Caleb turned onto 59th Street and saw the crowd immediately. He slowed down and locked eyes with Mímir for a second. A strange, higCaleb turned onto 59th Street and saw the crowd immediately. He slowed down and locked eyes with Mímir for a second. A strange, high-pitched shriek came from somewhere beyond the onlookers. They jogged forward and looked at the people blocking their way. There were elves, gnomes, dwarves, orcs and even a demonic-looking man among them. Those who had transformed seemed rather clumsy, since their clothes were either too big or too small for them. But what he found most curious was the fact that those who had remained human weren’t staring at the fantasy creatures among them. They were all watching the same thing.
“I’m sorry…” Caleb said to the closest person.
He just wanted to ask what was happening, but as the man turned toward him, he noticed Mímir, gasped, and stepped back, pushing the woman behind him. In response, she turned around too, and a ripple passed through the crowd as people stepped out of their way, staring at the tall, muscular elf and the massive, terrifying-looking black wolf.
Caleb and Mímir took advantage of the opening and started walking through the parted crowd. The wolf seemed calm while his owner watched the fear in the eyes around them and tensed up. Some people raised their phones and started taking photos and videos of the pair.
They reached the other end of the crowd and looked towards the overpass. In the middle of it, a bus lay across the road; its front end had crashed through the guardrail and was hanging over the boulevard. A huge hole gaped in its side, and pieces jutted toward the sky as if something had burst out of it. Below, traffic was just as backed up because of crashes, vehicles that had veered off the road, and abandoned cars. Nothing was moving. To the left of the overpass ran a railroad bridge, its tracks surrounded by loose stones.
What had everyone staring, yet kept them from getting closer, was the scene next to the bus. An unconscious woman lay at the foot of the bus, blood trickling from a wound on her head and matting her black hair against her face. And next to her, a monster.
Not a mammal. Not a reptile. Not a bird. Something that was all three, and even worse. Caleb estimated it was about forty feet long, more than half of which was its tail. Its dark blue scales glistened with an oily sheen. It stood beside the woman, its heavy head perched on a short, thick neck, the pupils of its yellow eyes blown wide. It was breathing rapidly. It shifted nervously on its two hind legs, resting the hooked tips of its half-folded wings on the asphalt.
Only one word came to Caleb’s mind. Wyvern.
“Well, I’ll be…” Caleb whispered, looking at the creature.
Mímir growled once next to him. His owner looked down at him, then back at the sight. Finally, he scanned the crowd and saw two police officers. One was a white man in his mid-thirties. The other was an elven woman with long, bright green hair, dark brown skin, and large green eyes. Her clothes didn’t fit her at all; they were hanging from her slender frame. She had probably already been on patrol when the strange event happened, yet she hadn’t gone home. She had stayed on the street and done what she could. And right now, that meant keeping the bystanders away from the scaled animal.
“Evening, officers!” Caleb greeted them with a wide smile as he stepped closer.
Both officers looked up at him with wide eyes. Neither of them even reached his shoulders. The man’s jaw went slack while the woman whistled like she had just seen an impressive building, not a tall person. But when Mímir stepped closer to them, Caleb saw their hands moving toward their guns.
“No worries. He is completely friendly. He is my dog.”
“That’s… good.” The policeman swallowed nervously.
“What the fuck did they feed to you?” asked the woman, eyeing him warily.
“This… whatever this was, caused it. I guess it has something to do with how much I weighed before,” Caleb said with an awkward chuckle, knowing full well that this was just a very wild guess.
“At least you got lucky,” said the policewoman.
“Oh, you shouldn’t be shy about it!” Caleb replied. “I mean… I see a beautiful woman, just with pointy ears!”
“That’s the issue,” the male officer answered. “She… he… hell, I don’t know. He was a guy before this happened.”
“Oh… My condolences,” said the tall elf, nervously scratching the back of his head.
He froze. His eyes dropped briefly to his own unfamiliar body, then back to the officer. Her uniform hung loosely from her lithe frame. Before the Shift, he must have been larger. Taller, maybe.
“Or… congratulations?” Caleb’s voice thinned, jumping an octave. “I don’t know. Do you… like it?”
