Part One

Snow Goose

After lunch following the morning lessons, the twins scampered off, most likely heading back outside to play during the hour of free time before the afternoon lessons. No matter if it was raining, snowing, freezing cold, or unbearably hot, they were always outside. Thomas let them go out by themselves, electing to stay inside and talk to the other children. He headed to the common area, spotting a familiar figure on the couch.

“Hey, Myla,” he greeted, sitting down next to the twelve-year-old girl. She nodded, keeping her eyes trained on the book she was reading. “What are you reading?”

She closed her book firmly, leaning forward in her seat to look at Thomas. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, appearing to be eager to answer his question. He hid his smile, knowing that Myla was about to launch into an extremely in-depth synopsis of the book.

“Supposedly, it’s a history book about Eskil,” she started, “but it seems more like a storybook than anything else. It claims that the people of Eskil have magical powers, able to do things that normal people can’t.” She adjusted the glasses on her nose, pushing them up slightly as she looked at Thomas.

“That sounds…” Thomas’ voice trailed off as he struggled to come up with a correct description of the girl’s current reading material. He knew little about Eskil, the kingdom just north of Malin.

“Fascinating, doesn’t it?” Myla finished, nodding enthusiastically. “Not only that, but it includes actual history into its text, making it sound like magic really does exist. And, weirdly enough, it makes more sense if this happened then what we were taught by Ms. Jesse.”

Thomas tilted his head in confusion. “How?”

She looked down at the book in her lap, starting to flip through some of the pages. “Well, hundreds of years ago, the four kingdoms were all one kingdom.”

“The Kingdom of Esmaya,” Thomas said slowly. “Ms. Jesse taught us this.”

“Yes,” Myla said, sounding impatient, still flipping through the pages. “But why did the kingdom split up?”

Thomas closed his eyes, trying to think back on his history lessons. History was his least favorite subject and, as such, he found it hard to remember what he had been taught. “At the time, Esmaya was ruled by four people. They all developed different opinions on how they wanted to rule their kingdom. So, they created four kingdoms in order to rule how they wanted.”

But the girl was already shaking her head, her long braid swaying with the motion. “It doesn’t make sense, though. There was no prior information about the kingdom being ruled by a council of four different people.” She paused in her task of skimming through the book to look back up at Thomas. “So why would there ever be four rulers of Esmaya? And what exactly were their different ideas on how to rule? What did they disagree about so much that led to them creating different kingdoms? And was that disagreement solved as peacefully as our history lessons imply?”

Thomas frowned, realizing that he was unable to answer her questions. Myla took his silence as a kind of answer, for she said, “Exactly.” She looked back at her book, flipping through a few more pages before stopping on a page. “Here, though, the book offers answers to those questions. It’s entirely different from everything we’ve been taught and makes much more sense.” She tapped at the page she had stopped at, drawing Thomas’ attention to a picture of a woman, a queen based on the crown on top of her head. She had her right arm raised up and it seemed like there were flames rising from it. “Esmaya was ruled by a king or queen, a person believed to be the most magical person in that generation and a fulfillment of the sages’ prophecies.”

“Sages?” Thomas asked, confused by the word.

“People with magical abilities,” she answered dismissively, sounding so matter-of-factly that Thomas felt bad about not understanding her. “They formed Esmaya’s highest class, more powerful than everyone else. Unfortunately, they typically used that power for harm. They oppressed the non-magical people and it led to war.” She flipped through more pages before stopping at a large picture that spanned two pages. It depicted what appeared to be a major battle, though some of the people seemed to not be carrying any weapons at all.

“The non-magical people became upset at the high class and the oppression. So, they rebelled. The rebels eventually won and pushed all the sages to the north, but each rebel group had different leaders and ideas on how to change the way Esmaya was run. So, they decided to form three different kingdoms.”

“Malin, Tascela, and Aspaya,” Thomas realized. “And the sages in the north formed Eskil.”

Myla nodded, a wide smile overtaking her facial expression. She appeared to be excited that Thomas had finally understood what she was getting at. “Exactly. Knowing that everyone else hated magic, they--”

“Cut off all ties with the other kingdoms,” Thomas finished, cutting Myla off. Instead of being annoyed by his interruption, Myla’s excitement only seemed to grow, for she was practically vibrating with it. “Which is why we rarely hear anything about Eskil.” Then, he blinked as a thought crossed his mind. “But isn’t that also because of the Midean Mountains? It’s almost impossible to travel through them.”

The girl flipped backwards in her history book, stopping at a different picture, this one of an old map of the continent of Esmaya. Even though it looked old, with different cities and different roads, the coastline was still identical to modern maps. Myla traced a finger along the path Thomas knew that the Midean Mountains marched through.

