The Prince, The Gangster, The Teacher, And The Poet (Sander Sides Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Nein-The Understanding

TW: Mentions of fire, another dream, but nowhere NEAR as bad as the others, torture turns into therapy

Roman wasn't fully sure how he brought it up. Later, Logan would say that he hadn't needed to, that everything seemed to have been going fine, but somehow, Roman had mentioned the magic that he and the other three possessed.

"You can use magic?" Miriam said, her voice a little higher pitched than before. "Really?" Roman froze, looking back to the other three. Virgil was mid-sip of water, just looking at the elderly couple. Logan looked up from where he was reading in the living room with interest and nervousness, and Patton shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"I mean..." Roman tried but just sighed. "Yeah."

"What kinds of things can you kids do?" Gerald asked from his spot at the table. Roman looked to Logan, who sighed and closed his book, getting up to sit at the table with the other five.

"Go ahead." He said softly, and Roman turned back to Miriam.

"I can create fire." Roman smiled, and Miriam stiffened a little bit. "Though I only really use it when making a fire when we're camping." He quickly amends. 

"I create books." Logan shifted, looking at the physical book in his hand as if it were a familiar stranger.

"I can heal people!" Patton smiles. "Which is nice. Just in case, you know?" 

"I can teleport," Virgil said softly, and Miriam's face split into a grin, and she glanced at Gerald. "Did... did I say something?" He asked, trying not to look as nervous as he felt, but his leg was bouncing now. 

"Oh, not at all! It's just been a while since we've even seen someone with magical ability." Miriam shook her head. "Ever since that witch took over the kingdom, she's been going around and taking people's magic, so not many people have the gift." 

"You know about her?" Patton's eyes were wide, and Miriam's smile turned sad.

"Oh, yes. I know all about her and the city. I had a few friends who lived in the city who I still haven't been able to make contact with." She pauses. "You are talking about Eraumeth, correct?"

"Yes," Logan said quickly. "What do you know about the witch who lives there?" Gerald laughed.

"Why do you need to know? That place is to be avoided at all costs. We're lucky there's a huge city that set itself up between here and there, if there wasn't, we wouldn't have some of the food we need to survive." His smile faded as he looked at the group, realization dawning on her face. "That's where you're heading, isn't it?"

"She took our kingdom's magic. It's our duty as the only ones left to go and get it back." Roman said as confidently as he could, which didn't appear to convince anyone at the table.

"Dears, you can't! That place is a death trap! She has the magic of at least four kingdoms now." Miriam's voice was too steady and calm to be real.

"That's impossible." Logan looked up for the first time since the conversation started, and Roman could see his mind working. "A human body isn't able to contain the magic of an entire kingdom." His voice gets quieter, slipping into what Roman lovingly refers to as Nerd Space when Logan would get so sucked into finding an answer to something that he could zone out for hours just thinking about it. Roman hated to bring him out of it, but he put his hand on Logan's arm, and he jolted back to reality.

"Dear, didn't you know?" Miriam said softly. "She isn't human." Patton blinked a few times.

"She's not... she's not human?" He stuttered out. "Is she... a wolf?" Gerald laughed.