The blades of the rotor thumped rhythmically as the helicopter tipped forward and then took off.  I could feel my heart pounding and beads of sweat forming around my temples.  I was actually glad that I had a blindfold on because I was deathly afraid of heights, just thinking about it was making my stomach jump.

I felt a hand touch the headphones, a switch was clicked and a buzzing noise tickled my ears.  A voice silenced the static.

“Hello candidates, if you are hearing this, then you are in the helicopter.  As you have probably discerned by now, the two mile test was a deception.”  The voice unmistakably belonged to the dean.

“This is the start of your orientation to the academy and to the S class.  The four of you are headed to a private island owned by the Sterling Institute where you will start your lessons.  As of now, it has been planned that you will be on the island for the next week.  You will be tested at the end of each day on topics covered in the lessons as well as on a case given as homework the previous day.  More information on these tests will be given on the island itself.  It will take around two hours to reach, so I suggest getting some rest as you will begin lessons immediately after arriving.  Good luck.”

The recording ended and my head was swimming.  First of all, he said the four of us?  Who was the other person and what was this S class?  And tests every day!  I was on probation, and failing one of these would end my career.  But what I was most worried about was I didn’t bring a change of clothes, what was I going to do without clean underwear?  The person sitting to my left was fidgetining, distracting me.

The headphones buzzed again, and this time Dr. Kang’s clear voice rang through.  “Now that the dean has explained where you are going, I will elaborate.  First, you are probably wondering about food and clothing, all will be provided, underwear included.”  She laughed, and I wondered if she had been reading my mind, or maybe my expression.

“The instructors present on the island will be myself, instructor Jung, and the vice-dean, Mr. Young, whom you met earlier.  The dean will stop by later in the week to monitor your progress and to take back any of you who may have failed.”  I gulped nervously, the concept of failing becoming more real with this sentence.

“All questions will be addressed on the island itself, unless someone has a pressing concern.”  Her voice disappeared and the static began again.

Suddenly, a softer, slightly wavering male voice started, “I have a concern Dr. Kang.  May I talk to you in private?”  This voice was unfamiliar, it didn’t sound like Dujun or Myungsoo; it had to be the 4^th person.  I felt the hand on my headset again, and the switch was clicked, causing the buzzing to disappear.

I couldn’t hear any more of the conversation.  Slightly disappointed, I tried to relax and rest as the dean had advised, and soon I was fast asleep.

I awoke to Dr. Kang’s voice telling us we had arrived, and suddenly became aware that I was sleeping on the shoulder of the person to my left.  Thankfully I hadn’t drooled at all, the fact that I had fallen asleep on them was embarrassing as it was.  Hopefully that person was blindfolded as well and couldn’t see me.

After a couple of minutes, I felt the helicopter touch down and the thump of the rotor blades started to slow.  A delicate hand grabbed my hand from the right, I knew it was Dr. Kang from the ring on her left ring-finger.   I let myself be led out slowly from the helicopter and waited patiently as the boys were unloaded as well.  The blindfold was still on but my sense of smell was enhanced, the air was fresh and a little humid.  A slightly malodorous flowery scent mingled with the sea air. 

“You may remove your blindfolds.” 

I took off the blindfold slowly, to give my eyes time to adjust to the light.  The first thing that filled my vision was the green.  We were on a very tropical island, with large strange plants.  In front of us was a cliff which lead to the ocean, I could see a narrow worn path which led down the cliff to a sandy beach.  Staring at the cliff was starting to make my stomach turn so I turned my attention to the tropical forest in the background.  Strange orange and purple flowers peaked out from amidst a bush, they looked like bird’s beaks and were the origin of the flower scent.  It was getting darker out, the sun was closer to the horizon.  I couldn’t see any buildings around us, we were just outside of the tropical forest and I realized we probably had to hike to where we were staying.  The cliff we were on was the only flat ground I could see, the rest of the island sloped upwards towards the center which was probably a dormant volcano.  It was stunning.  Then I noticed something shimmering in the distance.  Squinting I realized it was the glass from a building.

And then I remembered the 4^th person I had been curious about.  I surreptitiously looked to my left and saw Dujun standing, looking a little unkempt and still very sleepy.  To my immediate right was a stranger, he was tall, taller than both Dujun and Myungsoo and towering over my own 160 cm.  As I looked up, the first thing I noticed was his lips.  They were very large and full and pink, and they seemed to take over everything else on his face.  He felt my curious stare and turned to look at me.  Of course, yet another good-looking kid.  I was surprised though, he couldn’t have been more than 14 years old.  I knew people of all ages were able to apply to the academy but it was another thing of them being admitted.  He smiled at me and his face lit up.  I liked him immediately, he felt like a younger brother.

Mr. Young cleared his voice.  I turned my attention back to the intructors standing in front of us. 

“Welcome to Athenai Island, taken from the name given to the city of Athena in the past.  As you may already know, Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, law and justice, the three ideals we hold dear at the Sterling Institute.  The building where you will stay for the next week is about a 25 minute hike from here, we should start moving so that we have plenty of sunlight left to finish getting the building ready for our stay.  But first, I will introduce Yang Seungho, he is the fourth and last student who will join the three of you in the S class.  He has been a student at this academy for the past three years, technically he is your senior although he is only 15.  You may introduce yourselves to him later, during the free time period.”