“Still debating. Happened less than an hour ago, for fuck’s sake.” She paused. “Although I’m pretty sure my wife won’t be a fan.”
“Right.” Caleb nodded toward the wyvern. “Any plans for the livestock?”
“We have no idea. We shot at it to scare it away, but the bullets just… bounced off the thick scales,” the elven woman said, looking at the creature with a frown.
“Backup’s going to take a while. We called it in, but the whole city’s a mess. Nobody’s getting here for at least an hour.”
“I can bring her out.” Caleb sounded confident.
“Are you insane? That thing is at least ten tons,” the woman scoffed. “And there must be people inside the bus too.”
“We can see her. She’s wounded and needs help now,” the policeman answered before Caleb could, then looked at the six-foot-three, pointy-eared muscleman. “In normal situations, I would tell you to go and play with yourself in a quiet corner and stop playing hero but… this is a special kind of fuckery. Are you sure about this?”
“Well, I can certainly try. And I accept the risk.”
“And what would be the plan?” The policewoman glanced at the wyvern.
“Well, I run toward it, dodge, slide between its legs if I have to, pick up the damsel in distress and bring her out.”
“You make it sound easy,” the male officer chuckled anxiously.
“It won’t be. But why worry?”
Caleb made a few small jumps like he was testing his new muscles, then turned to Mímir.
“Buddy, your job right now is to protect the people. I will go in, but if that thing goes wild and decides to feed on these lovely people, you will have to munch its wings, okay?”
The wolf let out a disgruntled growl like he wasn’t approving the plan and Caleb felt like Mímir was genuinely offended by his words. The elf shook his head to clear it. He slowly crouched down facing the bus and settled into the kind of starting stance he had seen sprinters use, shifting his weight onto his hands, keeping one leg tucked beneath him, ready to push off, and the other slightly extended, as if he’d frozen mid-stride. Then he propelled himself forward with a kick.
The air whistled around him, and he crossed the thirty-yard distance in three seconds. He heard somebody yell behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wyvern realize what was happening and begin to open its jaws, but he was already past its head. One of its wings snapped forward, the hooked fingers at its tip slamming into the asphalt in front of him. He pivoted to the right and ducked under the leathery folds of the wing. He reached its hind legs. He saw the muscles tighten on the scaled thighs. He left the beast behind and saw that he was only about ten to fifteen feet away from the unconscious, wounded woman. Then he got hit from the side. The enormous tail slammed into his side and lifted him from the ground, pushing him to the left, sending him flying.
He fell onto the railroad bridge, his side crashing onto the tracks. The pain that stabbed into his ribs made him think he had been ripped in half. He must have flown at least fifty feet, and he felt lucky the railroad bridge had caught him before he could fall onto Flushing Avenue below. But as soon as he started to push himself to his feet, the ache started to disappear. He looked toward the crowd and saw people staring at him, some with their mouths agape, others with their hands clamped over them. Mímir left the officers’ side and now stood at the railing, his front paws braced against it, staring at Caleb with a scared expression, and stared at him with a scared expression.
Caleb turned back towards the wyvern.
“You motherf…” He didn’t finish the word. “Come here! Fight me, you big chicken!”
The wyvern paced back and forth, its heavy tail swinging over the woman’s head, then it fixed its gaze on her and let out a roar directed straight at her. Caleb looked around angrily, grabbed a fist-sized rock, and, in his frustration, hurled it at the beast. The rock struck the creature in the head, and it shrieked again.
“You don’t like this, huh? Want some more?” Caleb yelled, grabbing another rock. “Leave her alone! Pick on somebody who is actually awake!”
He picked up one stone after another and hurled them at the beast. It roared, and anxious gasps began to rise from the crowd as Mímir started barking. Then the wolf fell silent when Caleb picked up a larger rock. He raised his arm in a wide arc, pulling it back, ready to throw. Suddenly, he felt something pulling him backward. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the black wolf tugging at his coat.
“Let me go, buddy, I’m okay!” he said, but Mímir didn’t let go. Instead, he yanked Caleb so hard that he fell backward.
“What the…” Caleb groaned and looked at the wolf, who turned toward the wyvern and let out a long, sad whimper.
