Growing Closer

Growing Closer
Damien's POV

I grabbed Maya's phone before she could answer it.

"Don't," I said firmly, ending the call from her own voice. "Something about this feels like a trap."

Maya stared at me with wide eyes. "But what if it really is another version of me? What if she needs help?"

"Maya," Sarah said urgently, "that voice wasn't from another timeline. I've been tracking magical signatures all night, and that call came from somewhere in this city. Someone is pretending to be you."

The phone immediately started ringing again. Same caller ID: Maya Chen.

This time, I didn't hesitate. I answered it myself.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

Maya's laugh came through the speaker, but it was wrong. Too confident. Too cold. "Oh, Sir Damien. Still trying to be the knight in shining armor, I see. How adorable."

"Answer my question."

"I'm Maya, obviously. Just a better version. The version that doesn't waste time feeling sorry for people. The version that uses her power instead of being afraid of it."

I felt Maya tense beside me. This fake Maya was hitting exactly the insecurities that my Maya struggled with every day.

"You're not Maya," I said. "Maya is brave and kind. You sound like neither."

"Brave?" the voice laughed again. "Damien, your precious Maya has been running away from her own power since the day she got it. She's so worried about hurting people that she lets everyone else get hurt instead. I'm what she could be if she stopped being weak."

Maya tried to grab the phone from me, but I held it away from her. Whatever this thing was, I wasn't going to let it mess with her head.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Closer than you think. In fact, I can see you right now."

I looked around the diner. Through the windows, I could see the empty Portland street. Nothing moving except for a few cars driving by.

"I don't see anyone."

"That's because you're looking in the wrong place, medieval boy. I'm not outside. I'm right there with you."

My blood went cold. I spun around, looking at everyone in the diner. Maya, Professor Martinez, Sarah. All of them looked normal, but...

"Sarah," I said slowly, "how do we know you're really Maya's aunt?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Because I know things about the Chen family that only a family member would know. Maya's grandmother used to make cookies shaped like dragons. Maya's mother was afraid of thunderstorms until she was sixteen. Maya herself used to have dreams about castles before she ever met you."

"Anyone with magic could have learned those things," the voice on the phone said. "Damien, you're asking the right questions, but you're still not thinking big enough."

That's when it hit me. The voice wasn't coming just from the phone anymore. It was coming from somewhere else in the room.

I looked at Professor Martinez, who had been quietly flipping through her grandmother's journal. She looked up and smiled, and something about that smile made my sword hand itch.

"Very good, Sir Damien," Professor Martinez said, but now her voice matched the one on the phone exactly. "Though it took you longer than I expected."

Maya stepped backward. "Elena? But you're... you've been helping us this whole time."

"Have I?" Not-Elena asked, standing up. "Or have I been guiding you exactly where someone wanted you to go? Maya, did you ever wonder why your history professor just happened to have a magical journal? Why she just happened to know about time travel? Why she was so eager to help a student she barely knew?"

I moved protectively in front of Maya, drawing my sword. "You've been manipulating us from the beginning."

"Not manipulating. Guiding. There's a difference." Not-Elena's form started to shift, becoming taller, more confident. "Maya needed to awaken her power. She needed to learn to use it. And she needed to make the right choices when the time came."

"What choices?" Maya demanded.

"The choice to save people even when it's dangerous. The choice to use your power even when you're scared. The choice to break down the barriers between the magical world and the normal world."

Sarah stepped forward, her hands glowing with protective magic. "You're working with Marcus."

"Marcus?" Not-Elena laughed. "Marcus is a fool playing with toys he doesn't understand. No, I'm working for someone much more interesting. Someone who's been waiting a very long time for the Chen family to reach full power."

"Who?" I asked, though I was starting to suspect I didn't want to know the answer.

Not-Elena's smile grew wider. "The original Chen witch, of course. The one who started the family line. The one who's been watching and waiting through every generation, looking for a descendant strong enough to handle what she really wants to do."

Maya grabbed my arm. "That's impossible. The original Chen witch lived hundreds of years ago."

"Time is funny when you have enough magic, Maya. Some witches die and move on. Others... find ways to stick around. And some get very, very patient about getting what they want."

The air in the diner started to shimmer, and I could feel ancient magic pressing down on us like a heavy blanket.

"What does she want?" I asked, though I was afraid of the answer.

"To finish what she started, obviously. Maya, your ancestor didn't create the Chen family's power to help people. She created it to rule them. Every generation, the power has gotten stronger, waiting for someone powerful enough to complete the original plan."

"What plan?"

Not-Elena's eyes started glowing with the same blue light as Maya's magic, but darker somehow. Wrong.

"To rewrite reality so that magic-users are in charge, and everyone else serves us. Maya, you have enough power to reshape the entire world. All you have to do is stop caring about the people who would get hurt in the process."

Sarah raised her hands, ready to cast a protective spell, but Not-Elena was faster.

"I don't think so," she said, and suddenly Sarah froze like a statue.

Maya's power started building around her, blue light crackling between her fingers. "Let her go."

"Maya, don't," I warned. "That's exactly what she wants. She wants you to use your power when you're angry."

But it was too late. Maya's magic exploded outward, filling the diner with brilliant light.

When the light faded, Not-Elena was gone. Sarah was back to normal, gasping and looking confused. And Maya was staring at her hands in horror.

"I felt it," Maya whispered. "When I used my power just now, I felt something else using it with me. Something old and hungry and..."

She looked up at me with terrified eyes.

"Damien, I think she's inside my head."