“Look,” Myla said, looking back up at Thomas, “there aren’t any mountains here.” Thomas leaned closer to the book, his eyes widening as he realized that the girl was right. “This map was created right before the war between the sages and the rebels. While the Midean Mountains aren’t on this map, there is a small chain here.” She pointed to the west, and--sure enough--Thomas could see mountains making their way from a lake in the middle of what Thomas knew was Evermeadow Fief and running down the eastern coast of Esmaya in what was now the Aspayan Empire.

“Aren’t those the Midean Mountains?” Thomas asked.

“Now they are,” Myla answered. “Back then, though, they were simply named the Terran Mountains, a name for the Earth goddess, Terra. Terra is also the ancient word for earth.” She twisted a loose strand of hair from her braid around her ear. “Near the end of the war, when Eskil was retreating to the far north, a sage named Midea realized that his kingdom was close to being completely destroyed by the three other kingdoms. Acting in desperation, Midea did the only thing he could think of to save his people--he used his magic to form mountains to close off Eskil’s land from their attackers.”

“And the mountains were named after him,” Thomas breathed out.

Myla nodded. “They renamed the Terran Mountains as well.”

Thomas stared at the girl, shocked at what he was hearing. If Myla’s book was correct, then everything they had learned in their history lessons was wrong. And like Myla had said, the book’s account on how the four kingdoms came to be made much more sense than Ms. Jesse’s history lessons.

Then, reality hit him. For if Myla’s theory was correct, then that meant magic was real. And there was no way that magic was possible.

Thomas blinked, his excitement dipping. Seemingly not noticing his falling facial expression, Myla continued talking, flipping hurriedly through the pages of her book.

“And there’s a rumor in here that the Malin princess was capable of magic. And Emperor Elliott knew that and since he fe--”

“Myla,” Thomas cut in, his voice quiet and soft.

But the girl continued. “--ared magic, he declared war on Malin Kingdom. He killed the entire royal family, including the six-year-old Princess Brenna, all because she could do magic. And he has plans to invade Eskil as well, to destroy the kingdom and their magical inhabitants. So--”

“Myla,” Thomas repeated, this time louder and more firm sounding. “Magic isn’t real.”

“I know,” she said, sounding like she was reassuring him. Still, she sounded dismissive, almost like she didn’t believe what he was saying. She looked up from her book, her hazel eyes meeting Thomas’ eyes. “But Thomas, this makes so much more sense. What if magic is real? What if this is the truth?”

“Myla, it can’t be. Magic isn’t real.”

“Thomas, what if it is? What if what we’ve been learning is all wrong? Wh--”

“Myla, magic isn’t real!”

With Thomas’ raised voice, Myla went quiet. Her excitement began to disappear, replaced instead with a blank expression, almost as if she was shutting down upon realizing that Thomas didn’t believe her. Her normally wide eyes were wider than usual, if that was possible, making her look even more like an owl. As she blinked, Thomas realized that tears were beginning to fill her eyes.

Immediately, Thomas felt horrible for crushing her so quickly. He started to backtrack, trying to rephrase what he had been trying to say. “I mean, your book sounds really interesting, but it’s just…” He trailed off, unsure if he wanted to finish his sentence.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Fictional,” Myla finished. She looked away from him, closing her book slowly. “Yeah, Thomas, I know.” She stood up, walking away.

“Myla,” he called after the girl. “Myla!” But she ignored him, instead heading in the direction of one of the classrooms. As she walked out of the room, she had to push past Charlie, who had appeared in the doorway. The fourteen-year-old boy turned to watch her leave before turning his attention on Thomas.

“She looked upset,” he commented, stating the obvious.

Thomas nodded, looking away from him. “She was telling me about her book and I sorta pointed out that it wasn’t real.”

Charlie nodded in understanding then sat down next to Thomas. “She’ll get over it.”

Thomas nodded again. Then, remembering what the boy had been doing earlier that morning, he asked, “How is the bear carving going?”

Charlie lit up, a wide smile appearing on his face as he pulled the now finished bear out of his pocket. “I’m all done! This carving was pretty hard as…” He continued speaking, discussing several aspects of carving that Thomas couldn’t even begin to understand. Still, he nodded along, acting like he was following Charlie’s every word. The boy was typically reserved and seeing him talk passionately about his carving made Thomas happy. Even if Thomas couldn’t understand him, he still enjoyed hearing Charlie’s joyful rambling about his carving.

“And now I’m working on another carving,” Charlie said. “It’s one that I’m really excited about making.”

“What is it?” Thomas asked.

