Harvard and I don’t usually tell people that I went to Harvard.”
Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “Except, like, right now.”
“And Mackenzie,” Leah said, quickly stepping between them, “is currently studying abroad.”
“At the Royal College of Music in London,” Mackenzie added. She shot Mr. Yale a withering glance. “That’s in England.”
“As opposed to the one in the Bronx?” Slytherin quipped.
Mackenzie tilted her head. “There’s a London in the Bronx?”
“Um, no. I just meant, like, where the fuck else would the Royal College of Music in London be?”
“Are you making fun of me?” Mackenzie whirled on her, nostrils flared. Slytherin had hit Mackenzie’s insecure spot. “Because I’m not the kind of person who ever gets made fun of, okay? I’m hot as fuck, charming, and fun. I’m a classically trained opera singer, so I’m, like, totally cultured, and I speak four languages, plus Latin.”
Latin isn’t a language?
“Plus, I’ve solved escape rooms in France, Spain, Latvia, Sweden, and Germany,” Mackenzie continued. “Where have you solved them?”
Slytherin’s face never flinched, her eyes never faltered. It was like watching two alpha wolves stalk each other for dominance. “I won’t wait for our hostess to out me. I’m Arlo Wu. I live in Brooklyn, where I run a pop-culture lifestyle website, and I’m really into Harry Potter.”
“Arlo was invited due to her renowned encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, focusing on the latter half of the twentieth century,” Leah added. “You might have seen her appearances on the Today show?”
“Third hour.”
Everyone turned to the back of the room where Harvard Mohawk still perused the shelves. The comment had clearly come from him, despite the fact that he appeared not to be paying attention.
“Excuse me?” Arlo said.
“You made five guest spots on the third hour of the Today show,” he said. “That’s the one they reserve for C-level guests.”
“Sounds about right,” Mackenzie said with a laugh.
“C-level or not,” Arlo said with a shrug, “my website gets over two million unique hits a month, and I have paid advertisers from twelve different countries. And you have…?”
“Meet Riot Ramirez,” Leah said. Her grin was beginning to look strained.
“Riot?” Shaun asked. “Your parents named you Riot?”
“‘My name engrav’d herein,’” Riot said, his tone elevated. “‘Doth contribute my firmnesse to this glasse.’” He reminded Persey of Professor Rohner, who quoted Chaucer lovingly, reverently, as if he’d written it himself.
“Philip Sidney?” Neela asked. “Spenser? Not Jonson, he’s more lyrical, I think.”
Riot glanced over his shoulder. He’d shown a decided lack of interest in the conversation taking place behind him, but his eyes found Neela immediately, as if he knew exactly who had spoken.
“Close,” he said, seeming to appreciate her knowledge. “John Donne.”
Leah crossed the room to the bookcase he was examining and pulled out a leather-bound volume from the shelf above his head. “Riot’s getting his master’s degree now, but as an undergrad, he was known as something of a savant when it came to English literature, the Elizabethan period especially.” She glanced at the cover. “I believe this will interest you?”
When Riot’s eyes met the cover, they grew wide. “Is this the Voynich manuscript?”
“A rare copy,” Leah said, handing the book to him.
“Holy shit.” Riot stroked the cover lovingly. “I’ve never even seen one in person.”
Leah grinned. “Once a librarian, always a librarian.”
Neela cleared her throat while Riot gaped at the book in his hands. “I’m also not going to wait for an introduction, because anticipation makes me nervous and besides even though I’m an INTP heavy on the introvert, also known as the ‘thinkers’ of the personality portrait world, I’m not exactly shy and I’m perfectly capable of introducing myself and my accomplishments, which mainly involve math, math puzzles, math theory, and tactile puzzle solving, as well as a few published articles on the human brain’s innate problem-solving ability in regard to patterns and yes, I know you’re thinking, Oh my God, she’s way too young to do all of that! Well, yes and no…”
She paused and took a deep breath, replenishing her lungs. Persey half expected someone to jump in with a question, but silence hung heavy in the room as everyone stared at Neela in dumbfounded awe. Not that Neela noticed (cared). As soon as her breath was noisily inhaled, she started again.
“…because age is merely an arbitrary delineation of the physical being and has nothing whatsoever to do with the human mind’s ability to learn and develop and grow, beyond the obvious neonatal period, so even though I’ve just finished my freshman year at Vanderbilt—and yes, I know, it’s