Amanda and Emily Carson jumped out of their father‟s car just as it came to a stop. They raced through their summer community, following David into the woods. The girls almost flew over the path, green tree suckers whipped at their bare legs while rain poured down their hair and into their eyes. But they didn't stop. David led the way through the soggy wood, past the trail to the creek. The creek was swollen with raging water that gushed over rocks, rising higher and loosening the soil on the creek banks.
On the other side of the stream frozen stock still stood seven-year-old Samantha and her little pug dog, Freddie. Emily leaped over a narrow part of the creek to join Samantha, wrapping a protective arm around the younger girl‟s shoulders and guiding her away from the bank of the creek.
Amanda stopped short almost tripping over Muffin, her rag-tag mixed breed dog. Muffin barked. Freddie saw Muffin and wiggled closer and closer to the edge of the creek straining against his leash and wagging his tail, trying to get Muffin's attention. His wide mouth parted in a pug-like grin as he panted. Muffin barked a caution to him, but he couldn't hear her over the roar of the stream.
As Freddie stepped on the edge of the creek bank, the ground gave way. His weight snapped the leash from Samantha's small hand and Freddie fell into the rushing water. Samantha screamed.
Amanda yelled to her sister,
“Grab Samantha.”
Emily tightened her grip on the young girl and pulled her back from the creek's edge just as more soil slid into the creek. Emily and Samantha moved quickly back to safety. Freddie bobbed up, trying to dog paddle and keep his head above the swirling water. He began to move downstream.
Amanda, an athletic sixteen-year old, picked up a long, forked stick and ran downstream, trying to catch up to Freddie. When she got closer, she leaned toward the stream and jabbed the stick at the loop in the leash, trying to pull it out of the water. But Freddie was moving too fast. The slippery leash was soon out of her reach. Amanda hoped the leash wouldn't get caught between two rocks and drag Freddie under.
The game little dog continued paddling and gulping for air whenever he bobbed above the water. Way downstream was a big, flat rock jutting out into the water. Amanda and David ran down as fast as they could to get ahead of Freddie. Amanda knelt down on the rock,
“Grab my ankles,” she yelled to David.
The Secret of the Hidden Road is available for only $.99 on Kindle and Nook:
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A little bit about The Secret of the Hidden Road
When two teenage sisters move to the country for the summer, they don’t expect to be saving animals or solving mysteries. As soon as Amanda & Emily Carson arrive at The Birches, their summer community during a driving rain storm, they are pulled into a rescue for a pug swept away by a raging stream.
Sixteen-year-old Amanda reconnects with her old friends while her younger sister, Emily makes a new friend, Ashley. Their friendship heads south when Ashley accuses Amanda of theft!
Tension runs high, splitting the sisters. But when Gus, Ashley’s dog, disappears, Amanda and Emily join forces to find him, risking their own safety. A desperate escape finds the girls locked in a closet in a haunted house. A frantic search by the community turns up nothing until David, the girls’ friend, takes their alert dog, Muffin, out to find them.
All ends happily as the mysteries are solved, Gus is returned and even Ashley’s missing bracelet is recovered. Take this fun adventurous journey through friendship, mystery and sisterly devotion. Best for young readers ages seven and up.
2 comments:
This is a fantastic book. I have read it and really enjoyed it! It is perfect for kids and for adults too, loved the story. You must write more!!!
Thank you for the kind words,Simon. I'm so glad you liked it. I do plan on writing more Amanda & Emily myteries.
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