Ghosts of Harvard

by Francesca Serritella

  “Thank you, quartet,” Dr. Sutcliffe said when they had finished the second number. “Now for the aural exam. Nikos, I’ll take it from here.”

  Nikos got up from the piano but kept his eyes downcast. Cady was suddenly sure this had been a mistake—he couldn’t even look at her, he thought she was a freak, an awkward reminder of a troubled classmate. She wanted to shrink out of the room and—

  He glanced up, interrupting her mental spiral with a warm, encouraging smile, and he mouthed the words “Good luck.”

  Cady blushed again, this time in relief.

  Dr. Sutcliffe settled behind the piano. “Shall we begin?”

  Cady nodded and the choir director put her through her paces. “Sing the middle note of this chord … up a third … now down a sixth.” And each time, she complied with ease. Finally, Dr. Sutcliffe rose from behind the piano to look at her. “Do you know what note you just sang?”

  “An A,” Cady answered.

  “And how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

  “It sounded like one.”

  “Mm-hm.” He rubbed his mustache again. “Sing me an F sharp.”

  As soon as she had done so, he pressed a finger on a piano key. It matched the tone Cady had just sung. He walked out from behind the piano and folded his arms across his chest. “Absolute pitch occurs in less than one person in ten thousand people. Do you have perfect pitch?”

  “I think so.” Cady felt squirmy under the directness of his gaze.

  “Those with perfect pitch don’t think, they know. Do you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought so. You were nervous when we started, but you shouldn’t be. You have a gift.”

  “Thank you,” Cady said, trying not to look at Nikos.

  “So, what do you think of this piano?”

  She hesitated. “It’s very nice.”

  “And the tuning?”

  This time, no hesitation. “It’s about a semitone flat.”

  Dr. Sutcliffe grinned at Nikos. “Very good.”

  Cady stepped out of the rehearsal room invigorated, keyed up on the adrenaline of the audition but even more on finding her first connection to Eric’s world at Harvard. She was trying to slow her thoughts and plot how next to “run into” Nikos, when a hand touched her shoulder.

  Nikos stood inches from her. “Pardon me, I just wanted to say, you were brilliant in there. Perfect pitch is like a superpower.”

  Cady heard his charming British accent; she tried not to get distracted by it. “Thanks, but I was pretty shaky in the beginning.”

  “Not a’tall. You should’ve heard the mewling before you. I’m Nikos, by the way.”

  I know, I stalked you here. “I’m Cady.” She shook his hand. His brown eyes searched her face, and everything Cady had mentally rehearsed to say to him went out of her head. Her mouth was drier than at the audition.

  But Nikos saved her. “I have to confess, I already knew who you were. I recognized your name, and, of course, the hair. Your brother, Eric, was a dear friend of mine. I miss him very much. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  Relief washed over her. “Thank you.” She liked that Nikos didn’t hesitate to use Eric’s name like so many others. Cady missed the sound of it.

  “I know how lonely this place can be in the beginning, and although it can’t compare to how you must feel, I know a bit about how lonely it feels without Eric. I wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I’m around should you need anything, anything at all.”

  He was saying everything she had hoped he would. She couldn’t speak for the lump in her throat.

  “He talked about you, his brilliant little sister, Cady.”

  “He did?” she managed.

  “Often.” Nikos smiled with one side of his mouth, crinkling the skin beside his eye and under one cheekbone.

  “I think I remember hearing your name, too.” It wasn’t exactly true, but it might as well be. “And if I make the choir, maybe I’ll see you around.”

  “Oh, I’m not a singer. I play the church organ along with U. Choir and occasionally accompany rehearsals on piano, but mostly I practice on my own.”

  “Ah.” Cady hid her disappointment. “Well, then, I’ll let you get back to the auditions.”

