#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?”

laughs a little at this. “We’re not magic mom,” he says, wrinkling his nose at the idea of it. “We can just see the magic, and now, I guess, move it around sometimes. But,” he quirks his head, considering. “Maybe we

my head, not able to figure

say, gesturing with my thumb over my shoulder at the smoke forms that I now imagine brushing up against the fabric of the

curious.

head. I can see that he’s

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

even harder, “maybe you could see

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

smiling at me. “Yes,” he said. “You always had a little bit of the magic, when we were

up at his father. Victor just blinks at him, shocked. “When we met you at Quiz Nation. You

and pulling his little backpack forward. He looks at me as he scrounges through it.

Ian pulls a chocolate bar out of his pack. He

you got lots more right before the wedding. And then more

my head, disbelieving, and then snatch the candy bar out of my son’s hand. He gives a little squeak of protest, which I ignore as I take a bite and hand it back to him. I need the sugary comfort of chocolate more than he does right

now,” Alvin says, looking at us in disgust.

says, baffled and frankly a little offended.

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 hospital…you

any sign of the magic. Covered in

hair through the air around me,

eyes meet Victor’s, then, and we both know that it…well, it kind of makes sense. I still don’t know what the hell this magic stuff is, but if it is…between us. Then

so many unexplainable things

bar unasked to Alvin, who accepts it gratefully and takes a bite. “That’s what

say, looking down into

but I can’t

kids. “For telling us. Explaining it. If there are

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255