Wow, I thought to myself, he must be some sort of genius to have been accepted at such a young age.  Mr. Young had already started moving, which signaled that the rest of us follow.  I heard the chop-chop of the helicopter starting up again and turned my head to watch it take off.  We were officially stranded on this island now with no turning back.

I joined the line behind Dujun and Myungsoo who were walking side by side.  Seungho caught up to me and smiled shyly.  Behind us, Dr. Kang and Leo picked up the rear.  I didn’t know if we were allowed to talk so I stayed silent and Seungho did the same, even thought I had so many questions to ask.  I wondered if he had already done this orientation and if he knew what was in store for us.

The foliage was thick and difficult to climb through, I noticed the path was getting narrower and steeper and the clean dirt path was becoming mixed with large pebbles.  I stumbled on a particularly large pebble, almost knocking into Seungho but catching myself at the last moment.  He didn’t notice as he was fighting with a large branch which had caught itself on the sleeve of his t-shirt.

We continued fighting our way through the tangle of trees and bushes, the path we were taking felt a little strange but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me.  Because of his height, Seungho kept getting entangled in branches encroaching on the path and I felt like giggling each time. 

It was humid in the trees and I was starting to get short of breath as the steepness increased.  I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw the trees clear ahead.  I could faintly make out the side of a building.  Finally.  I could hear Dr. Kang breathing hard from behind, and I turned, wondering if I should help.  It wasn’t necessary however, as instructor Leo was already almost pushing her from behind, his hands on the middle of her back.  Her cheeks were a charming pink as she blushed when she met my eyes.  I turned, not wanting to get in the middle of anything.

The clearing revealed a modern looking building, which looked strange amidst the wilderness.  It looked like it had been a hotel before, divided into many smaller rooms with balconies.  The entrance to the school was impressive, with a small courtyard featuring a statue of what I assumed was Athena, towering above an empty fountain, holding a weighing scale in one hand, an owl perched on the other.  The statue looked newer than the rest of the building, so I assumed it had been placed there by the school.  Behind her was an enormous glass sliding door which gave a sneak preview to a dim lobby.

Mr. Young was waiting for us on the steps.  He started talking as soon as we reached him.

“Instructor Jung, will you please take a student and go to the back of the building to turn on the electricity and water.  The rest will follow me inside the building, we will split into two groups, one student will accompany me to the kitchens to make sure the provisions have arrived and the others will follow Dr. Kang to the living areas to make sure the rooms are ready.”

We nodded and Leo pointed at Seungho, who followed him and they walked towards the back of the hotel.  The rest of us made our way to the glass sliding door.  It didn’t open straightaway.  I realized that we were waiting for the other two to turn the power to the door on.

The doors slid open abruptly, we had power! 

Moving inside, the lobby was cool, a relief from the humidity we had walked through.  I was surprised when Mr. Young pointed at me, asking me to follow him to the kitchens.  We separated from the other group, walking towards the back of the hotel lobby.  The empty lobby looked eerie in the dim lighting, there was no furniture which only added to the effects.  We reached a long dark hallway, as we were about to turn left, the lights flickered on.  Someone must have played with the light switches.  The hallway was wide, with rooms on either side.  They were mostly labeled conference rooms, although there was an industrial laundry room visible through the window on the door.  The kitchen was at the end, its double swinging doors painted green. It was a surprisingly clean kitchen, everything else we had walked past had a thick layer of dust so I gathered someone must have come by to clean.  There were several medium-sized boxes on the steel counters right across from the enormous refrigerator.

Mr. Young had been quiet this whole time.  I was still walking behind him when he stopped abruptly and faced me.

“The dean told me you have a good memory, is that correct?”  Good memory was an understatement but I didn’t correct him.  I just nodded.

“Good,” he answered, pulling out a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket.  “I have here an inventory of food items, we will take stock of everything we have here as of this moment, but I also want you to commit it to memory, in case I lose the list.”  He grinned rather sheepishly as he explained, “I am rather forgetful at times.”

“I understand, I will keep track.”  This was easy, keeping track of items was something I had had to practice over and over again in the lab.

We went through the list thoroughly, checking every box that was on the table.  He then turned to the fridge and opened it and I was surprised to see it almost fully stocked and extremely cold, as if it had been running since before we came.

He must have noticed because he quickly mentioned, “The fridge and freezer run on a separate generator, we turned them on one day before the food was delivered.” 

Nodding, I continued with the inventory.  It took almost an hour, there was a lot of food, much more than was needed to feed the seven of us for the next week, even with the dean included.  But I kept this to myself.  One of the boxes contained pots and pans for cooking.  Another had plates, bowls, glasses and cutlery, enough for 12 people.

Mr. Young was frowning.  I asked him what was wrong, but he seemed a little distracted and didn’t answer.  Softly, he muttered, “Not enough canned goods.”  It was weird because there was more than enough food in the fridge for that to matter.

He straightened brusquely, smiled rather reassuringly, and said, “Okay, we’re done here.  Let’s go help Dr. Kang and the boys.”

Something was bothering me about the state of the kitchen, but again I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  This feeling was starting to become irritatingly familiar.  We had just left the kitchen when we heard one loud, heart-stopping scream.