‘Shit!’ Kellen says, turning to see Madzikanda running out of the building. She must have gone to her office and seen we’d swiped her keys. ‘Drive!’

‘I’m not ready!’ I say, fumbling with my seat belt.

‘Forget the seat belt!’

‘What do you mean forget the seat belt?!’

‘Just drive! She’s coming!’

‘Don’t rush me!’

I shift the car into gear and slam my foot down on the accelerator. The car lurches forward way faster than I expect, crashing straight into Harrington’s. The alarm blares noisily. That’s the second time today. I try to reverse, but that’s when Madzikanda pulls open the door to stop me.

‘Have you lost your damn minds?!’

‘I can explain!’ Kellen says.

‘Save it,’ she snaps. ‘I know exactly what’s going on here.’

‘I don’t think you do,’ I mutter.

Madzikanda scoffs. ‘There’s only one reason you’d be doing something this stupid.’ She glances back and forth between us.

‘Could it be that you’re stuck in a time loop?’

Miss Madzikanda doesn’t say anything else until we’re inside her office with the door closed. Except it doesn’t close properly because I smashed it in while pretending to be masc.

‘So which one of you is it?’ she demands, looking back and forth between us.

‘It’s … both of us,’ I say meekly. I’m still in shock. I can’t believe she knows about this. What else hasn’t she been telling us?

‘Interesting …’ She drums her fingers on her chin.

‘But how did you know, miss?’ Kellen asks.

Madzikanda takes a deep breath and sighs. ‘Every prom night something happens that doesn’t make any sense.’

‘But time loops, miss?’ Kellen says. ‘No offence, but isn’t that a bit far-fetched?’

She raises an eyebrow. ‘Says the boy quite literally stuck in one?’

‘No, I know,’ he says. ‘But how on earth did you work that out?’

‘Because I was stuck in one too.’

‘What?!’ we say in unison. She can’t be serious!

‘At the time, I thought I was the only one,’ she tells us. ‘But then, after I graduated, I started hearing stories. Other things that didn’t add up. And I knew – I just knew – that there must be more of us. I had to find out so I applied for a job the next year.’

‘Wait, wait, wait,’ I say. ‘Slow down, miss. I have so many questions.’

‘This whole situation –’ she gestures to the space around us – ‘it happens every year. Or at least most years anyway. Usually there’s something that gives it away, but sometimes it’s harder to tell. Sometimes the day is as plain as the nose on my face.’

‘So you’re trying to tell us we’re at a magic school,’ Kellen says. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘And yet here we are.’