The Magical Twins

I'm a What?!?

I sprint up the steps and knock on the back door to Mawmaw's house, James right behind me. The red wooden door swings open to Mawmaw standing behind it, still in day clothes.
"Hi, Mawmaw. We," I motion to James standing beside me,"were wondering about the book you gave me earlier. "
"Sure, sweetheart! Come on in!" She stands back from the doorway so my twin and I can walk in. She shuts and locks the door after us, then leads us into the living room to talk.
"Do y'all want anything?"
"I'm good, thank you. " I say, shrugging. 
"I'm good too, thanks. " James says with a flip of his head. I swear, the boy spends more time on his hair than I do mine.
"Now that we're all settled, what did you want to talk about?" Mawmaw asks as she sits down in on of the chair across from us.
"Something happened with the book, Mawmaw. It's not damaged or anything, we are more than it really, but something very...strange happened." I start.
"Alright dear, what happened?"
"Well," I start taking an uneasy breath, "It first started humming. We were downstairs eating and heard it."
"We went to go check it out, and then we saw it glowing really bright. " James adds.
"Then," I continue, "when we tried to touch it, the light sort of...blew up and we got blown back into my wall."
We continue to look at Mawmaw to see her reaction to all of this. Instead of the confusion that I half expected,  she starts beaming.
I turn to look at James, bewildered, and find him looking back at me with just as much confusion. We turn back to her as she starts to speak.
"Let me tell you about the book. First of all, it's not fiction. It's about a real school that teach as real magic."
My eyes widen as I take this in. Am I dreaming?
"No, dear, you are not dreaming." Mawmaw chuckles.
"Did I say that out loud?" I mumble as my face flushes bright red.
"Yes, sis, you did. Now, what's next?" James says.
"The book also has a special quality about it. When you and James touched it, it noticed you had magic and started to asses it. The process takes a while, which is why you could watch the movie and not notice it. "
"Okay, that makes sense. " James slowly says.
"But that doesn't explain why it was humming and glowing."
"Patience, James. " Mawmaw lectures. "I'm getting to that. "
"The glowing and humming is to alert the caretaker, in this case me, and the ones who carry the magic. I already knew you had magic, but you didn't. So when you both touched the book, it sent out that burst to let me know that you both had found the book and knew something was up. "
"Oh, so the book was basically just sending a message to you?" I question. "That makes sense."
"Yeah, I think that answers all my questions too." James says. "But, how do we know that we got into this school? And when do we start if we did?"
Mawmaw smiles. "You both will receive a list of school supplies and a ticket for a plane. Don't worry, I'll take you shopping so we can find everything."
"Where do we get everything? Certainly we need some unusual stuff for a magic school. " James asks.
"I know all the places to get everything you'll need. " Mawmaw smiles. "There's a store a little drive away, in the city of Louisville. In the front, there's a doorway you walk through, there's a stairway that appears beside the door. Go down that, and you enter a mall that is full of magical shops. There's about 50 shops, a bank, and even a train station. In the shops, you'll find everything from wands to your school uniforms to unicorn miniatures. There's also sports shops, as we are big sports fans here. "
James smiles at that. He's loved playing and watching sports ever since we were little.
"What sports are there?" James asks. My ears perk up too, because I am an athlete myself, and things like this interest me.
Mawmaw smiles.
"There's the mortal sports, like football and softball. But, we also have magical twists on every one of them, or have combined two sports to make watching and playing more fun."
I furrow my eyebrows. "That seems cool. Can you give us an example?"
"Of course, dear. We've combined football and soccer. Now, we call this new game Kicker, because you use your feet like soccer, but must use your upper body to block people from getting the ball you protect. Then there's HardBall, which is softball, baseball, and basketball combined. And of course, we have the magic parts to them as well." Mawmaw laughed.
"Wow, that seems cool." I turn to look at James and ask what he thinks, but he interrupts me by asking,
"What about dreams? Do they mean anything in this...world?".
I turn to Mawmaw, and she seems a bit shocked by the sudden question, but then shakes it off and rolls with it.
"I wouldn't say we have another world, but yes, dreams do mean things. You can dream normal dreams, nightmares, memories, or even events that happen as you sleep. Memories are the most likely out of all of these, especially if the memory was traumatic. For example, you two dream about the car crash a lot, correct?"

