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

flashed back to Rowan as I watched Leo take another sip, reminding myself that he had stated Leo’s humanity. Yet that cup stood as a testimony to the unusual, something he wasn’t telling me. Was he embarrassed? Somehow I felt offended at the idea that he could be.

“Have you turned off all of the lights, Lyra?” Leo called out, his head finally rising as he put his pencil down, picking up the pen beside it and removing the cap. Evidently, he’d been paying more attention than I thought he had.

“Nearly,” I called back, jerking myself back into reality.

A furious scribble could be heard, followed by the pop of a cap onto a pen. “Good,” Leo began, I could hear the rustling of items being moved into his leather satchel. “I know it’s been a while but, tonight we should try to get more done,” he said. I looked at him, catching him gulp down the last of whatever was in his cup before speaking once more. “You know one of them, right? Maybe if you have an idea of where they spend time, we could happen to run into them, or else run into their friends. I’m curious about how this may turn out.”

“I am too,” I admitted.

His head swiveled in my direction, eyes squinting as he began to look for me. “Are you putting books away in the dark?” He asked, bemused. Throwing the bag over his shoulder, he began to walk towards me, his head tilted in curiosity.

Quickly, before he could round the corner, I pulled one of the books out by its spine, leaving the edge of it in the bookshelf so I could slide it into place just as he came into view.

He popped his head around the corner as I did so, an amused smile playing upon his features. “I didn’t know that witches had such good eyesight in the dark,” he said, stumbling down the aisle towards me, the faint light from the lamp on the desk guiding his way.

I swallowed as he stepped closer to me, his hand landing on my shoulder. “One of the many talents magic gives you, I’m afraid,” I lied. I’d watched Leo from afar for the majority of my shift, while attempting and failing to earn my twelve dollars an hour rather than lounge around for it like Emma did. Up close, Leo was even more potent. A strange tightness filled my chest, and I found myself pulling his hand off of my shoulder. “Yvie’s home today,” I informed him, “as is Gigi, they could be really helpful.”

The raucous laughter when we approached the door, however, suggested otherwise. Of course, that was one of the defining traits of Gigi, but Leo didn’t know that. I felt the question he didn’t dare to ask lingering in the air behind me as I struggled with the lock on our white front door, my key refusing to work. Sighing and checking that our neighbors weren’t in the hall, I left the key in the lock, withdrawing my wand from my pocket. Leo snorted as I whispered a few words, a flick of my wand unlocking the door, the deadbolt, and the latch. No wonder I wasn’t getting in before.

“Lyra!” A voice squealed as soon as I had opened opened the door, thick, tattooed arms wrapping around my body as errant strands of curled hair brushed by my nose, the owner tilting her head so that it did not come into full contact with me. From just a sniff, I could smell the hair dye taking effect. The owner of said hair lifted me slightly, then dropped me entirely as she looked over my shoulder.

A gasp, then far quicker footsteps moving across the floorboards, the large woman moving to scoop Leo up into her arms as she squealed in delight.

“Gigi!” A voice called from the living room, Yvie’s hurried body rushing past me with her wand in hand. She was unable to hold back her laughter, ducking behind Leo to slam the door shut with a suspicious look on her face. “Not in the hallway,” she declared, referring to our apartment rule of only using magic in our unit. My eyes looked up to see Gigi’s once black hair turning a shade of bubblegum pink rather quickly, and I realized what magic was at play.

Gigi withdrew from Leo, both hands still upon his shoulders as she grinned wildly at him. Gigi was, in many ways, sunshine incarnate; but also far too excitable. Yvie’s girlfriend of god knows how many years, I’d gotten to know Gigi fairly well over time. She was a larger woman with heavy set shoulders and a decent amount of weight on her hips, tattoos of various quotes obtained over her life played over every inch of her arms and shoulders. She was a comfort in many ways, the kind of person who befriended everyone she met. A witch who had never used her magic for anything practical in her life yet was all the better for it.

“Yvie and Lyra have said so much about you, Lyra especially!” Gigi declared, pulling back from him and shoving her hand towards him. “I’m so excited to meet you; you’re exactly like I imagined! I can barely tell that you’re dying!” She said as she shook his hand in unmatchable joy.

Leo’s face fell notably as he took Gigi’s hand. It was far more than just a sore subject to him, but not to Gigi.

I could tell that he was only expecting a handshake because when she took advantage of his grip to drag him further into the apartment, he looked surprised. “Him next,” Gigi declared, smiling so that every single one of her perfect white teeth was visible. “He’ll look amazing with the pink, and then we can match!” She clapped her hands, practically flinging Leo into the couch.

“Gigi…” Yvie let out an exasperated sigh, following close behind. “We’ve not even finished your head.”

“More than that,” Leo interrupted. “I don’t