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

Leo admitted with a shrug. Landon could have left then, Leo’d moved to the side to allow him to, but he didn’t. Finally, we’d piqued his interest. Even Leo could recognize the small millimeter of dilation in what little we could see of Landon’s eyes. “I live every day in pain, Landon. I’m supposed to die soon, and nothing that anyone can give me will stop it. All I’m looking for is a cure; what you and your friends do for cash is no concern of mine.”

“Why is that?” Landon asked, his eyes flying to me as if I would have the answer.

“I’m cursed, I’ve been cursed my whole life.”

Whether it was Leo’s intent for Landon to stumble was unknown to me, a million emotions crossed the man’s swollen face, and yet not a single one stuck. Bad, I think that was the best way to put it. Maybe it’s that centuries-long guilt that everyone wants witches to have, perhaps it was his own curse, or maybe it was the gallons of blood underneath his skin rushing to his head. I don’t know what it was, but Landon finally spoke again.

“You don’t want to go down the road everyone’s been going kid, you should be thankful to die instead. But if you’re so determined, then fine,” His eyes fell to the door, throat tightening, he obviously knew something we didn’t. “Small shop between Burnley and Oak road, no sign but the door reads Lacus. There’s a woman at the front desk, and she won’t let you in unless Lyra’s there. Tell them Landon sent you, tell them-- tell ‘em not to call me, I won’t answer.”

“What do you mean--”

“I’m genuinely sorry, kid,” Landon spoke quickly, Leo’s eyebrows furrowing in frustration. “No one deserves that shit.”

And then I heard it.

Footsteps, so many footsteps. They quickly moved in our direction, growing louder and louder by the second.

“And you’re right; I was lying,” the man moaned. “You tell Autumn, you make sure she knows I loved her.”

“What--”

“Leo!” My hand wrapped around his wrist just as the door opened, my other hand bearing white knuckles as it grasped down onto my wand. My eyes screwed shut, and the air left my body, a cacophony of voices and yells filling the space. A scream, the loud, hair raising kind, filled my ears. For the briefest moment, I felt a hand grasp down upon my shoulder, but just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.

When I opened my eyes again, we were in Adam’s park, my chin on Leo’s chest and his body laying flat in the grass. In the distance, a murder of crows screeched. Leo’s eyes remained closed, yet his chest still moved up and down.

13

The Beginning of Loss

The world came back in screaming colors, blurry greens, yellows, and whites burning my eyelids as I stared down at Leo, forcing my eyes to focus on him. The details of his face came back into view, confirming for me that he was still there. His chest rising and falling, his hands spread to either side of him, limp. Soft black eyes closed, long eyelashes curving out from them. Reassuringly, small gasps escaped him, his mouth falling open limply. It was almost as if he was asleep, rather than suffering the consequences of my actions. Sudden magic was rough on everyone.

I, on the other hand… My head pounded, the whistling still ringing in my ears. I was fairly sure that, if I were to sit, I would most likely vomit. Transportation spells weren’t completely unheard of, yet they’d grown less popular in the modern age for obvious reasons. I’d not heard of a witch in modern times who’d not cast a traveling spell and suffered from intense motion sickness. The effects were far too dangerous to justify using on a daily basis, especially when things such as subways and buses existed, eagerly awaiting our spare change to carry us across town.

And yet, as horrible as I felt internally, something commanded even more attention from me. My hands left Leo’s cotton shirt to reach for my shoulder, feeling the space of skin between the clavicle and neck. A groan escaped me as I found raised fingerprints, moistness accompanying the burning sensation that blossomed over my skin. I rolled to my side, falling off of Leo and onto the grass beside him with a grunt, my hand still held out in front of me. Nothing was visible on my fingers, but when I turned my head and tried to crane my neck properly, I saw hints of a black handprint on me. A reminder that it really did happen.

“Landon…” His name felt heavy on my tongue, far too difficult to say. A ragged sob escaped me, my legs curling into me. “Oh god, he’s… they’re…” Another splash of acid against my throat, I hastily turned from Leo, my hand reaching for his forearm so I knew that he was still there.

The sky stared back at me, hints of light peeking through the fog-made clouds. My eyes trained on one of those stars, hoping that I could begin to forget, but the light was blocked at the moment I needed it most by a crow flying by. Leave it to nature to remind you that things like forgetting don’t come easy.

Beside me, Leo began to stir, soft murmurs sounding as his body began to move. The motion only made my grip tighten, a part of me was afraid that if I let him go he would disappear. He groaned, a long, deep groan that came from the gut. Immediately, his hand began to wander, feeling frantically beside me until it ended up on my thigh, his body giving a reassured sigh upon the contact. It appeared I wasn’t the only one worried about someone being missing.

“Lyra,” his voice called hoarsely, looking for confirmation that I was still there.

“It’s me,” I muttered, not daring to look at him, not yet. Not when I knew what would come