Living the Secret

By Jo-Marie

Imagine being a very tiny person in a world of giants? What if the first bug you ever meet wants you for dinner?

A scratching noise attracts Aydens attention. He turns his head just as a huge thing crawls up around the side of the branch, sees him, and quickens its pace. Ayden screams! He tries to crawl away, but the creature moves a lot faster than he does. Its survival time! The monstrous bug is more than five times his size!

The world outside Maple Community is not what Ayden & Jayden expect. The twins learn that a major secret has been kept from them. Actually, more than one secret exists.

Will they survive outside the tree?

Join Ayden & Jayden as they face the many dangers in the outside world and begin to live the secret.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490863870

Jo-Marie

Jo-Marie is a full-time author for the Adi’s World book series. Her first two books, Adi’s World and Living the Secret, are now in print. The final book of her first series should be in print later this year. Jo-Marie lives in Goodyear, Arizona. She is married and the mother of two great adult sons. She taught elementary school for twenty-four years in Illinois and Arizona, retiring in June of 2014. She is now an indie author, currently working with Westbow Press. She is also the owner of her own business, Jo’s Journey, LLC. Jo-Marie loves visiting schools and book stores to do presentations about writing, being an author, and, of course, her own books. Jo-Marie began writing her first book at the urging of her former fifth-grade students, whom she always told that they had to live their dreams. One class challenged her to write Adi’s World, which had been Jo’s dream for over thirty years. You can learn more about Jo-Marie and her books through her website: www.josjourney.com You can follow JosJourneyBooks on Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook.

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Copyright © 2015 Jo-Marie.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6389-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6388-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6387-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922545

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/30/2014

Contents

Living The Secret

Character List

A Few Things Every Reader Should Know

Prologue-Leaving Adi’s World

Not Easy

Exploring

Dark Becomes Light

Much To Learn

The Secret

Limbville

Another Secret

Teamwork

Sharing

Storm

Will This Work?

Now What?

Repairs

Challenges

Changes

Destiny

Book 3 In Adi’s World

About The Author

From The Author

LIVING THE SECRET

Imagine being small enough to live inside of a tree?

What is the outside world like for someone as tiny as you?

What if your entire town is keeping a huge secret from you?

Come travel with Ayden and Jayden as they learn the secret and encounter a much larger world.

It’s time for them to learn that life is a journey.

It’s time for them to begin to live their dreams.

It’s time to Live the Secret!

To the Lord. Thank you for bringing the second part of my dream to reality. May the story within these pages show your love. May my continued writing be the journey you want for me. Let the characters in this book take the readers on their own personal journey to find you; the one they can always count on who loves them perfectly. Let the story reach readers who might otherwise not hear about your love.

To the real Ayden and Jayden. I hope you enjoy the story you inspired. I know you are very different from these characters, but I hope my love for you shows through Lea’s love for them. I am very proud of both of you.

To Mo. You taught me to believe in myself, to reach for my dreams, and to work hard. Those lessons made this series a reality.

To all my friends and family who read and critiqued this book. You are a large part of this book’s success. Thank you Peggy, Erin, Stephanie, Ashley, Mo, Jamie, Jerry, Joann, & Greg. Your time and dedication are greatly appreciated.

To Peggy. Thank you for reading and rereading and rereading. Your critique makes this a much better story. Thank you partner.

To Greg & Joann. Thank you for the huge amount of time you put into the final edit of this book. Your attention to detail is greatly appreciated.

CHARACTER LIST

Lee Cord – Uncle of Ayden & Jayden, twin of Lea Limb

Lea (Cord) Limb - mother of Ayden & Jayden, wife of Mark

Ayden Limb – twin of Jayden

Jayden Limb – twin of Ayden

Mark Limb – husband of Lea, father of Ayden & Jayden

Life Guides: Each character has a friend who guides them through life. The guide’s name is connected to the personality of the character.

Delegates: These citizens of the different communities come together to discuss issues and solve problems.

Lee Cord – confederation organizer

Maple Community:

Mark & Lea Limb – parents of Ayden & Jayden

Ralph Bough - Adi’s dad

Brandon & Rebecca Fern - Arnie’s parents

Oakville:

Sam & Peter Tweeg - cousins

Cliff City:

Paul Branch - Addy’s uncle

Tony & Bev Rock

Tunnel Town:

Greg & Colin Burrows - brothers

Cedar Colony:

Mary & Joe Vein

Secondary Characters from Book One:

Mr. Poplar – 8th-year teacher at Maple Basic School

Adi Branch, Addy Bough & Arnie Fern – classmates of Ayden & Jayden Limb

Doc Leaf – Maple Community’s physician

A FEW THINGS EVERY

READER SHOULD KNOW

A di’s World exists in a forest. All coniferous trees in this world have solid trunks. However, the trunks of deciduous trees are hollow. Small beings make their homes inside many of these trees.

