Leda’s Log. A behind-the-scenes, slice-of-life look into the Legion of Angels, hosted by Leda Pandora, the Angel of Chaos.

Warning: may include abnormally-large cats and adorable baby angels.

In this entry, Leda has to think of a creative solution to a magical problem.

Leda’s Log

Part 3: The Magical Machine

I’d never seen so many sparkly animals before in my life. It looked like a rainbow had exploded inside of Storm Castle, setting off dozens of glitter fireworks.

“Ok, so we need to get past this sparkle fest, make it to the lab, and switch off whatever ill-fated magical experiment turned this place into a twisted fairytale,” I said.

“And exactly how are we supposed to do all of that?” a soldier said, his eyes tracking the enormous purple duckling stomping back and forth across the throne room like a wind-up toy. “Anyone who gets too close to one of those fiends is immediately knocked unconscious.”

“Yeah, well, this plan is a work in progress,” I admitted.

One of the soldiers turned to her comrades. “Basanti warned us that Leda Pandora likes to fly by the seat of her pants.”

They all nodded.

“Hey, it’s called improvising,” I protested, “and it’s totally a legit skill.”

I wasn’t surprised that none of them jumped up and down with enthusiasm, but they could have at least made an effort to wash those doom-and-gloom expressions off their faces.

“Angel,” I said, turning to my cat. She was the only one here who didn’t look totally convinced that we were all going to die. Honestly, people needed to have a little faith. “You’re immune to whatever sleep mojo those sparkly creatures are letting off.”

Angel sat back on her back legs and proceeded to primly groom her face with her paw. I took that as an invitation to continue.

“I need you to lure all the sparkle beasts over there.” I pointed to the other side of the throne room—far, far away from the door. “Meanwhile, I’ll make a run for the lab. Ok?”

And for once, my cat actually cooperated instead of doing whatever the hell she felt like doing.

“Hey, what about us?” one of the soldiers asked me as Angel trotted over to the sparkling tangerine dragon.

“You guys back up Angel,” I told them.

“She wants us to play backup to a cat.”

“This is a new low.”

“I’m never going to get promoted at this rate.”

“Stop your bellyaching and get to work,” I snapped in my best Nero imitation. “Distract those sparkling things by whatever means necessary. The fate of this world may very well depend on it.”

My Nero voice must have worked because the soldiers all hurried off after Angel.

“Here, ducky, ducky!”

“Get over here, you squirrely squirrel!”

“You call yourself a dragon? I’ve seen more intimidating puppies!”

The soldiers’ childish taunts did the trick. The sparkling creatures immediately rushed over to them, leaving me with a sliver of an opening in the fog.

I’d take what I could get.

I sprinted toward the door, dashing and ducking, slipping and sliding. I made my way between belching frogs and snapping dragonflies, sliding under buzzing bees, leaping over growling wolves. And, finally, I reached the lab at the end of the hallway.

I spotted the source of the chaos immediately: a machine about the size of a refrigerator. The machine had no doors or latches or levers that I could see, but there was a pretty sizable hole punched into the side of it. Thick mist oozed out of that hole, pouring to the ground in an odious, pulsing stream.

“Well, there’s our problem,” I commented, moving toward the machine.

I had to jump back when the mist solidified into an army of bright red rats. They scurried past me, drawn toward all the banging and booming coming from the throne room down the hall.

I turned my attention back to the machine—and that big hole. There had to be some way to seal it.

“How about a little shifting magic?” I waved my hands in front of the hole, trying to coax the raggedy metal edges together.

The machine rewarded my efforts by pumping out fog even faster and thicker than before.

“Ok, so no magic.”

Magic must have been what had caused this problem in the first place. I searched the room for some other way to plug the hole.

“I wonder,” I said, eyeing a roll of duct tape that lay on the counter.

The machine let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like a belch. It was never good news when creepy machines started burping. More sparkle-smoke monsters were sure to follow.

“Enough wondering, Leda. More doing,” I chided myself, snatching the roll of duct tape off the counter.

I wrapped it round and round the machine until the tape roll was empty, the hole was sealed, and my fingers were numb and sticky. The machine let off one final, pitiful whimper, then shut off.

“Ha! Got you! Leda: 1, Creepy Machine: 0!” I gave it a smug smile.

“Pandora.”

The sound of Nero’s voice stirred up a few happy, loopy butterflies in my stomach. I turned around. And there he stood, looking so perfect, his gaze sharp, attentive—and one-hundred percent on me.

My heart started fluttering in time with my fluttery stomach. “Glad you could make it.” I shifted my weight. “As you can see, I have everything under control.”

His gaze cut past me, to the machine behind me. “Is that duct tape?”

“No, of course not.” I shifted again to block more of the machine. “Because using duct tape to solve a magical catastrophe would be totally unbecoming of an angel.” I flashed Nero a grin.

And he just snorted. “I’ve missed you, Leda.” He moved in, wrapping his arms around me. “Now that the situation is all wrapped up,” he said, his gaze flickering briefly to the machine, “how about we head to the dining hall to get something to eat?”

“Great idea.” I lowered my head to his chest, drinking in the scent of him. “Because I’m famished.” I glanced up to wink at him.

His chest rumbled with delicious laughter. “Well, let’s just see what we can do about that, shall we?”

To be continued…

Nero is hungry too.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day this week, I’m going to post an extra Leda’s Log entry in a moment.

On Wednesday, my family celebrated Valentine’s Day with a homemade pizza dinner, accompanied by a Vivaldi soundtrack.

♥ How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day this year? ♥