"Come on, Quinn." Mrs. Poppers, my handler coxed me to join to the strange, beautiful woman who was leading a tour of a castle. I like castles. But, not this lady, her colors were strange, unfamiliar, and terrifying. I shook my head and gripped the stair railing tighter. Mrs. Poppers may be convinced to join the crowd, but not me.

"I think you would love it, Quinn, is it?" The strangely colored woman said as she knelt down to my level. I bit my lip. Her voice was so pretty, like a piccolo. I like flute music, not as much as violas, but they were still very pretty sounding.

I held on tighter to the metal rail and shook my head furiously. I grunted as Mrs. Poppers and the woman tried to pry me away. She was strong and peeled me off effortlessly, making me feel even more scared. I fell back and tried to pull away from her cold, iron grasp. I don't like to be touched. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.

"No! Nononononono!" I sniffled, "Bad!" I leaned forward to bite her hand. Her skin tasted sweet, cold and sweet. But, not like ice cream. I like ice cream, but it didn't taste like her skin. Then I bit down, She grimaced, but didn't pull back in pain like others. No, I did though. My teeth hurt. I left no marks on her flawless skin. Frustration hit me and I felt more tears roll down as I went limp.

"Quinn, you need to stop. This is not how you act in public, Quinn." Mrs. Poppers scolded me. I didn't do anything wrong! The lady's grip on me loosened slightly, but not enough for me to escape. She pulled me up onto my feet, and forced me to walk at a fast pace towards the entrance of the large castle. I didn't want to go, I dragged my feet, and tried to trip her. But she was smart and quick and avoided my tactics to slow her.

Nobody seemed disturbed or upset that this strange person was dragging a struggling child behind her. They were all dazzled by her beauty. She forced me up the stone steps, there were forty-six, and I bumped my knee thirteen times. My knees were bruised and starting to bleed. She let me go and I curled up on the ground crying softly. Mrs. Poppers gave me an exasperated sigh as she bent to apply the Neosporin she had brought along. Then she put a piano bandage over my scrapes, and helped me to my feet.

"No go! No go." I whined as the Lady had the big doors open. The door opened and hit the wall with a loud, obnoxious band. I didn't like it, so I covered my ears to keep the bad sound out. Mrs. Poppers pushed me inside the hallway. I was in awe of the pretty paintings and tapestries that were hung on the wall. Mrs. Poppers had to continue to drag me away from the pictures.

The bad, pretty lady led us through lots of halls that twisted and turned until I didn't know where we were anymore. She was opening a new set of big wood doors that were held open by a big scary man and a smaller, still scary man. They had red eyes. I didn't like red. As the people passed by their colors darkened. They were hungry.

Panic settled in the pit of my tummy and I started to scream. I bit Mrs. Poppers hand and ran as fast as I could. She yelped in pain, distracted helping me escape. But, I didn't escape. I ran into someone.

His colors were conflicting, and confusing. But, they were still bad. I tried to pull away, but his hands gripped my arms. I let out a cry as I squirmed in his arms.

"No! No! Bad man! Bad!" I cried. I didn't like to be touched. "No touch me!" I screamed, it hurt my ears, but I continued to scream as I tried to get away from him.

"I'm so sorry!" I heard Mrs. Poppers say. "She's usually so well behaved. I don't know what's wrong with her." She ground out, embarrassed. Her colors were angry, they hurt my feelings. I stopped screaming. The hungry people were feeling suspicious now. I continued to drag my feet. I don't like his cold hand on my bare arms. My arms hurt really bad.

"No. I don't want to." I whispered sadly, looking up at the big man and the smaller man. They looked at me with curiosity. Their colors were still hungry, but they were more interested in me. "Why you eat us?" I asked. They stared at me, alarm colored them.

"Quinn! Don't make up such lies. I'm so disappointed in you. Do we need to see Dr. Funch?" She threatened.

"No! Scary man! No needles!" I cried. "Me good, me good!" I pouted, my feelings were hurt. I don't lie. I'm not bad. I looked up at the bad men. "I sorry, but, I don't want to die."

"It's alright little one. You won't die." The smaller man said as he knelt down in front of me. "Why don't you go with Miss Gianna, I'm sure she has something for you to do." He gave me a smile. He looked up at Mrs. Poppers with a pretty look. "If that's alright with your mother."

"She not mom. Mommy hate me. Mrs. Popper nice." I say, correcting him. I squirmed again. "You hurting me." The man holding me let go. I sat on my knees, but they still hurt.

"It's alright with me." Mrs. Poppers said, flustered. She was really happy when the man looked at her. But, she was old, he didn't like her like that.

"Hello, sweetheart." I looked up to a pretty tanned woman. Her colors were nice and friendly. I liked her. I like green. She had green colors. "Why don't you come with me. I have some paper and pencils. Would you like to draw?" I shook my head.

"Music. I want pretty music." I told her as I took her soft hand. She was warm. "You have pretty colors. I like green." Her brow furrowed as she looked down at her outfit. They were beige and orange.

"Thank you." She said anyway. Mrs. Poppers looked at her watch.

"Oh! Wait! Quinn needs to take her medicine." She called in alarm. It must be eleven twenty-two. I frowned. I don't like medicine, it tastes yucky. She took out her water bottle and the pill bottle. "Quinn, open up." She commanded. I huffed and did as I was told. She gave me one pill and the water bottle. I quickly drank the round pill down and choked. I didn't like it.

