Akiko in the Sprubly Islands (10 page)

One by one
we crawled out of the little room. Queen Pwip led Poog and me back to the front of the palace grounds, where Admiral Frutz was waiting.

“Admiral Frutz,” she said to him, “I’ve got a little job for you. I want you and your men to draw up a map showing the way from here to the Great Wall of Trudd. My friends need some help in getting where they’re going.”

Admiral Frutz winced a little when he heard Queen Pwip refer to us as friends, but he didn’t hesitate to follow orders.

“I’ll have my men get to work on it immediately, Your Majesty!” he said, clicking his heels and marching away from us.

“Make it a
big
map, Frutzy!” she shouted after him. “I don’t want them straining their eyes!”

She turned back to me and smiled.

“Come now, it’s time for that tea I promised you,” she said.

“Um, Queen Pwip,” I said, remembering Mr. Beeba and the others, “are you sure we couldn’t invite the rest of my friends to join us? I think I’d enjoy the tea a lot more if I could share it with them.’’

Queen Pwip looked at me and rubbed her chin as if she was taking the matter into serious consideration. Actually, it looked as if she was
acting
like she was taking the matter into consideration. I don’t think Queen Pwip was the sort of person to worry very much about breaking her own rules.

“You’re quite right, Akiko,” she said with a wink. “The more the merrier!”

We strolled around the palace wall until we came to the spot where Spuckler, Gax, and Mr. Beeba were working. They had already finished polishing about half the domes. Queen Pwip was very impressed.

“My, my!” she exclaimed. “I ought to put you three on the payroll!”

I smiled and tried to imagine how Admiral Frutz would have reacted to
that
.

“That’s enough work,” she continued. “Come join us for tea!”

“
Thank
you, Your Majesty!” Mr. Beeba cried, obviously very happy to give his arms a rest. He and the others left their cleaning rags where they were and walked with us into the palace gardens.

There in the middle of an ornate stone patio stood a miniature table covered with delicious-looking cakes and cookies. Queen Pwip asked us to sit down, apologizing for the lack of chairs.

“I’ve got all manner of chairs, actually,” she explained, “but none in your
size
, you see.”

We all sat down on the ground and watched as one of Queen Pwip’s servants brought in a tray loaded with a beautiful ceramic teapot, six little cups, and six little saucers. Queen Pwip then proceeded to pour us each a hot cup of pink tea, carrying the cups and saucers to us one at a time. It occurred to me that Gax and Poog wouldn’t actually
drink
any tea, but it was very kind of her to remember them, anyway.

She then brought us each a plateful of brightly colored cakes and cookies. To the Sprublians, it must have seemed an enormous amount of food, but to us, of course, it was no more than the tiniest snack imaginable. It was quite good, though, and we all did our best to show how much we enjoyed it. As our little teatime came to a close, Queen Pwip stood up to make an announcement.

“Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for paying us a visit here in the Sprubly Islands,” she said. “I do hope you’ll come back again soon. Secondly, I want to wish you all the best of luck with this mission of yours. That little boy is very lucky to have such a capable rescue team coming out to save him.”

I couldn’t help wondering if she knew how badly off course this rescue team had actually gotten. If she had known, I’m sure
capable
wouldn’t have been the word she would have chosen.

“Thank you, Queen Pwip,” I said. “Without you we’d be completely lost right now. If we make it to Alia Rellapor’s castle—”

“
When
, dear,” she interrupted, smiling. “When.”

“
When
we make it to Alia Rellapor’s castle, it’ll be mostly thanks to you.”

Just then Admiral Frutz and a dozen or so of his men returned, carrying their neatly drawn map. It was only about six inches square, but to them it was like carrying an enormous tent. Considering how little time they’d had to draw the map, it was a very impressive piece of work.

“Thank you, Frutz,” Queen Pwip said, inspecting the map carefully. “This will get them headed in the right direction.”

Mr. Beeba and I leaned over to take a better look.

“I’ll have Admiral Frutz lead you as far as this point,” Queen Pwip said, indicating a spot on the map. “Then you’ll follow this road until you reach the Great Wall of Trudd.”

“The Great Wall of Trudd, eh?” Mr. Beeba asked. “Sounds rather imposing”

“Oh, it is, Mr. Beeba,” she answered, nodding solemnly, “it most certainly is. The wall was built centuries ago by Big People like yourselves. Getting to the other side of it will require all the strength and wits you can muster.”

“Don’tcha worry, Queen Pwip,” Spuckler joined in confidently. “We got plenty of strength, and our wits ain’t too bad neither.”

Queen Pwip laughed loudly and warmly. “I know better than to worry about
you
, Spuckler,” she said cheerfully. “You’re a one-man rescue team all by yourself.

“Still,” she continued, pointing at me, “you’re lucky to have Akiko along. She’s a very remarkable girl.”

“That she is,’’ Mr. Beeba said proudly.

