Within Maximine

Chapter 12

 "Oh, isn't this touching? The dynamic duo, ready to face the world. But tell me, Anne, how much do you really know about your abilities? About what you're truly capable of?"

I felt Max stiffen beside me. "That's enough, Jasper," he growled.

But Jasper wasn't deterred. "Has he told you everything about our kind, Anne? About the true extent of our powers?"

"Stop it," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. The world seemed to tilt around me, memories from my dream mixing with reality until I couldn't tell which was which.

"You felt it this morning, didn't you?" Jasper pressed on. "The power coursing through you. The Darkness calling."

My mind flashed to the moment in front of my mirror, when I thought I saw my eyes turn black. "How did you-"

"Because he's more like us than you realize," Max interjected, his voice tight. "Aren't you, Jasper?"

Jasper's smile turned predatory. "Bingo. Give the boy a prize. We're all cut from the same cloth, Anne. Demonic angels, straddling the line between light and dark. And it's high time you embraced the full extent of your nature."

The world spun around me. This was beyond what I knew about being a demonic angel. This couldn't be happening. It had to be another dream, a hallucination, anything but reality.

"I don't... I don't understand," I stammered. "I thought I knew what we were, what we could do..."

Max turned to me, his ice-blue eyes filled with a mixture of concern and resignation. "I'm sorry, Anne. I wanted to tell you everything, to prepare you. But I hoped... I hoped we'd have more time."

"More time for what?" I demanded, anger starting to replace my confusion. "What aren't you telling me, Max?"

Before he could answer, the air around us seemed to thicken. Shadows deepened, stretching towards us like grasping fingers. I felt a surge of energy within me, a power far beyond what I'd experienced before.

"What's happening?" I gasped.

Jasper laughed, the sound echoing unnaturally. "Your true awakening, dear Anne. Embrace it!"

Max moved in front of me protectively. "Not like this, Jasper. She's not ready!"

But I could feel something changing within me. The world seemed sharper, clearer. Colors were more vivid, sounds more acute. And beneath it all, a current of raw power, waiting to be tapped - far stronger than anything I'd felt before.

"Max," I whispered, my voice trembling. "I can feel it. What's happening to me?"

Max turned to me, his expression a mixture of worry and awe. "Your full powers are awakening, Anne. The true extent of what you are."

Jasper clapped his hands together gleefully. "Oh, this is even better than I hoped! Come on, Anne. Show us what you can really do!"

I felt the power surging within me, begging to be released. Part of me wanted to let it go, to see what I was truly capable of. But another part, the part that still clung to the control I thought I had, was terrified.

"I can't control it," I said through gritted teeth. "It's too much!"

Max grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Yes, you can, Anne. You're stronger than you know. Focus on my voice. Ground yourself."

As I stared into Max's eyes, I felt the chaos within me start to settle. The shadows retreated, and the world slowly returned to normal. Or at least, what passed for normal now.