Maple Community, Oakville, and Cedar Colony are tree communities. Entire villages exist in their trunks and branches.

Not all beings live in trees. There are two villages that have created different environments.

The inhabitants of Tunnel Town have created a village underground, hooking their main entryway to an int (ant) colony.

The villagers of Cliff City live above the ground. They built their city within an indentation in a rock wall.

The characters are very tiny beings. They are not magical. They can’t simply make things move, appear, or disappear. In many ways, they are just like you and me, except way smaller. They look very much like we do.

These beings also act like we do. They have the same feelings and emotions. They feel happy, sad, courageous, and afraid. As they get older, they learn to trust the help of a special guide who becomes a very close friend.

Their language is quite similar to ours. However, a few of their words do sound somewhat different.

Enjoy your visit to this tiny world.

Jo-Marie

PROLOGUE-LEAVING

ADI’S WORLD

M aple Community is a unique town which exists inside a hollow sugar maple tree. Actually, every deciduous tree in the forest is hollow. Many have communities in them.

Twenty years ago, an 8th-year student named Lee Cord was tired of living inside the tree. He found a way to get out. He cut a hole in the bottom of an upper tree branch and swung out to freedom on a rope made from sap veins. Two decades later Lee’s nephews, Ayden & Jayden Limb, decided to duplicate their uncle’s escape plan. Unfortunately, reopening a hole yields different results than making the original hole.

Adi Bough is an 8th-year student in Maple Basic School, her last year before promoting to Maple Upper School. After Adi’s best friend, Addy, dies suddenly, she must face living in Maple Community without her.

Help comes when her special friend, Michael, gives her a journal. Adi uses it to continue sharing her life with Addy. Somehow Michael always knows what Adi needs. He’s always there when she needs him. A few days later a new student, Arnie, joins Adi’s class. A near tragic accident creates a special bond between these two students.

Life isn’t perfect for the 8th-year students. They have two classmates, Ayden and Jayden Limb, who are mean to almost everyone. They are great soko players and could be the leaders in this group. However, they take their personal pain out on their neighbors and classmates. If there is a problem, you can bet Ayden and Jayden are somehow involved.

Life is basically good in Maple Community. Most citizens are happy living there, until one day, when the branch which houses Maple Basic School unexpectedly cracks opens. This crack was made two decades ago and has since been resealed. A broken branch is a major problem when you live inside a tree, especially when it’s one of your tree’s main branches.

The town’s adults can’t decide how to solve this problem. Their idea is to close the school grounds. This is unacceptable to the 8th-years, so the kids step in and find their own solution.

Their idea works. The problem is solved, but not before two of the kids, Ayden & Jayden, use the opened crack to leave Maple Community. Their goal is to make a new life outside the tree. Their first task is to find Lee Cord, their uncle, who left his tree home two decades ago.

These twins just jumped from the crack they made. It’s a daring but extremely dangerous exit. Ayden and Jayden are about to learn that a huge secret has been kept from them and all Maple Basic School students. They live in a much larger world.

NOT EASY

W e’ll stay in touch somehow, Mom. We love you! We go to find Uncle Lee! We leap to the leaf! Ayden and Jayden yell as they leap through the crack in the maple tree’s branch. Good-bye Maple Community! Hello outside world!

As they jump out of the crack they reopened, both boys take a last look at the place where they grew up. They know they’re taking a step they can never reverse. Their futures start now.

Living inside a tree hasn’t prepared the twins for what they’re about to face. Being very small was never an issue inside their tiny world, but suddenly it affects everything they do. They no longer live within the safety of Maple Community. They no longer live inside a sugar maple tree.

Ayden and Jayden have jumped into a much larger outside world, facing new challenges with very little real-life experience. They’re sliding down a sap vein rope, which is hooked to climbing belts. These twins are suddenly very glad they at least have each other.

Hold tight! The wind is stronger out here than we thought it would be, Jayden hollers as they slide down their escape ropes.

