Glitch

Glitch (2020) is a middle-grade science fiction novel by Laura Martin that follows 12-year-old time-traveling agents-in-training Regan Fitz and Elliot Mason. The two hate each other until they find a letter from their future selves that claims they must work together to prevent a life-threatening tragedy. Regan and Elliot then team up as partners to prevent a devastating attack on their school. The novel explores the importance of friendship and teamwork, the ethics of time travel, and the complexity of causation. Glitch is Martin’s fifth novel and received positive reviews from publications like School Library Journal and Booklist.

This guide refers to the paperback edition published by HarperCollins in 2021.

Plot Summary

The 12-year-old protagonists and nemeses, Regan and Elliot, attend a school where they’re studying to become Glitchers, time travelers who prevent criminals called Butterflies from changing the past. To practice, the students enter simulations of the past and catch fake Butterflies. Each country has its own time-traveling Academy, and Glitchers only interfere with their own country’s history.

As the novel opens, Regan enters a simulation where she must catch a Butterfly who wants to prevent Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. She has already failed this simulation, in part because she thinks preventing Lincoln’s assassination would be a good idea (whereas some of the changes Butterflies want to make are bad). Regan struggles to remember historical facts, but she can quickly identify Butterflies, even when they’re well-disguised. She spots the Butterfly and chases after her, careful not to accidentally change anything else about history. Regan takes one second too long to apprehend the Butterfly; John Wilkes Booth sees them disappear using her Chaos Cuffs, which causes him not to assassinate Lincoln. This causes a second Civil War and the dissolution of the US.

Regan and other students who failed must watch a recap. Some kids have died or gotten hurt in their simulations, but injuries sustained there don’t transfer to real life. Elliot didn’t fail but enjoys sitting in on recaps to learn from others’ mistakes. He points out that Regan could have taken a shortcut to capture the Butterfly in time. Elliot is taking a simulation test the next day; if he succeeds, he’ll advance to the next level in school. Regan has never taken a simulation test.

Elliot spots an envelope with Regan’s name on it. It’s written in her handwriting, but she doesn’t remember writing it, suggesting the letter is a Cocoon, an object planted by her future self to change the past. Elliot doesn’t realize what the letter is, and Regan tries and fails to snatch it from him.

Later, in his dorm room, Elliot opens the letter. It says Regan and Elliot need to work together to prevent a life-threatening disaster and that Elliot cannot advance to the next level. Elliot realizes the letter is a Cocoon, but since his name is on it, he can’t give it to a teacher. Meanwhile, Regan goes home; she lives with her mom instead of the dorms. Her mother is the commander-in-chief of the Academy, and Regan worries she doesn’t meet her expectations. Officer Salzburg, who wants to install new security cameras, is there.

Elliot messages Regan saying they need to talk, so they sneak out and meet at a fountain. He shows her the letter, which also includes a list of clues needed to prevent the tragedy. Elliot doesn’t trust it and doesn’t want to fail his test. When they hear a guard coming, they drop the Cocoon in the fountain, and it dissolves. Elliot is relieved. He returns to his dorm and plans to win his test the next day.

Regan decides to compete against Elliot to prevent him from leveling up. First, she must pass the Lincoln assassination simulation, which she does using a clue from the Cocoon. During the test, Regan and Elliot are transported to the Boston Tea Party and race to catch the Butterfly. Elliot is cutting open boxes of tea when he spots Regan and accidentally cuts his leg. She helps him bandage it, then spots the Butterfly and follows him below deck. The Butterfly starts a fire, which Elliot extinguishes, and they capture the Butterfly together. However, neither will advance; instead, professors want them to join the secret Lewis & Clark partner program. Their complementary strengths and weaknesses make them a good team. This annoys both kids, but they don’t have a choice. If they fail in the new program, which is on a different island, they can’t return to the Academy.

The program is even more secret, a tiny school inside an inconspicuous mountain. The first graduate partner pair, Sam and Serina, are on active duty but still live there and train with the students. The other pairs are Tess and Eliana and Corban and Blake. They do a simulation for which they are unprepared because partner Glitchers often aren’t given advance notice about missions. Elliot is annoyed by Regan’s slow reading speed and difficulty remembering facts. However, she excels at noticing small historical discrepancies that he misses. Sam gives Elliot a pep talk, and he decides to be more patient. He and Regan become friends.

The main Academy is attacked, and all its residents are killed. The four partner pairs are now the only Glitchers left in the US besides four adults who were on missions during the attack. Those four Glitchers are stuck in the past, and the partner pairs must time travel to retrieve them. However, Elliot believes he and Regan are supposed to prevent the attack on the Academy or Butterflies will wreak havoc on the past. They sneak out and wait outside the locked door to the Glitching room. A distracted professor opens the door without noticing the kids, and they sneak in. The adults, including Officer Salzburg (who wasn’t on the main campus during the explosion), are arguing about whether they should travel back in time to prevent the attack. Officer Salzburg is also annoyed because he just found out that the Lewis & Clark program exists. They hear an explosion, and the adults scatter, leaving the kids locked in the Glitching room. To escape the explosion, Elliot and Regan decide to Glitch back to one hour before the attack. Officer Salzburg pops his head back into the room but is too late to stop them.

Using a clue from the Cocoon, Regan realizes that the new security cameras are explosives. Elliot inspects one and determines that it will take too long to dismantle them all in time. They break into Regan’s house to retrieve a map of the cameras’ locations. Regan’s mom sees them and realizes they’re Butterflies. Regan handcuffs her to a desk, and the kids run away. There are too many cameras to retrieve themselves, so they Glitch back to grab the other partner pairs. The kids divide and conquer to fetch all the explosives, planning to Glitch away and ditch them before the hour’s up. When they’re about to leave, security guards stop them. Salzburg appears and accuses them of being Butterflies.

The kids Glitch away. Elliot and Regan return to the Glitching room, where Salzburg is coming toward them. They glitch to a remote place to ditch the bombs, then glitch back and throw one at Salzburg just as he’s about to Glitch away. The bombs heard earlier were those brought back by the other kids; however, since they’ve saved the Academy, their friends didn’t bring the bombs back and don’t remember the trip. However, Regan’s mom is outside waiting to arrest Regan and Elliot for tampering with the past.

Regan and Elliot realize they still need to drop the Cocoon off so that all of this can happen. They quickly write the letter and glitch back to the day they found it. Elliot also writes a second letter to convince Regan’s mom that they were on a training mission and weren’t actual Butterflies. When they return to the mountain, everyone is alive, and nobody is getting arrested. The kids go to bed, and Regan finds another Cocoon under her pillow with Elliot’s name on the front.