“The chain in the small can,” Nick replied. “With a snap on the five beat.”
North looked up at me. “Just count it out in your head,” he said. “One, two, three, four, snap. Over and over.” I nodded, suddenly nervous I’d screw it up.
The guys tinkered with their instruments as North got the chain and the canister from the top of the coffin and knelt on the floor by his laptop.
“‘No Vacancy,’” Nick said when everyone was ready, and the others nodded. “One, two, three—” And they all started to play. I was so taken with the instant fury of their fingers and hands that I almost forgot to snap, but North caught my eye just in time. He, meanwhile, was dropping the chain in the canister and picking it up again. I closed my eyes so I could focus on my snapping and immediately got lost in the music. The snaps came instinctively then. I didn’t even have to count them out.
They played three songs, and there were snaps in two of them. North used the coins in the cans, and the chain on the marble, each combination becoming its own instrument, integral to the whole. Something inside me stirred and moved as I listened to the last song, the one without any snaps, watching North’s face from behind my lowered lashes. This music was better than anything on my playlist. It baffled me that these guys could be so off the radar.
“That’s a wrap,” North said when they were finished. My heart sank a little. I didn’t want it to end.
The guys said their good-byes and cleared out as quickly as they’d come, leaving North and me alone again.
“So, you’re their sound engineer?” I asked as North slid his laptop back into the front pocket of his backpack.
“Basically. They used to record at a studio in Boston, but it was expensive, and the end result wasn’t any better than what we were getting here. So I bought some sound software and some mics and started doing their stuff myself.”
“But you seem so antitechnology.”
He laughed. “Antitechnology? Hardly. Anti-handing-over-my-autonomy-to-a-two-by-four-inch-rectangle? Yes.”
“So you don’t use one?”
“A handheld?” He hesitated for a sec then shook his head. “I can’t use a Gemini without using its interface.”
“And you’re anti-Gemini because . . . ?”
“Because I know how it works,” he said, then switched off the lantern. The rain had stopped, but the sun was nowhere to be found. I felt my muscles twitch as the anxiety I’d been putting off rushed back in. I practically leaped to my feet.
“I should go,” I said quickly, moving toward the entrance. “I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“You still don’t know how late it is,” North pointed out.
“Yes, thank you,” I said irritably, sliding just a little on the slick grass as I stepped outside. North caught me by the elbow, and my whole body felt it.
“So I have to make a quick stop,” he said as we set off back toward the fence. He was keeping both his voice and his head down now, moving quickly and quietly. His caution only intensified my rising panic. What was I thinking, coming out here like this? I so easily could’ve gotten caught. Not to mention the mountain of homework I’d just blown off. On the first day of school, no less. The dean’s welcome speech came barreling back. Wisdom is not for the faint of heart, he said. Not all of you will complete our program. Not all of you are meant to.
“You game?” I heard North say.
“What?”
“I asked if you wanted to come with me to pick up my hard drive. The shop’s just down the street from Paradiso. It’s cool, they have tons of old—”
I cut him off. “I have to get back. I need to get my stuff and get back to campus.”
“Ah. The nightingale returns to her cage,” said North.
“Theden is hardly a cage,” I retorted.
“I wasn’t talking about your school.” North made a little rectangle with his thumb and index finger and then jerked toward it, as if yanked by a magnet or a leash.
I rolled my eyes, refusing his help as I climbed back over the fence, holding my empty cup with my teeth. A jagged link scratched a line down my forearm, but I didn’t react. He hopped over easily, landing lightly on the other side. I walked ahead of him as we made our way back downtown, in a hurry to check my phone. As long as no one had been looking for me, I was probably okay.
“Well, thanks for coming with me,” North said when we reached Paradiso’s door. “I’d walk you back to campus, but—”
“I’ll be fine,” I said quickly.
There was an awkward second or two where we just stood there, looking at each other in the near-dark, North with his backpack, his thumbs hooked in his belt loops, me clutching my empty cup with both hands. My brain was yelling at me to get back to campus, but my feet were rooted in place. Then North smiled and started to say something, but I cut him off.
“I probably won’t be able to hang out again for a while,” I told him. “Things are gonna get busy with school, and I need to focus. Theden is really intense.” I needed to say it, to remind myself, but as soon as the words were out, I realized how bitchy I sounded. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “It’s just that—”
“I wasn’t aware that I’d asked to hang out with you again,” he said with a smirk. I felt myself flush. “But thanks for letting me know.” He turned and headed off down the sidewalk, whistling as he walked.
Hershey was perched on my desk in our bedroom, waiting for me.
“Where were you?” she demanded.
“Library.” It was the obvious choice for an alibi, since there was no risk that Hershey had been there. I’d decided on my way back not to tell her where I’d been. She had her secrets. Why shouldn’t I have some of my own? I dropped my bag on the floor by my desk and my eye caught the Café Paradiso logo on a half-crumpled napkin inside. I nudged the bag under my desk with my foot. “Why?” I asked, keeping my face neutral. “Were you looking for me?”
“Only for the past two hours,” Hershey replied, still studying me with narrowed eyes. “You weren’t showing up on Forum.”
“My phone was on private,” I said with a shrug, which was true. North had toggled the switch before locking it in the cabinet.
“Well, it would’ve been nice to send me a text,” Hershey said, her tone telling me that the inquisition was over. “I was worried about you.”
I’d stepped into our closet, so she didn’t see me make a face. I highly doubted that my roommate’s interest in my whereabouts had anything to do with my well-being. More like she was worried she was missing out on something. I stepped out of my mud-splattered shoes and into a clean pair, exchanging my damp cardigan for a jacket.
“Sorry,” I told her when I stepped back out. “Next time, I will.” It was a promise I could keep, because next time @ the library wouldn’t be a lie. Unless I wanted to end up a dropout like my mom, I had to get my head in the game. I was already working out how late I’d have to stay up to finish the homework I’d blown off during my little graveyard excursion. “Ready to eat?” I asked Hershey. Dinner started at six and it was already ten after.
“I wish I had your discipline,” she said, linking her arm through mine as we stepped into the hall. “You work so hard.” I resisted the urge to make another face, since this time Hershey could see me. I’d wondered when she’d bring up the Hepta thing, and this was clearly her segue into it. She’d minimize its significance by emphasizing my effort. But she didn’t go where I thought she would. “Doesn’t the stress ever get to you?” she asked instead. “The pressure, the expectation. I’ll bet the risk of a nervous breakdown is nearly doubled for someone like you.”