Page 17 of Witch Queen

“You and my Enrique made a magic baby,” Popo croaked in an awed voice.

Everyone fixed the bird with a glare.

Cortes glanced at Anya’s pale face before narrowing his eyes at his familiar in a way that said he was contemplating murder.

“Can you please not say it like that?” Nikolai ground out.

“Yeah,” Vlad snapped.

“What kind of new skills?” Roman shrugged at their irritated stares. “Mae said he’s got new skills. I’m curious to know what they are.”

Na Ri startled inside Mae.

Mae blinked.What is it?

I recognize a rune,Na Ri said excitedly.I think I saw our father attempt to create it, once.

Surprise jolted Mae.You did?

Yes. It’s right—there.

Na Ri touched the rune. A dazzling, golden light flared into life around Mae. She squinted.

The world lurched.

Mae gasped, stumbled, and fell flat on her face beside Cortes. Humid heat washed over them, bringing with it the rich smell of vegetation. They were lying on the side of a road, in the middle of a tropical jungle. The burnt carcass of a car sat on the asphalt some dozen feet from them.

A hellbeast was feasting on the remains of the dead man lying beside it. Several others sniffed at the undergrowth a short distance away.

Popo squawked and flapped his wings, alarmed.

The hellbeasts’ heads snapped around. Their pupils constricted when Mae and Cortes fell in their line of sight.

“What the hell just happened?!” Cortes said numbly.

Mae’s heart raced as they climbed to their feet. “I think you…just warped space!”

They shared a dazed stare.

“You mean—Iteleportedus here?!” Cortes croaked.

The hellbeasts bounded toward them with vicious snarls.

Mae pressed a hand to Cortes’s back. “Think of Anya!”

Light exploded around them.

Cold air slammed into Mae, along with a sudden feeling of weightlessness. Her eyes rounded.

They were a thousand feet in the air above New York.

“I meant her exact location!” she yelled at Cortes as they started to fall.

“Yeah, well, it’s not as if I’m an expert at this freaking thing!” he shouted back.

Popo grabbed Cortes’s jacket with his claws and flapped his wings desperately. “I shall save you, my Enrique!”

“That’s not gonna work, bird brain!” Cortes snarled.

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