Chapter 12: An Unexpected Visitor

Maya's POV

Future-Maya's coffee cup exploded in her hands.

Hot coffee and ceramic pieces flew everywhere as the other version of me jumped back from the table, her eyes wide with shock.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," she said, staring at her coffee-stained hands. "The timeline is changing faster than I expected."

Everyone in the diner turned to stare at our table. The waitress hurried over with napkins, looking concerned.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked Future-Maya. "That mug just shattered for no reason!"

"I'm fine," Future-Maya said quickly. "Just... clumsy."

But I could see she was lying. Her hands were shaking, and she kept glancing around the diner like she expected something terrible to happen.

After the waitress cleaned up the mess and left, Damien leaned across the table. "Who are you really?" he demanded in a low voice.

"I told you. I'm Maya, but from five years in the future. I came back to warn myself about what's coming next."

"That's impossible," I whispered. "People can't travel through time. Only Damien could do that because Marcus sent him."

Future-Maya gave me a sad smile. "Present-Maya, you have so much to learn about what you're capable of. Time travel is actually pretty easy once you figure out how magic really works."

"Prove you're really me," I said.

Without hesitating, Future-Maya said, "You have a scar on your left knee from when you fell off your bike trying to impress Tommy Chen in third grade. Your favorite book is 'A Wrinkle in Time' because it made you believe that ordinary girls could do extraordinary things. And right now, you're thinking about how Damien's eyes look like storm clouds."

I felt my face turn red. She was right about everything, including the thing I hadn't even admitted to myself.

"Okay," I said. "Maybe you are me. But why are you here?"

"Because in about ten minutes, Professor Martinez is going to walk through that door and tell you that you're a witch from a magical bloodline. She's going to offer to teach you how to control your powers."

"That sounds like a good thing," Damien said.

Future-Maya shook her head. "It would be, except she's not going to tell you the whole truth. She's going to leave out the part about the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"The one that says the Last Chen witch will have to choose between saving the person she loves most and saving the entire world from magical destruction."

My stomach dropped. "What do you mean, choose?"

"I mean exactly what it sounds like," Future-Maya said sadly. "In my timeline, I chose to save Damien. And because of that choice, Marcus won. He became so powerful that he destroyed not just our world, but every world across all of time."

Damien grabbed my hand across the table. "That won't happen. We'll find another way."

"That's what I thought too," Future-Maya replied. "But Maya, there is no other way. The magic that binds you and Damien together is getting stronger every hour. Soon it will be so strong that if one of you dies, the other dies too. Marcus knows this. He's counting on it."

"So what are you saying I should do?" I asked, even though I was afraid of the answer.

"Break the bond. Stay away from Damien. Let him face Marcus alone."

"No," I said immediately. "I won't abandon him."

"Even if it means everyone else dies?"

I looked at Damien, whose gray eyes were filled with pain. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was - that maybe Future-Maya was right. Maybe I should stay away from him to protect everyone else.

But the thought of leaving him made my chest feel like it was being crushed.

"There has to be another choice," I said desperately.

"There isn't," Future-Maya said. "I've tried everything. I've lived through this a dozen times, trying different approaches. It always ends the same way."

That's when the diner door opened with a loud chime.

Professor Martinez walked in, looking around urgently until she spotted our table. She hurried over, but stopped dead when she saw Future-Maya.

"Two of them," she breathed. "The timeline is fracturing."

"Hello, Elena," Future-Maya said calmly. "Right on schedule."

Professor Martinez slid into the booth next to me, her face pale. "This is very bad. Having two versions of the same person in the same place at the same time creates magical instabilities. Reality itself starts to break down."

"I know," Future-Maya said. "That's why I can't stay long. But I had to warn them about what you're going to tell them."

Professor Martinez looked confused. "What I'm going to tell them?"

"About Maya's heritage. About the Chen bloodline. About the fact that she's not just any witch - she's the witch who will either save magic or destroy it forever."

"How do you know about..." Professor Martinez started to ask, then stopped. "Of course. You lived through this conversation before."

"Many times," Future-Maya confirmed.

I felt like my head was going to explode. "Can someone please explain what's happening in words that make sense?"

Professor Martinez took a deep breath. "Maya, your family comes from a line of witches so powerful that other magical people feared them. Your ancestors were thought to have been wiped out centuries ago, but they went into hiding instead."

"I'm a witch," I said flatly. "Like, with a pointy hat and a cauldron?"

"More like with the ability to rewrite the laws of magic itself," Professor Martinez said. "Your power is unlike anything the magical world has ever seen."

"And that's the problem," Future-Maya added. "Power like that always comes with a price. The universe demands balance. To save one thing, you have to sacrifice something else."

Damien squeezed my hand. "We'll face whatever comes together."

"That's exactly what I said," Future-Maya told him. "And it's exactly what led to everyone dying."

The lights in the diner started flickering again, but this time it was different. The light itself looked wrong, like it was bending and twisting in ways that hurt to look at.

"He's found us," Professor Martinez said, standing up quickly. "Marcus is here."

But when I looked toward the door, it wasn't Marcus I saw.

It was another person I recognized from Damien's time - a woman in a flowing dress who looked like she belonged in a medieval painting.

"Sir Damien," the woman called across the diner in a voice that sounded like music. "I've been looking for you for five hundred years."

Damien went completely white. "Mira? But you're..."

"Dead?" the woman finished with a sad smile. "Yes, I am. Which is why you need to listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you."

Future-Maya grabbed my arm. "This wasn't supposed to happen. Mira wasn't part of any of my timelines."

"Who is she?" I whispered.

Damien's voice was barely audible when he answered: "My wife."