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Haunted Recollections
A sequel to The Melody
of the Stars
By Rowena
Prologue
The darkened room is still and silent. This late at night, even the ancient pipes within the mansion's walls don't make a sound. The only movement is the occasional rustle of the curtains when the cool night breeze blows through the open window.
But even with the stillness and the silence and the dark, there is something strange about this room. Thick books and medical journals lie scattered over the sofa and small table in the corner, but although they seem to have been left in a hurry, their covers and pages are blanketed with a thin coat of dust. Delicate music boxes sit neatly before an oval vanity mirror, yet even their luster has been dimmed by disuse. The entire room has the solemn, untouched atmosphere of a museum, a thick, reverent air of memory--except for the bed.
At first glance, the wide, king-sized bed seems empty and unmade. On one side, where the moonlight shines against the dinted pillow, the quilt and sheets have been turned down. The other side reposes in shadow.
Suddenly, the wind picks up. Its chill fingers disturb the wrinkled sheets and cause the curtains to billow out like sails. At the shadowed end of the bed, an undefined lump shivers beneath the quilt. A pale hand reaches out to touch the moonlit sheets, only to withdraw quickly when it doesn't touch the warmth it expects to find.
With a gasp, Scott Summers sits up, shoving his ruby-quartz glasses onto his face and staring at the empty space where his fiancée should have been. His jaw tightens when he notices the open window. Climbing awkwardly out of bed, he pushes the curtains aside and looks up into the star-studded sky.
High above the sparkling lake, an ethereal being is flying. It is a being of amazing power and grace, an entity of fire and light and song. Its fierce, unearthly beauty causes Scott's heart to quicken despite the pain of loss that fills him at the sight. For this wild, unfettered creature is the Phoenix. And within its consuming flames resides the body of his love, Jean Grey.
To Be Continued...
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