#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?”

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

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

I say, gesturing with 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 magic. And you can see them because you can see

nods, likewise curious. He saw them

is…different here.” Ian says, stretching his arms over his head. I can see that he’s starting to

lot of magic out here,” Alvin says, his eyes going wide and excited at the thought of

even harder, “maybe you could see it tonight because you have

the word sputtering from my mouth. “I – I

magic, when we were little. But then you got more when we started spending more time with

“When we met you at Quiz Nation. You had a little magic around you. Just blip blip blip!” Alvin pinches his fingers in the air, dancing them around like fireflies.

scrounges through it. “And then, after the claiming ceremony, when daddy tried to bring you

a chocolate bar out of his pack. He takes a bite, looking

right before the wedding. And then more and more later, when

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

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

Victor says, baffled and frankly a little offended. “We’re

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

look around in the air around me for any sign of the magic.

Alvin says, leaning forward and flicking his hair through the air around me, like he’s scattering flies. “You can’t sense it?

know what the hell this magic stuff is, but if it is…between us. Then it’s certainly something we’ve been dabbling in more and more since we’ve met each

explains how so

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

down into my hands.

of the century, but I can’t think of

you,” Victor says quietly to our kids. “For telling us. Explaining it. If there are any changes

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