Alphabet Allie's Arc

Chapter 15 of 15

Allie and Petra came down from the pagoda together. The path curved between low hedges. Petra walked with his flippers behind his back, thinking hard about the lost letter. Allie kept her notebook open, ready. If everything at the pagoda had started with P, maybe the next place would give them a new letter to work with. The path opened onto a wide lawn. A wooden house stood at the far end. It had a peaked roof, red pillars on the porch, and blue-green window frames. The wood looked freshly sanded. Every board fit tight. A small sign by the steps read QUALITY BUILT. Allie stopped walking. "Q," she whispered. She wrote it down. On the porch sat a woman in a purple gown with a red cape. A gold crown balanced on her dark hair. She was not eating or reading or speaking. She just sat, hands folded, watching the lawn. A small quail stood beside her chair. The quail wore a brown vest and green trousers. She carried a folded quilt under one wing. The word QUILT was stitched across it in pink letters. Allie curtsied because it seemed like the thing to do. "Are you the Queen?" The woman nodded once. She did not speak. "She's Queen Quietness," the quail said softly. "She doesn't talk much. I'm helping her settle in for the night." The quail lifted the quilt. "I'm going to curl up with this by the fire after. It's been a long day." Allie's pencil moved fast. Queen. Quiet. Quail. Quilt. Quality. She looked up, grinning. "All Q. The house, the Queen, you, the quilt. Every single thing." The Queen turned her head. She studied Allie without a word. Allie felt the old worry rise. A grown-up watching her list letters. Waiting for her to stop. She held her ground. "I know it seems small," Allie said. "But look. Your whole home is one letter. That's not nothing." The Queen reached into the folds of her cape. She drew out a piece of polished quartz. The word QUARTZ was carved along its side. She held it out to Allie in one gloved hand. Allie took it carefully. It was cool and heavy. "For me?" The Queen nodded again. Then she pointed at Petra's satchel. Her finger stayed there. Petra's eyes went wide. He fumbled the satchel open. Inside, tucked in a corner he had already searched twice, sat a folded paper. He pulled it out. The address on the front read: To the Queen. From the Pagoda. "It was for her," Petra breathed. "The whole time." The Queen took the letter. She opened it, read it, and smiled. It was the first sound she made — a small, pleased breath. Allie wrote quartz in her notebook. The Queen had not needed words to listen. She had listened anyway.