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“I really don’t want to find out,” she said darkly.

I clutched Sierra tightly to me. We were running out of time—and space. The sinister fog was quickly filling the room, from floor to ceiling. So we couldn’t even fly away.

“Sierra.” I set her down but kept a firm grip on her shoulders as I crouched before her. “I need you to teleport out of here.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Can’t leave Angel.” Her voice quivered. “Can’t leave Mommy.”

My heart crashed against my chest. “Sure you can. Think of it like a game.”

“A game?” She perked up.

“Yes, a game. You and Basanti are a team.” I set her hand in Basanti’s. “You need to teleport the two of you to Daddy as fast as you can, ok?”

Sierra nodded vigorously.

“Good girl.” I kissed her on the forehead, then looked at Basanti. “Tell Nero what’s happening here. Bring back help. I’ll hold off the mist until then.”

“Hold it off?” Basanti’s eyes went wide. “How?”

Before I could answer her question, Angel leapt at the flock of butterflies, swiping her paws through the air, batting at the mysterious creatures. Unlike the soldier, she didn’t pass out when the smoke touched her. In fact, she pushed it back. I’d always known my cat was special.

“We’ll manage,” I told Basanti. “But please hurry.”

“You got it.” Basanti swooped up Sierra into her arms. “Ready to go, Mini Pandora?”

Sierra gave me a little wave, then the two of them vanished from the throne room.

“Well, it’s up to us to hold off the mist until reinforcements arrive,” I said, looking at Basanti’s soldiers.

“What are we supposed to do againstthat?” one of them asked me when the fog spat out a bright orange dragon.

He had a point. There were only seven of us. And one of us was currently lying unconscious on the floor.

“Hey, don’t worry, guys. Have you all forgotten who I am?” I said as Angel trotted up to my side. “I am the Angel of Chaos, and I’ve beaten far worse odds.”

CHAPTER 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 exactlyhoware we supposed to do all of that?” a soldier asked, 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 calledimprovising,” 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.