Callaway stopped in front of an impressive-looking metal door and held his hand up to a sensor on the wall. After a second, the panel lit up, and he keyed in what had to be a twenty-digit code. As if that wasn’t enough protection, he then pulled out a key from around his neck and inserted it into a lock, turning it three times before the door unlocked and he ushered us inside.

As I followed Regan through, I saw that the door itself was over a foot thick, which I would have thought was overkill, except that in front of me were five sets of Glitch platforms complete with the hub of computers that would be needed to send my classmates and me hurtling through time and into the past. A blast of icy air sent goose bumps rippling down my back, and I swallowed hard as Callaway directed each partner group to a different platform. For the second time that day I felt Regan’s shoulder pressed against mine as we stepped up onto the thick metal disk.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said.

“What?” I asked. “That we are actually about to Glitch for real? Or what happened at the Academy?”

“Both,” Regan said. “But to be honest, I’m doing my best not to think about the Academy or anyone else right now.” I saw her swallow hard, and I averted my eyes as she swiped at hers with the back of her hand.

“Don’t,” I said, clenching my jaw. “If you start, I’ll lose it, and then where will we be?”

“Sorry,” she said, sniffing as she pulled her shoulders back.

“Me too,” I said, and I wondered if I should give her a hug or something. Everyone felt terrible about the Academy, but Regan especially had more to lose. I wondered if she was going to be able to keep it together for this jump.

“Okay?” I asked. I wasn’t a hugger.

“Okay,” she said as Callaway and the other professors and techs rushed around, turning on the different machines, their brows furrowed in concentration as they set the program for each group’s time travel. I watched their fingers fly across the keys and realized that the programming for an actual Glitch was almost identical to the simulation programming I’d learned back at the Academy. I’d assumed it would be more complicated than that.

“Did you realize programming a Glitch was that easy?” I said quietly to Regan.

She nodded, and I decided not to press her on how she knew that and I didn’t. Maybe that fact was kept out of our training so cadets wouldn’t get any funny ideas.

“Here,” said Professor Tramble, walking up with two large pills and glasses of water.

“What are these?” I asked, picking up the pill warily.