She pulled out a small bag of gummy bears, though, and I squealed with delight. Gummy bears were yummy. I like the colors. She let me have the small baggy and was hurried away by the big scary man.

Gianna led me to her big desk and gave me lots of paper and colorful ink pens. I smiled at her, showing my missing front teeth. She smiled back, she was really happy. She liked me. I started to draw, making the notes of a song Mrs. Popper had taken me to listen to. It had lots of violins, flutes, tubas, and trumpets in it. There was even a cello.

I chewed on a red gummy bear thoughtfully as I played the song in my head. I jumped in fright though, and covered my ears, as screaming echoed down the hall. Poor Mrs. Poppers.

"Loud! Loud! Hurts." I whimpered as Miss Gianna knelt down beside me with a worried expression.

"What hurts, Quinn?" She asked as she tried to pull my hands away from my ears.

"Screaming. They scream." I grumbled as I shook her hands off. Couldn't she hear them, too? Apprehension colored her purple. It was a long time before the screaming stopped. I slowly lowered my hands from my ears. I went back to composing the song in my own rendition of it, and eating the last of my gummy bears. I looked up when Big Scary Man and Small Scary Man came back, looking like they did before.

They were satisfied, and excited. I wonder what made them so happy.

"Gianna," they greeted Miss Gianna. She nodded to them.

"Felix, Demetri." She replied respectfully.

"Miss Quinn, would you mind coming with us for a moment?" Small Scary Man, Demetri I think, asked me. I frowned. Why did he ask? He could just carry me there without a problem. I sighed and got up. I handed Miss Gianna her pens, but kept my papers. I took Demetri's outstretched hand and tried to keep up with them. I nearly had to run, my short little seven year old legs struggled to keep up.

They led me down the hall back to the large doors that Mrs. Poppers and the large crowd had been lead. For a moment, I thought they were going to eat me, too. But, they weren't hungry anymore. The doors were pushed open and I followed them to the center of the room.

I cowered slightly at the strange and dangerous colors assaulted me. I started to pull away from Demetri, but he kept a firm grip on my hand. I stood between Demetri and Felix, struggling to pull away, in front of three grand thrones. They each had a different color.

The one to the far left was a dark blue. He was so sad and lonely. I trusted him the most. The middle one had a bright red, greedy and devious. He was strange, I didn't like him. The last one was the scariest. He had a dark red and grey color, angry, vicious, and malicious. He was glaring at me with contempt.

The middle one stood up. He approached us with a small grin. I didn't like it. He stopped in front of me. He reached out with his hand to take mine in it. I screamed and jerked away, startling Demetri into letting me go. I fell and landed on my bottom, sending a wave of pain up my spine. I scrambled away, my papers scattering. But, it didn't matter. He grabbed my hand, and I yelled and scratched, but I didn't bite him. I learned my lesson with the Strange Lady.

Once he had my hand in his, his color change. It was like mine, but with his colors mixed in with mine. I was scared and confused. He clasped his other hand over mine, and his red eyes flickered close.

"Well?" The Mean One snapped as the Creepy One let go of my hand. I sat down and gathered my music papers, sniffling as tears ran down my cheeks.

"Unique, I'm intrigued to see exactly what her gift is. She can sense us, what we feel, what we might decide, and I believe she can sense gifts. She understood the direness of her situation with Heidi, then with Alec." The Creepy One said, he sounded really happy about my gift. Nobody's ever called my colors a gift, just silly imagination. "I wonder if her mental disability is the reason behind her gift." He mused. I scowled. I'm not crazy.

"Mean." I pouted as I reorganized my papers. He turned, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes, I guess you aren't crazy, dear Quinn." He chuckled giddily, "My apologies, piccola."

"Piccolo." I cocked my head. Why did he call me a piccolo?

"Hm, yes, Piccolo." He chuckled as he seated himself, his black robes swirling around him.

"So, will we keep her?" The Mean One ground out.

"Yes, I would like Eleazar to come, give us his view on the girl." The Creepy One declared. "Jane, Heidi, you will take care of the girl. Make sure she takes her medications, maybe buy some gummy bears for her." Creepy One mused.

"Yes, Master." Strange Lady, and a little blond girl said. The Blond Girl stood beside the man that held me earlier. I think he was the one Creepy One called Alec. Heidi and Jane came forward and helped me to my feet, but I didn't like them touching me. I squirmed until they let me go.

I stood and pouted. Why do they touch me? I don't like it. I hugged my papers to me and followed the two beautiful strangers out of the room.

As they led me up a large set of stone stairs, I stumbled up the high steps trying to keep up with Heidi and Jane, but they were faster then me. I stumbled once again and sniffled. My knees were bruised and bloody. I brushed my arm across my face to wipe away the tears. I was tired and frustrated. Mrs. Poppers called it jet lag. We were supposed to go take a nap at the hotel, but Heidi caught us before we could leave the airport.

"Come on, Quinn." Heidi sighed in exasperation. I looked up at them, my lip quivering. Jane's bright red orbs seemed to soften slightly. She bent and picked me up, despite my protests, and carried me the rest of the way. I didn't stay awake very long though. My heavy eyes drooped close and I leaned my head in the crook of her cold neck, finding comfort from the heat.

...

I stirred and sighed as soft silky sheets, cool to the touch, were pulled over my small body. A dark blue grey aura loomed over me for a moment before backing away to the far corner. I was too tired to be alarmed by this terrifying presence, though.

I found myself falling asleep once more.