Read Mystery in the Library: Chapter IV here.

Staring at all the books in the astronomy section, Pat and Jolly were quite out of their depth for the first time that day. Pat broke the silence and said, ‘’What should we look for here? I don’t even know where to start…’’

Jolly had been scanning the shelves and the titles even though she wasn’t very familiar with the world beyond the blue sky above her head. ‘’Stars appear in the night sky and sometimes even during the day, so let’s look for books about stars for starters.’’ 

They both scanned the spines of the books and pulled out a few to flip through them with the hope that the next clue would fall into their laps. Jolly was looking through a book on constellations when she saw the title ‘Winter constellations’ in the index. Interest piqued, she turned to that chapter and found a red supergiant star looking at her. She turned the page and found a polaroid. 

MERRIN ABRAHAM

Merrin completed her Integrated MA in English Studies from IIT Madras. She is a storyteller, bibliomaniac and a lover of indie music who had a passion for the English language that she dedicated her childhood to reading Victorian literature. Besides drinking bitter coffee and analysing Asian media, she is trying to find a horror story worthy of the genre.

‘’Pat, I think I found something. Come look at this. I was reading about winter constellations and right next to this star, Betelgeuse, was a polaroid. Doesn’t this look like an orange?’’

‘’It looks like an orange, but it is not orange in colour. That looks red. A red orange? If this is a clue I think we need to look for this. A book about plants and fruits might help us.’’ 

As they walked down the aisles looking for the section on plants, Jolly spotted the sign ‘Botany’ and motioned to Pat to follow her. As they scanned aisles and shelves Jolly said, ‘’Remember how you mentioned that all these symbols in the book are winter symbols. I think this might be a winter fruit. Let’s look for a book on fruits that grow in the winter and also any information about oranges. I’ll look for a book on winter fruits and you can look for oranges.’’ Pat nodded and moved to the other end of the shelf. He spotted a book on seasonal fruits and quickly picked it up. As he looked at all the names and pictures he finally found what they were looking for.

‘’It’s a blood orange! Jolly, it’s a blood orange and it grows from December to April! I found it!’’

Jolly rushed over to look at the picture and description. ‘’Amazing Pat! Is there a clue in the book?? Another polaroid?’’ Pat shook his head. 

‘’There isn’t a polaroid.’’ Jolly turned to return to her search. ‘’But… there is a note!’’

‘’Pat! Why didn’t you say that first!’’ Laughing, Pat showed the note to her.

‘’That just says [12°C, 1st January]. How is that a clue? Maybe someone left that note accidentally in that book.’’

‘’I don’t think so.’’ Pat pulled out the illustrations and pointed to the image next to the orange. ‘’The next clue is something related to snow, so it makes sense that the clue is about temperature.’’

‘’Okay, we have the temperature for 1st January. Where does that take us? Does our library keep records of anything?’’

Jolly kept turning it over in her head, as she returned the books to their original spots. ‘’Maybe there is a record of the daily temperature somewhere. Shall we look for that?’’

Pat gave her a thumbs up and said, ‘’First one to figure out where the records are…’’ Jolly didn’t even wait for him to finish before she sped away. Pat took a moment to analyse all the clues they had before making a move. Jolly had long disappeared to look at the miniature layout of the present library since Pat was holding onto the map. None of the sections seemed like they would hold a register or a record of the daily temperature of Cherry Hills. That’s when Jolly spotted ‘Archives’. With a smile she briskly walked towards the Archives.

Share your thoughts on what you think happens next in the comments. Stay tuned for the next part of the story. If you are interested in mysteries and solving clues, join our ‘Crafting Clues’ course to learn more.