Mrs C Eckler makes sure we place all our luggage in the middle of the circle otherwise it will get left behind and we’ll spend the week with no clothes. I’ve heard Leaplings can transport Annuals like luggage but you need a very large Chrono for it to work. I check I have my phone in my pocket, even though I checked three times at home and twice in the back of the car. Most of the suitcases are black but mine is white, obviously. My suitcase is right in front of me. Mrs C Eckler stands up and we all go quiet.

‘Thank you, everybody, for being on time.’ She smiles like she’s made a joke. ‘As you all know, today is the 29th of February 2020, a very special day. It celebrates the way humans have allocated time. The 29th of February is made up of six hours from each of the four years, which equals 24 hours saved up and carried over to make an extra full calendar day each leap year. Today is vibrating with four years of energy. It’s the best day to time travel. Happy Birthday to us all!’

Everyone claps and Big Ben punches the air rather than correct her maths. It’s actually a bit less than six hours from each of the four years but the maths balances out in the end. We lose three leap days every 400 years. I’m glad I was born in 2008. It’s lovely to be with other Leaplings on my birthday.

‘We will be arriving at Time Squad Centre at 7 a.m. 2048,’ Mrs C Eckler continues. ‘We will be there seven days. We will return here at 3 o’clock on the 29th of February 2020. You will be able to celebrate your special birthday twice: once this evening in the future and once when you’re back home.’

Mrs C Eckler looks around the circle. ‘Any questions? Yes, Jake.’

‘Is there breakfast when we arrive? I’m starving!’

‘Yes. When we arrive, we go straight to The Beanstalk Café, where they will be serving breakfast.’

She looks around the circle again but no one else speaks. Big Ben, who usually asks questions in our PPF group, is squeezing my hand so hard I’m worried he’ll break my fingers.

‘OK. Come, let us link hands.’

It sounds like something Grandma would say, quoting from the Bible. I think that’s what the first bissextiles said, when they discovered they had The Gift. Most gifted Leaplings find it difficult to leap alone and end up in the right place and time. You have to be really strong-minded, have intense powers of concentration and exceptional stamina. Maybe it helped that I was tongue-tied when I did it by mistake. I was able to concentrate to the max. But I still went forward in time instead of back.