Magic sleeps in the concrete. Hope awakens it.
 
When graffiti artist Nia paints a griffin on the rooftop of an abandoned New Orleans hotel, she thinks she’s just creating another mural. That is until the creature from her dreams opens its eyes.
 
Drawn into a world her grandmother’s stories only hinted at, Nia discovers the griffin is more than myth and her art more than paint. Each mural she’s ever created may be a doorway; and one of them has already let something dark slip through.
 
With her grandmother’s journal as her guide and a guardian watching from the skies, Nia must uncover the truth of the Concrete Aerie before the Hollow-Feathered, echoes of lost guardians twisted by time, tear the city apart.
 
In the heart of New Orleans, where old spirits still listen, creation itself can be an act of remembrance…or release.
 
Recommended for fans of: Seanan McGuire, Charles de Lint, Patricia A. McKillip, and Tananarive Due
 
7400 Words
 
Content Advisory – The Concrete Aerie
 
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy • Contemporary Supernatural • Mythic Folklore
 
Age Guidance 15+ – atmospheric tension, supernatural peril, and thematic intensity
 
Content Ratings (Wolf Paw Scale: 0–5)
Language: 🐾 — mild slang; no strong profanity
Sexual Content: [no paws] — none
Violence: 🐾🐾 — brief peril, implied creature attacks, light environmental destruction
Dark Themes: 🐾🐾🐾 — supernatural entities, haunting imagery, corrupted spirits, ancestral magic influences
 
Nia’s awakening connection to the griffin spirits brings moments of tension and atmospheric dread, though the story maintains an ultimately hopeful tone.