Page 74 of The Heir

I looked at the other pictures and flipped them over; many of them were dated long ago, yet some were more recent, and they were all sprawled out in front of me.

How could this be? What does this mean? They were magical in some way–like Shad–like me? They had to be if they lived so long and looked so youthful, right?

I picked up a handful of letters, finding another stack of pictures, not only of my parents, but of me with them. Me as a baby, a toddler, a child, and a pre-teen, and in every single one of those pictures, my parents looked the same. That had to be proof. It didn’t add up any other way. Shad said that having a melody wasn’t something thatnormalhumans in this realm experienced. Only people from Terra had them, Shad had explained.

I gathered up all the pictures. If anyone had answers, it would be Mary. She was my mother’s sister after all. She had to know something. I found her in the guest bedroom, the one that she moved into when my parents–

I gulped and pushed the slightly ajar door open more to make room for my entrance.

I walked into the room, stopping directly in front of the flat screen and held out the picture for her to see. She was clearly ready for bed, her hair in a towel and her pajamas on.

“I took that picture,” she said with a smile. “How was the dance? I did not even hear you come in; I just got out of the shower,” she said as she unwrapped her hair from the towel and began to brush it out.

She took it? Was she also from Terra? Well, if she was truly my mom’s sister and my mom was from Terra, then she would be, too.

“It was good, I can tell you about it later, but for now, tell me, Mary, please–why didn’t my parents age?” I whispered.

She gasped. “What?” she asked as she paused brushing her hair.

“Why don’t they, andprobablyyou too, age, Mary? There is a date on the back of this picture. They never aged. Why?” I asked, spreading the pictures on the bed before her. I stepped back, placing my hands on my hips as she leaned over to look.

“We have very goodgenetics?” she answered as a question without making eye contact.

“Am I from Terra?” If I thought she was shocked before, it was nothing compared to how she looked at that moment.

“Did Ryker finally tell you?” she asked, standing up, walking to me, and taking my shoulders in her hands. “Over the phone? I told him to be gentle,” she muttered.

“Wait, so it’s true? How does Ryker know about this, and I don't?” I was seriously expecting her to tell me that, of course, Terra was not real, neither were magical creatures and beings andmelodies. They were all just stories. I was a normal human and a normal girl from California, with normal parents.

“Emma, I was trying to find the right time to tell you this. I didn't want to burden you before because I knew how hard things were on you, but you seem to be happy, so I thought maybe it was a good time the other day, but I could never say it because I did not know how to bring it up. Your parents said I would know when it was the right time.” She took my hand and guided me back to her bed. I sat down in a daze and could only watch and listen to my life playing out before me as if I were some character in a book. She pulled open her top dresser drawer and revealed a locked black wooden box, unlike any I hadever seen before. It was made of a black wood, but there were silver lines in the wood grain that sparkled in the light of the room. She opened it, but there was nothing inside. It was barely the size of a tissue box.

“I need what Lamont and Ara left for Emma,” she said to the empty box. After a moment of waiting she put her hand halfway inside and then pulled it out. There were two things she held: an envelope with the name “Emma” written on it in my dad’s handwriting and what looked like a small shard of glass. She handed me the letter and closed the box.

“I will give you the other item another time.” Before I opened the letter, she put her hand over mine. “Before you read this, Emma, there is something I need to explain to you.” She motioned to the bed, and we sat.

“Is this—all real? It is really hard to believe, Mary,” I whispered.

“I know, sweetheart. I am sorry.” She had a tear, trailing down her cheek, and she quickly brushed it away. “I might as well spit this out because I will never get this right.” She shook her head, held both my hands, and said it. “Emma, you are from Terra,” she whispered, looking around as if someone might have been watching us.

“But, I was born here, I know I have a birth certificate from the hospital dad worked at–”

“No, Emma—I mean, yes, you were born here, but your parents and I are from Terra, you are Terran.”

I stood up. “Mary, Shad is from there,” I returned, looking out her window.

“Yes, I could hear his melody; I knew right away who he was. Ryker said that he is one of the good ones. There is so much to tell you. Your parents wanted to raise you here as a normal human for many reasons, mostly so that you would fit in and find a place here in this realm like they did. We are pretty muchthe same as the humans here, so they intended to never tell you, letting you go to college, find a husband, get married, and have your own family here.

“So I am a human,” I said with shaky breaths.

“Yes, only slightly more magical than humans here in this realm–because you have a melody. People who have melodies, we call them the Heirs of Terra. All Terrans are heirs to that magical land. However, you specifically, are anAncientHeir, and that will have more meaning when you understand more.”

“I know from the stories in mom’s book that Ancients are like–powerful beings, beings that lived with the Creator himself? Is that God? The God of Terra?”

“It is not all the same as it is here. Perhaps, ‘God’ is a good way to describe it. Earth’s realm, they would call the Creator God, I believe, or they do. We believe the Creator made all of the realms, not only Terra, both magical and unmagical.”

“And Earth’s realm is not magical?”

“It does not have magic embedded in its soil and core as Terra does, no, but magic can exist here. Many magical beings have found refuge here, and so there is magic here–only borrowed from other realms.”

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