Heaven's Melancholy

Prologue

A sixteen-year old girl sighed as she sat at the back of the cab. Her long, braided brown hair shone in the fading sunlight as dusk approached, giving her an air of mystery that reflected in her pale blue eyes. She pulled back the left sleeve of her grey cardigan, revealing a small, crescent-shaped birthmark just below her wrist. Breathing in, she felt it shift slightly between silver and white.

“Are you sure you want to go here, miss? Because I doubt there’s anything in here other than the forest.” the driver asked, looking incredulous as he looked out of the window and saw the Blackthorne Forest ahead. Suddenly, he saw a small building just as the road ended in a dead end. “What the-” A boy had walked out of the building and was now waving at them.

The girl stepped out of the taxi when it neared the building, the driver still in shock. She leaned over the window to pay the driver. She stopped momentarily to look at his driver’s license, which was fixed onto the dashboard. “Remember not to tell anyone about this place, Robert Finn.” She whispered. The driver shuddered, trying to keep himself calm as he started to drive away.

“You didn’t have to scare him, Vienna. You look upset,” the boy said. He had the same shiny brown hair as Vienna, but his eyes were a dark shade of aquamarine green. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt underneath a blue blazer imprinted with the logo of the Blackthorne Academic Institute for Boys, underneath the name “Alexander Vail”.

Vienna took a look inside the building, and saw a dozen company-made cars inside. Her gaze was fixed onto a silver convertible in the farthest end of the building. She closed the door and turned to face Alexander. “Genevieve took my car today, so she could go to an appointment. My phone’s battery died just as I was about to call you and Alexandra to pick me up. I had to complete some documents for the new transferees, which took an hour to finish. I missed my violin lessons because of it, and I had to wait for thirty minutes for a cab that could acutally drive this far from the city.”  she raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Why should I be upset?”

“You know, Vienna, you’re scary when you’re upset,” Alexander said as she stepped onto a narrow dirt path behind the garage. He followed her into the Blackthorne Forest.

Vienna watched the trees as she continued her walk. “Why would you say that I’m angry?” she looked back at the Alexander and smiled innocently. “Do I look angry?”

Alexander sighed just when the path reached a dead end. He found himself staring into a thick line of trees. “You don’t, but then…you never show any emotion. For you, it’s like be happy, or feel nothing at all.” He stepped sideways between two of the trees in front of him, and almost immediately, he saw himself in the center of a small circle of brick. “It’s creepy,”

“I have to agree with Lex on this one,” a girl with white-blond hair stepped out of the trees, surprising Alexander. Her dark green yes stared worriedly at Vienna. ‘normally, I’d go against him, but this time, he’s right. Besides, I’m his twin sister,”

“My twin sister who wants me to have a heart attack,” Alexander complained. “Next time, give me a warning before you come out like that,”

Alexandra Vail, Alexadner’s twin sister, grinned devilishly at him, “But then, the warning’s going to be even more surprising,”

“Only when you don’t expect it,”

“You can never expect a warning,”

“Yes, you can,”

“No way, that’s impossible,’

“But then, what if the warning isn’t surprising?”

Vienna shook her head. She inhaled and felt her eyes  grow silver. Wings started to sprout through small, invisible slits at the back of her cardigan, their pure white feathers taking in the light. They spread across the entire diameter of the circle. The twins silenced almost immediately and followed suit, their wings a stunning shade of gold.

“Let’s go, guys,” Vienna told them, “Genevieve is waiting,” Her gaze drifted toward a silver falcon flying overhead, hidden partially by the blinding sun. Vienna took in the surroundings while she lifted her wings. The cold air swept around her like a miniature tornado, nveloping her in a swirl of leaves swept away by the cool dusk air.  In a dizzying flash of light, she vanished.