‘MC2 = Mr E. He will explain why later. Our offices are all on the lower ground floor if you need us. The Time-Outer-Space and SENsory Room are also on the lower ground floor.’

I read about that in the itinerary. In the future, all new buildings have to provide a room for people with specialist needs like me.

Millennia pauses to allow us to take in all this information. Some of us are reading and watching it on the screen but a few are listening with their eyes closed like it’s so boring they’ve fallen asleep. Then Millennia’s voice changes. She sounds like Millennia through a crackly loudspeaker. I don’t like Millennia. She keeps changing. One minute she speaks slowly and clearly, the next minute she’s too loud.

‘There is something I must disclose to you all: there have been a few disappearances on previous leap weeks. Some Leaplings misuse their freedom, abuse their Gift. They leap and refuse to come back. We have spent days, weeks, months of valuable time attempting to locate them.

‘Due to the misdemeanours of that tiny minority, we have cancelled the trip to London this Tuesday.’

Lots of boos until the teachers calm us down. We were all looking forward to seeing London almost drowned after the rise in sea levels. Millennia continues to talk over us.

‘Some of us will spend the day on Missing Leapling Alert. My colleagues Mrs S and Mr T will manage the centre.

‘Bissextiles take heed: it is an immense privilege to be chosen for Leap 2048. I trust you will honour the PRESENT and have no ambitions for the past, or the future.’ When she says the word ‘past’ she gives me the cat’s eye for three long seconds. That’s odd. Why does Millennia hate me when she’s never met me before? Do I look like a missing Leapling?

Millennia sits down. Some of the teachers pull their eyebrows down to their eyes and tap into their phones, some begin to clap, the children who had their eyes closed have what-big-eyes to the power of 3. Which Leapling would dare leap away from a school trip? You’d have to be REALLY bad to do something like that. Everyone’s talking at once except Ama. She’s shaking her head from side to side. Her lips are pursed shut and her cheeks are wet.

They tell us which groups we’ll be in, one for workshops, the other for chalets where we sleep. The chalets are called The Hives. I remember seeing them in the video. I can’t wait to see what they look like inside.

My workshop group is: me, Big Ben, Ama and GMT.

My chalet group is all girls: me, Ama, Noon and GMT. Three palindromes out of four!