Marcia left her sad friends behind. She walked slowly down unfamiliar halls. She looked at all the doors she passed. None of them had names on them. Only gold painted numbers emblazoned each door. After walking what seemed a mile, the door she wanted stood out.

She stood in front of the door feeling very small. Fear caused her heart to beat rapidly. Her palms sweated and sweat beaded on her forehead. She wiped her hands on her skirt. Slowly she stepped to the door and knocked.

Abruptly, the door opened scaring her. Gustaf stood in front of her, casually dressed. His starched bright white shirt was open collared. His jacket hung over the back of his desk chair. It was contrary to his appearance earlier in the day. His desk, however, was neat and tidy, void of all documents. The room was part of a parapet with several small long rectangular windows around the curved walls. None of the walls was square.

"Come in Marcia. Welcome to my office. I am glad you came. We will be sharing dinner this evening. I hope this will be one of many such events." Gustaf said, while he smiled broadly at the apprehensive quivering young woman.

"Thank you. What do I call you, sir?" Marcia stuttered.

"Well, that is a good question. In public, I guess it will be headmaster. Here in my office it can be Gus or sir if you like."

"Thank you, I will call you, sir, for now. Why are we having dinner together? Am I in trouble?"

"On the contrary, you are the perfect student. I look forward to having you in this school for the next eight years. I want you to know I am here, as your friend, not always the Headmaster." Gustaf said, as he continued smiling at Marcia.

His smiling made her stomach roil, but she kept her calm, as speaking to him eased the feelings. Marcia was still confused. Here was an older gentleman interested in her future. It seemed strange. No one, but her parents ever cared about her life. Before she could ask more questions, a knock echoed at the door.

"Ah, that must be our dinner." Gustaf went to the door, opened it to let Hans in with a cart set with dinner.

"You met Hans at the airport. If you need anything, while you are here, he is the one to ask. He is the one to talk with if you need to see me. As long as you are a student, we will have dinner together one night a week. Hans has been my assistant for many years."

Hans set the dinners on a small table in front of a window. Marcia stood and walked to the window. It looked down on the main village by the river. The sun had set over the mountains. As Marcia watched, lights flickered to life on the streets below. First, the streetlights came on followed by the shops. The houses lit up later, as families returned home.

Hans made sure everything was ready and withdrew from the room. Gustaf gestured for Marcia to sit. He joined her and ate his meal. They ate their meal in the quiet study. Marcia watched Gustaf as he ate. She thought, "Why is he doing this? Why am I here?"

With the meal at an end, Marcia enjoyed a hot cup of Swiss Chocolate. Gustaf had his customary carafe of hot strong coffee. They shared a small plate of cookies imported from Denmark. After ten minutes, they moved back to the desk. Hans silently entered and removed all the dishes.

"You are probably asking yourself why you are here and what makes me special." Gustaf stated.

"The questions have crossed my mind, but I figured you would tell me tonight."

"That was very intuitive of you. That is what I like about you. In your orientation, you will hear about your studies. Some of what you hear will be normal classes, but there is a special curriculum, which will shock and surprise you. Your Student Handbook spells out the normal classes. Another handbook passed out next week details the extra classes."

"Are these extra classes optional? Will everyone take them?"

Gustaf gave out a hearty laugh, "The extra classes are not optional. I think you will like them. In addition to the extra classes, I have special additional classes for you."

"Will I be the only one in these classes?" Marcia frowned. She thought, "I have been here two days and classes have not started and I have additional work to do."

Gustaf smiled a little, "For right now you will be the only one. I have not found anyone else in the school that merits this special training."

"What are the classes everyone takes?"

"The additional classes are forgery, assassination and bomb making. That may sound a bit preposterous, but the world has a big demand for people with those talents." Gustaf seriously pointed out.

Marcia's heart beat more rapidly. A higher level of excitement swelled within her. "Wow that sounds like some fun classes. Forgery and bomb making will be fun, but assassination does not appeal to me. Can I skip that class?"

"Unfortunately no, you may need that training for later in your life. You do not have to use it to live. The additional classes taught only to you are infiltration, subterfuge and espionage."

Her heart slumped a little. She wanted the other classes, but the additional three classes perked her up again. "What you are telling me then. I will become not only a college graduate in the art of world finance, but an international renegade. Right now that sounds exciting with a future of fun."

