Page 77 of Leda's Log

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked the boys.

Their giant cats strutted in after them. Damon’s cat was a girl named Tiger Lily with black-and-white tiger stripes. And Troy’s cat was a big boy, mostly white with black accents on his face, legs, paws, and tail. He was named Blaze for the white blaze on his dark face. Like Bonbon and Snow, Tiger Lily and Blaze were the offspring of my mom’s cat Angel and the interdimensional cat Shadow.

“Eira invited us over for a sleepover,” Troy told me as the new feline arrivals attempted to kick their siblings off the sofas.

“Oh, she did, did she?” I slid a look Eira’s way.

She glanced at Damon, blushing. She had a major crush on him. Luckily for her, both boys were busy setting up their sleeping bags, so they didn’t notice her blushing. Troy never would have let her hear the end of it.

“So, how are your parents boring?” Damon asked Eira.

“How are theynotboring?” She sighed. “Sierra found out someone’s after sixteen magic rings, and we want to go after the treasure before the bad guys use them.”

“Use them to do what?” Damon asked.

“No idea,” said Eira. “But that doesn’t matter. We have to stop them. That’s what heroes do. That’s what my parents have done so many times.”

“Before they got all boring,” I chimed in.

Eira nodded. “Yes, before they got boring. So now instead of taking action, they’reresearching.” She growled the word. “There’s no time for that. The bad guys could make their move at any moment!”

“And who are these bad guys?” Troy asked.

“We don’t know,” I said.

“If you don’t know who they are, how do you plan to stop them?” Damon asked.

“We might not knowwhothey are, but we do knowwherethe rings are,” I said.

Troy perked up. “Where?”

I jumped off the beanbag, went over to Eira’s desk, sat down, and retrieved a piece of paper from the drawer. Then I started drawing.

Troy came up behind my chair. “Vampire’s Kiss,” he read the caption under the first ring.

“Each ring represents one of the Immortals’ sixteen magic abilities,” I explained.

“Sangean?”

“The ring’s origin world. And where it is now.” I continued to draw.

“Witch’s Cauldron,” he read under the second ring. “Maldion.”

Eira joined us. “Siren’s Song. Lartak.”

“Dragon’s Storm.” Damon was here too. “Kalpia.”

I kept drawing, and they took turns reading the text.

“Shifter’s Shadow,” said Troy. “Dandriane.”

“Psychic’s Spell,” Eira said. “Palak.”

“Fairy’s Touch,” said Damon. “Elaynia.”

Ghost’s Whisper was on Fairnley. Djinn’s Gateway on Borrellean. Mermaid’s Revenge on Vardyne. Genie’s Desire on Quixin. Phantom’s Veil on Telldom. Unicorn’s Relic on Aurory. Phoenix’s Return on Corsea. Elf’s Rune on Tashyn. And Changeling’s Curse on Zol.

So many rings and so many worlds.

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