Thea's mother turned to Thea and hugged her close, and Thea blinked back tears and tried to fight the urge to cry with relief.

"Are you okay?" she asked her daughter.

Thea took a big breath and nodded.

Thea's father took her by the shoulders. "You sure?" He gave Thea the once-over, searching well enough to find some scrapes on Thea's knees, which made her flinch.

"I'm fine." She watched Twitchet, who had curled up in the grass beside Aunt Fanella, looking rather pitiful. "But-"

"Way to be tough, Allie," he said, his voice overflowing with pride.

"She's brave too," Aunt Fanella added as she put her hands on her Chimaera. "Oh Twitchet! Are you alright?" she crooned. The black and orange feline purred in response. "Let's patch you up."

Aunt Fanella used Twitchet's blood to draw a Symbol on the Chimaera's side; it was very elaborate and took a while. Finally, she closed her eyes and said, "Confervo." The Symbol pulsed with purple light, and the winged feline's cuts and wounds began to disappear. With the flick of her tail, the large Chimaera slowly began to shrink in size until she resembled a calico kitten with gray wings. All back to normal again.

With her pet taken care of, Aunt Fanella situated herself in the cross-legged pose of meditation.

"Wait," Thea pleaded.

"Shhh," her father shushed. "Just let her meditate. You'll learn soon enough that Conversions consume your Energy. It can be rather exhausting to do what Aunt Fanella just did."

Thea wanted to protest, because Cecelia was still hurt. She turned back to her horse and saw that the wounds on her legs were still bleeding freely. In an act of desperation, Thea put her hands on her horse and imagined the wounds fading away. She inhaled slowly and focused on the wounds as she exhaled. Nothing happened. "Confervo!" she shouted desperately, and a sickening rush of warm power flooded over her; she thought she was going to vomit and pass out. She dropped to her knees beside Cecelia, whose wounds remained unchanged.

Her father approached them and tisked softly. "Listen, Allie. There is only so much you can do without proper training. The Restoration Conversion is one of the most advanced; it requires a Conversion Circle drawn with the blood of whomever you are trying to heal."

Then he touched Cecelia's wounds, which made her snort and shy away. "Steady now, that's a good girl," he crooned. With his finger, he traced a symbol on Cecelia's side written in her own blood. Two half circles connected by a horizontal line, surrounded by an elaborate series of overlapping circles. He spoke the Word in a strong, commanding voice. "Confervo!"

The Blood Insignia sparkled with violet light. Just as the wounds had slowly disappeared from Twitchet's body, they soon began to fade from Cecelia as well. The horse blew air through her nose and trotted away.

Thea leaned against his strong arm and whispered, "Thanks, Daddy."

"Why on earth did you come out here?" he asked.

Thea shrugged wordlessly, her eyes on the ground.

"Althea?" he said, his voice shockingly quiet.

"I was trying ... I wanted to see if I could make a Chimaera."

"Didn't we tell you that would have to wait?" her mother chided. She almost sounded amused.

"I know, but ... I thought I could do it by myself. I didn't even get a chance to try though, because that stupid thing showed up and hurt my horse, and I hate it!" She clenched her teeth and made a violent gesture with her hand. The nearby grass swayed with a blast of powerful wind.

"Calm down, Allie," her father said. "I'm glad you didn't have a chance to try it, honestly. On your own, who knows what could have happened. You might have tried to combine the two animals without first properly sizing them. That would have created a malformed Chimaera with wings too small to fly correctly, or maybe even a head too small for its body. It would have been a disaster. Or you could have created a rogue Chimaera, like that lupitris."

Thea turned to look at her father.

"That Chimaera was probably the offspring of a Native American Alchemist's creation. They were notorious for creating Chimaeras that didn't bond properly with their Alchemists. They're rogue; uncontrollable, beastly creatures that can reproduce, and their offspring are even worse. Most rogue Chimaeras are hunted by Alchemists so that Recreants don't encounter them. That one must have been eluding hunters for a while now. You're very lucky it didn't tear you to shreds, Allie."

