not Yale or Harvard or the freaking Royal Music whatever but it’s in-fi-nite-ly superior to any of them in my not-so-humble opinion—I feel I’m already significantly more accomplished than your average nineteen-year-old.”
The silence continued after she finished; the rest of the room appeared to be waiting, as if the faucet of words might be turned back on full blast at any second.
“I’m done,” Neela said. “You can talk now.”
Kevin, shockingly, was the first to break the silence. “I don’t know what the fuck you just said, but I think I love you.”
“I’m also a lesbian,” Neela added quickly. “For the record. And I’m not just saying that because you expressed an emotional connection to me, even if it was only used for comic effect.”
“Duly noted.”
“Right,” Leah said, exhaling slightly as she turned to Mr. Yale, who still lounged on the sofa, nodding in and out of sleep. “Would you care to introduce yourself, Wes?”
“Nah,” he said with a yawn, too tired (or lazy) to bother covering his mouth. “You’ll do it better.”
Leah arched an eyebrow. “Wesley Song comes to us from right here in Las Vegas, by way of Yale….”
Wes laughed as if he were in slow motion, a grumbling noise that reminded Persey of an outboard motor sputtering to life, and she wondered just how much weed this guy smoked. “Not anymore. Institutionalized education is such a…”
“Necessity?” Shaun suggested.
“Privilège,” Mackenzie said on top of him, with perfect French pronunciation.
“Drag,” Wes said heavily. “I’m getting an advanced degree in life now, man.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Arlo asked. Her words, as always, sounded confrontational.
Wes sat up, and Persey could see that his eyelids were pink and puffy. “You know. Living? Do you even know how to do that? Like really do that?”
Arlo stared at him, unblinking. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re really ‘living.’ Your parents must be rich as fuck to facilitate your first-world male-privilege bullshit.” She turned to Leah. “How the hell did he get invited?”
“Now look,” Leah said, clapping her hands again like a schoolteacher to gather everyone’s attention. “You all have one thing in common. One reason why you deserve this invitation.” Leah folded her arms across her chest. “You scored the highest of all participants in the Hidden Library escape room.”
Grumbling rippled through the group, and Persey caught snippets and words: “audition,” “not real,” “now it makes sense.”
“The Hidden Library was the most difficult escape room ever created, an update of last year’s Prison Break challenge, which was supposed to be the first unbeatable room.” She paused, lips pressed together as if remembering something horrible. “Updated and improved with one purpose in mind: to find the most talented code breakers, pattern identifiers, and puzzle solvers in the world.”
“I.e., us,” Wes added.
Leah’s poise never faltered. “Exactly. Which is why most of you received invitations to participate. We wanted to ensure that the brightest minds got a crack at this room, and we were not disappointed. You all scored the highest aptitudes in your attempts to solve the Hidden Library.”
Riot whistled through parted lips. “That thing was tough.”
“Thank you,” Leah said, accepting Riot’s words as a compliment. “It was designed to be unbeatable, and it almost was.”
“Almost?” Shaun asked. “It was my understanding no one had actually beaten it.”
“No one had. Until two weeks ago.” The explanation should have come from Leah, but it was Arlo who had spoken the words. She looked (glared) right at Persey. “By her.”
MACKENZIE SPUN TOWARD KEVIN, WHO STOOD BEHIND PERSEY. “You mean him.”
Seriously?
Kevin was (too) quick to make sure he wasn’t getting any undo credit. “Man, I wish.”
“How did you know?” Shaun asked Arlo. Persey was wondering the same thing.
Arlo rolled her eyes. “Don’t you guys follow the Escape-Capades feed? There’s a photo of her win.”
Persey sucked in a breath. I shouldn’t have agreed to do this. “There is?”
“Yep,” Arlo said. “I mean, your hands are up in front of your face all hiding-from-the-paparazzi style, but I recognized you.”
“Totes true!” Kevin said. “I was there to see it. Lemme tell you, that thing was impossible. The freaking ‘Pardoner’s Tale’? That’s a deep-ass cut.”
Riot sucked in a breath. “Fuuuuck. ‘The Pardoner’s Tale.’ ‘If that ye be so leef to fynde Deeth, turne up this croked wey,’” he said, quoting the same passage as Professor Rohner. It was like the Canterbury Tales sound bite. “I’m a freaking idiot.”
“‘And gladly wolde he lerne,’” Neela said, “‘and gladly teche.’”