"Look at this Percy," Piper said energetically before thrusting the book into my hand. I was still recuperating from the serious conversation I previously had with Reyna, so my body was having a tough time registering Piper's excitement. Never the less, I read the title of the book, Night, by Elie Wiesel. The cover of the book was blue with black illustrated barbed wire wrapped around the front; a Nazi sign was noticeable in the background.
"So it's a book on Hitler, what's your point?" I asked. Piper actually face palmed before looking at me, slightly annoyed.
"Percy, have you even read Night?"
"I don't read much…"
"Clearly, well this is a book about a WWII holocaust survivor. The author talks about his dark experiences during the time; I must admit it the book was quite a depressing read."
"You lost me at holocaust"
"Oh c'mon Percy, the biggest slaughter of a people in the 20th century and you've never even heard of it? You're more like Leo than I thought." Piper said exasperatedly.
"Ok you called me over here to give me a hint, not make fun of me, remember?"
"Whatever; this book was found right here," Piper said while pointing at bookshelf with a series of blue small books, not unlike the one she was holding.
"So what; Ringmaster likes her books color coated, big whoop."
Apparently that hadn't been the answer she was looking for as she wasted no time slapping my arm with the book and going into an explanation of what she truly meant.
"Did you even look at the titles of the other books? They're all small books on government. All accept this book, Night, and that one right there," she said while pointing to another book title that read Schrodinger's Cat.
"I don't think the book about Schrodinger is a real hint, but I know Night is," Piper said confidently.
"How do you know the book about the cat isn't clue worthy?"
"I really don't know, it just doesn't really fit."
"Why not, what's the book about?"
Piper turned thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"I'll try to explain this as simply as possible. Here let me give you an example. Say I flip a coin in the air; you already know there is a 50% chance it lands on heads and the same chance for tails." I nodded my head to show her I was following so far.
"Well, what is it on while it's in the middle of the air?"
"I don't know, both I guess. What does this have to do with a cat?"
"I'm getting there. As you said the coin is on both heads and tails. In quantum physics that's called the law of superposition. That law pretty much states when you don't know the state of an object, it is currently in all possible states. So when I flip the coin, while it's in the air it is on both heads and tails; that is until it lands and you can know for a fact what side it landed on; make sense?"
"Yey I guess so."
"Good, so now on to Schrodinger's experiment. He made an unlikely situation where a cat is placed in a room that is separated from the outside world; with him in the room is a Geiger counter and radioactive metal."
"And a Geiger counter is?"
"Some weird machines that counts the amount of radioactive decay; the Geiger counter is directly above the radioactive material. In the experiment, there is a chance the radioactive material may break down every hour. If it does it will set of the Geiger counter. Now let's say if the Geiger counter does go off, it will activate a poison that will kill the kitty."
"So this is just an elaborate scheme to kill a cat?"
"No, just listen Percy. The cat is in a room where no one can see it and there is only a chance the radioactive metal will breakdown every hour. So at the end of one hour is the cat dead or alive?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Well, according to the law of superposition, it is currently in all states; meaning that the cat is both dead and alive until one answer is confirmed to be true.
"But how can something be both dead and alive?"
"And that's the paradox."
"So what was the point of you telling me that?" I asked slightly annoyed I was being taught something I doubt I'd ever have to use.
"Hey, don't get mad at me; you were the one who asked what the book was about." Piper retorted.
"Whatever, how'd you even know about all that stuff?"
"Simple, I read about it before you came over here." She answered while giving me a cheeky smile. Her face then turned serious as she handed me the book.
"I really do think this is a major hint. Just keep it, see if you can make sense of it."
I had been searching for another five minutes when I found a Find It book. I was tempted to do the childish puzzles but I retrained. Still, I kept the book as I searched, no doubt a children's book at a place like this is some sort of clue.
"Percy, I think I got something" I heard Reyna call to me from across the library. It looked like Piper and Reyna still weren't communicating so I was going to have to be the mediator.
"What you got Reyna?"
"I found this book in a section about economics." She said before handing me said book. The title read The Answer. The front cover had a picture of a black knight on a horse with flames in the background.
"What it about?"
"Some new rising religious group known as the Paladins; they are the self proclaimed great general's of today's 'barbaric' society."
"So what, they're guys who ride horses and stab stuff?" I joked, Reyna gave a small chuckle.
"Not quite, although you weren't far off when it comes to where they got their name from. The original Paladin's were ancient Roman soldiers who were a part of the imperial guard. This religious group sees themselves above all the rest of society."
"So what exactly are the worshipping, or following. I mean they are a religion right?"
"In a sense, each other; they see only members of their high class society as truly human, according to this book. Their goal is to eradicate the entire planet excluding them so that only 'real' people can populate the earth."
"That's kind of insane."
"It is insane, as well as impossible. I can't see how they would have the power to kill the entire planet unless every countries leader decided to join the group. Anyway, I think it's a hint, see if you can make heads or tails of it."
I took the book from Reyna and went back to where I was searching. As I was going back I analyzed the titles of all three books.
Night – Must be a specific time or setting. Maybe the doors only open at night, although I doubt it.
The Answer – What we needed to find a way into the other two rooms.
Find it – The keys are what we needed to find.
I ran these titles through my head until I realized something: if I change the order I say them in…
Find it – I need to find the answer.
The answer – What was the answer?
Night – At night, the answer is at night.
The setting of night is pretty dark. I dropped the books and quickly surveyed the room until I found what I was looking for: a light switch. It was right next to the door we had come in. Without warning I rushed to and turned off the lights.
I immediately heard two sharp female shrieks. Only then did I remember Piper and Reyna were still in the room.
"Sorry guys, but I got the answer. Look" I said which was pretty dumb as the obviously couldn't see where I was pointing. I was pointing at a book that was glowing in the dark.
"Reyna go to the glowing book so I can turn back on the lights"
"Ok, I'm going" I heard her say before hearing her movement.
"Alight I got it" she updated me. I immediately turned the lights back on and rushed towards Reyna, who was already opening the book.
"Good job Percy!" Reyna said positively beaming. She pulled out a small card from the book she was holding.
"We've got a key card"
A/N
This chapter has a lot of info that may not seem important now but I promise it does have some importance to the story later on. I'm trying to get in the habit of daily updates.
