“Exploding,” I finished, and it was like I couldn’t breathe. All the blood rushed from my head, and I put my head between my knees as dark spots swam in front of my eyes. I stayed like that for a full minute before raising my head to look at Elliot. “So they’re dead?” I asked.

“That’s what I don’t know,” Elliot said. “If so, they died in an alternate time, a time that won’t ever happen now since the Academy was never destroyed. What I don’t know is if that act changed the timeline at the mountain enough to save them. So, they might be fine. Or,” he said, and he didn’t need to finish his sentence for me to know what that or meant. I swallowed hard as tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. Had we saved the Academy at the cost of our friends’ lives?

“Okay,” Elliot said, breaking the sober silence a few seconds later. “We can’t sit here and freak out about something we aren’t even sure has happened. The odds are that they are fine. What we need to focus on now is us. We aren’t out of the woods yet.” It was like his very words had jinxed us, because at that exact moment there was a loud bang on the entrance to the Glitch room. We both turned wide eyes to stare as the sound came again.

“Cadet Fitz!” came a voice I knew all too well, and I felt Elliot grab my arm and haul me to my feet as my mother’s voice rang out again despite the thick steel door between us.

“Cadet Fitz!” she called again. “I know you and Cadet Mason are in there. Come out with your hands up and no one will get hurt.” I turned horrified eyes on Elliot. And then, to my utter shock, Elliot Mason shrugged. Shrugged! Like life as we knew it wasn’t over.

“What was that?” I asked, snapped momentarily out of my panic.

“It’s fine,” he said. “We saved the Academy, but more importantly, we saved a lot of lives tonight. And”—he shrugged again—“that’s what we became Glitchers for—to protect the future. So it’s okay if they arrest us. It’s worth it.”

“You’re not mad?” I asked.

“Not even a little bit. Now come on,” he said. “We are in this together. It’s time to face the music.”

“Man,” I said, shaking my head. “Who are you and what happened to the Elliot who ripped that letter out of my hand that day in the simulation hall?”

“Cadet Fitz!” my mom called again, but I barely heard her as Elliot and I turned to look at one another in horror.

“The letter!” we said at the exact same time.