Running Through Portland
Damien's POV
A metal beast roared toward us, its glowing eyes cutting through the darkness.
I threw myself in front of Maya, drawing my sword in one motion. "Stay back! I'll protect you!"
"Damien, no!" Maya grabbed my arm. "It's just a car!"
The beast—car—swerved around us with an angry honking sound. A man stuck his head out the window and yelled words I'd never heard before, but they didn't sound friendly.
"We have to keep moving," Maya said, pulling me along the stone path beside the road. "Marcus could be anywhere."
Every shadow looked like it might hide one of Marcus's servants. Every sound made me want to draw my sword. This strange world was full of dangers I didn't understand.
More metal beasts thundered past us, their bright eyes hurting my vision. How did Maya walk among these monsters every day and not go mad with fear?
"The streetlights," I whispered, staring up at the tall poles with trapped suns burning inside them. "Are they spirits? Some kind of magic?"
"They're just lights, Damien. Electricity. Like... like captured lightning that gives us light instead of starting fires."
Captured lightning. In my time, only the most powerful wizards could control lightning. Yet here, these people trapped it in glass balls and used it to push back the night.
"This whole world runs on magic," I said.
"It's not magic. It's science. Technology."
"What's the difference?"
Maya opened her mouth, then closed it. "I... I don't actually know anymore."
We turned a corner, and I saw something that made my blood freeze. A group of people stood under one of the light poles, but they weren't moving right. They swayed back and forth like trees in a wind I couldn't feel.
"Maya," I whispered, "those people..."
She looked where I was pointing and gasped. "Their eyes. Look at their eyes."
The people's eyes were glowing the same red as Marcus's. Five of them, all staring directly at us.
"Run," I said.
We ran.
Behind us, I heard the sound of footsteps, but they were wrong somehow. Too fast. Too many feet hitting the ground at once, like horses running but with human legs.
"This way!" Maya yanked me into a narrow space between two buildings.
We pressed against the cold wall, trying to stay hidden. Maya's breathing was loud in the quiet alley. I could hear her heart beating fast with fear, and something twisted in my chest. She shouldn't have to be afraid. I was supposed to protect her.
But how could I protect her from something I didn't understand?
"The binding spell," I whispered. "Maya, what if it's already working? What if that's why you caught me when I fell through time?"
"Don't." Her voice was sharp. "Don't you dare say my feelings aren't real."
"But what if they're not? What if Marcus made us—"
"Stop." Maya turned to face me in the dark alley. "I know what I feel, Damien. Magic spell or not, I know."
Looking at her fierce expression, I felt something warm spread through my chest. This brave, stubborn girl who argued with knights and faced down dark sorcerers. If our feelings were created by magic, did it matter? They felt real to me.
The sound of footsteps grew closer.
"They're coming," Maya breathed.
I peered around the corner. The five people with glowing red eyes were walking down the street, moving their heads from side to side like hunting dogs following a scent.
"We need to get to Jessica's apartment," Maya said. "It's only a few more blocks."
"What if Jessica has red eyes too?"
Maya went pale. "She wouldn't. She's my friend."
"Marcus knows everything about you, remember? Your job, your age, where you live. Don't you think he knows about your friends too?"
For a moment, Maya looked like she might cry. Then her jaw got that stubborn set I was learning to recognize.
"Then we'll deal with that when we get there. We can't stay here."
Another metal beast roared past the mouth of the alley, and something terrible occurred to me.
"Maya, the cars. What if Marcus can control them too? What if he turns all those metal beasts against us?"
"They're not beasts!" But her voice shook a little. "They can't be controlled by magic. They run on gas engines and computer chips and—"
She stopped talking.
"What?" I asked.
"Computer chips," she whispered. "Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no."
"What's wrong?"
"Marcus sent messages through my phone. And my laptop. If he can control electronic things..."
A car horn started honking somewhere nearby. Then another. Then another.
Soon the whole city was filled with the sound of honking horns, like a thousand metal beasts calling to each other in the night.
"He's found a way to control the cars," Maya said, her face white with fear.
The honking got louder. And closer.
"We have to move. Now."
We ran out of the alley and down the street. Around us, cars were acting strange. Their lights blinked on and off. Some of them started moving with no one inside, crawling along the road like they were alive.
"This is impossible," Maya kept saying. "This is completely impossible."
But I'd seen impossible things before. Dark magic could twist anything into a weapon, even in this world of captured lightning and metal beasts.
A car suddenly swerved toward us. Maya screamed and dove to the side, rolling behind a large metal box that smelled terrible.
"Dumpster," she gasped when she saw my confused look.