  “No need, they have another pianist, I tagged out. But would you like to join me for lunch? I can take you to one of the illustrious river houses. You can’t get in alone as a freshman, but—

  Cady gasped. “My freshman seminar!” Cady had completely forgotten she had a class. “Shit, it’s the first meeting, and I’m late.”

  “Oh, no, where is it? D’you know how to get there?”

  “Um …” Cady rifled through her notebook for her stupid schedule printout. “Sever 207. And no, I have no clue.”

  “Follow me.”

  Nikos led her briskly across the green to Sever Hall, a massive red brick building whose entrance was beneath a semicircular archway like a gaping, hungry mouth. She bade him a hasty goodbye, heaved her shoulder against the heavy door, and rushed up to the second floor, taking the shallow stairs two by two, even three by three. By the time she reached the door with 207 printed on its frosted glass, it was 2:11 p.m. She opened the door.

  “Ah, look, everyone, she’s here!” Professor Hines clapped, a show of mock enthusiasm. Wearing gray slacks, a plain white shirt, and a dark blazer, he seemed younger than other professors, save for the baldness that had patterned his hair into a sharp widow’s peak. Twelve other students were seated around a long dark wood conference table, looking at her.

  “Sorry,” Cady said softly, head down. There was only one seat open, and it was right next to the professor. She took it as quickly as possible, waiting for whatever class discussion to resume. But it didn’t. The entire room remained silent for an excruciating minute. She saw her classmates’ eyes dart at each other in confusion. She mustered the courage to turn and look at Professor Hines, sitting just inches from her.

  He was staring at her, resting his cheek in his hand, smiling. But there was nothing kind about the twist of his thin lips, and his hip plastic glasses did little to soften his gimlet eyes.

  Not knowing what else to do, she repeated her apology. “I—I’m sorry I was late. It won’t happen again.”

  Professor Hines crossed his arms, still smiling. “Well?” he said, lifting his eyebrows into a wide expanse of forehead.

  Cady had no idea what he wanted her to do or say. She looked to her classmates, not a familiar face among them.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” he continued. “I assumed, since you’re important enough to keep us all waiting, you would have something to say that was worth the wait.”

  “I don’t think I’m important. I just got lost getting here.” Cady could barely get the words out.

  Professor Hines made an exaggerated pout. “Of course you did. You’re new.” He paused. “Not like these other freshmen.”

  She felt a flash of tingly hot embarrassment.

  “Speaking of your classmates, you missed the introductions, where we went around the room saying our names, places of origin, et cetera. Now, you’ll probably never remember everyone’s name and none of these people will be your friends. Of course, everyone will remember you, Cadence Archer, because you will go down in class history as the girl who came late on the very first day. That’s irony.”

  The heat in her cheeks had traveled up to behind her eyes, but Cady knew tears would only bait him. She never used to cry easily, not until Eric. “It won’t happen again.”

  “No, usually it doesn’t.” Professor Hines stood up and faced the class as if he were an actor on a stage. “This sometimes happens with freshmen. You arrive here puffed up and proud. You’re used to being the smartest person in the room, the best student, valedictorian of God-Knows-Where High School. Well, kids, you’re not in Kansas
anymore. This place will humble you whether you like it or not. Or, at the very least”—he put his hand on his heart—“I will.”

  The class shifted uneasily in their seats.

  “Now where was I? Irony, right. Irony is a topic we’ll be exploring at length in this seminar. An excellent example of a poet exploiting irony is in the dramatic monologues of Robert Browning. Perhaps his most famous was ‘My Last Duchess’ … ”

  For the next forty-five minutes, Cady kept her head bowed to her notebook and didn’t dare look up, much less raise her hand. She tried to take notes, but all she could think about was how no paper she could write, no observation she could make, no amount of arriving on time, was going to change this man’s first impression of her. Cady had been the most excited about this class; all the freshman seminars required a submission to get into, she had slaved over her essay for it, and this was her only small class, all the rest were lectures. So in the one class where the professor actually knew she existed, he thought she was a snot. Ugh, she cringed to herself. How had she let this happen?

