It was unexpectedly romantic, particularly in the light of the oil lamps. The flames struck golden highlights in his brown hair and made his eyes shine brightly. But even more than that, she enjoyed the companionship of standing beside him, shoulder to shoulder, as they worked together. Neither of them were the deftest in the world at either potato-shredding or onion-chopping, but their mutual awkwardness made them both laugh.
I’m making latkes with a Dunkleosteus shifter,she thought.How amazing is that?
“You were going to tell me all about shifters and being a Dunkleosteus,” she reminded him. “I want to know everything!”
She’d thought he’d be eager to tell her. But they were standing so close that she felt his body tense against hers. Slowly, he said, “I wasn’t born a shifter. A couple years ago I found out that they existed, and that I could become one. And I really wanted to be a Dunkleosteus. I wanted it so much, I made some bad decisions. Not bad as in bad ideas. Bad as in... wrong.”
Annabeth hadn’t expected that. Norris seemed so kind and sweet and honest. Hoping it wasn’t true, she asked, “Did you steal a radioactive Dunkleosteus fossil from a museum?”
“No!” He sounded shocked at the idea, to her relief. She would never have been able to respect a fossil thief. “I would never. I was trying to get a grant to extract DNA from a Dunkleosteus tooth. No radioactivity involved. It was my big project I’d been working on ever since I got out of grad school, but no one wanted to back it. I had four roommates and I barely had enough money to buy eggs for my ramen. Then I was contacted by a woman named Elayne who said she was a big donor. I met with her, and she offered me a deal: if I worked for her in her lab and doing whatever else she wanted me to do, she’d give me the power to turn into the extinct animal of my choice!”
“Wow!” Annabeth imagined getting that offer herself. Her mind raced from animal to animal. Would she choose to be a plesiosaurus? A pterodactyl? A Dunkleosteus?
“And I... I agreed.” He hunched his broad shoulders as if he’d done something wrong.
“Of course you agreed. Who wouldn’t?”
“You get it.” He spoke slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his own words. “You really get why I said yes.”
“How could you have said no? I’d have said yes before she finished her offer!” Then she reconsidered. “Though I’d have wanted proof first that she really could do it.”
“So did I,” he assured her. “She brought me to her lab and turned into a harpy in front of me.”
“A harpy eagle? I love those. They’re so huge and strange-looking.”
“Yeah, they’re great,” he agreed. “But no. An actual harpy. The mythical bird-woman. They’re even stranger-looking than harpy eagles. But not as big.”
She held up her hand, trying to process this. “So harpies are real too. And people can turn into them.”
“I don’t know if there’s regular harpies. But there’s definitely harpy shifters. And then!” His voice rose excitedly. “Elayne took me into this huge empty warehouse attached to her lab. One of the lab assistants, this little waif-like woman, came with us, and she turned into a Quetzalcoatlus!”
“Ohhh.” Annabeth breathed a sigh of pure envy. “My favorite pterosaur! Oh, I’d love to get a chance to see one of those. I’m so jealous. You must have been over the moon.”
“I was.” Norris chopped onions fiercely, avoiding meeting her eyes. “Elayne wasn't thrilled when I told her that my choice was the Dunkleosteus. She said it wasn't practical. I should have asked her what she meant by practical. But I assumed she wanted to explore new areas and find new fossils. I told her a Dunkleosteus would be perfect for finding marine fossils.”
“And you became a Dunkleosteus!” Annabeth said excitedly.
“I did. And it was amazing.” He met her eyes now, and she could see that he was remembering the wonder and joy of that moment. Then the happiness faded, and he returned to chopping and staring hard at the cutting board. “There was only one problem. Unfortunately, it turned out that Elayne was evil.”
"But she was bringing back extinct species!" Annabeth was having trouble wrapping her head around how someone who was restoring Dunkleosteuses and Quetzalcoatluses to life could be the bad guy.
"Yeah, but she wasn't doing it so we could bring extinct species back into the world or learn more about them. It turned out that she hadn't even picked me because of the papers I'd written about the Devonian period. She wanted someone who’d agree to work with her in exchange for becoming a shifter, and she picked me because she knew I would and because I'm a big guy. She took one look at me, and she thought I was a bully who’d enjoy hitting people. Just like that football coach in high school.”
Annabeth’s hand jerked so hard that she nearly shredded her finger along with the potatoes. “That’s horrible! What an awful person!”
“Yeah,” Norris said glumly. “She didn’t just want me as a scientist. She wanted a henchman. A minion. A thug. Elayne was a wizard-scientist, and they’re all awful. They give scientists a bad name. They probably give wizards a bad name, too.”
“What was she even doing it all for, if it wasn’t for species restoration and the pursuit of knowledge?”
He shrugged. “I never really understood exactly what she was up to. But I found out that she was bad news when she ordered me to go defeat this powerful shifter and his... uh... his girlfriend.”
It was surreal to imagine Norris being sent off to fight, like some kind of hit man. Annabeth wished she had Elayne there right now, so she could throw onions in her face. “Who was he?”
“One of the Defenders.” Norris rubbed his hand over his face, then winced. "Ow. I forgot I’d been chopping onions. I refused at first, but Elaine said if I didn't help her out, she’d take away my ability to turn into a Dunkleosteus. And I just couldn't stand having that happen. It's not just how fun it is to be a Dunkleosteus. It's the inner animal – the voice in my mind. I wouldn't only be losing an ability, I'd be losing a friend. And a part of myself. So I said yes.”
Incredulous, Annabeth said, “So you beat up one of the Defenders?”
Norris muttered to the chopped onions, “No, but I did help Elaine lock him and his—er—girlfriend in a basement with a bunch of animatronics. Then the rest of the Defenders arrived. Carter punched me in the face. They won the fight, and we all went to jail for assault and kidnapping.”
