Ursa Major, The Great Bear — Phil Geusz

A familiar storyGrowing up a half-breed orphan is hard, but Chris Speiss is off to a special school to learn if he's destined for a life of magic. But circumstances of birth have marked Chris as a familiar, not a Wizard. He and his fellow candidates have only days to decide if embracing life as a talking animal is a sacrifice they are willing to make for the greater good… but as history unfolds in the wake of a national tragedy, will the choice even be theirs at all?