Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper

The Noctos

Thea felt her Kundalini surge around her body. The power grew and grew until it felt like it would rip her apart. Aunt Fanella whispered, “Remember,” and Thea realized she needed to funnel her Kundalini into the Insignia. She glared at the Ostium and began to chant “Unesco,” while the Energy swirled around her head and finally flowed into the Insignia. The Symbol pulsed with orange light. Tiny streams of orange Energy dripped upward to her horse and the owl and connected the three of them.

Then the Alchemy started to take effect, and the power melted into the animals. Cecelia reared on her hind legs and the owl spread its wings. Before their eyes, the owl melded into the tiny horse until only the wings were visible. Then Cecelia’s brown and white pinto patterns slowly morphed into the dappled speckled gray patterns of the owl.

Finally the Conversion was complete when Cecelia sprouted feathers in her mane and tail. Soft tufts of downy feathers fluttered at her hooves, ears, and withers, where the large wings attached to her back.

Cecelia settled back on all four legs and turned to Thea, her round yellow owl-eyes on Thea’s face, and instantly Thea knew that her Chimaera might look more like a horse, but the creature’s mind was dominated by the owl. Then as her brain went swimmy with fatigue, she felt a connection to the Chimaera she had created. She could sense her noctos inside of herself, like a second consciousness that gave off a warm, fuzzy sensation, a stranger eavesdropping on her thoughts and emotions.

Thea went heavy in her aunt’s arms and nodded off to dreamland.

.

She dreamt that she was flying above a beautiful green country. Over her right shoulder, a blood-red sunset chased after her.

Thea flew over farm country and villages until the sun set, and she flew on into the twilight sky until the stars came out and formed a backdrop. The wind whistled through her feathers. She passed over a large city with twinkling lights, and Thea almost confused them with the stars. She almost couldn’t tell which way was up. It was wonderful.

Over hills and streams, Thea flew until she came across a small town with a small old church atop a hill. She decided to stop there for a moment and came to rest in a field next to a strange pattern in the grass, similar to a Conversion Circle. Thea stared at the circular maze in the grass while she rested from the long flight, then finally she took to the sky and flew up the hill toward the church.

She landed on the cobbled road leading to the small chapel, and that’s when Thea realized that she wasn’t herself. She had hooves for hands and feet, and she walked on all fours.

An old man emerged from the chapel and walked calmly down the cobblestone road to Thea, reached out a wrinkled hand, and touched Thea’s forehead. Like a sugar cube left in the rain, Thea’s outer form began to melt away. Her hooves leaked into the road, her wings drooped and dripped away, and slowly, Thea became a girl again.

But somehow, Thea knew that she wasn’t just a girl anymore.

Then her dream ended, and Thea opened her eyes.

Something hummed inside Thea’s head. She blinked her eyes hard, and the world came back into focus. She found herself in a grassy woodland with swaying birchbark trees and big fluffy clouds filling her vision. Her head hurt like something had crawled inside and pushed her brain aside.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” someone said. Thea turned her head and saw her dad and aunt standing over her. “Let’s get a move on,” Aunt Fanella said.

Thea tried to sit up, but she was too dizzy.

“Give her a moment, Fanella!” her mother said. “She only just woke up.”

Thea turned her head the other way to see her mother sitting in the grass beside her. She softly took her daughter’s hand and said, “How are you feeling, dear heart?”

Thea sighed. “My head is killing me and I’m exhausted. Did it work?”

“Of course it did” She gave Thea a gentle smile. “You were brilliant, really. Your noctos is beautiful.”

“Then I’m fantastic,” Thea said with a weak grin as she gazed at the clouds. “Look, Momma, I think I see a noctos in the clouds. Maybe she was watching out for me while I was making my Chimaera.”

Her mother sprawled back beside Thea and gazed up at the clouds. “I think I see her,” she said as she pointed, playing along with Thea’s silly game. The two of them lay there together while the wind whistled through the swaying trees. Thea used to cloud gaze with her mother all the time when she was younger. It had been several years since they had played this game, and Thea was left wondering why she didn’t cloud gaze anymore.

Maybe Thea had convinced herself that she was too old for the game, or maybe it was everything else that had taken up her time. All the yoga and hiking and hunting she’d been doing, not to mention all the gardening and meditating with her mom, and martial arts and school work with her dad. She barely had free time, and she spent all of it writing stories and reading books. Thea’s life had become very busy, and it would soon become even more hectic as she started her Alchemy lessons.

“Fiona, we really should be going,” Aunt Fanella said.

“We have to leave now?” Thea clenched her jaw and managed to sit up this time. Her mother sat up too. Thea stared at her mom until she sighed heavily and reached to take Thea’s hand.

“Thea, you’ve always looked forward to this,” her mother said softly, caressing her daughter’s hand in between her own. “I know it can be scary to go to a new place. Trust me, when your father and I left Blackthorn to come here, I was terrified. But I had your father with me, and I had you.”

