Adventurous Ali: The Harmony Hourglass

By Tyler H. Jolley and Mary H. Geis

For the first time since Alison Liv Isner started her adventures, she's not eager for the next one. After conquering her previous expeditions in Honduras, Egypt, Transylvania, and Nepal, she fears there aren't many left in her mom's journal. And while she loves the adventures, she loves being with her friends even more. She's already lost her mo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jolley Chronicles
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958734070

Tyler H. Jolley

As a kid, Tyler H. Jolley always had a knack for storytelling. When he grew bored of old fables, he created his own exciting and unique worlds. Many years later, he still had so many new ideas and stories swirling in his head, but with nowhere to share it. That’s when he put his pencil to paper and let the creative juices flow. His breakthrough novel, EXTRACTED, came out in 2013 and swiftly became an Amazon Best Seller and Spencer Hill Press Best Seller. Since then, Tyler has been busy publishing over a dozen books. He reexamined the publishing process and created an efficient way to get his countless ideas into print.  Tyler definitely didn’t like to work alone, so he restructured his writing methods into a team approach.  When he’s not writing, you can find him at his orthodontic practice, mountain biking, or on the hunt for the perfect doughnut. Twitter: @Docjolley Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tyler.jolley.319/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerhjolley/

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Adventurous Ali: The Harmony Hourglass

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

Copyright © 2022 Tyler H. Jolley

Cover Design by Brandon Dorman

Interior Layout by Melissa Williams Design

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Tyler H. Jolley

ISBN: 978-1-958734-07-0

To all those who dare to read.

For my sweetest Dr. Erica and my best boy Monkey. I will miss you both forever.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 1

Alison Liv Isner squared her shoulders, sat up straight, and carefully opened her tattered, turquoise-and-cream cardboard pencil box. It would have to last through the rest of the school year and maybe next—all dependent on the persistence of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Every day, people prayed for rain, and so far, it hadn’t seemed to help.

Ali was weeks late writing her thank-you note to Tommy’s mother for the homemade doughnuts she’d given her for Christmas. That was the thing about not having a mom. People didn’t expect as much from you. In any other case, she would have been scolded for waiting almost a month.

A fleeting memory popped into her head. She remembered how excited Tristan had been when she’d presented him with the fresh pastries. But she couldn’t tell Mrs. Peck how much the rat had enjoyed them. She couldn’t tell anyone, not even Tommy, about her adventures or her friends.

Who would believe in talking animals? Her voice echoed in the back room of her dad’s store, Field and Excavation, Inc.

Her face scrunched while she thought of what to say.

January 26, 1936

Dear Mrs. Peck,

Thank you for the delicious doughnuts. My dad and I enjoyed them immensely.

Sincerely,

Alison Liv Isner

Ali beamed at using the word immensely in a sentence; she’d just learned it in school. She wished she could have told Mrs. Peck about how they ate the delicious pastries in an icy room filled with rainbows! But this would have to do. Besides, she hadn’t lied when she said she’d also eaten them with her dad. Somehow, she’d taken the doughnuts with her to Nepal, but they’d also inexplicably remained in her living area in the back of her dad’s archeological store. She shrugged it off. None of it made sense. It didn’t have to. She loved and cherished every moment she had with her friends. Her mom’s friends.

A candle and heavy metal seal that Ali’s parents had received as a gift for their wedding were tucked away inside the drawer of her dad’s metal desk. Her dad loved recounting how Eloise, Ali’s mom, had artfully sealed every single thank-you note with it.

After addressing the crisp envelope, Ali carefully lit a match and ignited the thin red candle. Transylvania, she whispered. She had been given a short, fat, red candle from the high priest Chuwen after they’d recovered the pocket watch from the vampire called Gaspare. It wasn’t as fancy as the ruby she’d received in Egypt, but it held just as much value to Ali. Same with the small piece of rock that had encased the monkey in the Temple of the Monkey God, and the purple prayer flag from Nepal.

I wonder what I’ll get next?

Her excitement was extinguished as quickly as the candle she’d blown out. Night after night, Ali studied her mom’s journal. She needed to be ready. This was going to be her last adventure, after all. A heaviness she hadn’t felt in a very long time crept into her heart. A final expedition with her mom’s friends. Her last chance to find out as much as she could about her mom. With each adventure, she’d learned more, and she promised herself to hold those memories deep in her soul and never forget them.

Ali exhaled slowly and wiped away tears from her rosy cheeks. She knew better than to be sad. She was lucky for the time she’d spent with her friends and all she’d learned from them.

A bell jingled from the front door opening, echoing all the way to the back room. She looked at the clock—3:45! The mailman! Ali hopped to her feet, running with her envelope in hand.

Mr. O’Leary! she screeched. Wait! I have a letter!

Clark O’Leary, the mailman, paused at the door and glanced at his pocket watch. How was your Christmas, Ali?

Fine. She caught her breath. Just a little late getting my thank-you note out. Look, I did the seal myself.

Mr. O’Leary plucked the letter from Ali’s hands and chuckled. Still warm. You really were in a rush.

Thanks for waiting, Mr. O’Leary.

Ali, her dad called from behind the counter.

Better mind your father, Mr. O’Leary said.

Of course. Ali turned to walk to her dad. Thanks again!

She crossed the store, passing maps, sleeping bags, camping gear, and a few trinkets. At the cash wrap, her dad sat crouched, arranging bags below. You finally wrote Mrs. Peck?

Sure did . . . what are these? Ali’s mouth fell agape. Where did you get these?

Five small wooden figures stood as if guarding the register. A giant golden lion tamarin, a fat rat, a bat wearing horn-rimmed glasses, and a donkey with a glass jar hanging from its neck