Glitch

Regan has always wanted to live in a dorm like the other Academy students, so she’s excited to move out of her mother’s house and into student housing. She hopes that living in a dorm will increase her chances of making friends in the new program. She understands why the partner program was a secret when it was still uncertain whether the program would become permanent. However, she doesn’t understand why it’s still a secret. Her mom says it’s due to “security reasons” (162); if the Academy is ever attacked, the attackers might not know about the other program or its location, so there will still be some surviving Glitchers-in-training.

The partner program is on a different island about 10 minutes away. Professor Callaway arrives in a boat to pick up Regan and Elliot. As they board, Regan feels nervous about leaving her home for the first time.

Elliot is also nervous about leaving the main island because he has lived there since he was a baby. The partner program is on a small island with a large mountain. The main Academy looks like a neat and manicured university campus, but this island looks like wilderness. The partner program is located inside the mountain, and from the outside, it doesn’t look like anyone lives there. Therefore, there’s not as much of a need for extra security guards and cameras.

Elliot and Regan are only the fourth pair of partners to join the “Lewis and Clark” partner program. Professor Callaway says finding compatible pairs has been harder than he thought. Besides Elliot and Regan, there are two other pairs of current students. Additionally, a pair of recent graduates, Serina and Sam, have begun active duty but still come to the mountain to teach or train with current students. Inside the mountain, there’s one large room that includes a classroom, simulation room, lounge, gym, and cafeteria, with no walls separating the different sections. The students all train together as a group.

Professor Callaway introduces Elliot and Regan to the other current student pairs: Blake and Corban, and Eliana and Tess (who are cousins). He then announces that the pairs will all be doing a simulation. Elliot protests that they haven’t had time to prepare for it, but Professor Callaway explains that one of the many differences between the main Academy and the partner program is that the simulations here are not typically announced in advance. This way, students practice thinking on their feet and using intuition.

Regan opens her eyes on a battlefield. Elliot figures out that they’re Union soldiers in the Civil War’s final battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Butterfly most likely wants to change the outcome so that the Confederates win; this would be made possible if the Confederates moved to higher ground during the battle. The Union soldiers are on a hill and some Confederates attack. One Union soldier is shot, but his belt buckle prevents the bullet from hitting his body. Regan calls him a “miracle man” (187).

Regan spots the Butterfly: a Confederate soldier who was pretending to be dead shoots at the “miracle man.” Regan knocks the miracle man down so that the bullet misses him. Elliot works on cuffing the Butterfly, and the simulation ends.

Elliot and Regan open their eyes back at school. At first, Elliot is proud because he and Regan successfully caught the Butterfly and prevented history from being altered, even though they weren’t given a chance to study the event or the time period beforehand. He feels less proud when he realizes that the other teams also accomplished the mission, and he and Regan came in last place. However, the others say Elliot and Regan did an impressive job on their first try.

The class debriefs. The Butterfly was trying to kill the “miracle man,” Colonel Chamberlain, who helped the Union win Gettysburg (and the Civil War) by leading a charge of troops and getting the Confederates to surrender. If he had died before leading the charge, the Confederates might have won. Then, enslavement would have continued, and the US wouldn’t have reunited and would likely have been divided into multiple separate countries. Without the US, the Nazis probably wouldn’t have been defeated during World War II. Regan points out that these same disasters could have occurred if Colonel Chamberlain had chosen not to wear a belt that day. Elliot decides that if Colonel Chamberlain can single-handedly alter history, Elliot can at least preserve it, even if he has to get along with Regan to accomplish this.

Serina and Sam arrive back from a mission, eager to greet Regan and Elliot. They’re fraternal twins. Sam is a bit skeptical of the new students, but Serina is more welcoming. 

At the end of the day, Regan retires to the girls’ dorm, where the beds and bookshelves are carved into the wall of the mountain. Serina helps her make her bed and explains that Sam is always “intense” about new students because he wants the partner program to be successful.

The next morning at breakfast, Elliot is in a bad mood because the schedule is different every day here. He drops his paper copy of the schedule into some water, and it dissolves like the Cocoon did when he and Regan dropped it in the fountain. Tess notices Elliot and Regan marveling at the disappearing paper, and she explains that they use it a lot here to cut down on waste.

The students go to partner study hall in the library. Elliot and Regan divide up the chapters of a book about Pearl Harbor, planning to explain their sections to each other once they’re done reading. However, Elliot is annoyed by how long it takes Regan to read. She struggles with small print, and words seem to move around on the page when she looks at them. When Regan is done reading, she and Elliot quiz each other on facts about Pearl Harbor. Elliot is annoyed because Regan can’t remember important details, such as what time the first plane was spotted. Professor Callaway takes Regan to his office so she can video chat with her mom.

As Elliot watches the other partners study together with ease, he gets even more upset about Regan’s issues with reading and recalling facts. Walking to the next class, the other kids try to chat with him, but he’s grumpy and brushes them off. Corban advises Elliot to make friends with the other kids because, with so few of them around, it would be weird not to.

The next class, taught by Professor O’Reilly, is “Nuance and Observation” (217). Professor O’Reilly arrives in a 17th-century British soldier’s uniform and asks the students to identify what’s wrong with it. They all guess incorrectly until Regan arrives late and immediately notices that one of the buttons is too perfect for the time period.

At lunch, Elliot pouts alone until Sam gives him a pep talk about making the best of the situation. He says he should try to get along with Regan for his own good and points out that Regan has strengths that Elliot lacks. Elliot realizes that Regan didn’t get mad at him for not being perfect at Observation class, so he shouldn’t be mad at her for her struggles. Regan is skipping lunch to catch up on reading, so Elliot brings her a salad as a peace offering. He used to envy Regan for the extra tutoring she received, but now he realizes it was due to her issues with reading rather than just her privilege as the daughter of the commander-in-chief. Elliot and Regan agree to try to be good partners, even though they still don’t know what terrible event they’re supposed to prevent from happening.