Corina shivered as she trekked through the snowy woods. She glanced cautiously around, wolves were common in this area after all, and the seventeen year old did not want to become tonight’s dinner. When the coast seemed to be clear, she sighed. She didn’t want to be here, in this situation.
     Her mother had died when she was little, luckily her father didn’t just dump her in the streets. Sometimes though, she thought it might have been a better fate. Her father was a drunkard who forced her to work her hands raw at a local printing press in order to get money for each night’s food and, of course, drink. She had worked there so hard and so long that her hands were now permanently stained black from the ink. It was better than the alternative though. She had enough pride and dignity to refuse to become another French whore. When her father had once suggested it as a way to get more drinking money, she had come home the next day with a tattoo around her neck, a ‘s’ with a line through the middle of it.
     “Why?” he had asked her, horrified. “Now no man will ever want you with that unnatural mark upon your body!”
     She replied, “That is the point. This is my strength, my symbol that I will not be your slave or servant, not now and not ever.”
     Already intoxicated, he had become enraged. He moved as to throw his half empty bottle of wine at her, but she was quick enough to run through the doorway and onto the cold winter streets. Corina could hear him bellowing after her and knew that she could no longer return to him lest she be sold off to some place like the Moulin Rouge.
     For the next few weeks she hid in abandoned shacks and horse’s stables, anywhere for warmth. A few days after she had left she heard gossip that her father had been killed in a bar fight. She felt no remorse, nor satisfaction. He was just the man who had fathered her and kept her around to work instead of him. If blood was thicker than water, then the ink that now forever stained her hands was thicker than blood.
     It was a freezing night when she dared to hide in the warm pub to sleep. However, it seemed luck was not on her side when a young man, larger than any else that she had seen in town, caught a glimpse of her purple bandanna. He grabbed Corina’s arm and pulled her up harshly.
     “Well, well, well…Who are you, my dear?” he asked, leering at her body, dirty as it was.
     “Let her go, Avenant! She’s just another whore, there’s no challenge in that!” One of the men shouted.
Shaken up and acting on impulse, Corina grabbed a nearby empty beer mug and chucked it at the yelling man, catching him above his temple. He fell back, cursing her, but when one of the other men moved towards her Avenant held out his hand, the other still holding onto its captive. He grinned at her, filled with malicious intent.
    “You’ve got spunk, girl, for a whore.”
     She snapped her teeth at him, smirking when he looked taken aback for a moment. “I am not a whore! I am Corina, and I belong to no one, so release me!”
     Suddenly his face turned disgustingly happy. “So then…Corina…if you don’t belong to anyone, then does that mean you are still…pure?”
     She paled to an almost white hue and pulled at her arm, desperate to get away from the monster in front of her. Avenant laughed and just pulled her closer.
He brought his mouth to her ear and whispered “Listen girl, let’s make a deal. Up on the hill, there is a castle. We have all heard of it. I will let you go as long as you sneak up there and steal me something grand. Do we have a deal?” She nodded quickly, knowing what would happen if she refused.
     “Good,” he said, letting her arm go. She turned to leave when his voice stopped her at the doorway.
     “I expect you back within three days, failure is not an option, and do not even think about running, Corina my dear. I will find you if you take a single step back in this village, and there is no where else to live for one hundred miles in any direction, you would just freeze if you tried. If you don’t show up, I will assume that the wolves have eaten you!” She left the building, not acknowledging his laughter as she headed to prepare.
     That was how Corina had gotten herself into this situation, into this mess. She could see lights cutting through the blackness of the forest now. Walking forward, the trees parted, showing a grand castle ablaze with splendor. After taking a moment to gape at the sight, she snuck around the fantastic palace, looking for an access point. She spotted a low open windowsill, listening for any sign of movement. When nothing caught her attention she cautiously poked her head into the room.
     She was just about to determine that the coast was clear and enter when a flicker caught her eye and she froze in her tracks. It was a man who looked vaguely like she imagined a human candlestick would look like. He was walking through the room, the library she realized. The man kept pulling out random books, sighing as the dust and grime of many years’ disuse made it impossible to read the titles. She watched as he wandered, the whole time rooted in place.
     She had heard that the master of the castle was a cruel man, and she would probably be locked up or even killed for her trespassing. Corina fought the urge to run as the man came closer and closer to the window. Just as he had come up to her hiding place, a harried looking maid burst through the door.
     “Lumière, Lumière,” she cried, “there is a beggar woman at the castle doors, and she will not leave until she speaks to the Master!”
     Lumière sighed before putting on a playful smile as he followed her out the door. Corina could hear him murmuring what sounded like flirtatious words to the blushing woman as the pair left the room and shut the heavy doors behind them.
     The aspiring thief laughed a little in desperate relief as she crawled into the room from outside. She spent ten minutes looking around the dusty old room for anything that was worth taking back to Avenant. She had just picked up a quill pen in her hands when she heard a commotion from what sounded like the front of the castle.
