Page 35 of Leda's Log

“Leda Pandorawasalso trying to take some much-needed time off.” I sighed. “All right. Come on over.” I waved her forward. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hear what you have to say.”

I sat back down. Snow, our snow leopard kitten, plopped down in my lap. I rubbed him under his chin, and he immediately started purring like an engine.

“Thank you.” Smiling, Aspen dipped her chin to me, then carefully lowered herself onto the picnic blanket.

She’d only just finished spreading out her skirts when Duchess stretched herself out on the silky fabric. The kitten’s light silver coat sparkled in the warm sun, glittering nearly as much as the gemstones on Aspen’s dress, in fact.

“So, how amIsupposed to make you Queen?” I asked as Nero sat down beside me.

“Remember how I told you that in my world, the new Queen is decided by popular vote? The form that vote takes is a series of contests and elimination rounds called the Princess Games. Each candidate demonstrates her skills, and the people vote for their favorite princess. The winner is crowned Queen.”

“That sounds like quite the spectacle,” I said.

“This system has existed for thousands of years. And in all that time, it’s never failed to ensure that the best candidate becomes Queen. The system works. At least itdidwork.” Aspen sighed. “I’m not going to make the list. Iwouldhave made the list easily, but then I got stuck in an apple tree for a few weeks. That threw all my plans into chaos. The Ball of Champions is upon us—the gala where the candidate list will be decided and declared—and I’m not ready. I thought I could count on my allies, or at the very least my friends…” Her sigh was heavier this time. “But she’s the very reason I’m even in this situation to begin with.”

“She?” I asked.

“Lavinia, one of the other princesses. She’s my friend—or at least Ithoughtshe was my friend. It turns out that she was the one who magically-sabotaged the apples. So that when I traveled between worlds, the apples reacted to the portal energy, drinking it up. The apples and I merged into one being, and that tree planted itself in the space between realms. Lavinia fully expected me to remain forever stuck in interdimensional limbo.”

“She sounds like a real charmer,” I commented.

“Yes,” Aspen said tightly, “and if I don’t become Queen, she surely will. That would be catastrophic for my world. That’s why I need your help, Leda. I need you to find a way to get me on the candidate list. I need you to get me into the Princess Games. Once I’m in, I’m confident I can win.”

“Why me?”

“You have an uncanny ability to come up with solutions that other people miss, to think outside the box,” she replied. “Like when you saved me from the tree. No one else would have thought of embracing the apples rather than fighting them. That’s the kind of sideways thinking that I need right now.”

“Yeah, I do excel at moving sideways.” I tapped my fingers against the picnic blanket, and Bonbon, our kitten with the black-and-white spotted cow-pattern coat, pounced on my hand. “Ok. I guess I could help you.” I tickled Bonbon on her tummy. “How much time do we have?”

“Until the end of the day.” The princess wrung out her hands. “The Ball of Champions is tonight.”

“Ah, so no pressure then,” I quipped.

“There isa lotof pressure,” Aspen replied, dead serious. “The Princess Games only come around once every few centuries. If I’m not on that list by the end of the day, I will forever lose my chance to rule the kingdom.”

“I see.”

Tux, Angel’s enormous tuxedo-coat kitten, let out a tiny, pitiful meow, as though to say,Aren’t I just the cutest little fluff ball that you’ve ever seen? You have absolutely no excuse not to give me your full and undivided attention!

“All right, here you go.” I tossed a cookie at the begging kitten.

He meowed in appreciation, then tore into the cookie with his sharp teeth.

Aspen watched him, her eyes wide with surprise. “Your cat eats human food.”

“He’s not the only one,” I said. “It’s a family trait.”

Duke, our dark silver kitten, pounced on his brother. The two boys rolled and wrestled, fighting over the remains of the cookie. Nero watched them, cool and quiet, like he was assessing potential soldier candidates. Sierra, in contrast, squealed with delight.

Those squeals grew even louder when Blaze joined in the fight. Blaze was mostly white with black accents on his face, legs, paws, and tail. He sported a big, bright white blaze right between his baby-blue eyes. His blaze looked like war paint, a symbol that marked him as a fierce warrior.

“Seven kittens.” Aspen’s gaze swept across Angel and Shadow’s babies.

“Yeah, we like to call them ‘the Lucky Seven’,” I chuckled.

“Onlyyoucall them that, Pandora,” Nero said. “Everyone else calls them ‘the Destruction Seven’.”

I smirked at him.

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