By the time the group reached the lizard building, Tajana was walking without help. She had let go of Chadwick's arm and was now looking almost as good as new. 'Why is she better now?' he asked.

'She's taking steps to fulfil her Oath, so her Kundalini is forgiving her for almost breaking the Oath,' Fiona explained. 'You will want to prepare for your Oath Ritual,' Fiona told Tajana as they walked at the slow pace of all the surrounding people. 'Make sure to visualise your own Joint Trial; when your Mentor helped you make your Chimaera. Imagine it again so you can reproduce the ritual.'

Tajana nodded. She rarely talked about her Mentor, but Chadwick knew that her Mentor was a girl who had left Blackthorn after completing her Joint Trial and Advancing from Chandler to Bursar. She had chosen to become a Mercator instead of staying at Blackthorn, which meant she had left the halls to pursue a job in the trading of Alchemical goods and services. These were the blue-collar workers of the Alchemical world. Plenty of Chemists from Blackthorn and Burtree chose this route, which was sort of like dropping out of secondary school and getting a job instead of graduating.

Chadwick had always assumed that Tajana was embarrassed by her Mentor. He would be mortified to have been Paired with someone so much less talented and ambitious than himself. It was almost worse than what had happened to Thea's first Mentor.

The group finally reached the lizard exhibit. Chadwick searched inside the entrance area and found a map of the building. According to the sign, most of the lizards resided in the centre of the building in the Reptile Dome. Chadwick led the way there, all the while feeling the excitement build as he thought about what he was about to do. His heart began to skip beats with anticipation.

They reached the dome, and the group broke off to search again. This time, Tajana helped look, too. Chadwick shook his head, trying to remember exactly what the sungazer lizard looked like. Then he threw his hands up into the air.

Chadwick approached someone in a zoo uniform who was standing just off the path winding its way through the Reptile Dome. The man had a snake on his shoulders, and it was obviously his job to give a tour of the dome to any tourists who were interested. 'Erm, excuse me?' Chadwick said.

The worker raised his eyebrows and smiled. 'Yes. Welcome to the Reptile Dome.'

'Do you have any sungazers?' he asked, getting straight to the point, the way he imagined many tourists probably did.

'Ah, the giant girdled lizard. We have a few groups of them throughout the dome. It is a free range exhibit, so you will have to search carefully to find them.'

Chadwick bit his lip. 'Is there any way you could help me search? I've been looking for a while already,' he lied easily.

'I'm sorry. I'm supposed to stay in this area and answer questions.' The man smiled apologetically.

'Well, you've just had a question from me, and I believe I asked you to do your job,' Chadwick said. Then he heard himself talking and mentally kicked himself. He really should resist the urge to talk to a Recreant like that when he needed his help.

The man nodded and smiled. He must have been trained to deal with testy tourists. 'I can call for someone to come and help, but it may be a moment.'

'Please don't trouble yourself,' Chadwick said. He rolled his eyes and walked away. That turned out to be a waste of time. He resigned himself to the possibility that he would have to use the first lizard he found. The idea did not sit well with him. Maybe Tajana would be okay long enough for him to find the lizard he really wanted to use.

He looked up to see if he could spot her. The dome was modelled after a desert, with cacti and short rock formations, so he could easily see Tajana a bit down the path, staring into the sandy crevices near an outcropping of rocks. Chadwick skipped a step and burst into a jog to catch up with her. 'Any luck?' he called as he slipped in beside her, skipping around a few slow tourists who seemed to be counting the rocks along the path, they were moving so slowly.

Tajana looked up for only a second before her eyes trailed back down to continue the search. 'I haven't seen a single lizard. What kind of exhibit is this?'

'Well, I have even worse news. The zookeeper told me they have sungazers, but he refused to help me find them.'

'Of course. Now that you know the exact lizard you want is here in this giant room somewhere, we're doomed to search this place until we find it. Please promise me you'll compromise after an hour or so of looking.' Tajana looked into Chadwick's face.

He felt his face go warm. 'Hey, I resent that!'

'Of course you do. It's too on the nose for you to deny it.' Tajana smiled playfully.

He smirked. 'I'll have you know I grabbed a moth instead of a dragonfly because of you!'

'I'm sorry,' she said, surprising him with the apology.

'That's not what I meant. I just wanted to hurry, because I was worried about you, you know?'

She smiled bashfully. 'It's very lucky that Thea's mother was here to help. I was wondering how we were going to manage to create your Chimaera, what with our Trial already over.'

He nodded. 'I'm not one to refuse help, but I think it's a bit creepy, how she was following Al around, and she didn't even know it,' he said with a laugh that hurt his ribs. After the beating he'd received, even laughing was painful.

'Chadwick!' Tajana said, looking around the room. She sighed when she spotted Thea and her mum all the way across the dome, out of earshot. 'Stop putting your foot in your mouth, please!' she said, knocking her fist against his back. She managed to get him right on a bruise.

