Zrum ziddle zjri zjree, ziddle ziddle and a siddle siddle zrum. Ah yes hello, I am teaching these little ones the song of the overcomers. Come in, come in! I am General Drake Balio, leader of the Garden’s Glone army. When I am not fighting the Tool’s minions in the Book, I love reading in here… the Living Library. I see from the new faces that you brought your friends with you tonight. They are most welcome! Find your places on the floor, as we are about to begin another adventure in Henley’s trek through the Living Tale. There are many large comfortable cushions to lie on while you listen to our story.

I missed seeing some of you in the Book of Treasures, but now you are back. That is good. What an amazing journey Henley Banks is having. Allow me to help those of you who have just joined us with a little recap. Henley Banks is a remarkable boy who does things extraordinarily fast, like when he faced a dragon in the Book of Heroes or jumped on the Flux in the Book of Treasures. In fact, he is moving through the books of the Living Tale faster than anyone else in his family. He is a lot like some of you who jump into an adventure before you think about where you are going. It is all right; there is room in this Tale for adventurers.

If you look at the map on the wall over there you will see that the Banks family lives in Shernod, Ohio on Cherry Street. They have had many new developments since our last meeting. After the many sad days of his father’s deployment, Henley is excited to have him
home. They are all getting used to doing life with him again. Grandpa is also living with them in the apartment over the garage. Right now, he and Bertram Bernham, his good friend, are traveling the U.S. seeing the sights. Henley couldn’t be more thrilled to have him
nearby, especially after nearly losing him in the Book of Heroes. Star McKenzie is another addition to the Banks family. She moved to Shernod soon after coming out of the Book of Treasures. One of these days she …oh, there I go, nearly blurting out a surprise the Gardener has for you. You see I am a creature of action; I am not a storyteller like the Gardener. He can weave many threads together and keep track of them all.

What’s that? Yes, little one. It is good to see you too. You always take a seat near the front. You want to know what happened to Jeffery, Henley’s best friend. Well, how wonderful of you to remember him. We will catch up with him soon. Are there any more questions? Yes, the young lady in the middle sitting on the blue cushion. Hello, it is nice to meet you too. What is the Living Tale? Superb question and one I love to answer. It is the story of your
life that you live out one page at a time. It is the only story that has the power to overcome darkness, to show you how important you are to the Gardener, and to tell you that you carry the heart of a champion. Mind you, this heart does not look like hearts on your side of the
mirror. No, they are quite different in here.

End of Prologue Preview

The smell of smoke jerked Henley from a deep sleep. As he opened one eye, he saw a thick cloud of smoke on his ceiling. Mama and Dad’s training kicked in, so he hopped out of bed, slipped on his sneakers, and he stayed low to the ground. He crawled to his corner window and grabbed the handles of an escape ladder. Once he positioned it in the window frame he would yell for his family.

The smoke sank lower and lower so that Henley had to kneel down to breathe. He would not be able to get the ladder in the window; he would have to yell for them now. As he took a deep breath to shout, a small curl of smoke dipped down and moved into his nose. The unexpected smell of the smoke made him relax and sit calmly. Surprisingly, it smelled warm and inviting. He remembered when a house down the street burned. That smoke made him cough and burned his chest. This did not. As he thought about their different smells the smoke cloud moved in front of him coiled like a garden hose and then slowly stretched down the heater grate that led to the kitchen below his room.

He sat with his head tilted to one side, just starting to lean forward, when the smoke came back up the grate and poked him like a finger in the middle of his chest only to disappear once more. “Game on, little smoke,” he whispered as he quietly pulled on his terry cloth bathrobe. Refusing a challenge was not in his nature, so he tip-toed to the hallway. Henley carefully sniffed the air… no smell of smoke. The house was not on fire. Smoke without fire. What the heck? thought Henley. He walked silently to the steps in pursuit of the pesky cloud.

End of chapter one preview.

“I can do that?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. What do I do first?”

“First you pull some fire from your Hero’s heart.”

“Ok.” Henley looked at the breastplate of his armor of light and as he did a hole big enough to reach through opened up. Underneath his armor, his opalescent heart stone nearly filled the left side of his chest. In the Book he did not see his beating real heart, just his heart stone. Now he could see the core of his heart, his sapphire-colored cherry tree. The intense blue flames burned in the middle of his heart stone as he tried to decide from which branch he should pull a flame. As his fingers penetrated the pearly liquid light that surrounded the tree, he found grasping a flaming branch tricky. He thought it would feel hard like the
branches at home, but it was soft and rolled to the side like a bubble of oil floating in water. After several tries he managed to pinch one between his fingers. He fumbled at first as he tried to keep the flame balanced in his hands. It wobbled around as unpredictable as water. “Now what?”

“Next, you need to blow on it to help it grow, like watering a seedling.”

Henley blew too hard and blew out the flame. “Ugh!” His arms dropped to his sides in protest.

“Try again,” the Gardener urged with a smile.

Henley repeated the steps a little faster and blew lightly. This time he watched his tiny flame double in size, but it did not burn him.

“Now, you’ll need to speak Prime Zunge to it, so it knows what to do once it hits the tree.”

“Wait a minute? Prime what?” Henley nearly dropped his flame but steadied himself and blew on it again.

“It means, the first tongue. It’s the first language I used to make everything. All my creations respond to it.”

“Prime Zunge, very cool!” Henley kept gently blowing on his flame.

“Now, in order to speak it, you need to remember when Numa gave you your adoption scroll on the Flux in the Book of Treasures.”

Henley smiled. “In the Treasure room?”

“Yes, do you remember?”

“How could I forget that? It was one of the best days of my life!” In his excitement he nearly dropped his flame, so he cupped both hands together. “I never knew I had all that gold and silver inside of me. It’s still hard to believe that all that fits inside little ole me.” Henley’s silver adoption scroll that hung from his tree shone brighter in the firelight as he remembered his night on The Flux…

Find out what happens next…

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