I would have
been perfectly happy to stay there for the rest of the day, but I could see that the others were itching to get on with the mission. I guess I was ready to move on too. The things Queen Pwip had told me had made me very curious, and now I was eager to see what would happen next. What she’d told me about my parents had also given me a new way of looking at the mission. I don’t know if it makes a whole lot of sense or not, but I had this vision of my parents watching over me as we prepared to take off on the next part of our journey. I knew Queen Pwip was right. They really
would
be proud if they could see the things I was doing.

Queen Pwip led us to a gate behind the palace. She ordered Admiral Frutz and a small group of his soldiers to lead us to the edge of the city. She was getting ready to say goodbye when suddenly she seemed to change her mind.

“I’ll go along with you,” she said with a quaver in her voice, “just as far as old Frutzy here.”

Admiral Frutz bristled a bit, perhaps at the nick name.

“Are you sure, Your Majesty?” he asked in a hushed tone. “It’s highly irregular.”

“Of
course
I’m sure!” she insisted. “Come on, then. Off we go!”

And so Queen Pwip joined us as we left the palace behind and marched toward the edge of the city. I felt a little lump in my throat as I realized we’d soon have to say goodbye to Queen Pwip. I knew I’d miss her. I’d probably even miss Admiral Frutz a little too.

We passed through one street and then another. People stopped and stared and pointed. At first I thought they were excited about seeing us, but then I realized it was Queen Pwip they were staring at. I guess she hardly ever left her palace except on special occasions, and so people thought it was a very big deal to see her out there marching down the street.

After a while the houses got smaller and the big street we were walking on turned into a wide dirt road. Admiral Frutz and Queen Pwip led us to the top of a slope and then stopped.

“I’m afraid this is as far as we can go,” Queen Pwip said with a sigh.

“We quite understand, Your Majesty,’’ Mr. Beeba replied with great politeness.

“Thanks for everything, Queen Pwip,” I said. “I don’t know how we can ever repay you for your kindness. . . .”

“Nonsense!” she replied with a smile. “I haven’t had so much fun in years! Now go on and get moving. I hate long goodbyes!”

We all waved and called out as we walked down the slope that led into the countryside. Big clouds rolled by overhead, casting long shadows that crept slowly over the hills and forests on either side of us.

I kept turning around to wave goodbye. Queen Pwip and Admiral Frutz were so tiny to begin with, it didn’t take very long before we could hardly see them at all. Finally we passed over a hill that blocked our view back to the city. Just before we did, though, I waved vigorously and called out one more time.

“Goodbye, Queen Pwip! Goodbye, Admiral Frutz!” I cried. “We’ll never forget you!”

To my surprise, I realized that I was almost beginning to cry. It wasn’t a sad cry, though. It wasn’t exactly happy, either. It was a feeling that I don’t really know the name for. Just a really
emotional
feeling. As I looked around at Mr. Beeba, and Spuckler, and Poog, and Gax, I could hardly believe all the amazing things we’d been through together already. And as I looked down the long, rough road that stretched ahead of us, I found myself becoming more and more curious about the things that were yet to come.

Excerpt from
Akiko on the Planet Smoo
copyright © 2000 by Mark Crilley

Akiko on the Planet Smoo

Published by Delacorte Press

an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

a division of Random House, Inc.

1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036

Appears by arrangement with Delacorte Press

All rights reserved

AND SEE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN:

Join Akiko and her crew on the Planet Smoo!

When fourth-grader Akiko comes home from school one day, she finds an envelope waiting for her. It has no stamp or return address and contains a
very
strange message. . . .

At first Akiko thinks the message is a joke, but before she knows it, she’s heading a rescue mission to find the King of Smoo’s kidnapped son, Prince Froptoppit. Akiko, the head of a rescue mission? She’s too afraid to be on the school’s safety patrol!

Read the following excerpt from
Akiko on the Planet Smoo
and see how the adventure began.

My name is Akiko.
This is the story of the adventure I had a few months ago when I went to the planet Smoo. I know it’s kind of hard to believe, but it really did happen. I swear.

I’d better go back to the beginning: the day I got the letter.

It was a warm, sunny day. There were only about five weeks left before summer vacation, and kids at school were already itching to get out. Everybody was talking about how they’d be going to camp, or some really cool amusement park, or whatever. Me, I knew I’d be staying right here in Middleton all summer, which was just fine by me. My dad works at a company where they hardly ever get long vacations, so my mom and I have kind of gotten used to it.

Anyway, it was after school and my best friend, Melissa, and I had just walked home together as always. Most of the other kids get picked up by their parents or take the bus, but Melissa and I live close enough to walk to school every day. We both live just a few blocks away in this big apartment building that must have been built about a hundred years ago. Actually I think it used to be an office building or something, but then somebody cleaned it up and turned it into this fancy new apartment building. It’s all red bricks and tall windows, with a big black fire escape in the back. My parents say they’d rather live somewhere out in the suburbs, but my dad has to be near his office downtown.

