“Well, don’t stand there gawking like an idiot, Eloise; go out to the barn shed and get food,” Mother Hannah told me, and then resumed cooing and playing with the baby Hippogriff.

I was still busy staring in horror at the beast in her hands when she barked at me again.

I scuttled off to the barn, my shoulders hunched. For a Reverend Mother, she wasn’t all that gentle when it came to baby animals.

You see, the sisters of this village (which is called Fjord, by the by), run something they like to call a ‘Magical Menagerie’.

It’s like an orphanage – only for mythical animals.

And my place – Eloise’s place – is definitely NOT somewhere like that.

I flung open the door in anger, muttering under my breath. I did not like Hippogriffs. Not in the least.

Dragons, I can handle. Two hour old, fire breathing Chimeras, I can handle. Stubborn unicorn filly – I can handle!

But not a Hippogriff. It’s a killing machine…which is more readily equipped than the usual.

I crashed my way into the storage room.