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

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