Hey everyone! I finally got my next chapter finished! This past week has been extremely busy for me, so I didn't get to have as much time to write as I wanted, but I finished it! Anyway, enjoy!

The next morning I was awakened by the cold chill of winter hitting me again, but this time, the wind was howling against the walls outside. It was much rowdier than I was used to. Before now, I had lived in a central room with Anya, which meant no open windows or sounds of the outside. I shivered and watched in curiosity as large snowflakes blew into the room through the thin bars. I sat up and wrapped my blanket around me in a very inadequate cocoon to try and warm myself up. The new routine pounding of the door beside me started resounding around my cell. For once, I was thankful for whoever came to fetch me, if it was only to get into a warmer place. I ran towards the door and opened it, revealing, to my greatest surprise, the nice guard that was named Alik smiling at me. "Alik!" I exclaimed happily, throwing my small arms around him in an excited hug.

He chuckled softly at my reaction, "Hey, kid!"

"I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah, I know. I've been sent on quite a few perimeter checks. The Headmaster's been having us work in shifts at the moment. Today, I'm the one who's been sent to fetch you."

I nodded, "Ah, okay." It seemed like a rather organized system for the guards. I wondered how the Headmaster had figured this entire thing out. Then, a question formed in my mind as I remembered the woman I considered my mother. "Have you seen a lady named Anya Desyatkov?" I asked Alik, "She's kind of average in height with blond hair and green eyes."

Alik thought for a moment, mulling over my brief description. After a moment of silence, he looked at me and nodded, "Yeah, I saw someone that matched your description a few times walking down the halls. Why do you ask?"

"She took care of me when I was a baby. How is she?"

"She seemed to be doing fine the last time I saw her. She's been working in the Medical Bay almost every day at the moment. I assume the Headmaster reassigned your friend back to her nurse duties once you started training."

I let out a small sigh of relief. Anya was still here, she was still okay. Not seeing her since the day they took me away for training had made me anxious. "So, what am I doing today?"

"More training," Alik replied, walking out into the hall with me following closely behind. Almost instantaneously, I was assaulted with a wave of heat from the hall. It was tons warmer than my icebox of a room that I had lived in.

"What's up with the weather outside?" I asked curiously.

"Nasty blizzard, that's what. It's been pounding the base something fierce ever since it suddenly started at around midnight. Most of us were moved inside when it started up, but a few unfortunate souls have to sit outside to guard the entrance."

"That sounds awful," I said quietly, almost at a whisper. I was suddenly thankful that the Headmaster had me train inside and not out in the cold snow.

Alik shrugged, "Eh, just another storm in Mother Russia."

I nodded slightly, "Ah . . . okay." We continued walking in silence for a moment before yet another question had popped into my head. "Do you know what I'm supposed to be training in today?"

He chuckled softly, "Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, but he'll be teaching you about sneaking and infiltration today."

"Really?" I widened my eyes in surprise, "Cool! Why weren't you supposed to tell me?"

"The Headmaster likes to keep his trainees in suspense for what they're learning. Keeps them interested, you know?"

"Ah, that's weird."

"Yeah, no one really quite understands the Headmaster's way of thinking. It's kind of a guessing game with how he is," Alik replied, "Although, from the things I've heard he's been training you in, it seems like he's training you to be a spy of some sort."

I couldn't help the big grin that spread on my face. I had heard about spies and what they did. It always sounded cool to be one. "A spy? That's awesome!" I could suddenly imagine myself being sent on super, amazingly top-secret missions to gather information and infiltrate the enemy bases. It almost made all of these back-breaking training sessions seem worth it.

Alik's voice snapped me out of my fantasy, "We're here."

I looked up at the large, black, imposing door before us and gulped a bit. I was frightened by the sheer size, how it so easily dwarfed me, and couldn't help but hesitate. "I-in there?"

