“Zum ziddle zigh ziddle zrum ziddle zree and a zrum zrum zigh ziddle zum ziddle zree.

Oh how good it is to be singing the song of the champions again with you. Welcome, welcome, children, to the story. I am so glad you came to the Living Tale library. We’re just about to read Star McKenzie’s story. Please take your seats on the cushions or climb a tree if you are more comfortable up there.

Ah, yes, the little one with so many questions who sits at my feet, hello! I’m glad you’re back. And I see you have brought some new friends with you to listen to our tale. From the looks on their faces, they have not been in the Living Tale library. Let me assure you there are no ants crawling or bugs biting in here. Yes, children, sit anywhere you like. It is a perfect day for a story.

Now that you are comfortable, may I introduce myself? I am Drake Balio, general of the Gardener’s Iodian Army; that’s the purple army on your side of the reflection. I am also narrator of the Living Tale. What is the Living Tale, my new friend? That is a very good question. It is the story we are all born into, and it is this tale that has the power to transform an orphan into a powerful child, a tale that overcomes cold death with amazing life, and a tale that brings victory to the least likely conqueror. Its twists and turns cover many places, so it will take many books to unfold. Today we are jumping
into the Book of Treasures.

Permit me to show you around, my new friends, before we start our journey. We wouldn’t want you wandering off into a book and getting lost. You see, all our books are alive here in the Refreshing, so we can enter them at any time and walk around. On your side of the reflection you can enter through the mirror in the Book, but we’ll talk about that later. First, I want to show you the book we read yesterday. Now where did the curator put it? Ah, yes, here it is.

Everyone who enters the Living Tale for the first time goes into the Book of Heroes. You can find it here in this one large volume that we fondly call The Book. It holds all the different books we read. Why just yesterday we read from Henley and the Book of Heroes. What fun that was! Let me tell you a little bit about him before I introduce Star to you. Henley Banks is a nine-year-old boy from Shernod who has been learning how exciting it can be to have his hero’s heart ignited. What is a hero’s heart? Well, that is another good question. You see, everyone is born with seeds of greatness lying dormant in their hearts. Only after meeting the Gardener, the King of the Living Tale, do these seeds germinate into a flaming hero’s heart. That’s when things really get exciting, because the new hero sets out on many
adventures, each growing a new part of that heart until it is large and hot. Inside the Living Tale these hearts look like white-hot stones that we call heart stones out of which grows…

End of Prologue Preview. 

The hot sands and the desert sun pelted Star McKenzie’s face. For weeks she had successfully ignored these daily nuisances, but today it was too much. Tears rolled down her cheeks, searing her dry, olive skin.

“No treasure over here,” she muttered to herself as she sifted dirt through a screen. “No treasure over there. No treasure anywhere! I hate this place.”

Hadn’t she come to discover a great treasure and become a somebody? But no, day after day she only discovered new ways for sand to rub her the wrong way. So she sat in the desert of Iraq working on Doctor Bertrand Burnham’s pet project—finding Esther’s scrolls.
Initially she was excited to come, but now she wondered why she ever agreed to it. Her mind drifted away from her dry scenery as she used her memory as a tool of escape to the
day she and Ms. Ficus walked into Dr. Burnham’s anthropology lecture.

“Now, Star, I know you are a little nervous about the prospect of flying to Iraq, but imagine what an archeological
discovery would do for a high school girl like you,” said Ms. Ficus. Her high-heeled shoes echoed down the long hallway leading to an auditorium.

Star immediately knew the term “like you” was a nice way to call her an orphan. Life was hard enough without her family, let alone everyone reminding her about it. “Are you sure I can travel out of England during my foreign exchange term?” asked Star. “Shouldn’t we check with my foster parents back home?”

Ms. Ficus parted the crowd like the bow of a ship as she spied their seats. “Well we certainly can call them if you like, but I doubt they would deny you such a wonderful opportunity.”

Star followed her down a row of chairs thinking and not really watching where she was going. “If you think it is all right, then I guess—”

“Star, darling, you need to sit down. The professor is about to begin.” Star looked a little embarrassed as she realized she was the only one still talking and standing. She took her seat next to her host mother and sank into her chair.

Ms. Ficus’s manicured hand gave her a pat of reassurance as a khaki-clad professor began his lecture. Star remembered how he discussed his theory of the location of the Hadassah scrolls through a very heavy British accent. Every time he spoke his lower lip would meet his upper teeth, making him look a bit buck toothed and gave his words a sharp beginning. Much to Star’s irritation he also whistled on words like sand and somewhere. She tried to ignore his speech while she listened to him theorize that the scrolls were buried “somewhere in the sands west of modern day Baghdad. Someday, the good Gardener will divulge their location.”

“Sounds great, but he’s a Living Tale freak,” she recalled, whispering to Ms. Ficus in the university’s immense, sloped auditorium. Ms. Ficus made no motion to acknowledge
Star’s comment but wrote in perfectly clear manuscript letters on Star’s notebook: Don’t worry about Burning Ham who digs in sand.

Star tried hard to suppress a laugh, but it burst out despite her best efforts right at the moment when Dr. Burnham asked if there were any volunteers willing to join his, “jaunt into the sands of time.” Thinking the sound came from Ms. Ficus, he asked, “Yes, the beautiful lady with the long, dark hair dressed in the blue and magenta sweater. Are you willing to join the adventure of a lifetime?”

“No thank you, Professor, but my young friend, Ms. McKenzie, sounds interested.” She waved an elegant hand toward Star, delivering the complete impact of the embarrassment fully in her lap, while her crisp upstate New York accent intrigued the audience.

End of chapter one preview.

Star heard the phone ring on the other end; someone finally answered.

“Hello, this is Malori Ficus.”

“Ms. Ficus, this is Star.”

“Star, darling, how are you faring?”

“What?”

“How are you doing? You know you just need patience.
Hang in there.”

“Well, that’s why I am calling.”

“Do you need something? Star, you sound out of breath. Are you all right?”

“Yes, yes everything is fine. In fact, we found a cave. It was full of scrolls!”

“Oh, Star, that is marvelous!” Her excited tone quickly became serious. “What kind of scrolls?”

“Well, so far they are all signed by some Esther Queen of Persia. And they’re kinda stupid. Did you know that she wrote down what she bought for her bedroom?”

“Ha, ha, you did it, Star. Fantastic! Now, darling, have you told anyone else about the scrolls?”

“No, you are the first person I called.”

“Super… Tell you what. Why don’t I come down there and celebrate with you! We can fly home together.”

“Really? I would love to see you. Dr. Burnham and his foreman are getting on my nerves.”

“Let me make some calls, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Ok. See you soon!”

“Right, see you soon.” Ms. Ficus hung up the phone, laughing and smiling to herself. “Well, that girl did it. She found the scrolls.”

She dialed a new number and waited for someone to pick up. “Hello, Mr. O’Toole. Are you still interested in Persian scrolls?…Yes, I’ve located a sizeable collection… Certainly, I’ll get more details and get back to you…No, no one knows about them. They’re hidden.

Find out what happens next…

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