Page 18 of Witch Queen

Mae unleashedLevitate. Relief flooded Cortes’s face when he found himself inside the crimson sphere. Popo flew agitatedly around their heads as they bobbed in midair.

“You think anyone saw us?” Mae mumbled.

Cortes stared past her shoulder.

“You mean, like that news helicopter?” he said flatly.

Mae whirled around. “Dammit!”

The pilot of the aircraft gaped at them, the machine hovering some hundred feet away. The man beside him recovered and swung his camera clumsily up onto his shoulder.

“Vlad’s apartment!” Mae grabbed Cortes’s arm. “Focus on it!”

The world tilted violently inside a flash of incandescent radiance. They reappeared some ten feet above Vlad’s living room floor, pinwheeled wildly, and landed face down.

“Ugh,” Mae mumbled. She lifted her head and scanned Cortes’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I will be once you get your knee off my crotch,” Cortes groaned.

“We’re back! We’re back!” Popo screeched.

“Mae!”

Nikolai and Vlad rushed to her side, Roman in their footsteps.

My witch!Brimstone reached her first and jumped into her arms. His voice quivered, his dread echoing across their bond.Where did you go?!

“I’m sorry.” Mae hugged him, remorse tightening her chest. “I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

Anya sat frozen and ashen faced on the couch. “Enrique?”

“What in God’s name did you guys just do?” Nadia asked hoarsely.

Nikolai and Vlad pulled Mae to her feet while Roman helped Cortes up.

Mae and Cortes traded a hesitant look. Mae dipped her head.

Cortes swallowed. “I teleported us back to where those beasts attacked us.”

Nadia’s eyes bulged. “You did what?!”

The others gaped.

Na Ri sounded sheepish when she spoke inside Mae’s head.I have figured out the name of the space warp spell. It’s calledDistort.She faltered.Our father tried in vain to create something similar, once. It seems the missing ingredient was Arcane Magic.

Mae frowned.But aren’t portals equally effective?

Portals are like tunnels in space. It can take minutes to cross one. This spell is a hundred times more efficient.

Vlad recovered first. “By teleport, you mean you—crossed space instantly?”

“Yes,” Cortes admitted reluctantly.

“How?” Nikolai asked, just as dubiously as the incubus.

Cortes arched an eyebrow at Mae. “Care to explain? Because I still haven’t got a clue how all of that just happened.”

“Your core has new runes.”

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