“Good point,” I said. Regan paused mid-shove and got a strange look on her face as she looked at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head again. “It’s just that I know exactly who finds these. I spotted them on my walk home that afternoon, but I just assumed someone was being careless with costumes and dropped them off at the campus laundry.”

“Weird,” I said again, and she nodded. We both stared at the uniforms for another second and then I turned to Regan. “If you are going to head this way any second, we better get going. I don’t remember how long Professor Green kept us in there.”

“Good point,” she said just as we saw a very grumpy Elliot stomp away toward Professor Green’s room. We both watched as this past version of myself jammed my hand in my pocket, probably double-checking that the letter I’d just swiped was there.

“Let’s go,” I said. I didn’t want to watch that guy I used to be anymore. There was something about the way my face had pinched in anger that turned my stomach a little.

Regan took a deep breath and squared her shoulders in a way I’d come to recognize over the last few weeks. “Right,” she said, and then tried to force a smile that came off all wrong. “At least we don’t look like criminals anymore.”

“No,” I said shaking my head. “We are only criminals if we get caught.”

“But we’re as good as caught,” she said. “Didn’t you hear that door bust open right as we disappeared? We are going to Glitch back smack dab in the middle of a pack of angry security officers. And my mom,” she said, swallowing hard. When she noticed me watching, she gave a sheepish shrug. “Call me a chicken, but I’m not really looking forward to getting arrested.”

“We’ll see about that,” I said as I grabbed her hand and activated my cuffs. The bright sunlight of the Academy faded to black as we traveled back to the present one last time.

We opened our eyes in the mountain in an empty Glitch room.

“What?” Regan said as she turned to take in the empty echoing space. “Didn’t my mom and the security officers bust in here right before we left?” She turned to me, finger held up accusingly. “What did you do?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure,” I admitted. “I took a chance based on something you said to your mom back in her office. It’s the longest of long shots, but since no one is here trying to arrest us, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “It might have worked.”

“So, you mean we might not end up in jail for the rest of our lives?” Regan said.