Just like every other Academy kid, Elliot’s family had given him up for training. But unlike every other kid, Elliot had never had anyone come on a family visitation day because his parents had both died shortly after he was born. While everyone else spent time on the lawn catching up with family, he was always off by himself, usually in the library. A fact I’d found out the hard way when I’d run into him a few years back and asked where his family was. The simple question had set him off, and we’d both ended up with our first detentions. It wasn’t until after my mom chewed me out for the detention that I found out why Elliot hadn’t been with his family. I’d felt like a complete jerk, especially since I knew what it was to walk in those particularly painful shoes. I’d never apologized, though. Maybe it was because I wasn’t necessarily supposed to know about Elliot’s parents, or maybe it was because I’d just been too embarrassed to do it. Either way, I’d made sure to steer clear of the library on visitation days from then on out because, of course, I was never part of family visitation days either. I couldn’t believe that I was back in the same awful position, acting the jerk by running my mouth off to Elliot Mason. Part of me wanted to blame him, like he’d dragged me down to his level somehow, but really there was no excuse. I was just as big of a grade-A jerk as he was. Maybe even worse, I realized.

“Sorry,” I said. “That was out of line.” Elliot and I had disliked each other practically since we were babies in Academy day care. I had a very clear memory of three-year-old Elliot shoving Play-Doh up his nose, a memory I made a habit to remind him of every time the opportunity presented itself. Which, as it turned out, happened quite a lot. In my defense, he tossed around the story of that unfortunate field trip where I wet my pants like it was confetti, so he had it coming. I wasn’t sure why we didn’t get along, but I had a feeling that it was because my mom was the commander in chief, and he was just another Academy kid. Or maybe he really did have the personality of a constipated toad. The jury was still out.

Elliot forced a grin, showing off two rows of perfect white teeth. “It’s fine. The only reason someone would miss you would be if your mom required it, Fitz.”

I swallowed down what I wanted to say and raised an eyebrow at him, curious despite myself. “So you think you’re ready to move up to level six?” I asked. The very idea made my chest tight. At that level, you actually time traveled. Not to anything major, of course, but you were put on a Glitch platform and sent to a deserted field somewhere in the past to get used to the whole experience.