Chapter 6
The complex,golden runes that enveloped Cortes’s core no longer danced chaotically behind the white-magic-infused barrier that was Soul Shield. Instead of imploding and regenerating frenziedly, they slithered smoothly in and out of view, like cogs in a well-oiled machine. And there were even more of them than before.
What is that, my witch?Brimstone asked curiously.
Intertwined amidst the glittering runes were faint crimson threads.
Mae’s stomach sank. Is that our magic?!
Yes, Na Ri replied.
Mae swallowed. Is that why Cortes didn’t feel any discomfort this time around?
Probably.
Mae realized her first incarnation did not seem particularly concerned by what they could see. This isn’t going to mess with his core, is it?
No, Na Ri replied. Our power is actually augmenting his Arcane Magic. It won’t harm him. But…it might bestow new abilities upon him. She grew pensive as she studied the bright, golden runes. I wonder if the same thing would happen if we touched the others’ cores.
Mae grimaced internally. How about we not experiment on our friends?
Nikolai’s voice reached them. “Mae?”
Mae opened her eyes. He was studying her with a worried frown.
“What’s the verdict?” Cortes said stiffly.
Mae hesitated.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but your magic is changing,” she told the Colombian with a contrite look.
Cortes paled. Popo came over and perched on his shoulder, his claws sinking anxiously into his jacket.
“Changing?” Vlad lowered his brows. “Changing how?”
Mae scratched her cheek awkwardly. “It, er, looks like some of my power fused with his core when I was analyzing his Arcane Magic, that time at the warehouse.”
“What?” Cortes said leadenly in the hush that followed.
“Your magic is inside him?!” Nikolai gasped.
Anya’s face fell. “But—you said examining his core wouldn’t hurt him!”
“It hasn’t,” Mae reassured her hurriedly. “In fact, Na Ri believes it will make him stronger and give him new skills.”
“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—I teleported us 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.
Mae unleashed Levitate. 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 called Distort. 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.”
Cortes’s eyes widened.
“You have a new space warp spell in your repertory,” Mae continued. “It’s called Distort. All you have to do is think of where you want to be, invoke that spell, and you’ll be there in a heartbeat.”
Cortes stared at her dazedly for a moment before furrowing his brow. “But…I wasn’t thinking of anything when I teleported us from here.”
“Oh.” Mae wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, that was Na Ri’s fault. She, er, touched the spell. It looks like it automatically engaged and took us to your last location.”
Cortes’s mouth flattened.
“She apologizes,” Mae muttered.
“Wait.” Roman was frowning. “So, the first time the spell engaged and they came here, is that because Cortes was thinking of Vlad?”
Everyone gazed at Roman before appraising Vlad and Cortes with fresh stares. Vlad glowered at the Fire Magic sorcerer.
Roman shrugged. “Look, man, I’m just saying it like I see it.”
Cortes sighed. “I wasn’t thinking of him. I wanted Mae’s help. I knew she was staying here.”
Popo rubbed his beak awkwardly with a wing. “Are you certain, my Enrique? It isn’t because you still harbor amorous feelings toward—mmmph!Mmmph?!”
Cortes had gagged the bird. “How about you stay quiet for a while?”
Nikolai’s eyes shrank to slits. Alastair gave Popo a haughty look.
Vlad blew out a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “With all the craziness that just happened, I didn’t get a chance to ask how things went with the cartel.”
“Oh.” Cortes’s expression turned strained. He cut his eyes to Anya. “We…persuaded them to let me go.”
They all observed Anya with various degrees of doubt. A defiant light dawned on the witch’s face. She sniffed.
“She threatened them, didn’t she?” Mae said.
“Totally,” Cortes admitted flatly.
Nadia waved a hand at Mae and Nikolai. “You should tell them about the bodies.”
Vlad’s gaze turned probing. “What bodies?”
Nadia’s phone pinged before anyone could answer. She checked the message and eyed Mae awkwardly.
“Bryony wants to know why there’s a blurry video of what looks like you and Cortes floating in midair above New York circulating on a local news channel.”
Mae paled. “She’s gonna kill me.”
“Not if your mother kills you first,” Nikolai muttered.