Shaking her head, Kira raised her hands. To be honest, she felt a little angry. “So, that’s it? You’re not really interested in nature at all? You’re just a treasure hunter, looking for some kind of bullshit buried gold as some kind of get-rich-quick thing?”
“No – no, that’s not it at all, Kira,” Caleb said, alarm crossing his face. “I don’t have any interest in the gold at all, just for itself. I need it because it’s the only way to break the curse that’s been plaguing my family for the past seven generations – well, not everyone in my family, just one person per generation. And in that generation, the lucky guy is. Well. Take a wild guess.”
Kira could feel her mouth hanging open, but right now, she couldn’t quite find it within herself to close it.
“You?” she eventually managed to squeak out, though she didn’t actually believe the things Caleb was telling her… did she?!
Caleb nodded. “That’s right. Me. That’s why everything seems to have been going wrong, ever since I came here – all those little accidents that’ve been happening? They’re all because of the curse. It’s nothing major – nothing that would kill me. But I can’t let myself get too close to anyone in case I endanger them. And every time I try to do anything in life – say, get a normal job or not set my oven on fire – things usually end… pretty badly. It’s why I haven’t been able to step into the family business. I can’t possibly risk anything happening to the thousands of films they’ve collected over the years. Some of them are the only ones left in the world. If anything happened to them, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”
Kira stared up at Caleb as he spoke. Whatever the case, he certainly seemed to believe what he was saying was the truth. And he spoke with such conviction that Kira found herself, well, not believing it exactly, but…
But… it can’t really be true, Kira argued with herself. There’s no such thing as curses. Who’d even put a curse on someone? A witch? A wizard? A warlock? What even is a warlock, exactly?!
“You don’t believe me.” Caleb looked a little crestfallen. Evidently, he’d seen her doubt in her eyes.
“I… well, it’s not that, exactly,” Kira said awkwardly. “It’s just that… well, it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? I mean… you’re really telling me that magic curses exist? I agree you seem to have a lot of bad luck, but that could just all be coincidence, right? I mean, how do you know there’s a curse? Isn’t this just more likely to be a family legend that’s gotten out of hand, and now it’s become something like a self-fulfilling prophecy? You’re expecting to have bad luck, and so you do?”
Caleb nodded. “Well, you do have a point – and I guess if I were a normal human, I’d definitely agree you might be right.”
Kira stared up at him. “What do you mean? You are a normal human, aren’t you?”
“Not exactly.” Caleb grimaced a little. “Kira, have you really never heard of shifters?”
Mutely, Kira shook her head. She could not even begin to guess what Caleb might have to tell her next.
Caleb sighed. “Okay. Well, here goes, I guess. Shifters are… well, we shift. From humans into… other things. And some of those things are, I guess, what you’d call mythical creatures. Some of which have mythical powers. Including being able to put curses on things.”
“O… kay,” Kira said. Well, this was definitely going beyond ‘family legend got out of hand’ territory. She really didn’t know what to say to this. “So… uh, what do you shift into then?”
“A dragon.” Caleb’s answer was instantaneous.
Kira stared at him. “A… a dragon?”
“That’s right.” Caleb swallowed, licking his lips. “Uh, I realize that might be a little hard to believe.”
“Well. You’re not wrong there.”
Pulling in a breath, Caleb looked down, then back up, straight into her eyes. Despite herself, Kira gasped. She’d never seen anyone with eyes so blue before.
“So I could show you, if you liked.”
Kira blinked, not immediately understanding him. Then it hit her. “You could… show me you turning into a dragon?”
“That’s right. But it’d have to be somewhere there’d be no chance of anyone else seeing.”
Kira shook her head. She couldn’t really believe what she was hearing. “Uh. Well. Here should be okay. Because it’s not in view of the road, and everyone knows the park is closed today. So no one’s going to turn up out of nowhere. So you’re fine to turn into a, uh, dragon.”
Especially since that’s not actually going to happen,Kira thought – though for some reason, it felt almost as if she was trying to convince herself that it was. God, I meet a cute, hot, sweet, funny guy, and he thinks he’s a dragon! This is just my luck. There always has to be something, doesn’t there?
“Okay. If you’re sure,” Caleb said, taking a few paces away from her. He paused, staring into her face. “And… Kira, just remember, no matter what happens, it’s still me, okay? And no matter what I look like, I would never hurt you. I promise.”
“Uh, sure,” Kira said, nodding. She honestly had no idea what she expected to happen next.
Maybe nothing. Which was why it was kind of a shock when Caleb closed his eyes briefly – before his body seemed to shimmer, and then he began to… to…
Well, shift, I guess, Kira thought, as her eyes bugged out, her mouth dropped open, and she leapt up from where she was sitting on the bench.
“Holy – holy – moly!”