“What in the world have we gotten ourselves into?” she whispered as the security officers climbed out of the boat to flank us on either side.

“I’d like to point out that I wanted nothing to do with this,” I hissed back.

“Hurry up, cadets!” Callaway called over his shoulder as he headed down a thin dirt trail that appeared to lead straight into the woods. One of the security officers handed me my duffel, and I swung it over my shoulder, the weight comfortingly familiar. Regan already had her things and was hurrying to catch up with Callaway.

The path was really nothing more than a thin slice of trodden-down dirt between waist-high underbrush that sloped continually upward. As we followed Callaway over rougher and rougher terrain, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was all some kind of joke. Maybe it was a hazing ritual done to cadets who were in too big of a hurry to level up. But as I watched the security officers walk beside us, their heads on a swivel as though someone was lurking behind every tree or bush, I knew this was for real.

Callaway stopped beside a large outcropping of rocks at the base of the mountain and turned to the security patrol. “Is the coast clear?” he asked.

The officer closest to me nodded.

“Very good,” Callaway said, and then he turned back, took two large steps forward, and disappeared into the rock.

Regan gasped in surprise, and my jaw dropped as my brain fought to make sense of what I was seeing. The security detail smirked at one another, and then the guard closest to me stepped forward, disappearing just as seamlessly. It reminded me of the way the Cocoon had dissolved in water, like it had never even been there.

Suddenly Callaway’s head popped back through the rock, a wide grin on his face. “I love seeing people’s reactions the first time I do that,” he said. “Please, step right on through. The rock is an optical illusion, a very well-crafted hologram.” To prove his point, he popped his head back inside the rock and then back out again like some kind of deranged jack-in-the-box.

“Step lively now,” said the security detail behind me. “We don’t like having anyone loitering around the entrance.” I nodded and was just reaching my hand out toward the holographic rock when Regan shouldered past me and walked right through.

Not wanting to be outdone, I leaped after her. Part of me still expected to ram face-first into solid rock, and I closed my eyes in anticipation of impact. When no impact came, I opened my eyes to discover that I was standing in front of a large steel door. Turning, I saw the shimmering image of the rock, thrown up by multiple projectors mounted to the surrounding mountain.

“That’s brilliant,” I said.