"Huh, and this is?" George asked as he put the car in park, staring at the location.
Juanita checked the documents in the dashboard. "Ha, figures this'd be a rookie mission, it's a reality warping class." She chuckled. "At least it seems to be limited to human changes so no objects or animals."
"Wh-what?! Seriously? They're trusting me to solve this? I- I'm still new!" George stuttered.
"Relax rookie, it's really up to me. You'll help me out but they wouldn't have put you on something this big without a pro with you." Juanita reassured him.
"Ah. So, like observation more than anything?" He asked, calming down.
"Sure, kinda, though don't let me do ALL the heavy lifting." She teased, punching his arm playfully.
"Ha, yeah... so, where is it exactly? We're just at the edge of town." George asked.
"Uh huh, first lesson, never just assume. Take a close look at our surroundings... like those two over there." She said, pointing towards a couple walking hand in hand.
George squinted, going over their appearances, trying to look for anything abnormal. The man was Caucasian, likely in his late 20s and about 6'2. He had short, straight black hair, and a little beard. He ware jeans, a deep blue t-shirt and some nice pair of shoes. Holding his hand was an African America woman, about 5'9 and close to the same age. She had curly black hair, and neatly applied makeup. She wore a lovely green dress and flats as she pressed her cheek gently against the man's arm. The two giggled as they chatted, not a care in the world.
"I don't see anything amiss. They seem like standard people, no objects that could be enchanted like jewelry or watches or anything." He noted aloud.
"Hold on keep looking." Juanita said, not looking up from the documents the M.P.D. provided. "Judging by the data the M.P.D. provided, something is about to happen any minute now."
George looked back, watching the couple walk near the sign for the town. He leaned back in his car seat, wondering what his partner meant by the 'something' that was about to happen. As if to answer his question, the air seemed to ripple, almost as if the entire world was being projected onto a water source as waves moved over it. George had to strain his eyes and blink rapidly to continue watching.
The effect only lasted a moment, and as it left and George's view of the couple became clear again, his jaw dropped. In the couple's place was a much older Asian woman, nearly late 30 to early 40s. She wore a blue blouse and mom jeans, with her black hair tied tightly into a bun. She gently pushed along a green stroller, and although they were walking away from George, he could make out a baby's leg kicking from the stroller.
"Oh my god... that was almost instant!" George gasped. "That couple just turned into a mother and baby."
"Or, maybe that mother and baby just turned back to normal." Juanita brought up. "Or maybe neither of those forms were what they used to be. That's multiple changes for you, and we can't even ask since this is a reality change event."
"How'd you know they'd change?" George asked.
"The M.P.D. detected anomalous waves about half an hour ago, reality class. Apparently there's been constant, minor waves within a large bubble of magic encompassing the town." Juanita explained. "I just guessed that it'd happen sooner or later."
George sat for a moment, thinking about how powerful the magic was.
"So, I guess it's kinda good that reality is changing right? You know, since for every change they think they're normal."
"Hmm, that's one way to look at it I suppose." She then placed the documents into the glove compartment. "Alright, our best bet is to drive around town till we find the center of the changes."
"And we haves spells to protect us from the M.P.D. right?" George asked.
"We do, but this is some powerful stuff. The longer we're in there, the more and more likely it becomes that the spell will fail. After that, we'll at least know about the problem still, and that we are changing, but there'll be know way to remember who we are nor be able to recognize when we change." She warned. "We might not even notice when the spell fails."
"Gotcha, so get in, find this thing, and get out." George said, gaining confidence.
They both nodded at each other, then turned to face forward. George laid on the gas gently, moving past the "Welcome to Easton" sign and into the reality changing town. Driving along the streets of Easton was odd, not because of anything magical, but really the opposite. As George looked around, it seemed... normal.
There were kids skateboarding on the sidewalk, a park filled with happy families, stores being entered by normal looking adults of all backgrounds. George was almost weirded out by the lack of panic. He knew that the people weren't aware, but just the idea that in an instant, their whole lives and bodies were changing, and yet they showed no reaction.
However, once in awhile George was able to catch sight of what they were there to stop. Within the groups, occasionally some would change. Near a bathroom, there were a couple eating lunch together, and entering the bathroom was an elderly woman holding the hand of two twin little girls. A minor wave happened, leaving the couple eating unchanged, and yet the others fully altered. There was now what looked like a mother and a father holding the hand of a little boy. The mother waved and walked away as the father took his now son to pee.
Sometimes George would spot just whole shops change inside, barely able to see specific changes as everyone inside seemed to change in height. Other changes he managed to see were small, just one person in a group changing. There was a group of teenage girls that seemed to be chilling and talking, but the second one turned into a man they were ALL over him. George was amazed how even one change could domino into others.
"Okay, stop, pull over here." Juanita suddenly said, breaking George's people watching
They quickly pulled over, parking on the side of the curb. George glanced around, noting that they were on main street. The post office was on that street, along with the mayors office, and besides that there were a number of different food places and little shops.
"Wh'd we stop here?" George asked.
"You've got a lot to learn rookie. See the waves of the change? With this kind of reality warping it leaves waves, and if you follow it it'll lead you back to the source." She explained.
"So... whatever's doing this is in the general area!" He added.
"Sí, no problema. If it's an item, we grab it, and if it's a person, we catch em." She chuckled. "So, where should we look?"
"You're asking me? Aren't we on the clock?" George asked, panicked.
"True, but you also need training. Part of this job is the instinct. So, where is your instinct telling us to head towards?"
George sighed, then looked around. It was hard to think when the fear of possibly transforming without even realizing it was hovering over him, but he thought of a few locations it could be.
"O-okay, let's try there." George pointed.