Glitch

Regan and Elliot do study simulations every night for two weeks. One night, an alarm wakes everyone up. Professor Callaway informs the students that the main Academy has been attacked and they’ve lost communication with them, so they’re on lockdown. Regan is upset because she doesn’t know if her mom is okay or not, but there’s no way for her to find out because she’s not allowed to leave the island.

Professor Callaway says that four Glitchers were in the middle of missions when the Academy was attacked. Since the Academy’s power went out in the attack, those four Glitchers are now stuck in the past. Their lives are in danger, and if they stay in the past too long, they’ll eventually change something important and inadvertently become Butterflies. Since the professors and staff can no longer Glitch, it’s up to the partner students, Sam, and Serina to retrieve the Glitchers using Chaos Cuffs.

Regan and Elliot are being sent to retrieve a Glitcher named Agent Chris, who was trying to catch a Butterfly at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred in 1911 in New York. A fire at a factory broke out, and many workers died because they were locked inside—the employers did not want them to leave their shifts early. The fire department wasn't able to stop the fire because their ladders weren’t tall enough. The devastating fire resulted in improved labor laws and the widespread placement of fire extinguishers. This will be Regan and Elliot’s first time traveling to the real past instead of the simulated past. Although their mission is to retrieve the Glitcher, there will potentially be a real Butterfly around. They can also get injured or die for real. Professor Tramble gives them some pills that will allow them to breathe for five minutes without damaging their lungs in the smoke.

Regan opens her eyes in the burning factory but can’t find Elliot or Agent Chris. The factory takes up multiple floors, so Regan climbs out a window onto a rickety fire escape, hoping to find Elliot on the next floor up. Someone breaks the window, and Elliot reaches to pull Regan inside. He knew to do this because one of the items on the Cocoon’s list was “when the window breaks, grab me” (259). Agent Chris is nowhere in sight, so the kids assume she must be on the next floor up. Before they can go there, Regan spots the Butterfly who Agent Chris was originally there to catch. Regan tackles her, Elliot cuffs her, and then Elliot and the Butterfly transport back to the present.

Elliot opens his eyes back inside the mountain, but Regan isn’t there. He is transported back because he assumed the woman Regan had tackled was Agent Chris, but now, he realizes she’s the Butterfly. The Butterfly tries to escape, but some techs take her into holding. Elliot throws up because he’s so upset about all the people who were about to die in the fire, which was real history and not a simulation. Tess, Eliana, Blake, and Corban reappear with the Glitchers they rescued. Serina and Sam appear with their rescued Glitcher as well as a captured Butterfly.

Regan reappears, having rescued Agent Chris, who needs medical attention. The techs tend to Agent Chris while Regan tells Elliot she’s upset that she wasn’t allowed or able to save the victims of the fire. Professor Callaway tells Regan and Elliot that the next time they Glitch to the real past together, they must hold hands so that they end up in the exact same location. Serina asks Professor Callaway if he’s heard any news about the Academy. His facial expression leads Elliot to believe that it has been obliterated.

Mayhem used explosives to destroy the entire Academy, and no one survived. Regan struggles to process this, as do the other kids, faculty, and staff at the mountain. The attack on the Academy is a problem because people Regan cared about were killed, but also because now, there are only a few non-criminal people left in the US who can time travel. All of them are in the mountain, which might be vulnerable to attack since it’s physically close to where the Academy was.

Elliot thinks the attack on the Academy is related to the Cocoon letter and that they’re supposed to Glitch back in time to save the Academy. This is why it was so important that Elliot didn’t level up at the regular Academy. Instead, he and Regan came to the partner program, so they’re still alive now. Given how devastating it is to lose the Academy and its residents, Elliot and Regan agree to attempt to change the past and undo its destruction, even though this is illegal.

Elliot and Regan sneak out of their dorms that night, hoping to Glitch back to the night when the Academy was attacked. However, they aren’t sure how to gain access to the room where the Glitching equipment is because it’s locked. The next clue from the Cocoon’s list says to trust that the door will open when necessary, so the kids hope this means they’ll be able to get into the room with the Glitching equipment when the time is right. They wait outside the door, and Professor Callaway appears.

Professor Callaway warns Regan and Elliot that changing the past is still not acceptable, even though they probably want to do it now that a tragedy has directly affected their own lives. Officer Salzburg appears and greets Regan, offering condolences about her mother. He didn’t realize she was in the partner program, although he also didn’t realize the partner program existed until the previous day. He’s annoyed with Professor Callaway about this. Salzburg is at the mountain to discuss increased security because the main Academy was destroyed. It’s not explained where Salzburg was during that attack or why he’s still alive.

Professor Callaway tells Elliot and Regan to go back to bed, then walks down the hall with Officer Salzburg. Elliot and Regan hide and wait until Professor Tramble comes down the hall, holding a tablet and looking distracted. He doesn’t notice the kids. He enters the room where the Glitching equipment is kept, and Regan stops the door from closing behind him so that she and Elliot can sneak in. A bunch of professors and techs are inside, but they don’t notice the kids because they’re too busy arguing with each other.

Some of the adults also want to tamper with the past and save the Academy, but others argue that tampering with the past is always immoral. Still others argue that attempting to do so is too dangerous; with so few Glitchers left alive in the US, they can’t risk losing any more. While the adults are arguing, an alarm sounds, indicating that the mountain is under attack. The boom of explosives is also audible. The adults all rush out of the room, and Regan and Elliot get locked inside.

The ceiling starts to fall and Elliot is worried he and Regan are going to die. Regan points out that the only way for them to escape the crumbling mountain is through the Glitching machines. Elliot knows that if the mountain loses power, they’ll get stuck in the past, and he isn’t sure what would happen if the Glitching equipment gets destroyed while he and Regan are Glitching. They hook themselves up to the Glitching equipment anyway. One of the professors has already set it up for the night the Academy was destroyed. Right before they transport to the past, Officer Salzburg comes back into the room and spots them, but he’s too late to stop them.

Elliot and Regan open their eyes at the Academy, one hour before it was destroyed. They’re not sure if one hour is enough time to prevent the destruction. It’s past curfew, and they hear footsteps. When they try to hide, some security guards seem to spot them.