I remembering reading this book about 15 years ago, and I havent been able to remember the name of it. I do remember the book had this worm like monsters called either chimera or chimerva, something along those lines. The main character was a male who stumbled upon an scale of an animal that was said to be extinct, turns out they werent. The setting is older, no reference to any electronics. A girl eventually joins the team, obviously like every other book. I only read half of the book and want to start and finish it. Another helpful clue is that the chimera or whatever mentally connects with the boy and I remember it was a void when they connected. This has been nagging me for a long time, any help would be appreciated.