     Corina was about to run to find a hiding place when a colorful wave of what seemed like sparkles shot through the room and through her. She felt millions of confusing, contorting, tingling sensations all over her body before she went numb and everything went black.
                                                      TEN YEARS LATER
     Corina sighed as she lounged around the library, always close to a hiding spot. No one used to ever come in here until lately. She had learned that the girl’s name was Belle, and since she apparently loved books she was constantly coming into the library, sometimes bringing the master of the castle with her.
     Corina hated them both with all of her being. She hated the girl for coming to the library and making her constantly hide. And she hated him, for turning her into this form.
     That hateful night ten years ago she had awoken to find herself in the shape of a quill pen. She had been horrified, but kept her wits about her and found out that the entire castle was in the same position, cursed to be objects until the Master had found love even in his new grotesque form.
     For a long while Corina had believed that no one could do it, and had resigned herself to a life of living among the books. At least she was never bored, even though not having hands made life a lot harder. But then a few gossiping feather dusters had let it slip that a girl was in the castle as the Master’s guest. Corina had been interested but forgot about it later. But then the singing started. THE SINGING. It was like the whole castle had been possessed and wouldn’t shut up.
     She had had enough and was just about to see if it was possible to drown herself in the inkwell, when she heard screams ringing throughout the castle. After a few hours of the wails and footsteps running through the halls, she gave in to her curiosity and for the first time in ten years, left the library.
     Slipping underneath the doors, she wandered through the halls, keeping close to the shadows in case she needed to hide. That was a mistake. She saw some spiky haired stupid looking brunette with poofy pants and waving a giant key running down the hall toward her.
     Panicked, she turned to the darkness closest to her but stopped in her tracks when she saw two yellow eyes leering out from it at her. She made a shrill scream and tried to get away but her quill pen body was too slow to run away from this monster. Without another sound it pounced and the only thing she could feel was her heart being ripped out and replaced with only numbness as she herself was torn apart.
                                    THE WORLD THAT NEVER WAS
     A girl woke up. She looked around. All she could see was dark buildings with bright lights everywhere. She tried to remember where she was or even who she was, but to her confusion, couldn’t. She moved some of her dark blue hair out of her eyes, and then stopped, suddenly having a feeling that it was supposed to be brown.
     She shakily got up from her place on the ground and slowly moved to one of the many windows of the skyscrapers around her, a lamp post giving her the light to see with. She looked at her hair, blue, with a purple bandanna covering most of it.  Her eyes were blue, which startled her, but she didn’t know why. Her eyes moved down her body, shocked to find herself naked, but unable to make herself really feel shame or embarrassment. However, she could still clearly feel confusion.
     Her eye was caught by a strange mark on her neck. She stared for a while, only knowing that it gave her a sense of being that kept her from feeling totally hopeless in this new world with no memories. She raised her hand to touch the mark when something missing gave her a jolt. Her hands were clean. She couldn’t figure out why that was strange but it felt like something was missing. As she closed her eyes, trying to remember, something stroked her cheek.
     Startled, she opened her eyes, and in the reflection she saw some black liquid surrounding her, covering her body. She strangely felt no fear, and when she touched it, she felt powerful and the hole where she supposed her heart once occupied was partially filled. She was relishing the feeling when suddenly a blonde man appeared in the reflection beside her.
     A gasp forcing itself out of her throat in her shock, she quickly glanced the man over to determine the threat level. All she could see in the dim light was a blonde young man in a black cloak, but the look on his face seemed peaceful enough. She dropped her tenseness and waited for him to speak.
     “Well,” he started, “I guess you are our newest comrade.” She stared at him, confused. He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything. But introductions first, I’m Xojhn. And you?”
     She tried to answer but no matter how hard she tried, no name would come to mind. Then, startling the both of them, black, dripping letters appeared in the air, spelling out a name.  
                                                 C A I R N O X
     With that the girl felt a feeling like happiness course through her being.
     “I’m Cairnox.” She answered, eyes glinting.
     “Well, I guess you are,” he replied, grinning. “And it seems your element is ink. How interesting. Well, Cairnox,” he held out his hand, “Welcome to Organization Infinity.”
     She smiled, taking his hand and shaking it just as the sound of thunder filled the air and rain started to pour.
     Xojhn looked up, grimacing “And here I thought we would get a break for once…” he then turned back to her and noticed that the rain was slowly wearing off the ink that was all that covered Cairnox’s body. “Ah!” he exclaimed, blushing. “Let’s…just go and get some clothes first,” he muttered out before opening up a portal of darkness and pulling her along with him.
     The last thing Cairnox thought before following him through was ‘This is going to be quite the interesting experience…’
     And then all there was were buildings and lights and the pouring rain, washing away the ink on the ground.