Gustaf continued, "Along with this extra training, you will not graduate as Marcia Shaw. You will graduate as Emily Truesdale from Scarsdale Long Island, New York. In order to do this right, you will establish the needed bank accounts, credit cards and other papers in your forgery class. Along with your identity, you will purchase an estate in Scarsdale befitting a person with power and money."

Marcia looked at Gustaf with astonishment. She asked, "Where will I get all this wealth? How will I get to purchase an estate in the United States, while I live here?" Many more questions flooded her mind. She wanted to ask more, but held back.

Gustaf held up his hand, quieting her. "We will work together to get all this established. It will be part of your training. Remember we have four years to get this done. After that, you put into practice what you learned. By the time you graduate college, the world will know of Emily Truesdale."

Marcia sat there, as the news soaked into her brain. What she realized was she would develop her skills. The training at the school allowed her to develop and she would use the skills to become a new person. It was, as if she were reborn.

Gustaf spoke and broke her thoughts. "Right now, I need you to do something for the school and me. It will be part of your training. It will help the school greatly."

"Sure, anything you need. I want to help and if it trains me, it is a plus."

"Last semester someone got a copy of the final exams and the answers. Five students, who were marginal, suddenly got exceptional scores. We know who the students were, but we have no knowledge of how they accomplished it. You met the suspected students already. We suspect that Chantel was the ringleader. Her friends are the other cheaters."

"Ah, I get why she is my guide. You want me to watch them and get to be their friend to gather information and proof of the cheating."

"Yes, that would help greatly. Catching them would not work out for us. The additional subjects will teach you to watch and report on them. How do you feel about watching them?"

"I already had a snubbing from two petulant girls in her group. I will be glad to watch them. They need to straighten up and show proper respect. When do I start?"

"You can start tomorrow at breakfast, but it might be better to be friends with Chantel first. She is the possible leader of the group. I want to hear from you at least weekly about it."

"I don't think it will be a problem. Right now I get the feeling Chantel does not like me. I will have to change that, but not too quickly. I might get the two girls who snubbed me to help. I already have two friends in my class. They can be good allies."

"That is good to hear. I thought you would bond with them quickly. Once you have made friends with Chantel, you can work on the rest of the group. From what we observed, the group is not as tight as it should be. It can easily splinter and collapse on itself. That might be the best thing to try."

Marcia took all the conversation into her mind. She thought about it for a few minutes. It sounded like fun. She spied on people before and it proved easy to do. Now she had a task to do, before school started. What fun, she would have.

"I make friends easily, but sometimes they end up enemies. What can you do to help me? Are the two petulant girls roommates? If they are, is splitting them up an option? I will have to think about this, but I will do it. It will be an adventure to start school."

Gustaf went to his desk, grabbed a folder and returned to the small table. He handed the folder to Marcia. "Read this. It is background information on the suspects. Take your time. I want the folder back, when next we have dinner together."

"I noticed my door has a lock. Who has the key? Chantel told me the room was for special people or visitors. Am I special?"

"I have a key and you will have one soon. I wanted you to have a special room. It will make your life here harder with the older students, but that would happen anyway. You are special because of your past. Let's keep it that way."

"OK. I agree to keep it that way for now."

Gustaf handed Marcia a key. She took it and felt its weight and size. It gave her a feeling of security and assurance of privacy. She put it in the pocket of her skirt. She patted it once and relaxed that it was secure.

Gustaf stood up, "I believe our dinner is at an end. It was a pleasure spending time with you. For now, we will spend one evening a week at dinner here in my office. There is one other thing I want to do with you. Would you like to spend some time down in the village? I noticed your curiosity as we drove through."

"Yes sir, I would like to explore the village and the countryside. This is so unlike my home in New Jersey. Will that be alright?"

"Yes, I will have Hans or one of my assistants spend time with you in the village and its environs. I do not want the students thinking I treat you far better than they are."

"That sounds good. May I leave now? I want to study my handbook and the notes you gave me."

"You may leave. Have a good rest of the evening. Hans will guide you back to your room tonight. Thank you for coming. Goodnight."

Marcia left the office and met Hans outside the door. He surprised her, but she felt comforted and secure. He led her through the maze of corridors to her room easily. She opened the door and bid him goodnight. She entered, locked the door and fell onto her bed. As she lay on her bed, her mind went through all she heard. She smiled and thought, "This was a great school."