Suddenly, Charlie’s smile became mischievous. “I can’t say. But I can tell you that you’ll find out in six days.”

Thomas frowned, trying to understand the boy’s hint. Then, it hit him. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. “Six days?” he asked, a slight teasing tone in his voice. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that my birthday is in six days?”

Charlie simply shrugged, standing up from his seat. “I guess you’ll find out then.” He walked out of the room and Thomas chuckled, wondering at what Charlie was carving. Then, he shrugged. Charlie was right; he’ll find out on his birthday. In the meantime, there wasn’t any use in wasting time trying to figure it out. He walked out of the common area, deciding to go outside and see what the twins were up to.

Outside, the cold air from that morning had warmed up, but the breeze still carried a slight chill, a chill promising that the start of winter wasn’t far off. In the distance, mountains towered over the small town, the tops of them capped with snow. They were the Midean Mountains, the mountain chain that Myla claimed had been created by magical sages from Eskil. When he was younger, Thomas dreamed of exploring the world, starting with following the mountains to Tascela, heading away from the kingdom of Aspaya and its oppressive rule. A part of him secretly hoped that his exploration of the world would lead to him meeting his parents for the first time in twelve years, finding the woman with her long, dark hair and her eyes the color of a green, healthy forest and the father he must’ve had at some point, despite the fact that he didn’t remember him. As he grew up, he eventually stopped fantasizing about traveling, knowing that he had to stay in the orphanage, helping to care for the younger children of Ridgecrest Orphanage. Yet he never let go of his desire to be reunited with his mother and father. And maybe no orphan ever will, remembering a long ago conversation with a friend he hadn’t seen in well over a year.

Spotting Levi, Jake, and Quinn sitting together on the grass, he headed over, deciding that he and Levi should talk about their argument that morning. If Levi was willing to, he was ready to let it go.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted. Immediately, whatever conversation the three friends had been having grounded to a halt and all three kids fixed blank looks onto Thomas. Feeling like he was unwelcome, he started fumbling his words, quickly discovering that his decision perhaps wasn’t a good one. “Listen, Levi, I…” He trailed off as Levi’s blank look faded away, replaced instead with one of anger.

Levi folded his arms, glowering at Thomas. “Are you here to apologize for this morning?”

Thomas blinked. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. If anyone were to apologize, it would be Levi. “No, I wa--”

“Good. I didn’t want to hear a stupid apology anyways.”

Jake laughed, then quickly stifled it when Thomas glanced over at him. Even with a hand over his mouth, Thomas could still see the smile that was on his face. Glancing over at Quinn, he saw a mocking smile on her face, one that she didn’t even try to hide from him.

“Fine,” Thomas said, pushing away his growing anger at their responses to his attempt at letting go of their earlier argument. “I’ll--”

“Thomas!” a voice shouted. Looking in the direction of the voice, Thomas found one of the twins’ friends, Lila, running up to him. “Derrick’s stuck in the tree!”

“What?” Thomas asked, snapping his head away from the young girl and looking behind her. A group of children stood around an apple tree, a small figure that Thomas could just make out halfway up the tree. His red hair blended perfectly in with the red and yellow leaves of autumn perched on the tree.

Lila skidded to a stop in front of Thomas, her long blonde hair skimming the top of the ground. Ever since Thomas had told her the fairytale of Rapunzel, she had been obsessed with having hair as long as the girl in the story. Scarily, she was almost there. Lila struggled for a few moments to catch her breath, panting heavily from her sprint towards Thomas. “Derrick wanted to get an apple so he climbed the tree. But now he’s stuck!” Lila ended with a cry, gesturing towards the tree.

“I’ll get him,” Thomas reassured the five-year-old, bending down to her height. “Don’t cry, okay?”

Lila sniffed, tears still streaming from her blue eyes. But she nodded anyway, agreeing to Thomas’ demand. Thomas stood up, scooping her up in his arms and hurrying to the apple tree surrounded by a small crowd of children. Already, he could hear the crying of Derrick in the tree, mixed in with the crying of his twin down on the ground. At the base of the tree, Thomas put Lila down and she hurried over to her other friends, slipping a hand into Erick’s. With a pang, Thomas realized that Levi, Jake, and Quinn had followed him over to the tree, already guffawing over the sight of the seven-year-old stuck in the tree.

“Thomas will get Derrick down,” Lila said definitively to Erick. There wasn’t a single waver in her voice, no hesitation in her statement. She was merely stating a fact and Thomas hoped that he could make it so.

“You really think that, Lila?” Jake asked. “You really believe that Thomas is going to get him down?”

