Emma had always been a light sleeper, but the soft chiming that woke her at midnight was unlike anything she'd ever heard. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, a melody that tugged at something deep within her soul.

She slipped out of bed and padded to the window of her grandmother's old Victorian house. The backyard, which had been nothing but overgrown weeds and brambles during the day, was now transformed into something magical.

A garden stretched before her, bathed in silver moonlight. Flowers that seemed to glow with their own inner light swayed gently in a breeze she couldn't feel through the glass. Paths of luminescent stones wound between beds of impossible blooms - roses that shifted color with each breath of wind, lilies that chimed like tiny bells, and vines that seemed to dance without any earthly music.

Emma's heart raced. This couldn't be real. She had explored every inch of the property when she'd arrived to settle her grandmother's estate. There had been no garden, magical or otherwise.

Yet there it was, calling to her with a pull she couldn't resist.

She grabbed her robe and crept downstairs, careful to avoid the creaky third step. The back door opened silently, as if it too were part of the magic. The moment she stepped outside, the chiming grew louder, more complex, like a symphony of crystal bells.

The garden was even more beautiful up close. Each flower seemed to recognize her presence, turning toward her as she walked the glowing paths. At the center of the garden stood an ancient oak tree, its trunk twisted with age but its leaves shimmering like stars.

Beneath the tree sat a stone bench, and on that bench lay a leather-bound journal.

Emma approached slowly, her bare feet silent on the warm stone path. The journal was old, its cover worn smooth by countless hands. When she opened it, she gasped. The first page bore her grandmother's familiar handwriting:

'For Emma, who has always believed in magic, even when the world told her not to. The garden chooses its keeper, and it has chosen you.'

As she read, the garden around her seemed to pulse with approval, and Emma realized that her life was about to change in ways she could never have imagined.