Inheritance Read Online Free Page A

sidewalk.”
    Reese went into the living room, pulling the curtains aside a few inches to look out. The normally quiet street was choked with traffic and pedestrians. Cars moved sluggishly down the block, and the sidewalks on both sides were clogged with onlookers. Some of them were even carrying signs, as if this was a demonstration. She saw one that said WELCOME, E.T. and another that stated I WANT TO BELIEVE . Others weren’t so friendly, declaring ALIENS GO HOME and ABDUCTEES DEMAND JUSTICE FROM ALIENS . A man carrying a sign that stated WE WANT FULL DISCLOSURE was watching the house, and when he saw Reese peeking out the window he pointed at her, his mouth opening in a shout she couldn’t hear. In a wave, other pedestrians near him turned to look in the direction he was pointing, and the sound of the crowd—muffled by the closed windows—crescendoed into a dull roar. Within seconds, dozens of people were surging toward the house, cars honking as some demonstrators rushed into traffic to get a closer look at her.
    She stepped back in shock and tugged the curtains closed. She couldn’t sense the crowd’s emotions—maybe she was far enough away that she was shielded from it—but her heart raced as she heard a police officer speaking through a bullhorn, ordering people back. Footsteps came down the hall and her mom asked, “What’s going on? I heard something.”
    “I looked out the window.”
    “I should have warned you not to do that.” Her mom went to the curtains and peered through a narrow slit between the drapes.
    Her dad came into the living room holding the telephone. “Reese, it’s for you. It’s David.”
    “I didn’t hear it ring,” Reese said, taking the receiver.
    “We turned off the ringer. It’s been ringing off the hook all morning with interview requests.”
    Reese lifted the phone to her ear. “Hey, David.”
    “Hey,” David said.
    “I’m taking this upstairs,” Reese said to her parents. On the way to her room she said to David, “It’s crazy out in front of my house.”
    “I know. I saw it on the news.”
    She entered her bedroom and nudged the door shut. “What does it look like?”
    “You’re basically surrounded within a three-block radius. They’re all looking at the spaceship.”
    “Shit.” She climbed onto her bed and set her coffee mug on the bedside table.
    “I went online to try to find out if the Imria have said anything, like whether they’re going to move their spaceship, but there’s no official news. Some people have some pretty insane theories though.”
    “I read one last night about time travel.”
    “That’s a good one. Did you read about panspermia?”
    “Pan what?”
    “Apparently there’s a theory that all life in the universe originated from one common source. Like, asteroids traveled the universe carrying life and they hit various places, including the Imrian planet and Earth, so that’s why the Imria look like us.”
    “That’s… interesting. I guess that’s as good a theory as any.” She remembered what typically accompanied these theories online. “You didn’t read the comments, did you?”
    He didn’t answer immediately.
    “You did, didn’t you? You shouldn’t have done that.”
    “Whatever, so there are trolls,” he said dismissively. “You’re not paying attention to them, are you?”
    It was her turn to hesitate. She picked up the mug and took a sip of coffee.
    “Reese.”
    “David.”
    He laughed, and it sent a tingle down her spine. She liked the sound of his laugh. She hadn’t heard it in a long time.
    “So that press conference didn’t exactly work out the way we thought it would,” he said.
    “No. Do you think we should try it again?”
    “I don’t know. How do we know Agent Forrestal or someone else won’t shut us down again?”
    “Well, this website, Bin 42, wants us to talk to them. Julian works for them.”
    “That’s the one that put up the video, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    He was silent for a