Her father knelt down by Thea and put a hand on her shoulder. “The three of us will always be together, and it won’t matter where we are. Plus, you’ve got your noctos now, so there’s really nothing left for us here.”

Thea stared back at her dad. “You said we would leave in a few days. I’m not ready to leave yet. I want my few days, Daddy.” Thea sniffed loudly and blinked back the tears.

“You remember the apples that fell from the tree?” he asked.

Thea clenched her jaw and then sighed heavily. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered a moment on the ranch with her father, collecting apples from their small orchard, back when Thea had been only seven years old. They had found several apples that had fallen from the tree, but hadn’t gone far. This had led him to tell Thea about how apples usually don’t fall far from the tree, but their seeds can be carried off on the wind, by a bird, or most often by another man seeking to feed someone. Sometimes this meant that those seeds would take root elsewhere. Other times it meant those seeds would leave for a while, but inevitably, those same birds or men would return, and they just might bring the seeds back with them.

“It’s time for us to return to our tree,” he said. “I know you don’t remember, but it’s where you’re from too.”

Thea heaved a heavy sigh and nodded, and her parents helped her stand up. A shiver ran down her spine as she got to her feet; they turned toward the field where her father had parked the truck.

That’s when Thea saw the noctos standing in the tall grass, watching with large yellow eyes, its gray downy tail swishing in the slight breeze. Still in its miniature form, the noctos was as big as a cat. Its hair resembled the fluffy feathers of the owl, and its large gray wings spread out to both sides, making the Chimaera seem three times as big as it really was.

Thea knelt and held her hand out. The noctos hesitantly approached, and Thea touched its withers, which felt as soft as downy feathers. Thea couldn’t help but stare at the feathery ears and gray dappled downy mane and wonder what had happened to her horse Cecelia. Was she still in there somewhere? Tears touched her eyes again, and this time she didn’t hold them back. What had she done to her horse?

The thought was met with a fuzzy feeling in Thea’s head, and she realized the noctos was trying to communicate with her. The Chimaera moved its head not unlike an owl and blinked one eye at her. Then the winged horse reared back on her hind legs and whinnied, and the sound was like music to Thea’s ears. Even though Cecelia was a noctos now, she was still in there somewhere. Thea just knew it. She smiled softly, but then she cringed against a twinge of pain behind her eyes.

As they began the walk back to the truck, the noctos followed on foot, dragging its wings and tail in the grass. Every few steps, the noctos stopped to examine the footprints that Thea left behind in the dirt. Thea felt hot and dizzy, so she was glad to have her parents to lean on as she walked the rest of the way to her dad’s truck.

Thea climbed into the truck bed with Aunt Fanella. The noctos watched Thea carefully. “Come on,” Thea said, and she waved for the Chimaera to jump up into the truck bed. The noctos cantered away. Thea eyed the creature warily. She was about to jump out of the truck bed to go get the Chimaera when she turned and galloped back toward the truck. The Chimaera took a running leap and with one flap of her wings, she bounded into the truck bed, alighting with a small crack like thunder as her hooves hit the metal truck bed; a rush of wind blew Thea’s long brown hair into her green eyes, while Aunt Fanella’s curly blonde hair blew off her shoulders.

Thea’s dad latched the truck bed and got into the driver’s seat beside her mother.

Twitchet, who had been hiding in Fanella’s blonde curls, bravely leaped down and cautiously approached the noctos. She carefully pressed her nose against the Chimaera’s flaring nostrils.

The noctos, who was twice the size of the small lyndis, snorted like a horse, and Twitchet scampered away and clambered back up into Aunt Fanella’s hair. Thea and Fanella both laughed as the truck swayed into motion.

“What are you going to call her?” Fanella asked.

“She’s still a girl?” Thea said, secretly happy, and Fanella nodded. “I’m not sure yet. I called the horse Cecelia, but she’s different now, isn’t she?”

Her aunt nodded sadly. “She won’t be the exact same animal you remember, but Cecelia’s Spirit is still in there somewhere.”

Thea nodded, relieved to know that her friend wasn’t completely gone. Perhaps she had been too hasty in her decision to use her horse to make a Chimaera, but in the end, maybe it was meant to be. After all, the flying horse from her dreams looked just like her new Chimaera. And she’d be taking the noctos to Blackthorn and Burtree with her, while her horse Cecelia most definitely would have been left behind on the ranch.

Thea reached out for the Chimaera. The creature looked at her hand and swished her tail. Then she stepped toward Thea and pressed her horse-nose into the girl’s palm. Thea smiled and let out a gasp of amazement. The noctos snorted at her and almost pulled away, but then she blew air through her nose and nickered quietly. Thea calmly rubbed the Chimaera’s nose.

As they drove across the ranch, for what Thea realized was most likely the last time, she was hit with a wave of apprehension. She couldn’t help but wonder why she had grown up on this ranch instead of in Blackthorn and Burtree. She wanted to know why it had only been the three of them for so long, and now the moment the White Walls faded, they all had to leave so suddenly. Now that the day was finally here, she was surprised to realize that she just didn’t want to go.

