Chapter 1

Miggs was dead. Miggs was dead and it put Chilton under enormous pressure. First of all was the lawsuit and all the trouble he would have to go through with finding a new occupant to fill Miggs's empty cell.

Clarice Starling was with Hannibal Lector right now. Trying to interrogate him for answers on the Buffalo Bill case. He had his doubts. Lector hadn't spoken to anyone during his years of confinement. And now that Lector was speaking to Starling, Chilton doubted she would get anything out of him for a long time.

But Clarice Starling was very pretty. It was her hair. She had stunning, shiny hair. Glorious.

Chilton looked through many files. Possible occupants for the future. He picked up one unusually thin file, read it, and smiled.

He would be more than happy to invite Cassendra Aubrey to his asylum.

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Clarice was gone now. And Hannibal was left in silence. There was a clatter and many of the occupants peered out of their confines to see what the commotion was.

Barney was pulling a small person to his new cell. Miggs's cell. The person seemed harmless silent and unfrightened. The occupants saw that he had shoulder length black curly hair. The person's eyes were closed, and they could see the dark bruised skin caused from lack of sleep. The skin was neither pale of tan, but a tint of a sickly yellow and grey. The person's body was very skinny and gawky, making him look tall, even though she stood only five feet seven. Once she was locked safely in Miggs's old cell, he was completely silent.

Hannibal cleared his throat, his noise rusty from misuse, "Barney, who will have the pleasure of being my new neighbor?"

Barney turned to Hannibal with a frown on his face. He seemed a little agitated with the asylum's new addition. "Her names is Cassandra Aubrey. I expect you to treat her like a lady."

There was an animalistic hiss that echoed around the hall, "It's CassENdra." The girl put her hands on the bar, "But everyone calls me Phoenix."

Her wide eyes gazed at Barney, they were dark yellow, and it heightened the golden freckles sprinkled on her face.

"And who, may I ask, will be MY neighbor?" Cassendra asked.

Barney returned her gaze, "His name is Dr. Hannibal Lector," and he turned to walk away to his post.

Cassendra whispered, still with a hint of her animalistic hiss, "I could feel a ghost in here."