#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

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

I now imagine brushing up against the fabric of the tent. I

nods, likewise curious. He saw

he’s

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

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

I ask, the word sputtering from my

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

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

reaching backwards and pulling his little backpack forward. He looks at me as he scrounges through it. “And then, after the claiming ceremony, when daddy tried to bring

as Ian pulls a chocolate bar out of his

“And then you got lots more right before the wedding. And then more and more later, when

little squeak of protest, which I ignore

now,” Alvin says, looking at us in

Victor says, baffled and frankly

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

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

forward and flicking his hair through the air around me, like he’s scattering flies. “You

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

it certainly explains how so many unexplainable things

“That’s what

say, looking down into my

know it’s the understatement of the century, but I can’t think

to our kids. “For telling us. Explaining it. If there are any changes to it, or anything else, will you

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