She knew deep down that she was being silly. All her life, her parents had always talked about this day and the wonderful adventures that would follow. All the places they would finally be able to see, and all the fun they would have. This was her grand adventure, and she should be excited. But now that she was actually about to leave, she couldn’t stand the idea of leaving everything she had ever known behind.

They reached the ranch house, and as soon as her dad parked the truck, Thea climbed out of the truck bed. “Come on,” she said to her Chimaera. The noctos turned her large yellow owl-eyes on Thea and nodded her head. Thea smiled, and the noctos ruffled her wings and reared up on her hind legs. Then she jumped out of the truck bed and cantered after Thea. Her parents went inside with Aunt Fanella right behind them.

Thea followed them in and climbed the creaking stairs to her room. The noctos trailed behind, her tiny hooves slowly clopping up the steps behind her. Thea walked down the hall to her small room. She almost opened the door, but she stopped when she saw the picture posted on the door.

It was a painting Thea had made when she was seven; in the painting Thea and her parents stood in front of the ranch house. Thea had used bright colors to show wildflowers in the golden field, and the brown house looked very accurate with its deck and second floor windows. The painting had been there on the back of her door for so long she didn’t really see it anymore. Her throat closed tightly as she took the painting off the door and brought it into her room.

Thea went straight to her desk to her current book project. The composition notebook was open to the last page she had written, held open by a ragdoll laid across the pages. She lifted the doll and set it on her nightstand, then she slipped the painting into the notebook as a bookmark to mark her place.

Thea pulled her rucksack out from under her bed and stuffed her notebook into the small bag. Of course, she wanted to pack her notebooks, but she didn’t know how she’d fit them all. Her Chimaera followed her over to the bookshelf, and Thea knelt down and touched the Chimaera’s back, behind her wings.

“This is my shelf of stories,” Thea said, pointing to the ten-foot high double-wide shelf filled with fiction paperbacks, stacked two deep, with a full shelf of notebooks along the bottom. “Do you remember some of the stories we used to act out, when you were just a horse?”

The Chimaera stamped her front hoof and tossed her head. Thea suddenly felt a blast of curiosity. Somehow, she got the feeling that it wasn’t her own emotion, and she sighed in wonder. It was different than when she sensed her horse Cecelia, but there was a subtle familiarity in the mental touch.

Thea was about to start pulling the notebooks off the shelf so she could choose the most special ones to bring, when her aunt, mother, and father came into the room. Her dad wore a dark blue vest that nearly touched the floor, which was covered in pockets. He carried a small weather-worn trunk. Her mom had put on her nicest yellow dress. Over her dress she wore a white apron with pockets filled with odd things. She brought one large bag with her, which seemed to be filled with photos and a few keepsake items.

“How much am I allowed to bring with me?” Thea asked.

“Anything you want, you can bring, but our place will be small and fully furnished. You can bring your bedding, but leave your bed, for example. You won’t need all your clothes, and your wardrobe can definitely stay here.”

Thea stared at her. “What about my books and notebooks?”

Her mother smiled at Aunt Fanella. “We should be able to do something about that.”

Aunt Fanella knelt on the floor. She pulled out a silver pen topped with a white quill feather. She drew a large Conversion Circle on the floor and then stood up. She stepped over to the bookshelf and inhaled. Then she exhaled as she softly touched the bookshelf, and a tattoo on her thumb glowed bright yellow. The bookshelf slid across the floor to rest upon the Circle. “Minuo,” she said.

Then the shelf—and all the books and notebooks—began to shrink down to the size of a shoebox, and Aunt Fanella picked the shelf up and put it in Thea’s rucksack.

“That was amazing!” she exclaimed with an open-mouthed grin. “Can I try?”

Her father cleared his throat, and Thea remembered her lesson from earlier. She wasn’t allowed to do a Conversion until she received proper training.

She hung her head and said, “Never mind.” Her parents exchanged smiles.

“Pick out some clothes for your aunt to shrink,” her mother suggested. “Just your favorites.”

Thea went to her wardrobe and began picking out her most comfortable outfits. Just as quickly as Thea could set a pile of clothes on her aunt’s Insignia, Fanella would shrink them and stuff them into Thea’s rucksack.

Thea went to her bed to gather up her quilts and pillows. Aunt Fanella shrank them down as well. She went to her nightstand to gather up her hand-made wool and cloth dolls, which were the closest things to toys that Thea owned, both of them hand-stitched by her mother. These she put in the rucksack the way they were, because the idea of shrinking them made her feel sad for some reason.

Finally, Thea reached up to take her bow and quiver off the hooks on the wall. She raised her eyebrows at her father, who nodded. Thea handed Aunt Fanella the bow and arrows and her bo staff as well. She shrank them all and slid them into Thea’s rucksack. Then there was nothing left to do but leave.