Melissa lives on the sixth floor but she usually comes up with me to the seventeenth floor after school. She’s got three younger brothers and has to share her bedroom with one of them, so she doesn’t get a whole lot of privacy. I’m an only child and I’ve got a pretty big bedroom all to myself, so that’s where Melissa and I spend a lot of our time.

On that day we were in my room as usual, listening to the radio and trying our best to make some decent card houses. Melissa was telling me how cool it would be if I became the new captain of the fourth-grade safety patrol.

“Come on, Akiko, it’ll be good for you,” she said. “I practically promised Mrs. Miller that you’d do it.”

“Melissa, why can’t somebody
else
be in charge of the safety patrol?” I replied. “I’m no good at that kind of stuff. Remember what happened when Mrs. Antwerp gave me the lead role in the Christmas show?”

Melissa usually knows how to make me feel better about things, but even she had to admit last year’s Christmas show was a big disaster.

“That was different, Akiko,” she insisted. “Mrs. Antwerp had no idea you were going to get stage fright like that.”

“It was worse than stage fright, Melissa,” I said. “I can’t believe I actually forgot the words to ‘Jingle Bells’. ”

“This isn’t the Christmas show,” she said. “You don’t have to memorize any words to be in charge of the safety patrol.” She was carefully beginning the third floor of a very ambitious card house she’d been working on for about half an hour.

“Why can’t I just be a
member
of the safety patrol?” I asked her.

“Because Mrs. Miller needs a leader,” she said. “I’d do it, but I’m already in charge of the softball team.”

And I knew Melissa meant it, too. She’d be in charge of
everything
at school if she could. Me, I prefer to let someone else be the boss. Sure, there are times when I wish I could be the one who makes all the decisions and tells everybody else what to do. I just don’t want to be the one who gets in trouble when everything goes wrong.

“Besides,” Melissa continued, “it would be a great way for you to meet Brendan Fitzpatrick. He’s in charge of the boys’ safety patrol.” One thing about Melissa: No matter what kind of conversation you have with her, one way or another you end up talking about boys.

“What makes you so sure I
want
to meet Brendan Fitzpatrick?” The card house I’d been working on had completely collapsed, and I was trying to decide whether it was worth the trouble to start a new one.

“Trust me, Akiko,” she said with a big grin, “
everyone
wants to meet Brendan Fitzpatrick.”

“I don’t even like him,” I said, becoming even more anxious to change the subject.

“How can you not like him?” she asked, genuinely puzzled. “He’s one of the top five cute guys in the fourth grade.”

“I can’t believe you actually have a
list
of who’s cute and who isn’t.”

That was when my mom knocked on my door. (I always keep the door shut when Melissa’s over. I never know when she’s going to say something I don’t want my mom to hear.)

“Akiko, you got something in the mail,” she said, handing me a small silvery envelope.

She stared at me with this very curious look in her eyes. I don’t get letters very often. “Are you sure you don’t want this door open?” she asked. “It’s kind of stuffy in here.”

“Thanks, Mom. Better keep it closed.”

It was all I could do to keep Melissa from snatching the letter from me once my mom was out of sight. She kept stretching out her hands all over the place like some kind of desperate basketball player, but I kept twisting away, holding the envelope against my chest with both my hands so she couldn’t get at it.

“It’s from a boy, isn’t it? I knew it, I knew it!” she squealed, almost chasing me across the room.

“Melissa, this is
not
from a boy,” I said, turning my back to get a closer look at the thing. My name was printed on the front in shiny black lettering, like it had been stamped there by a machine. The envelope was made out of a thick, glossy kind of paper I’d never seen before. There was no stamp and no return address. Whoever sent the thing must have just walked up and dropped it in our mailbox.

“Go on! Open it up!” Melissa exclaimed, losing patience.

I was just about to, when I noticed something printed on the back of the envelope:

TO BE READ BY AKIKO AND NO ONE ELSE

“Um, Melissa, I think this is kind of private,” I said, bracing myself. I knew she wasn’t going to take this very well.

“What?” She tried again to get the envelope out of my hands. “Akiko, I can’t believe you. We’re best friends!”

I thought it over for a second and realized that it wasn’t worth the weeks of badgering I’d get if I didn’t let her see the thing.

“All right, all right. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else. I could get in trouble for this.”

I carefully tore the envelope open. Inside was a single sheet of paper with that same shiny black lettering:

And that’s all it said. It wasn’t signed, and there was nothing else written on the other side.

“Outside my window? On the seventeenth floor?”

“It’s got to be a joke.” Melissa had taken the paper out of my hands and was inspecting it closely. “I think it
is
from someone at school. Probably Jimmy Hampton. His parents have a printing press in their basement or something.”

“Why would he go to so much trouble to play a joke on me?” I said. “He doesn’t even
know
me.” I had this strange feeling in my stomach. I went over to the window and made sure it was locked.

“Boys are weird,” Melissa replied calmly. “They do all kinds of things to get your attention.”