Thea hung her head and nodded. "I think I accidentally called it here. I didn't realize such a thing even exists."

"Well, now you know, and I expect you to remember the lesson you've learned from all this."

Thea nodded.

"And what was that lesson?" he asked, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to look up at him.

Thea took a big breath and sighed. "Don't create rogue Chimaeras?" She looked up into her father's face.

He hugged his daughter's shoulders gently and shook his head with a soft chuckle. "Allie, the lesson is: Don't do Conversions until you've been taught the proper way to go about it. Who knows what the outcome could be otherwise. Next time, you might not be so lucky."

"Okay," Thea said, dropping her head again as her ears started burning with embarrassment. It was so lucky they found her when they did. Not only had they rescued her, but they had kept her from trying something very foolish.

Thea crept over to Twitchet. The Chimaera's ears twitched in her sleep, and she purred softly. Just moments ago this same creature had been so large, and she had bravely fought another Chimaera to save Thea. Now she looked as innocent and harmless as the first time she'd met her. Thea smiled in wonder.

"How did Twitchet grow like that?" Thea asked, unable to leave the question unasked.

"Fanella's Augmentation Conversion," her mother explained.

"Wow," Thea thought aloud. There are Conversions that can make things big? she thought. "But she didn't use a Conversion to shrink Twitchet back down again," Thea pointed out. "How did she get small again?"

"All Chimaeras have a natural size," her father explained. "It's the size the animals are at the moment when they are combined. Chimaeras can return to their natural size, but otherwise they cannot change their size on their own."

"Wow!" Thea exclaimed.

"It's also best to only change the size of one animal," Thea's father continued. "If you change both animals' sizes, it can result in neither animal being strong enough to become dominant. A Chimaera with no dominant animal is not nearly as strong."

"Huh."

"Also, while a Chimaera sleeps, it slowly returns to its natural size," he explained. He seemed to have an interest in Chimaeras that made it very fun for him to talk about them. Thea was starting to realize she had the same interest. Chimaeras were simply fascinating! "So it's best to shrink the bigger animal to match the size of the smaller animal," he finished.

Aunt Fanella continued to meditate.

Thea was reminded of the other Chimaera, which now resembled a puppy. Thea stood up and approached the animal, which was lying still in the grass. With a jolt, Thea realized that it wasn't breathing. Aunt Fanella had killed it.

"Thea, come away from there," her mother said.

Thea turned to see her mother beckoning for her to step away from the dead beast. She took one more look at the poor creature before she joined her parents.

"I have something to say," Thea said.

"It had better be an apology," her father replied.

"Oh." Thea bit her lip. "Yes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean for all this to happen."

"We forgive you, don't we, Owen?" Thea's mother said, before her father could go on and on.

"I suppose," her father said as he crossed his arms. Thea's mother nodded silently.

"What were you really going to say?" she asked Thea.

"Do you remember my dream about the flying horse?"

Thea's mother looked up with a jolt of recollection. "Yes! You used to dream about that off and on for years." Then she looked at Thea's father and raised her eyebrows. "Don't you remember those dreams, Owen?" She gave Thea's father a significant look.

"Of course. You used to fly all over the world on that horse. It was a different place every time you dreamed about it." He nodded, but he kept his arms crossed in a way that made Thea feel like he wasn't going to listen to her request.

"Yeah, but it was always the same gray horse with wings," Thea said. "I think ... well, I think I'm meant to have a flying horse Chimaera."

Her parents' eyes went wide with understanding.

Aunt Fanella interrupted suddenly. "Of course you are!"

Everyone turned to see her stand up from her meditation pose in the grass. "I think we had better help Thea make a Chimaera now."

Thea gaped at her aunt. Then she turned to look at her mother and father.

"Absolutely not!" her father said, outraged. "I am not rewarding her for her poor choices by letting her break the rules."