We both nod, listening intently.
"Well, that's because it was a traumatizing experience for the both of you. At school, they actually have a Dream Therapy class, where you can learn how to control your dreams, and if you're lucky, learn how to not dream certain dreams and/or memories. But you won't get to learn how to not have certain dreams until your final years of school, since that is very advanced magic. Unless your dreams are increasingly getting worse, in which case the teachers will help you learn that magic. "
I slowly start nodding as I process the information.
"Okay, I guess that makes sense. "
"Oh, and I should mention your footprint." Mawmaw says.
"Our footprint? What does our feet have to do with school?" James asks, confused.

Mawmaw laughs. "Not your actual footprint, your magical footprint. Every witch or wizard has a magical footprint that increases with every spell. Depending on the spell, your footprint can either grow a lot, or a little. Like when you left after I gave you the book, dear." Mawmaw directs at me. "When you jumped in the puddle, you didn't get wet, correct?"
I think back to earlier today.
"Yeah, I actually wasn't wet. I mean, my shoes were, but my socks and feet were dry. "
I look up at Mawmaw. "Does that mean I used magic?"

"Yes, dear, but you didn't mean to use magic. We call that Unaware Magic. It's when you start to use magic, but since you haven't had any training yet, it just comes out of you in small bursts that get bigger as time goes on.
Unaware Magic starts on a very small scale, like your socks and feet being dry when you jumped in a puddle with shoes on. But as you get older, and still go without training, the magic can burst out of you at random times, with more and more power. That is why it is very important for you two to be trained properly in magic. Do you understand?"
James and I nod.

"But, Mawmaw, what happens to the ones who don't ever get any training?" James asks.
Mawmaw suddenly becomes very sullen.
"The magic eventually becomes too much for them to handle, and it kills them. That's why it is so important for you two to be trained. And you must be trained properly. Start a dueling club, if you must. Train in secret, even. We've had to do it before. "

Mawmaw's eyes get a glazed-over look on them, like she was remembering something. Suddenly, she shakes herself back to reality.
"Oh, dear, look at the time!" She says while looking at the clock on the mantle. "It's nearly 11:30! You must go back home now, I want you well rested so I can show you around the magical world tomorrow. That is, if you would like that?" She asks.
I look at my twin, and we both shrug.
"Sounds fun to me, Mawmaw." I stand up and stretch. "C'mon James, we best be getting back to the house. Thanks for telling us all of this. " I walk over and hug her, James right behind me.

"Of course, dears. Now, off you go. I don't want your aunt getting mad at me for keeping you so late. Although, I am her mother. " She winks at us and we all laugh.
We walk to the door, and after saying our goodbyes, James and I leave.
"Well. " He starts as we begin the short trek to our house. "That's a lot to take in. "
I snort. "You could say that again. "
"That's a lot to take in." James grins as I playfully shove him.
"You're annoying. "
"I know. It's a special skill of mine that I've been working on for my entire life. Looks like it's paid off. " I look at him with a deadpan face, and we both bust out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm too tired to even bother trying to annoy you back. " I retort as we walk up the front steps to our house. James smirks in reply as I open the door.

We walk upstairs to our separate bedrooms. As we get to our bedroom doors, I look over at my twin.
"Night, James. "
"Night, Char."

A/N
Sooo....what do y'all think? Figured you deserve a nice long chapter for the long wait. 😉
The twins found out they're wizards.
And are about to be introduced to the wizard world. But that's for next chapter.

Until next chapter,
~Elizabeth~