"My Childhood Pet Breathed Fire"

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When I’d walk home from elementary school, there would be a dragon sitting on my shoulder. Not a big one, just a pocket-sized one. Green scales and small red eyes. Wings that looked like a butterfly’s. He’d eat the occasional bird or squirrel, and possibly burn the hairs off the back of my neck if he coughed. Yes, when I was 10, I dreamed of having a familiar of my own. I remember some of my friends would pretend that their family dog or cat was magical, but my family didn’t have a pet, so I had to make one up. It wasn’t always a dragon. Sometimes, it was a flying horse or a pixie on a leash or a lightning-charged hawk. Who would have thought that my childhood fantasies would inspire a series of books? And yet now I know I wasn’t alone in having those dreams. Every person who reads The Familiars seems to have their own tales of magical pets or the ones they dreamed of. And with our book selling to a dozen countries around the world, it appears people of all cultures pretended they had an imaginary dragon on their shoulders, too.

Tell us about the magical powers you imagine your childhood pet had.