Thea's mother stepped up to him and patted him on the chest, right over his pocket. "You know Thea as well as I do. She's so impulsive and curious about everything. It's going to be impossible for us to keep her safe from every danger. Think about what just happened! We haven't even made it to Blackthorn and Burtree, and Thea is already getting herself into mortal danger. It would certainly ease my mind, knowing she had a Chimaera by her side at all times to protect her."

Thea kept her mouth shut and looked at her father and then back at her mother.

"Do you really think someone as impulsive as Thea could keep a Chimaera hidden?" Her father's voice dripped with skepticism.

"I promise I would!" Thea piped up.

Fanella joined them. "If that's your only concern, then the benefits far outweigh the risks," she pointed out. "The Keeper would surely intervene if her Chimaera was discovered."

Thea's father turned to look at his wife's sister. "I just don't know..."

"For her birthday," Aunt Fanella said, patting Thea's father on his chest, right on top of his chest pocket. Then she put her hands together and batted her eyelashes at Thea's parents. "Please?" she said, drawing out the word.

"Please!?" Thea begged.

Soon enough, they were both standing together with their hands up in pleading gestures, drawing out the word please and smiling big cheesy grins.

Finally, Thea's mother joined in, and Thea's father threw his hands up into the air. "Alright, alright!" he said. "You're right, of course," he agreed. "She obviously needs the protection, and besides, it would make a fantastic birthday present, wouldn't it?"

"I think it must be destiny," Aunt Fanella said.

"Destiny?" Thea asked, turning to look at her Aunt.

"Of course," she said with a grin as she patted Thea's father on the chest, right on his chest pocket. Thea remembered then about that purple scroll they had all been looking at so intently, back when Thea first ran up to the house. Her father had put it in his chest pocket. "Fulfilling a dream like that can only be destiny," Aunt Fanella added.

"If it's a Chimaera you want, then a Chimaera you shall have. Happy birthday, Thea," her mother said.

Thea jumped up and made a V with her arms. "Yes!" she whooped. "This is the best birthday present ever!"

"Yes, it is," Aunt Fanella said. "Chimaeras are created with a rather complex Amalgamation Conversion. They must be planned carefully and executed precisely. You cannot just combine animals willy-nilly. A mistake can cause malformations, rogue beasts, and all sorts of unpleasant consequences. It's best to choose one animal first and choose the second animal from a list of safe combinations."

"Hmm." Thea pursed her lips together, but she had already made her decision. "What can you combine with a horse?"

"A horse can be combined with a falcon," her mother said with a smile. "The falquos is a smart and strong Chimaera."

Thea perked up at the suggestion. "What does it look like?"

Thea's father chimed in. "Like Hippogriff, a famous falquos. It has the head and wings of a falcon and the body of a horse."

Thea sucked on her teeth and shook her head. "What else?"

"You can put a horse and a fish together," Thea's father said. "The piquos is a steadfast versatile companion."

Thea made a face and shook her head.

"The horse can be combined with a rooster," her mother said. "The equollus is a fast and fierce Chimaera."

"Is that like the Greek hippalectryon?" Thea asked and her father nodded. Thea shook her head; that hybrid mythological creature had the hind half of a rooster and the front half of a horse. Thea always thought it looked rather foolish. "I want a plain old flying horse, like in my dream!"

Thea's father and mother exchanged looks. "Aside from the falcon, I don't know of any birds around here that are big and strong enough to combine with a horse," Thea's dad said.

"I do!" Aunt Fanella smiled brightly and said, "But before you can do any Alchemy, I must teach you how to channel your Spiritual Energy into Conversion Circles. And before I do that, I want to read your Chakras."

"My Chakras?" Thea said, unable to overcome her skepticism. "I thought I was becoming an Alchemist, not a Buddhist."

Aunt Fanella laughed, which sounded very much like a hysterical witch-cackle. "Recreants might know about Chakras, but only Alchemists can tap into the Spiritual Energy of the Chakras. I'll show you. Come along, Thea." And she turned toward the nearby woods.

Thank you for continuing to read my book! I hope you are enjoying it. Please remember to vote and leave me a comment if you would like. What kind of Chimaera do you think Thea will make? ;-D

~A.C.