Three Books

Rhett leads us to a back room filled with tons of tall books. There were shelves that filled the entire room from floor to ceiling. How far back do these go?

Rhett goes over to the fifth row from the door and goes to the third shelf. He grabs a book that comes from around the beginning.

"This book contains how the statue was built in 1942," Rhett goes back to the shelf, "but this book of 1941 explains why the city wanted to put it up," he goes back to grab another book, "and this one of 1940 tells how the people went to the city council and told them they wanted a statue. It was a long process."

I look at the three books, "So the statue was built? The legend isn't true?"

"You'll have to read to find out," Rhett winks at me and walks out of the room.

What does that mean? Is it true? It seems like it is with the way he winked at me.

Jasper sighs, "I guess I'll take the 1941 book."

"I'll take 1940. Atlas, looks like you're stuck with '42," Felix hands me the book.

I sit down on the floor, leaning my back up against the shelf he grabbed them off. The boys do the same.

I open to the first page, "Make sure you read anything interesting you find out loud."

They nod and continue to scan their pages. What do I look for exactly? This whole book can't tell the entire story of Jasper, or the statue. He said it was built, but I don't know if that was for sure.

I continue to scan the pages until I see, The Building of the Statue in the City Square. This looks promising. I start to read it.

"I might have something," I wait until I have their attention, "Under a section called The Building of the Statue in the City Square. It reads, 'We, the City Council, have decided to start a project that the people of the city wanted. It will start on March 13, 1942 and is predicted to end on August 22, 1942. The project is to build a statue, but we have decided to make it much more than just a statue.

"'We will make it a person that is frozen in time. We believe the person should only be frozen because they wouldn't be able to find their soulmate. We will use a test subject that our lab has created. It has been growing for twenty-four years. The subject, named Jasper, will be twenty-four years old for the entire time he'll be frozen. Jasper will turn twenty-five on September 29 in whatever year he is unfrozen,'" I stop reading.

Jasper seems shocked, "How did they freeze me?"

I skim farther down, "Uh, it looks like they used a time rift that could only be broken by the touch of a soulmate. It doesn't go into detail of how they got that to work."

"I think they would program it by using the pulse of your soulmate to break it. I don't know how they would know what the pulse would be specifically to your soulmate, but they did," Felix stands up.

Jasper stretches, "How could we use that to find out who my soulmate is?"

"Well, 1942 wasn't that long ago so the person that did the technology might still be alive and be able to tell us." I close my book, "Whose book do you think that would be in?"

Felix sits back down, "I guess we'll have to look to find out."

I chuckle and open my book back to the page I was on. I read the rest of the section, but I come up empty. I close my book and stand up to stretch. We have been sitting for what feels like a few hours.

Jasper closes his book and walks around the room. I stay in there until Jasper come back to where I am standing and we sit down.

"James Robert Matthews!" Felix jumps up, "He did it. We found him."

Rhett walks in, "What's with all of the commotion? This is the library after all, and I would like you guys to keep it down."

"We found a guy that can help us solve our problem. Do you know anything about James Robert Matthews?" Jasper is quick to ask.

Rhett thinks, "He was the scientist in the city that worked on the statue. I think he died in the 1970s of a bad accident in the lab."

I feel the color drain from my face. I bet they feel the same way. I can't believe he's dead.

Who are we going to ask now? I thought he would still be alive and being able to help us out.