About a month after Anastasia's arrival, Anne took her to register for school. Having never known any school but the single room in the palace that had been devoted to the education of herself and her siblings, Anastasia was impressed by her new school's size.

"It's just like a hospital or a prison," she told Anne.

"It's certainly different from the education I received as a child as well," Anne agreed. "But I think you'll enjoy it, Anastasia. You'll be able to meet many girls your age."

"Who are really almost a century younger than me," Anastasia added. "How could I possibly hope to have anything in common with them?"

"You're a very bright girl. I'm sure you'll do fine." Anne smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

To Anne and Anastasia's relief, the woman in the office who seemed to be in charge of new admissions accepted the phony documentation without question. "Please come with me," she told Anastasia.

She led Anastasia to a small room with a desk, chair, and computer. She turned the computer on and told Anastasia to sit in the chair.

"You have forty-five minutes to answer as many questions as you can," the woman said.

The test seemed quite easy to Anastasia, and she answered the questions fairly quickly. When the woman returned, she looked at the computer screen incredulously. Anastasia felt slightly worried. But it seemed so easy...

The woman left the room and Anastasia could hear her excited voice outside the door. "You have to see this..."

When she returned, she was accompanied by another woman. "I haven't seen one that high in a long time either," the other woman said.

"You did exceedingly well on the exam," the first woman told Anastasia. "It's a shame that this is your last year, as you would have benefited from one of our gifted programs. Fortunately, we do offer advanced placement college level courses for our seniors. I hope you'll find them challenging enough that you won't get bored."

Anastasia smiled.

The first day of the fall school term was about a week later. Anastasia watched as masses of students emerged from buses and arrived from the parking lot and began to feel very small and insignificant. With so many other students, it would have to be fairly easy to do something she had never done before in her life - blend in with the crowd and become just another one of them. Never again would anyone ever call her 'Her Imperial Highness.'

She felt a profound sense of loss coupled with an acute sense of isolation. I don't belong here. I'm not like the others. What are they going to think when they find out how different from them I really am?

Two girls stood near Anastasia's locker, busily chatting about something called One Direction. Anastasia asked which direction they were talking about and they nudged one another and giggled. Anastasia realized that they were laughing at her and turned away angrily.

"Hey, leave her alone, you guys," said the voice of a third girl. "I'll bet she's probably an exchange student. That's what you are, right? An exchange student?"

"Well, yes, I am." If it would help her to fit in with her peers, Anastasia would pretend to be an exchange student. After all, it wasn't all that far from the truth anyway.

"What country?" asked one of the first two girls.

"Russia."

"My great grandfather was born in Russia!" exclaimed the third girl. "He escaped after the Revolution. By the way, my name's Madison, and the others are Taylor and Cassidy."

"My name is Anastasia."

"Say something in Russian," said Cassidy.

Anastasia's eyes filled with tears. "I...I can't. I can never speak that language again," she said softly. "It was the language my family spoke, and they were all murdered."

"Oh, no! That's terrible! Did they ever catch who did it?" asked Madison.

Anastasia thought for a minute. "Eventually, yes. After a very long time."

"There's something different about you," Madison told Anastasia after Taylor and Cassidy had gone. "Your aura is different. It's as if you're somehow much older than you seem to be."

"I'm no different from anyone else," Anastasia said huffily.

"You're a Gemini, aren't you? I can tell."

"I am not! I'm Russian Orthodox."

Madison chuckled. "I was talking about your zodiac sign, silly."

Anastasia angrily stalked away.

"Wait!" Madison called after her. "Hey, look, I'm sorry. If you don't understand, I'll explain it to you."

"George wants to talk to you," Anne told Anastasia that evening, handing her the phone.

"Hi, Stacy! How'd it go today?" George asked after Anastasia said hello. 'Stacy' was his special nickname for her, and he was the only one who was allowed to call her that.

"Busy!" Anastasia chuckled. "I don't think I've ever done so much walking in my life!"

George laughed. "You'll get used to it, sweetheart."

"How was your day?" she asked him.

"More of the same. You wouldn't believe how many people don't know nearly as much as they think they do." George worked in the history department of the local university library, a job he seemed particularly well suited for. He had proven to be of invaluable assistance to the professors in correcting inaccuracies in textbooks. "Really, Stacy, did everything go all right for you today?"

"Academically, yes. The teachers are all very impressed with my knowledge and abilities."

"But how did it go with the other students?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Do they treat you kindly? Have you made any new friends?"

"Well...I met this girl named Madison. She told me her great grandfather was born in Russia."

"That's great! So you've already found someone you have something in common with."

"I suppose I do, as my great grandfather was born in Russia as well. On my father's father's side, I mean." Anastasia laughed, and George joined in.

"You'll do fine, Stacy. I know you will."

Anastasia went to sleep that night thinking about how glad she had been to hear George's voice after her long, busy day. For her it had been just like nearly drowning in a turbulent sea and being thrown a life preserver just in time.