How… what… what was happening?
Max bared his teeth. “Chi McLane,” he spat, his breath slamming against my cheek.
True horror flashed through my gaze. “Wh-what? I… what’s—”
“What’s happening?” he snapped, that sneer leaving his lips as nothing more than two stiff, cold, white lines. “You broke through the vision, clever girl.”
“What? I don’t understand. Who are you? What’s going on?” As fear broke across my face, I slackened my grip on the knife.
And so did he.
That’s when I shoved hard against it with all my might.
It didn’t work. Max yanked the knife from my hand, locked a hand on my elbow, and twisted me around, pinning me to his chest.
Then he locked his arm over my torso, the knife right there – right in front of me. It was angled towards my throat, the light from the crackling fire playing along the tip.
“Did you think I would fall for that, lying witch? I’ve watched you, Chi – I know your games.”
I struggled, but I couldn’t put my heart into it, not with the blade several mere millimeters from my throat.
“I don’t… I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Oh, don’t you, little Chi? You were having a vision, following in Mary’s footsteps. But you pushed through. Because you’ve got a lot more drive than the rest of them, don’t you?”
My sweaty hair was plastered over my eyes, and I felt him lean in until his cheek was flat against my own. He blew at my fringe until it was brushed from my eyes.
A thrill of pure terror shot through me. “Ha… this… this is just a vision. It’s just a vision. I can break through. I can break through.” I squeezed my eyes as tightly shut as I could.
He chuckled, his chest shoving hard into my back with rhythmic pulses. “No, I’m afraid it’s more. You’ve got different abilities from the rest of them. From your grandmother, from Mary, even. From all of them. You’re the one I’ve been waiting for for all these hundreds of years.”
“You’re in the past. This is the past,” I repeated to myself, words a hasty, breathy prayer.
He laughed again, chest pressing so hard into my back, he practically crumpled me in half. “Past? No, my little lying witch – this is a different place. When you broke through the vision, you split time. Gave me another doorway, another glimpse of what’s to come.”
“I don’t believe you – this is a vision.”
“Oh, if only it were. But you’ve broken through, and you can’t go back.”
Though horror still pulsed through my veins, a tide of anger rose up to meet it. I wouldn’t lose to this asshole without a fight.
Maybe he could sense a change in my mood, because he chuckled right in my ear. “Ah, there it is – the fire I’ve seen through his eyes. The witch who won’t back down. But it won’t matter. For soon that power will be all mine.”
I suddenly shuddered. I cut my gaze to the side, trying to stare at his face, but I could only see the side of his nose. “M-Max? You’re the shadow, aren’t you?”
“Ha,” another laugh blasted against my cheek, “so you figured that out, did you? It took your grandmother years. And look at you, Chi, you managed it in a few months. Such a clever girl.”
“Go to hell, asshole.”
“Why? I don’t have to go anywhere I don’t want to, not now I’ve got you. Finally, my own seer. The future will be mine.” His grip around my middle tightened, the knife pressing higher towards my throat.
I had to push my head all the way back until I practically nuzzled Max’s neck, the rough cut of his stubble scratching my cheek.
“There’s no way I’ll help you, you bastard. I know what you’re doing – I’ve already figured it out. And I will never use my powers again. I’ll stop you from turning me into a mindless drone. You hear that? There’s nothing you can do to force my hand. I’ll never see the future again.”
“How about threatening your friends, your family, your city, your world? What will you do then, Chi? Will you turn from your powers and condemn everyone just to save yourself? That’s what she did—” Max shoved a shoulder forward, indicating the door. “That lying witch.” His tone changed, lost the control, lost the sense of victorious play. Instead, it was as bitter as lemon juice in vinegar.
“I’ll do anything to stop you. Anything.”
I felt him sneer. I was close enough to his face that I knew exactly what the sudden contraction of his facial muscles signified. “I’ll put you to the test with that,” he promised.
“No, you won’t. I’ll stop you, asshole. I’ll find some way to strip you from Max. I’ll stop you from using him to affect the future. I’ll trap you in this past.”
He stiffened again. Then he let out a belly-shaking, mirthless laugh. “Save Max? You don’t even know what he is. He’s just a shadow, just a smear of my true self.”
“No,” I spat, “you’re wrong – you’re the shadow.”
His laugh was deeper than before, shaking with far more satisfaction. “No, little Chi – that scrap of a spark you call Max,” his brogue became so deep it shook my hair, “is something that misguided witch, Mary, saved.” He hissed the word saved.
“W-what are you talking about?”
“She thought my magic was corrupting me – turning my soul. So just before she died at her own hand, she used the last of her ability to split me up, to save the last good scrap of my soul, as she put it. That’s your Max. And so you see, he’s nothing more than my shadow – nothing more than