  When the clock mercifully struck three and Professor Hines dismissed the class, Cady bolted for the door. The freedom of the hallway was in her grasp when a voice called her back. “Miss Archer,” said Professor Hines. He beckoned her with his finger. “A quick word. Wouldn’t want to make you late for your next class.”

  Cady inhaled, heading back against the exiting students until she reached him. “I want to apologize again for my lateness. It’s really not like me, I’m usually very punctual, and I think it may have given you a false impression—”

  “I don’t care,” Professor Hines cut her off. “Really, I don’t need your life story. When you show up late in my class, it disrespects me. And when you disrespect me in front of my class, that’s embarrassing. So it’s simple, every time you embarrass me, I’ll embarrass you. And trust me, I’m good at it.”

  No shit, she thought.

  “As for impressions, your work in this class will impress me or it won’t. That’s up to you. Understand?”

  Cady nodded.

  “That’s a good girl. See you next week.”

  Cady left, fuming as she descended the stairs of Sever. ‘Good girl’—what right did he have to talk to her like that? Who the hell was he? She didn’t care if he liked her or not, he could fail her for all she cared, she had two words to say to him and two words only. Fu—

  “Hey!”

  Cady looked up just in time to avoid colliding with the tall boy in front of her, but it took another beat for his greeting to register. “Sorry—what?”

  “Are you okay? That was rough in there.” He raised his light eyebrows, blond like his close-cropped hair, and looked expectantly at Cady, then added, “My bad, I forgot you missed introductions. I’m Alex from the seminar we just had together?”

  “Oh, right, I’m sorry—”

  “You can stop apologizing. Professor Hines is gone.”

  She laughed. “Thanks. And my name is Cady.”

  “Oh, I remembered your name. Hines was kinda right about that part.”

  Cady groaned.

  “No, come on, I’m kidding. I would’ve remembered anyway.” Alex glanced over his shoulder. “And Hines seems like a total asshole.”

  Cady’s whole body relaxed. “He does, right?”

  “Yeah, he’s crazy. You were like five minutes late.”

  “Erm, more like eleven.”

  “No, we aren’t even expected to be in class until seven past the hour—Harvard’s unwritten rules. And I got there just a little before you did, and he didn’t say a thing. No idea why he freaked out on you.”

  “Well, thanks. I’m glad to know his hatred of me is personal more than anything.”

  Alex laughed; he had a great laugh, Cady thought. They chatted as they descended to the first floor. With his crew cut and denim-blue eyes, Alex looked like he’d grown up on fresh air and a glass of milk a day. She almost didn’t believe him when he said he was from Brooklyn.

  The ground floor was more crowded, people entering and exiting Sever swarmed around them, and they were jostled apart midsentence among the cattle chute congestion by the front doors. When Cady did emerge, she squinted in the afternoon sunlight, trying to spot Alex among the backpacks and bobbing heads.

  “Cadence!”

  She turned and saw Nikos waving to her. She smiled and went toward him, happy to see another friendly face.

  When she reached him, Nikos put his hands on both her shoulders. “My dear, did you survive?”

  She was about to answer when Alex suddenly reappeared at her side. “See you around,” he said with a nod of his head.

  “Oh—” Cady turned to him, but Alex was already quickly walking away. “See you,” she said anyway.

  Nikos grabbed her hand and her attention back. “Let’s have a look at you.” He pulled her from the herd and twirled her around. “All in one piece? Thank goodness.”

  “You’re surprised?”

  “Well, you were late to Professor Hines’s class. He’s a notorious prick. I was worried about you. But I’m pleased to see you appear unscathed.”

  “Not exactly.” Cady rolled her eyes and told him what had happened. “And then that guy told me that he was late too, and Hines didn’t say anything to him. Why’d he get off the hook and I get attacked?”

  “What guy?”

  “Alex, that guy who, just, a guy in my seminar.”