Caleb stared at Mímir, then at the winged reptile. He slowly leaned back, rested his head on the rocks, and closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mímir. I am a stupid asshole…” he whispered, and as he looked up, the wolf nodded in proud agreement.
Then, as if he knew Caleb would do the right thing, he barked happily and ran back to the railing, leaping back onto the overpass.
Caleb didn’t head toward the wyvern. Instead, he followed Mímir, though he took a wider detour so he could run across solid ground and avoid having to jump. He wasn’t sure he could make it that far. He hurried over to the police officers.
“Are you okay?” asked the policewoman.
“Yes, I’m fine. Where’s your car?” Caleb answered.
“It’s here at the edge of the traffic jam. We’ve blocked off the road, and everyone’s lining up behind us.”
“Did you bring dinner?”
“I brought two sandwiches,” said the police officer, and the woman nodded to indicate she had as well.
“Can I have them?”
“Worked up an appetite on the flight?” the policewoman quipped, but the man hurried off without a word.
When he returned, Caleb took the wrapped sandwiches and began to unwrap them.
“What are you doing?” asked the police officer.
“Carter, have you never had a dog?” the woman laughed, clearly having figured out what Caleb was doing. “Guys, do any of you have any meat?” she asked, looking at the crowd.
Several people began rummaging through their bags, and soon a pile of ham, salami, and other meat products ended up in a bag.
“I seriously don’t get why you think this is going to work. If it were hungry, it would’ve eaten the woman,” grumbled the officer.
“Why on earth would he eat his owner?” Caleb asked.
“His owner? Are you saying that’s a… pet?” The disbelief was plain to see on his face.
Caleb stroked Mímir’s head.
“Yes. They’ve changed, too. You two stay here. Mímir, come with me. You’ll be my diplomatic liaison!” Caleb winked at the wolf, and together they set off cautiously toward the wyvern.
The huge animal immediately turned toward them and snorted angrily, sending out a gust of air strong enough for Caleb to feel from twenty feet away. He slowed down.
“Easy, big boy! Everything is all right now…” he said in a soothing voice. “We misunderstood the situation.”
Mímir glanced at Caleb and let out a short growl.
“Okay, okay! Fair. I misunderstood it. Completely. Me. Caleb Monroe alone,” he said to the wolf. “Will this be acceptable, your highness?”
Caleb could have sworn he saw the wolf smile and nod once, then they looked back at the beast in front of them.
“Look, we are here to help. Okay?”
The wyvern stomped with its left leg, then clawed the asphalt with its right, puffing out its chest. Caleb held out both of his hands and bent his knees a little to seem smaller. The winged lizard looked at him quizzically, then turned towards the wolf and let out a low, guttural sound. Mímir growled back. The creature let out a long, whimpering sound that was like someone scraping their nails down a blackboard. Mímir huffed once. In response, the wyvern answered with a bark that sounded like somebody had thrown a rock into an empty metal barrel.
Caleb watched the strange exchange with fascination, then slowly took a step forward and looked into the beast’s yellow eyes.
“Look, buddy, I brought you something,” he said, and opened the plastic bag.
He emptied the bag of meat onto the ground between himself and the creature that had calmed down after whatever conversation it had with the dire wolf.
“Come on, eat. I don’t have an olive branch, but I hope the meat lover’s menu will suffice!”
The wyvern took an uncertain step toward Caleb, then another. In the end, it leaned down and took a small piece from the pile into its enormous mouth. It still didn’t seem to fully understand its new size and strength.
Caleb slowly raised an arm and touched the wyvern’s neck. As he started scratching it, he felt the heat radiating from the blue scales. The creature pulled away for a second, then, seemingly sensing the kindness in the gesture, pushed its head into Caleb’s palm.
“You got really scared, didn’t you? And I was a prick to you. But don’t worry. Everything will be all right now.”
The wyvern almost pushed him over as it tried to cuddle against him. Caleb petted and scratched its scaled head with both hands as a wave of guilt washed over him for not seeing the full picture sooner.
“Listen, pal! We need to help your mommy!”
Hearing the last word, the wyvern yanked its head back and turned towards the unconscious woman.
