Paula Goulding woke up to someone pounding on her front door. As she rushed down stairs all she could think was that she hoped whoever was at the door at this ungodly hour hadn't woken up their two year old daughter Alice. She wearily opened the front door, and looked down as she heard a whimper. Paula stepped back in horror as she noticed the little baby girl on her doorstep. Gingerly picking her up, she absently noted the child's tawny gold eyes and messy black curls as she pried a crumpled letter out of her hands.
The letter was from the school of freaks that her cousin had been sent to years ago. It stated that the child she held was Lillian's and that her cousin was dead. It also stated that she was to look after the child, and in exchange her family would be protected from the people who had killed the freak.
Walking down into the basement she placed the child in a delapidated musty crate with an old bottle of milk left over from the day before. Leaving the child on the table, she blew out the candle and smirked, thinking to herself that she would have to tell her husband and Alice about Alices new toy. After all, she thought, the child would have to earn its keep somehow.