  “He was late too?” Nikos crossed his arms over his red jacket. “Would’ve been nice of him to stand up for you in the moment, no?”

  Cady frowned. She hadn’t thought of that.

  “You’ll soon learn that this is a place full of brown-nosers. Occasionally, you get a warm, fuzzy, we’re-all-in-the-trenches-together feeling, but it’s a clever trick to lull you into complacency while they steal your notes.”

  Cady hoped he was kidding. She pulled her quilted jacket more tightly around her. “Did you wait all this time?”

  “No, I’m afraid I’m not that devoted, darling, not yet. We’ve only just met this morning.”

  Cady couldn’t help but giggle. Nikos wasn’t like any guy she’d met before. He was confident and quick; his brain seemed to work three times as fast as hers. Or maybe it was the accent. “But I did come back ’round after my thesis meeting, so that should count for something.”

  “It does. I appreciate it.” Cady was touched that a friend of Eric’s would go out of his way to make sure she didn’t feel alone. She had to catch herself from thinking his interest in her could be more than surrogate-brotherly concern. It didn’t take much to see that Nikos was a flirt. The only thing Cady couldn’t figure out was how he and Eric had been close friends; they were so different. Eric was shy around girls, she had never seen him act flirty, he specialized in nursing a crush from afar.

  “And since you were in such a rush, I didn’t get to show you the very best part of Sever.”

  “No, thanks. I’m not going back in there until I have to.”

  “You won’t have to go inside. Trust me.”

  The Yard had emptied out, and only a few students strolled through the green, the rest were tourists, some in flocks with a leader holding a small flag or umbrella, and others alone with a camera. Cady would have to get used to attending a school that people traveled halfway around the globe just to photograph, and she couldn’t blame them. Right now, Memorial Church stood before her, a glorious red brick structure with marble steps, solid round columns, and a snowy white spire that reached toward heaven. It faced the enormous Widener Library, whose facade featured an expanse of marble stairs leading to imposing Roman columns. So far, Cady had been too intimidated to enter either building.

  Cady reluctantly followed Nikos back to Sever’s main archway, where he positioned her so her shoulder was flush beside it. “Now, what is so very sp
ecial about this archway is that if you stand very close to it, like this, and whisper directly into the bricks, you can be heard all the way on the other side of the archway there.”

  “Really?”

  “I swear. It’s my favorite detail of any building here. Reminds me of the whispering wall in my grandmother’s garden in England—magical things are more ordinary over there.”

  Cady put her hand up against the rough brick. “How do you know all this?”

  Nikos’s dark eyes flashed as his mouth curled to an impish grin. “I know everything.”

  “I think you’re full of it.”

  “Let’s try it, you’ll see. It’s just math and acoustical physics, I could explain it if you like.”

  “Don’t bother, I wouldn’t understand it.”

  “Of course you would, you’re Eric Archer’s sister.”

  She smiled.

  “But it might bore you to tears, so believe its magic instead. Now you stay there,” Nikos said, walking backward to the other side. “I’ll whisper you a secret message, and then you whisper something to me, and we’ll reconvene.”

  “Okay.” Cady waited for him to take his position on the other side. When he did, she put her ear against the archway’s edge. At first she flinched; the cold emanating from the bricks cooled her cheek like ice. But the whistling wind already sounded amplified, and her curiosity was piqued. She leaned in a second time and listened to the soft voice funneled into her ear.

  It takes only an error to father a sin.

  Cady felt a chill down the nape of her neck, and not from the cold.

  Nikos was grinning at her. He put his own ear up to the wall and motioned her to go ahead.

  Cady faced the wall and covered her mouth, knowing it was her turn to play, but it didn’t feel like a game anymore. Did he really just say that? Did it mean what she thought it might?

  With so many questions swirling in her brain, she couldn’t summon a reply.

  Nikos pulled back after a minute and strode back to her. “I couldn’t hear you at all. Did you hear me?”