Akiko in the Castle of Alia Rellapor by Mark Crilley Page A

join in the festivities. The
band played tune after tune, songs that flowed seamlessly from one melody to the next. Couples danced and children played games. Royal stewards brought tray after tray of hot food and sparkling juices in dozens of colors. I ate and ate until I couldn’t eat another bite.
    King Froptoppit, Alia Rellapor, and the Prince came by our table to thank us again and again. The King invited me to stay a few more days on Smoo, but I told him I thought it was really time for me to go back home.
    Home! I’d been so busy with everything I’d almost stopped
thinking
of home. Would I really be able to go there soon?
    As the evening sun went down, the party continued, but I asked King Froptoppit if I could leave early.
    “I’ve had so much fun today, King Froptoppit,” I told him, “but I need to sleep in my own bed tonight, if you know what I mean.”
    “I understand, Akiko,” he answered with a sad-
looking smile. “But you must promise to come back soon. We’re all going to miss you terribly, you know.”
    All my friends from Smoo walked along with me as I headed toward the ship that would take me home. It was a little round blue-and-red-and-yellow ship, just like the one that had brought me here.
    “Don’t forget to write,” Mr. Beeba said, not bothering to explain how I was supposed to send a letter all the way from another galaxy.
    “An’ don’t work too hard at school,” Spuckler advised, drawing an angry glance from Mr. Beeba.
    “ YOU WILL COME BACK TO SEE US AGAIN, MA’AM, WON’T YOU ? ” Gax asked, his squeaky mechanical voice sounding unusually emotional.
    “Definitely, Gax” I answered. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, I promise.”
    Alia Rellapor and the Prince thanked me one last time for everything I’d done. So did Spuckler and Mr. Beeba and everyone else. By the end of it I was just about ready to cry. My throat felt all choked up and my hands were shaking. I gave everyone a hug, one at a time, and finally made my way to the back of the ship.
    I climbed aboard and waved goodbye to everyone as Bip and Bop revved up the engines. The little ship rose from the platform, and soon I was presented with a dazzling view of the palace just as the sun sank behind the horizon. Everyone waved to me from below, and I kept my eyes on them for as long as I could before they disappeared from sight.
    I sank into the backseat as we continued rising into the air, and I sighed deeply. Only then did I realize Poog was there beside me.

    He smiled at me, saying goodbye in his own quiet way. I leaned over and gave him one last hug. I must have held him next to me for more than a minute. Then I let go and watched him float back from me a foot or two. He blinked once or twice, smiled again, and then zipped away into the cool evening air. I watched him go back toward the palace in a long slow arc. Soon the entire planet was visible from our little ship; then it grew smaller and smaller and finally became indistinguishable from the all the stars around it.
    I was on my way home.

 Chapter 21 

    There’s not a whole lot to say about what it was like to get home. I was expecting this really big—I don’t know—
feeling
when I got back to my bedroom. It wasn’t like that, though. It was just as if I’d never left. Everything was exactly the same.
    The Akiko robot came over and opened the window and we traded places without anyone seeing us. Before she left, I asked her if people had become suspicious of her or if anyone had figured out that she wasn’t the real Akiko. She said she didn’t think so, but that Melissa was surprised at how good I’d become at building card houses all of a sudden. And my parents had commented on how I’d started eating more vegetables than I used to.
    “Oh, great,” I replied. “Did you tell my parents you were going to stop watching TV while you were at it?”
    “No,” she answered with a smile. “I thought I’d leave that up to you.”

    A