Alik nodded, "Don't worry, you'll be fine." He opened the door for me and a deep, black abyss greeted me. I hesitated a moment at the threshold of the door before slowly walking in and staring suspiciously at all of the dark shadows in the room. Where was the Headmaster? I couldn't see him anywhere in the room. Once my eyes grew accustomed to the dim lighting, I cautiously inspected the dark room. In one corner, there were chains dangling from the ceiling, and there were obstacles all over the room. There was even a small hallway at the far end of the room that seemed to have an alarm system attached to it.

Only seconds after I had managed to get a good look around the lifeless room, I was suddenly caught in a chocking headlock. I let out a strangled gasp of surprise and flailed my weak arms to try and free myself from the unseen enemy. My eyes bugged out and I couldn't breathe. I was terrified. "Clumsy," a familiarly cold voice hissed in my ear, not even loosening his grip, "How foolishly clumsy." The Headmaster released me from his grip and shoved me away. I stumbled and landed on the floor, catching my fall with my hands and wincing a bit. I took in a big gulp of air and coughed a bit before my windpipe recovered from the grip.

I didn't even bother to get up as I got my breath back and merely glared at the Headmaster, looking at him with burning, hateful eyes. There was no reason for that, in my mind, and I couldn't fathom why he chocked me so badly. He narrowed his eyes, deciding to ignore my glare for now and said scornfully, "You weren't paying attention and let your guard down. Were this a real situation, you'd be dead, or worse."

I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused by his statement. What could possibly be worse than death? I wasn't too keen to find out, but I was still furious that he had chocked me. I didn't care if he had a brutal teaching style, he didn't have to actually choke me like that. I decided not to bring that up for fear that he'd punish me. "Where were you at?" I asked hoarsely, my throat sore from his crushing grip.

The Headmaster simply pointed to the chains in the corner, "Right behind those. In the shadows."

I looked at him with surprised eyes, "W-what? How's that possible? Moving through those should've made noise."

He grinned slyly at me and I shrunk back a bit. I didn't like the look of that grin. It was wolfish and frightening, giving him an even more fearsome and untrustworthy appearance, as if he was a man of many secrets. "Ah, but that is the point," he finally said, "This is merely an introduction to your training. By the time you are done with this training, you should be able to not only detect those who try to creep up on you, but also slip by unnoticed, no matter the conditions."

"How?"

"It takes practice, patience, and skill, something you can only attain through practice. Now, let's begin." I nodded slightly and stood up, now directly facing the Headmaster. "The first few tips to successfully sneaking are walking on light feet, staying low, and staying in the shadows. Observe." In a swift movement, he crouched low to the ground and vanished in the darkness. I widened my eyes and listened closely, trying to see if I could hear him walking. There was no sound to be heard. After a few moments, he reappeared in front of me. "Now, you try."

I nodded slightly and walked into a dark corner before trying to copy the sneaking position he demonstrated. I walked slowly around the room, keeping to the walls and the shadows. I was trying to move as silently as possible. It didn't seem too difficult, but perhaps he could hear the slight clicking sound my feet made on the metal surface. When I snuck around for a bit, I finally went back towards the center of the room and stopped in front of the Headmaster.

He looked at me and gave me a brief nod, "I could only slightly hear your footsteps, but that wasn't bad . . . for a beginner."

I widened my eyes in surprise, after all, this was the first time he had actually praised me. "Thanks," I said quietly.

"But," he added, "you still have much to learn. Again." I was once again put through excessive training, but sneaking seemed to be my forte. I caught on quickly to my training, and the Headmaster had made me go through obstacle courses with alarms and items that would make noise. He had wanted to see if I could go through them silently. At first, I failed miserably, but I was soon able to complete the task after a few tries. I still wasn't perfectly silent, but I would improve through practice.

Eventually, I did so well at sneaking that the Headmaster dismissed me early. As I was escorted back up to the main hall, my mind was rushing to see what I could do in my free time. Sadly, there wasn't much a little kid like me could do in a military base.