Quinn jumped in on Jake’s questions, spinning a strand of her jet black hair around her finger. “Maybe he’ll get stuck up there.” She sounded delighted over that fact, her eyes twinkling as she seemingly imagined that possibility.

Levi laughed. “You hear that, Derrick?” he called up to the little boy. “You’re going to be stuck up there forever! You’re never coming down!” As he laughed, Derrick’s cries increased and the anger Thomas felt that morning grew inside of him.

He glared at Levi, then decided to leave him be until Derrick was back on the ground. He called up to Derrick, his voice carrying over both the laughter of Levi and his friends and Derrick’s cries. “I’m coming up, okay, Derrick? You’ll be down in a second!”

He placed one foot on the tree, beginning to climb up. The tree was a large one and, even though Derrick was a little less than halfway up the tree, he was still several feet above Thomas. It took several minutes before Thomas reached the branch Derrick was laying on, completely stretched out on his stomach and with his arms hugging tight around the thick branch. Thomas sat down next to him, his feet dangling beneath them, looking down at the group beneath them. Lila was still holding Erick’s hand, her blue eyes wide and staring up at Thomas. Thankfully, it seemed that Levi, Jake, and Quinn had gotten bored with what was happening, wandering away from the tree and heading back to their sitting spot on the grass. He nodded reassuringly to Lila, before turning his attention back to Derrick.

“Ready to come down?” he asked.

“Mhm,” Derrick nodded. “I want to, but…” His voice trailed off, prompting Thomas to say something.

“But what?”

“It’s too high.” His voice was soft, his words barely above a whisper. They shook with the fear that Derrick was experiencing, showing Thomas just how scared the little boy was.

Thomas titled his head to the side, looking down at the ground seven feet below them. “Maybe a little bit,” he conceded, turning back to the twin. “But, together, I’m sure we can get down.”

Derrick didn’t say anything, just stared down at the ground. And maybe that was the issue, Thomas realized. He tapped the little boy on the shoulder, making Derrick pick his head off of the tree branch. His brown eyes had widened in fear, but, as they stared into Thomas’ calm face, they slowly returned to normal. Thomas smiled and the boy gave a small smile back.

“Maybe,” Derrick said after a few seconds, “we can get down together.”

“Not maybe,” Thomas said. “We will get down.”

Derrick nodded, unwrapping his arms around the branch and sitting up slowly. “We will get down.” Similar to Lila’s sentence earlier, there was no hesitation or fear; he was simply stating a fact of life.

Thomas stood up, offering a hand to Derrick. He took it, using it to keep his balance as he stood up. Together, with Thomas pointing out footholds and handholds, the two of them made it down the tree. Once they made it to the bottom of the tree, the group of children cheered. Lila let go of Erick’s hand and bounded up to Derrick, giving him a hug. After she gave him a hug, Erick came up as well, speaking fast enough that Thomas couldn’t understand him. Derrick could, though, judging by the fact that he was replying to his twin.

Satisfied that everyone was okay, Thomas turned away, leaving them in their happiness. He looked at the front of the orphanage, where the main street of town was. A toddler was walking by, his hand held by his mother. Suddenly, the small boy slipped, letting go of his mother’s hand and falling onto the dirt path. He started crying, holding his knee. Instantly, Thomas started forward, about to help the young child.

But the mother was closer. She bent, mindful of her skirts, down near the child, shushing him and offering condolences. Shortly after, the boy’s cries turned into sniffles, which slowly turned into nothing. The mother picked her child up, placing him on his hip. They walked away, disappearing from sight.

Thomas felt a lump in throat as he watched them walk away, but he couldn’t figure out why. Was it because the toddler was the same age he was when his parents left him in the care of Ms. Jesse? Was it because the boy had someone to cry to when he got hurt, when Thomas had no one? Thomas saw himself in the mother, in the way she fondly cared for the toddler. He was always there for the younger children in the orphanage, always picking them up when they fell or wiping away their tears. But Thomas didn’t have anyone to do the same for him. He didn’t have a family to turn to when life got tough.

A small hand slipped into Thomas’ and he looked down to find Lila. She, too, was staring off in the direction of where the mother and the child had disappeared to. Thomas squeezed her hand, reminding her that he was here. But she didn’t squeeze back, reminding Thomas that he had no one. As the two of them turned back to head inside, he brought his hand up to brush against the medallion around his neck and, for the billionth time in his life, his mother’s words filled his head, a ghostly quality to them.

“It’s a snow goose, sweetie. As long as you have it, I will be with you. I love you, Thomas.”

I have it, Mom, Thomas thought. I have it, but you’re still not here. No one’s here.

And maybe, Thomas realized, no one ever would be here, available for him to turn to when life was hard.