'Oh no,' he thought. 'It’s going to turn me to stone too.' His heart tightened, and his blood flow slowed. He held its gaze for a few seconds before the cockatrice shook its head. He felt the tightness leave his chest, and he released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The cockatrice’s gaze changed. It didn’t soften; it changed. The cockatrice looked at the river below, then at the human’s hand beneath its foot, and then at the wall the river impossibly flowed into. The human thought he could see something of a grin on the creature’s beaked face.