The tops of both ropes are still hooked to the wooden lifter the boys attached inside the tree branch. However, the bottom ends of their ropes are not attached to anything, which causes the twins to swing wildly in the unexpected wind.

One huge gust flips Ayden’s legs above his head. The rotation causes his rope to cross over Jayden’s rope. Jayden! Ayden screams. Help me! As Ayden’s body finishes the flip, his weight thrusts him down and yanks his climbing belt upward under his ribs. It hurts! It hurts! His scream shows his agony. What do I do?

Jayden commands, Raise your arms. Grab your rope as high as you can and pull!

It works. The pull lifts his body and resets the climbing belt at his waist. Ayden slumps his shoulders forward and cries. We’re crazy! We can’t do this! We aren’t ready to be out here.

Ayden, we just jumped out of our tree. We have no choice right now. We’re hanging in the air, Jayden states. You must focus. We’ve got to survive.

More wind gusts hit. The boys swing mercilessly. Their minute weight is no match for the wind outside their tree. All they can do is hang on. Their swinging and flipping causes their ropes to twist and turn until they’re totally hooked together. Panic rises!

Branch! Ayden screams. Jayden pivots his head and sees that a thick horizontal branch is directly in their path. If they don’t do something immediately, they’ll crash.

Pull left! Hard! Jayden yells. Both boys furiously swing their legs to the left and lean the same way. Jayden clears the branch, but Ayden doesn’t. His upper back slams into the branch, causing his head and shoulders to snap backward. His legs swing backwards below the obstacle, severely arching his back, and then they snap forward, smacking into Jayden’s knees.

The force of the collision causes both to lose their grips on their ropes and scream in pain-filled fear! Only the hooks at their belts save them from plummeting to the ground. Jayden grabs his rope with his right hand, but Ayden is now bent forward, held only by his belt.

I’ve got you! Jayden yells and quickly grabs his twin’s belt with his left hand, giving him the chance to pull his torso up.

Ayden twists his upper body to reach the rope now behind him. He screams in pain as he throws his right arm in an arc backward, grabbing the rope above his head. Tears fall. He knows he can’t let his pain stop him. He pivots right to face his rope and gets his left hand on it.

Seeing his twin safe for the moment, Jayden releases him, putting both hands on his own rope. Their quick movements save them, but tangle their ropes even more.

The boys are a jumbled mess suspended very high in the air. The knotting of their escape ropes means they’re not as close to their landing branch as they had planned. They’re too far above it to simply let go and drop. They must make a new plan fast. Jayden worries that Ayden’s pain may be too great to keep going, but they can’t keep hanging in the air, being buffeted by the winds.

Teamwork is needed. Pain must be ignored. Fear must be pushed aside, and logical thinking must prevail. Blinking his eyes to push away the tears, Ayden takes the lead and says, Okay Jayden, we have to do this together. Our ropes aren’t just twisted, that flip tied them into a knot. If we keep pulling, it’ll tighten so much, we’ll never get it out. And we need that length to reach our landing branch. Jayden looks up, sees what his brother is describing, and nods in agreement.

Thinking aloud, Ayden continues. Since the ropes are connected to our belts and the knot is above our heads, I’ll climb up the rope to the tangled part. Then I’ll unhook from my rope and attach me to yours. I can undo the knot if I’m not hooked onto it.

Are you nuts? You just slammed into a branch, remember? Jayden retorts. What if wind hits when you’re detaching from your rope?

What choice do we have? Ayden answers. We need the ropes to be unhooked so we can reach our landing branch. Not waiting for a reply, Ayden takes a deep breath and reaches up to start his climb. As he pulls, the pain in his back becomes too great. He screams. Tears gush from his eyes.

Get it through your head, Jayden yells. Your back just smashed into a branch. You’re lucky you can still move your legs! I think your idea is crazy, but I can’t think of a better one. So I’ll do it.

Jayden reaches up and starts climbing his rope. Once he climbs to the knot, he grabs his twin’s rope and twists his leg around it. Then he unhooks himself from his rope and attaches himself to Ayden’s. Hanging on with his left hand, he uses his right to start pulling up his rope to untie the knot, flipping the pulled-up part over his shoulder, and winding it around his neck. Just as he gets most of the lower end of his rope pulled up, another big wind gust hits!

Both boys are attached to Ayden’s rope. Jayden is above Ayden. A lot of Jayden’s rope is looped around his shoulders and neck. If Jayden loses his grip, his rope will tighten, and he’ll be strangled!

Realizing the imminent danger, Jayden quickly grabs