#Chapter 215 – Between Us

Alvin folds his hands in his lap, shrugging one shoulder. “Ever since we were very little –“

“Since we can remember, I guess,” Ian picks up, miming his brother’s action.

“We’ve always been able to see the magic. To notice it, when others don’t,” Alvin finishes. Both boys look apologetically Victor and I, then, as if they’ve been keeping a big secret and are sorry for it.

“But what is it?” Victor presses.

“It’s just…extra stuff, I guess,” Ian says, frowning, trying not to be vague but failing. I sit back and try to be patient, to let them work through it. “Like, it is the thing that is between Alvin and me. The thing that makes us able to talk to each other. The thing that makes us able to do…extra stuff.”

I frown at this, confused. What kind of extra stuff?

“When we were little,” Alvin says, “it was just around, the magic. And it was just between us – like always floating there, in the air.”

“Do you mean,” Victor says quietly, “that you can see it?”

Ian nods lightly. “Sometimes, we can. Not all the time. Or maybe we just don’t notice. But when we look for it, and it’s there, we can see it.”

Alvin nods, agreeing. “And then,” he continues, “as we got older, we learned how to start to use it.”

“That’s actually pretty new,” Ian says, excited. “Alvin figured it out most – like, he was able to use it just a little bit ago – on the battlefield –“

“The Alpha command,” Alvin clarifies, nodding. “I was able to…grab the magic. In the air. There wasn’t a lot. But I was able to use it to make the command work, even though I’m not technically their Alpha.”

Alvin smiles at Victor then, the Beta’s actual Alpha from whom he had briefly stolen command. Victor just shakes his head at him, not in denial, but in wonder and confusion.

“We thought,” I say, hesitating, “we thought you could just do that stuff because you’re smart. But you’re saying it’s because you’re…magic?”

his nose at the idea of it. “We can just see the magic, and now, I

this as well. I shake my head, not able to figure

my thumb over my shoulder at the smoke forms that I now imagine brushing up against the fabric of the tent. I shudder at the thought. “They’re the

nods, likewise curious.

head. I can see that he’s starting to get tired, but no

eyes going wide and excited at the thought of it. “Like, so much, that it can make itself

you could see it tonight because

I ask, the word sputtering from my mouth. “I – I have

“Yes,” he said. “You always had a little bit of the magic, when we were little. But then you got more when we started

at him, shocked. “When we met you at Quiz Nation. You had a little magic around you. Just blip blip blip!” Alvin

through it. “And then, after the claiming ceremony, when

out of his pack. He takes a

right before the wedding. And then more and more later, when you decided to be a

my son’s hand. He gives a little squeak of protest, which I ignore

says, looking at us in

frankly a

Ian says, looking between us with his nose wrinkled. “We didn’t want to tell you, because we didn’t want to hurt your feelings – and because, like, you wouldn’t get it – but ever since the first night after daddy came home from the

air around me for any sign of

air around me,

sense. I still don’t know what the hell this magic stuff is, but if it is…between us. Then it’s certainly something we’ve

certainly explains how so

and handing the half-eaten candy bar unasked to Alvin, who accepts it gratefully and takes a bite. “That’s what the ghosts were drawn to, tonight. All the magic around you two. They were just curious. Just wanted

looking down into my hands. “That’s

of the century, but I can’t think of any other way to put

kids. “For telling us. Explaining it. If

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