“So this is who we’ve been sent to the Surface for, huh? Not much, is she?”

“Oh, please, she escaped from you twice!”

Mazel swung her feet upward, twisting herself sideways, but Avery barely even flinched. Mazel, being stubborn as she was, kept trying to squirm her way out.

Avery grunted. “You’re one hell of a fighter, aren’t you?” They called the other girl. “Revna, can you get us back yet?”

The other girl, presumably Revna, shouted back something in reply, to which Mazel fought even harder. Was she about to be kidnapped? Trafficked? Fear turned into adrenaline, which turned into more fear, which in turn turned into more adrenaline.

She needed to get out of here. Right now. But Avery was too strong. Suddenly, there was a pinch in her arm. Mazel blinked. The weight seemed to increase, pinning her so tight against the ground. She felt the fight drifting out of her body. She took a deep breath, wondering if she was about to die. And then the world went black.

Neri paced. Her boots had already made a groove in the dirt, and she knew she should sit down instead of wasting her time and energy doing such useless things, but she was nervous. Ciro watched her, amused, his eyes twinkling in the dim moonlight being filtered through the thick canopy of leaves above them.

Neri saw him. Her mouth pressed into a firm line. “Stop staring at me,” she snapped.

He shrugged. “Stop walking around so much.”

“I’m getting my steps in.”

“You certainly need them.”

Neri groaned. “Shut up, Ciro.”

The clearing was empty except for a large stone. It was carved diagonally with a perfect split and had strange symbols carved on it. It would’ve meant nonsense except to those who knew Xoni, a specific dialect of runes that allowed one to move from layers. Rare as it was, both siblings spoke it with ease.

Neri continued her pacing, and this time Ciro didn’t intervene.

There was a sudden crack of electricity in the air. Both the siblings perked up.

Ciro glanced over at Neri. “You think that’s them?”

“Probably.” She stepped over to the runestone. The symbols carved into it were beginning to glow a light gold. “Ciro, time them!”

He already had a stopwatch in hand.

The symbols returned to their original grey. “Stop!”

Ciro looked down. “That was eight seconds.”

Neri rubbed her hands together. “Perfect. We still have about two minutes.” She began whispering a spell in Zurlellian. It was forbidden, but there really wasn’t anyone enforcing the laws right now anyway. Besides, people who dealt in runes and spells never paid attention to the law. They were witches and wizards. Who was going to stop them?

The runes were glowing gold again, this time much stronger than before. Ciro got to his feet, slipping the watch back into the bag they carried everywhere.

There was a pop.

An explosion of light flashed across the clearing, dousing everything in a golden luminosity. There was a thump, a few yelps, and the light dispersed.

Avery was squashed by Revna and Mazel, who were still unconscious. Revna shoved Mazel off, where she flopped onto the dirt, to sit up.

“Work on your teleportation, Neri,” she grumbled, dusting a few feathers off her blouse.

Neri rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. I’ll do that once we can get the throne back, yeah?”