“Yes, her. I need to carry her out.”
Caleb slowly walked over to her and picked her up gently. He turned around and waited. The wyvern looked at them, then slowly backed away to one side of the overpass, letting them through. As Caleb carried the woman past it, the winged creature let out another screeching whimper. Caleb stopped, looked back at it and smiled.
“Come on! Follow me. Don’t worry. You can be with her.”
Mímir growled at the wyvern in a tone that somehow mirrored Caleb’s calm warmth, then the wyvern shook its enormous head and stomped after them. As soon as Caleb set the woman down next to the officers who had prepared a first-aid bag, the wyvern pushed its heavy head in beside them. The bystanders backed away, but nobody shouted or ran.
The officers were checking the woman’s breathing and pulse when her eyes suddenly flew open. She sat up in fright.
“Trixie!” she screamed.
Caleb burst into a fit of laughter and looked at the wyvern.
“And there I go making assumptions. I called you a boy. Sorry, young lady. You look fabulous!”
Mímir snorted behind them. The woman looked around while Caleb slowly crouched down next to her.
“Ma’am, everything’s fine. I know that you must feel like you are hallucinating, but you’re not. This is real. Something has changed the world we live in. What is your name?”
“Carrie.”
“I’m Caleb. Hi. Tell me, Carrie, is Trixie your pet?”
“My dog. A beagle. We were sitting on the bus, a group of kids were listening to music loudly. Then I saw Trixie fall over. But others on the bus did too. Then the bus crashed and everything went black.”
“Good. Okay. I need you to stay calm now and be prepared for the most insane and impossible things,” he said as the wyvern lowered its head closer to the woman.
Carrie instinctively started to crawl back toward the police officers, but then her body froze. She looked into the yellow reptilian eyes that were full of love and warmth for Carrie, as if she were the center of the universe. Her breath hitched.
“Tri… Trixie?”
“Yes,” Caleb answered. “Where do you live?”
“On the edge of Queens.”
“Do you have a backyard?”
Carrie answered with a short nod.
“Good. You will need the space,” he chuckled. “But you have to know that Trixie was protecting her mommy like a true warrior princess. We all got scared and turned on her, but she stayed and guarded you. She’s a really good dog. Well, now… A good wyvern.”
“Wy… wyvern?”
“Do you read fantasy?”
“I saw Game of Thrones.”
“She is like the dragons there. But she can’t breathe fire. I think. Some things don’t work like they do in the books. But she has tail spikes!”
“And you are an… Elf?”
“Yes,” Caleb answered, then scanned the crowd as he slowly stood up fully.
His gaze settled on the policewoman: dark-skinned, green-haired, slender, almost ethereal. She couldn’t be more than five feet six. He frowned as he looked over the other elves. He had seen a male elf with pale skin, black hair, naturally black lips, dark freckles, and purple eyes. A female elf had completely white hair, amber eyes and rosy cheeks. His gaze slowly picked out eight elves in the crowd. None of them looked like him. He was too tall. Too muscular. Too strong.
“Or so I thought until now…” he grumbled to himself, then looked back toward the bus and raised his voice. “Okay, people! There could still be injured people inside that thing! Carrie…”
He turned to the woman and pointed at the railroad bridge.
“Can I ask you to go over there with Trixie? You two are blocking the way a little.”
“But what do I do with a huge dragon?”
“Wyvern, not dragon. But there are arguments on the internet about this very topic,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we will change back suddenly. Or not. Nobody knows anything. Maybe… maybe the government can take her somewhere when they figure out how to handle all this.”
Carrie jumped to her feet, squared her shoulders and looked at Caleb with fiery eyes.
“No! No, no! Trixie is mine!” With her legs still shaking, she stepped toward the wyvern. “And she is a very clever girl!”
The wyvern gently rested its head on its owner’s shoulder, and she laughed. Although her voice was unsteady, she handled the situation with surprising composure.
The frail, bespectacled woman, barely five foot three, and the forty-foot-long winged lizard strolled across the railroad bridge, while the two police officers, Caleb, and a group of onlookers headed toward the bus to rescue anyone who might be trapped inside.