“Who’s Salzburg?” Elliot asked in my ear, and I flapped him away as Salzburg stopped in front of us, a look of surprise on his face. I was instantly transported back to that last formal dinner at my house where he showed off his latest security prototype to my hard-to-impress mother. There was something about that word, prototype, that rang a very faint bell somewhere in the back of my mind, but before I could think more about it, Salzburg was there, extending a hand for me to shake.

“Cadet Fitz,” he said. “I didn’t realize that you were part of the mountain program. Although,” he said, “that isn’t saying much, since I was unaware there was such a thing as a mountain program until yesterday morning.” He shot Callaway a disapproving look that Callaway ignored.

“You should know better than anyone the importance of secrecy to security,” Callaway said.

“I know that full well,” Salzburg said. “However, I didn’t realize that secrets were kept from me.”

Callaway cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with Salzburg, and turned to us, grateful for the distraction. “Regan and Elliot are some of our newest recruits.” He smiled at us reassuringly. “Officer Salzburg arrived yesterday afternoon to discuss increasing security measures here at the mountain, and considering recent events, we are incredibly relieved to have his services.”

“I’m so sorry about your mother,” Salzburg said, but all I could manage was a quick nod. Any time she was mentioned I suddenly felt like I was trying to swallow a golf ball.

“You two need to go back to your dorm with the rest of the cadets,” Callaway said, his voice uncharacteristically stern. “I know you mean well, and trust me, you aren’t the only ones desperate to fix the unfixable, but you need to trust us to handle this.”

“But the Academy—” I said, my words cut off sharply by Elliot’s elbow in my ribs and Callaway’s disapproving look.

“Good night, Cadet Fitz,” he said sternly, and the formality of that title after weeks of being just Regan stung.

“Follow me,” he said to Salzburg, and together they turned toward the door to the Glitch room. A second later I felt Elliot’s hand on my arm yanking me back around the corner and out of sight. I was about to open my mouth to protest when, for the second time in twenty-four hours, his hand clapped itself firmly over my mouth. I narrowed my eyes at him. He obviously had a very bad memory, and I was about to bite down hard enough to leave a mark he’d remember when I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Twisting my head away from his sweaty hand, I tugged him back into the shadows as a very distracted-looking Professor Tramble came at a trot down the hall, his face mere inches from the tablet he was holding.