A Shadow In The City

Chapter 6: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

 The vampire, the fae, and the human made their way down to the tourist hot spot of the city that was Times Square. Amy almost lost the two men once or twice, but managed to find them again from the combination of Mark's hood and the pompom on Seán's hat. The walk wasn't that far, but they needed to make their way back out of the park, then down the length of it. Amy had been right; Central Park was enormous.

Finally, they broke free of the it's perimeter and after a few more blocks, had made it to the famed Square. It looked as picturesque and unreal as it did in the media

Mark and Seán continued at their normal pace toward the center of the square, but Amy stopped and looked up at the beautiful chaos around her. Even in the middle of the day, the LCD screens and banners light up the sky with flashing colors and eye catching designs. Advertisements for plays and musicals, movies and television shows next to the signs for the stores and restaurants that lined the streets. At ground level, things were just as crazy. A line of a few cars drove down one side of the square and on the other side, people walked to and fro pushing baby carriages and swinging shopping bags. There was an area full of small red tables with little red chairs around them and near it was an area where costume characters posed for and demanded money from tourists. She was so enchanted by the city sights and only snapped out of it when she backed up into someone.

She turned around to apologize only to be met with Mark's smug grin. "Are you lost, miss?" He chuckled.

"Oh, yes. It appears my tour guide has abandoned me."

"The nerve of some people." He glanced up at the screens before looking back at Amy, "If you think it's cool now, I'll have to take you to see it at night. It's like the sun never sets here."

"First Central Park and now Times Square?" Amy jokingly put a hand to her chest and fluttered her eyelashes, "Mr. Fischbach, you certainly know how to impress a lady."

"Shut up." He laughed. "Come on." He motioned for her follow him to a mass of gathered people. He pushed past them all and stood next to Seán, watching the hyperactive man the group was circling. He was blonde with a full, brown beard and dressed in ripped jeans and a purple hoodie, telling jokes while switching back and forth to a normal but accented voice and a dramatic raspy one. Occasionally, he stopped speaking only to begin shouting and, along with a punchline, he would use a plastic water bottle to splash his face with water making the crowd laugh.

As they watched him, Amy leaned over quietly spoke to Mark. "Friend of yours?"

"His name's Felix Kjellberg." He answered.

"Is he a supernatural as well?" Mark nodded. "But you aren't going to tell me what he is, are you?" Mark smirked and shook his head.

"Now, I'm gonna need some help with this one." The man announced, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out what appeared to be a deck of cards. Multiple people began raising their hands and even volunteering people next to them. He zeroed in on a woman whose young children were shouting and pointing to her. He held out a hand toward her, "Ma'am, would you please help me out?"

Despite the woman's protests, she laughed and took the man's hand, allowing herself to be led into the center of the crowd.

"And what is your name, miss?" He asked.

"Desiree." She answered.

"Everyone give a round of applause for Desiree!" He addressed the crowd and they all cheered, the group of people that were with her whooping and whistling. The man turned back to speak to her, but loud enough so most of the crowd could hear him. "Now, Desiree," he handed her the deck, "look through these cards. Do you see anything out of the ordinary? Any doubles or missing cards?" She took a moment to skim the cards and, when she found everything on the straight and narrow, she shook her head.