The car smashed into the dumpster with a horrible crash. Black smoke poured from its front end, and its lights went out.
"The magic broke it," I said, relieved.
"Or maybe it just crashed and the engine died," Maya said, but she sounded less sure than before.
We kept running. More cars started chasing us, their metal bodies scraping against buildings as they tried to follow us down narrow sidewalks.
"There!" Maya pointed to a building ahead of us. "That's Jessica's place!"
We sprinted toward the building. Behind us, I could hear the sound of metal screaming against stone as the enchanted cars tried to squeeze into spaces too small for them.
We reached the building and Maya ran to a large plant pot by the door. She lifted it and grabbed a small metal key.
"Jessica always keeps her spare key here," she panted.
But when Maya put the key in the lock, the door swung open by itself.
"That's... that's not normal," Maya said.
We stepped inside. The building was completely dark and quiet. Too quiet.
"Jessica?" Maya called softly. "Jessica, are you here?"
No answer.
We climbed the stairs to the third floor. Every step seemed too loud in the silence. When we reached Jessica's door, it was already open a crack.
Maya pushed it wider and looked inside.
"Jessica?" she whispered.
I looked over her shoulder and saw a small apartment, very similar to Maya's. But this one was perfectly clean. Too clean. Like no one had ever lived there at all.
"Where is she?" Maya asked.
That's when we heard the voice behind us.
"Hello, Maya."
We spun around. A girl stood at the top of the stairs, smiling at us. She had long black hair and dark eyes just like Maya's. She looked completely normal, except for one thing.
She was wearing the exact same clothes Maya had been wearing earlier that night. The same jeans, the same t-shirt, even the same shoes Maya had lost during our escape.
"What the..." Maya's voice came out as a squeak.
"Yes, I'm you, Maya," the girl said. "Or rather, I'm what you could become. Marcus sent me forward from tomorrow to show you what happens if you keep running."
"That's impossible," Maya whispered.
"Is it? You've seen a medieval knight travel through time. You've seen cars controlled by magic. Is it really so hard to believe that Marcus can send copies of you backward from the future?"
The Maya-copy took a step closer.
"In twelve hours, you'll realize that fighting Marcus is hopeless. You'll go to him willingly to save Damien's life. And when you do, you'll become exactly what he needs you to be. A witch from the future, with all the power of tomorrow at his command."
"You're lying," I said, raising my sword.
"Am I?" The copy smiled at me. "Tell me, Sir Knight. Have you felt it yet? The pull? The way your chest hurts when you're more than a few feet away from her?"
I had felt it. Even now, with Maya right beside me, I could feel a strange tugging sensation, like an invisible rope tied around my heart.
"The binding spell is working faster than expected," the copy continued. "Soon you won't be able to be apart at all. And when that happens, Marcus will have the perfect trap. Hurt one of you, and the other will do anything to make it stop."
"No," Maya said firmly. "I won't let that happen."
"You won't have a choice."
The copy raised her hand, and purple light began to glow around her fingers.
"But don't worry. I'm here to make it easy for you. Just come with me now, and Damien won't have to suffer through the binding spell getting stronger."
"Maya, don't listen to her," I said.
"Why not?" the copy asked. "Look at him, Maya. Really look at him."
I felt Maya's eyes on me and realized what the copy meant. My hands were shaking. Not from fear, but from something else. The strange tugging sensation in my chest was getting stronger, and with it came a desperate need to be closer to Maya. To protect her. To never let her out of my sight.
"It's the spell," Maya breathed. "It's already changing you."
"I can fight it," I said, but even as I spoke, I took a step closer to her.
"For how long?" the copy asked. "An hour? A day? Face the truth, Maya. You're both trapped. The only question is whether you'll come willingly, or if Marcus has to drag you both back in chains."
The copy's purple light grew brighter.
"Choose now, Maya. Save Damien the pain of fighting a spell he can't win, or watch him slowly lose his mind as the binding magic takes over completely."
Maya looked at me, and I saw tears in her eyes.
"There has to be another way," she whispered.
"There is," said a new voice from the shadows behind us.
We turned to see a woman stepping out of the darkness at the other end of the hallway. She was older, with graying hair and kind eyes, and she looked somehow familiar.
"Professor Martinez?" Maya gasped.
"Hello, Maya. Hello, Sir Damien." The professor smiled at us. "I think it's time you learned the truth about what you're really up against."
The Maya-copy hissed like an angry cat. "Elena Martinez. I should have known you'd interfere."
"Oh, my dear," Professor Martinez said calmly. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."
She raised her own hand, and golden light began to glow around her fingers.
"You see, I've been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time."