Chapter 11
"Hey, I found it!" Gem called from her bed. Dean had left some time ago. Adara broke away from the others and was the first one by her side when they all rushed to see the identity of the monster.
The book in Gem's lap was open to almost the very back, something Adara had dubbed the 'honourable mentions' because they were in the book, but extinct or ridiculously rare.
The book was open to a page titled, Chimera.
"A Chimera is a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid composed of the parts of three animals - a lion, a snake, and a goat." Gem read aloud. "Usually is found in the form of a lion with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snakes head. Sounds like our beast."
"That's impossible," Adara countered. "Keep reading, Gem. It says there was only one and it died over a thousand years ago."
"Maybe you should look through it again," Percy suggested.
"I've been through it all," Gem sighed, leaning back against her pillow "What else could it be? Thats what I saw. I'm sure of it."
"I'll go to the library," Sam interjected. "See if I can find anymore on Chimeras incase your right."
Adara sighed "I'll come with you, they might not be extinct. Slight chance but possible."
"I want to come too!" Gem pleaded.
"No," Percy told her. "You're poisoned, 'd slow us down."
Gem narrowed her eyes slightly and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Okay then, good luck."
"C'mon," Percy sighed. "I didn't mean it-"
"Okay, you lot," Madame Jones entered the infirmary and offered the group a kind smile. "Gemma needs to rest now, you can come back later. Alright?"
Adara and the boys waved goodbye to Gem, who averted her eyes to the medicine she was now holding in her hand.
When they got outside Adara clipped Percy upside the head. "Ow, what was-"
"Now you've gone and done it," Adara muttered. "You're a bloody idiot sometimes Percy."
"I didn't mean it like that," Percy groaned in defeat.
"But now she's probably thinking she's useless," Sam said "I'd feel the same."
"Alright," Adara said sharply "What's done is done. We need information now, to see if we really are up against a Chimera."
It felt like the spent hours at the library. They looked up every book they could think of or find in the magical creatures section of the library only to come up with zilch.
"Hey! I found a thing that mentions a Chimera!" Percy whispered to the other two as a hawkeyed Madam Pince walked passed. Adara actually thought the woman was a marvel. She hoped she had as good a eyesight as the ancient librarian did when she was a hundred.
"What does it say?" Sam asked, equally quietly so as not to bring on the librarian's wrath.
"Oh," Percy sighed. "The same thing as the other two books we've found: The Chimera was a creature with the head of a lion, a goat and a snake and was the daughter of Echidna, often referred to as the mother of all monsters. The Chimera was said to be often sighted in Asia Minor and was said to foretell an odd catastrophe. The Chimera was finally killed by the hero Bellerophon, who was astride Pegasus, so he could be out of range of the fire breath of the goat's head blah blah blah." Percy slumped forward so he hit his forehead on the desk he was sitting at. "I'm not cut out for this. I feel like I'm going crazy!"
"Shh!" Adara hissed, then her expression softened. "Okay, Percy. Go to bed. It's getting late anyway, we'll finish up soon and see you tomorrow." Percy nodded and got up tiredly.
"We need to find whatever it is that got Gem and the Slytherin girl. I heard Madame Jones tell Professor Singer that because they don't have the right anti-venom, she's just going to get worse," he told them, his sea green eyes beseeching them like she wasn't their best friend too. Adara nodded and offered a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"We know, Percy," she assured him. "She'll get better, I promise." Percy didn't say anything, but left, walking back to Gryffindor Tower. Once he was gone, Adara slumped.
"You're uh... Taking this rather well," Sam observed. Adara looked at him, and now he noticed tears in her eyes.
"Percy needed to see it. He spends more time with her than either of us, he's in her house. We're all cut up about it but... He doesn't seem to have many other friends. If we fail... He has the most to lose."
"Wow... I never thought about it that way," Sam muttered.
"Said the Ravenclaw," Adara chuckled, but the noise caught in her throat and she choked. The next thing he knows, Adara is clinging onto Sam desperately and sobbing. Sam was out of his depth here, he didn't know what to do. It would be easier if she was a Ravenclaw. At least he thought he knew how their minds worked. Wait...
"Hey, Adara," he asked, trying to calm her down enough that they wouldn't get kicked out of the library. Adara nodded but didn't answer. "On the train, the day we met, why did you think you'd be in Ravenclaw?"
Adara pulled away, sniffling and frowned in confusion. "I uh... I just always felt like that would be where I belonged until... Well, until I was sorted into Hufflepuff and I realised... I guess I thought that I would be in Ravenclaw because I'm smart and logical. Why?"
"Okay, pretend you're a Ravenclaw. Just for a day. You're faced with this problem. How do you deal with it?"
Adara's brows furrowed. "Uh... Research. I'd find out what's... What Gem was poisoned with and how to fix it."
"So do that," Sam said quietly. "Who knows, you'll probably be even better at it than me, because you're also a Hufflepuff which means you're determined to find a way. As long as you don't stop looking, you'll find something, okay. We just need to keep at it."
Adara nodded and gave a small smile - genuine, this time - and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Sam."
"No problem. Now, let's get a few of these books out, okay? Then I'm going to bed - it's getting late."
A week later, Gem was sent to St. Mungo's Hospital as she was only getting worse, and Adara, Sam and Percy were running out of options. It was Percy that suggested they do something different.
"We have to do something, guys," he insisted one break, five days after Gem was attacked. Adara and Sam had spent every night in the library since the attack and found nothing else that they could use to cure the venom of the Chimera, if that was what had tried to kill Gem. Percy had tried to help, but found he just couldn't concentrate on the pages in front of him so, secretly, he had been exploring the castle until late, trying to find somewhere a monster as big as Gem and Dean had described could hide. He found many nooks, secret passageways and a disappearing room that was in a different place on tuesdays and looked like a disused theatre on fridays. All of the places he'd found had appeared totally empty, with no sign of a huge monster having passed through. Finally, he decided the three of them were going to have to work together to build a strategy to get this thing.
"We just need to find it, and kill it," he'd insisted, looking between Adara and Sam for confirmation that they would agree with him. He wasn't sure how Adara, especially, would react to the thought of having to kill something. He had a feeling Sam wouldn't mind.
"What do you think we've been trying to do, Percy?" Sam asked with a little huff of incredulousness.
"Well, mostly I assumed you were trying to find out what we were facing," Percy replied seriously.
"That too," Adara allowed. "But even if we find it, how do we kill it? From all the lore and mythology, combined with what Dean and Gem said, the thing is monstrous. And can breath fire. And had three heads, including a venomous snake tail. We won't be able to get close."
"What else does the mythology say?" Percy asked.
"Just that it was the daughter of Echidna," Adara frowned.
"And that it was killed by this guy called Bellerophon," Sam finished.
"So how did he kill it?"
