Chloe Sutton was late, again! No matter how she tried something always happened to make her miss it - the opening of concerts, the beginning of a lecture, a friend’s bridal walk down the aisle or – in this case – a mysterious invitation to a luxurious hotel.

She had no idea where The Phoenix Hotel was or what was expected of her. All she knew was a letter had arrived last month with an offer. Her credentials and university results had been noted as exceptional. It said. If she was interested she could take part in an unusual exercise with an elite group of handpicked people. The letter had been unsigned and she had balled it up and tossed it – initially.

That night, something woke her with a start at around 3 a.m. She sat up and walked to the wastepaper basket, retrieved the crumpled letter and smoothed it out on her desk. Under the glare of her gooseneck lamp she re-read it. She’d go! What the heck! Everything else in the offing looked boring, unexciting, this at least had some mystery.

When she returned to bed she fell immediately into a deep sleep, waking well after it was light outside.

Now, here she was, looking lost in a huge hotel lobby, a twenty-something with tousled auburn curls and a retrouse nose. Scuffed-knee jeans and “the layered look” stood out as not belonging here, she found an easy chair and sank into it gratefully.

Now she could look around. Who, of these people were “handpicked”. No one looked particularly unusual. Chloe began to wonder if the whole thing was a hoax.

A liveried flunkie appeared at her side looking down his long nose at her. "You're to come this way Miss." he said making the word "Miss" sound like an insult.

Chloe hauled herself up gracelessly and shouldered her back pack to follow the jerk, expecting him to throw her out of this fancy-shmancy hotel. Instead he ushered her into the elevator.

They travelled up many floors, Chloe thought for sure it'd be a penthouse suite. Finally they disembarked into a conference room where a gathering of "handpicked people" stood making polite conversation.