'Ouch, Protégé abuse,' Chadwick said. He turned to a random tourist passing by. 'Help, she's beating me up, and I can't fight back, because I'm too much of a gentleman.'

Tajana scoffed and jabbed at his shoulder again. But then she looked around at all the Recreants staring at them. Her eyes went wide and she shook her head ever so slightly. He took the hint and immediately switched gears.

He put his hand on her shoulder and said, 'I'm glad you're okay now, Tajana. You really had me worried for a moment.'

'I'm sorry,' she apologised. Her cheeks went red.

'Don't apologise for being someone I care about,' he said, stepping even closer to her, so that their faces were close.

Chadwick glimpsed a look of hesitation wash over Tajana's face. He immediately backed off. 'In all honesty, we wouldn't want to see what happens to me if you weren't around. I'm sure I'd be a mess without you.' He grinned and flicked himself in the forehead.

Tajana grinned and nodded. 'Utterly hopeless.' She gently flicked him in the forehead too. With laughs all around, the awkward moment was forgotten.

He went back to searching the dome, his shoulders sagging with resignation. He didn't know what he was doing, honestly. It was obvious that he had feelings for his Mentor. Charlie had pointed it out to him once, but even before then, Chadwick knew he was developing an unhealthy infatuation.

He and Tajana had been Paired together for months now, and he couldn't ignore his feelings any longer. But if she hadn't made a move by now, then it was almost surely never going to happen. She either hadn't noticed how he felt, or she had been trying to act like she hadn't noticed, to spare his feelings.

Chadwick might be impulsive and selfish, but he was also smart enough to know this shouldn't be his choice. If he was going to have a relationship with his Mentor, it was going to be up to her. She was wiser and more mature. She was the one who was in the position to make that call. If she didn't think they could be together in that fashion, then Chadwick knew it was a bad idea to push her into it. That would only make their relationship all the more complicated than it already was, given his feelings. Best to not ruin what they had.

Tajana stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. 'Chadwick?' she said. He turned back to her, expecting something marvellous to happen. Maybe she would take his hand and squeeze it gently and thank him for being so kind. Maybe she would pull him into a hug and whisper how much she cared about him too. Maybe she would be the one to kiss him.

Tajana pointed behind Chadwick. 'There's a lizard behind you.'

Chadwick hung his head and slowly turned around. Sure enough, he spotted a tiny brown lizard sunbathing on the rocks near a heat lamp. It had a yellow underbelly, ridges of overlapping scales down its back, and a thick tail nearly as long as it's body. There were more of them too, he realised as he spotted another heat lamp with a couple lounging underneath.

'That's perfect,' Chadwick said. 'Nice catch.' He knelt down and slowly crouched along toward the lizards, leaving the path. He went right by a sign that said: Please stay on the path.

The lizards noticed him coming, but they only cocked their heads and watched him, almost like they were loath to leave the heat of their lamps for a false alarm. He stopped and knelt down, furrowing his brow. How was he supposed to catch one?

'Chad?' someone said from behind him, and Chadwick turned to see Thea standing by Tajana. 'Is that your lizard?'

Chadwick nodded, too nervous to speak for fear of scaring the lizards away.

Thea nodded and closed her eyes with her hand in her pocket. Chadwick turned back to look at the group of lizards. From this distance, he could almost tell if the lizards were male or female. Male lizards had bumps on their elbows, Chadwick knew because of Charlie's Chimaera. Chadwick had always wanted a female Chimaera, and now, given the choice between three, he tried to figure out which one was female.

He took another halting, scuffling step toward the group of lizards. They held their ground, seemingly unconcerned about Chadwick's approach. He spotted the bumpy plates on the elbow of the nearest lizard and dismissed it immediately. He instead reached right past the male lizard to the group of two females. Curiously enough, none of the lizards moved an inch. Chadwick scooped up one of the lizards and got to his feet with the creature squirming in his grip. The ridges of overlapping scales down her back scraped against his arm as she tried to roll out of his hand.

Tajana clapped at him and smiled brightly, and Chadwick couldn't help but grin back. He had what he needed now. It was time to get back to Blackthorn and Burtree and perform the Conversion. Quickly, before some zookeeper caught him trying to steal from the zoo.

Thea opened her eyes and saw the lizard in Chadwick's hand. 'Come on,' she said, beckoning back the way her mother had gone. They quickly found Fiona heading back in their direction along the path, and she noticed right away that they had found a lizard.

'Well done,' she said. 'Let's get behind this large crop of rocks here and Dimension Walk back home.'

Chadwick led the way around the rock and against the wall, where fewer Recreants were bound to notice the portal. Then they all gathered in a tight circle as Fiona created the portal. A few Recreants stared at them. The Chemists stood around uncomfortably as Fiona worked. When Fiona Summoned the portal, several Recreants made noises of surprise and disbelief. Finally, she quickly spoke the Word that would make all the Recreants forget them, and they all entered the portal together and started the journey back to Blackthorn and Burtree.

Thanks for reading! Phew, that was close, huh? Vote and leave me a comment if you want. See you in Part II!

~A.C.