. My finger slammed to the power button, a loud groan escaping me as I saw a notification of two missed calls. Great way to make sure he didn’t think I was giving up on him and cause him to jump into making irrational decisions.

“I’d put on my running shoes if I were you,” Yvie grinned, nodding at the door. “Mrs. Monley might have held him in place so far, but I doubt anyone would want to stay long