by Leah Day
She’d imagined this big central room split into little nooks, each space flowing seamlessly into the next. She’d drawn cutaway pictures with a comfortable place to sew in front of a wide, curving window. There it was, a beautiful alcove filled with soft armchairs and low cabinets to hold sewing supplies. She wandered over and pulled open a red drawer. It was packed with thread in every color of the rainbow.
The sewing space flowed smoothly into a reading area with a large chaise lounge and pillows piled up on the floor. Next came the resting nook. Mally pushed the corner of a bed suspended in the air with thick green ropes. A quilt with pink flower blocks was draped messily over the surface. It looked like the perfect spot to take a nap.
She froze. The fabric on the quilt was pink calico with small white dots, the same fabric as Ms. Bunny’s dress. Her brain made another sudden connection. It was exactly the same color as the monster they’d met in the night. She jerked her hand from the swing as if it burned.
The last nook was dominated by a massive table. When she’d first imagined the inside of the Great Tree, she’d wanted this table to be big enough for her whole family including all her cousins, aunts, and uncles.
Yeah, I think it’s big enough. Mally thought, her eyes widening at the sight.
Dozens of patchwork animals surrounded the table. Monkeys, cats, frogs, bears, and birds of every variety sat, crouched, or stood in chairs, or on the table itself, all watching as she approached. With a flutter of dark wings Twilight soared past and perched on the back of a chair next to Midnight.
Mally wrapped her arms around her chest, suddenly unsure of herself. Something nudged her in the back.
“Move, little Maker. Sit down so the meeting can start,” Patch said under his breath.
“But there’s only the chair at the head of the table left.” Mally whispered back. She’d never sat at the head of a table, ever, except if you counted Thanksgiving when she sat at the narrow end of the kiddy table with her cousins.
“Yeah, that’s yours. Sit.”
Mally’s face burned as she awkwardly slid out the remaining chair and sat down quickly. She twisted her fingers together in her lap to stop her hands from shaking as everyone continued to stare at her.
“I, Seam, sentry of the Great Tree, call this First Meeting of Firsts to order.” Seam roared, making Mally jump. He clapped his huge paws together three times, then retreated to his post by the door.
“First Meeting of Firsts?” Mally asked, confused.
“The first you made, Mally Maker,” Thimble said softly. The elephant filled the opposite side of the table, her colorful body standing out against the brown walls. “We are the first of each type of animal you created. I am an Only Made because there is only one of my kind. Many have brought their Seconds and Thirds as well.”
“What about the birds? There are so many here and outside in the tree? Mally asked.
“Sunshine is the First Made bird so they are hers to command,” a dark blue turkey with an orange block blazing on his cheek replied sharply. “It’s almost impossible to keep them in line so I hope she’s ready to take the lead.”
“She will lead when she’s ready,” Midnight replied. “Until then, I can command the birds in the air.”
Mally frowned. Her older sister would love being in charge just because she was first born. She was suddenly very glad Rose would never be setting foot in Quilst. She took a deep breath and forced her brain to focus. “Menda. I want to know about Menda. Where is she and what is she doing? We heard her scream and the bees said she retreated into the mountain.”
A familiar yellow mouse scampered up the table, a large piece of fabric rolled up and tied to her back. “Great Maker Mally, the mice split into three groups to search as you instructed. Gray Company and the Christmas Gang have been sending in regular reports.
We can’t infiltrate as seamlessly as the bees, but we’ve been able to learn quite a lot. Menda is indeed inside the center purple mountain. Her fortress is vast, but fortunately for us, very rudimentary in design.”
“Oh! Thank you!” Mally said as Goldie slid a beautifully illustrated map into her hands, breaking down the mountain into a series of tunnels and rooms.
“What do you know about Menda? What is she doing?”
“She spends most of her time here.” Goldie said, pressing her paw to a small room on the map. “It’s the only room with a window and she stands there for hours at a time. As for what she does…” the mouse shrugged “she mostly talks to herself and… rips things apart.”
A chill ran down Mally’s spine. “That’s the room I was trapped in before and where I think she was tonight. How do we get inside?”
Goldie traced a route on the map through a maze of twisting halls that emerged on the side of the mountain.
“Perfect! Thank you, Goldie,” Mally said.
“I am Spool, representing the turkeys.” The grumpy turkey cleared his throat loudly. “We also divided into groups and confirm the mice reports. Menda holds close to the mountain and her snarls do not stray further than the upper wood. However, we did see signs of new creatures, especially concentrated in the mountain passes and open landscapes. They are not of our flock.”
“You mean they’re new animals? Where did they come from?” Mally asked.
“I can shed light on that,” A blue bear at the opposite end of the table stood. “I am Pattern, speaker for the Bears. We encountered a half dozen such creatures and questioned them all thoroughly. They are no friend to the Ripping Witch, but have no knowledge of you either. It seems they have another Maker.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” Mally said. “They must all have been animals like Patch, original to the quilt, so their Maker is Grandma.”
“Where have you found them? Where are they now?” Patch asked.
Spool shuffled through his notes with a blue wing. “Many were found near rips in the landscape. Areas where the Inside can be seen.”
“Oh, they must be coming out of the holes Menda cut in the fabric!” Mally said, looking at Patch. “What if they can climb out now? Your friends could come back!”
Patch nodded, his brow furrowed.
“What shall we do with them?” Spool asked. “I have two dozen turkeys at my command and with the bears and monkeys at my disposal, we can round them up before dawn.”
“Round them up?” Mally’s head was suddenly spinning. “Why?”
“They’re unknown elements.” Spool ruffled his orange tail feathers impatiently. “They could join with Menda and we could find ourselves fighting a war on two fronts.”
“What? I thought you said they’re no friend to the Ripping Witch?”
“I think what Spool is trying to say is we don’t know them,” Pattern spoke up. “They might change sides and fight against us. Is that a chance you’re willing to take?”
“What do you think?” Mally asked Patch. The cat had gone strangely still and silent throughout the exchange, as if lost in thought.
“The originals are no threat to our cause,” Patch said quietly. “I doubt they will be in any fit state to fight anything or anyone at this point. Leave them be. They’ve suffered enough.”
The crowd around the table shifted and Mally watched several animals exchange worried looks. Spool rolled his eyes impatiently and even Thimble looked concerned.
Mally squared her shoulders. “I trust Patch completely. If he says the animals Grandma made are no threat to us, then I believe him. I think we should send out a search party. My grandma might have also fallen into one of Menda’s traps. That could be where she’s been this whole time.”
A dark shape moved from the corner. A purple hawk with glowing yellow eyes shifted into the light. She met Mally’s eyes and gave the slightest of nods.
“Done.”
With a majestic unfurling of wings, she took flight straight up from the table. Mally lost
sight of her as she soared out through the opening in the center of the Great Tree. Mally hadn’t expected her suggestion to be taken seriously, or to be carried out so quickly. She fiddled with the map in her hands to give herself time to think.
The sheer volume of rooms within the mountain was surprising. Did Menda make this herself, or had Grandma imagined a castle as she stitched that purple triangle onto the quilt? And where was Ms. Bunny?
“Have you seen…” Mally couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.
“We haven’t been able to locate her.” A small green monkey said with a sad shake of his head. “I’m Pin, leader of the monkeys. We searched every room from top to bottom. We haven’t seen anything that matches Ms. Bunny’s appearance. We did find this, however.” He held out Mally’s blue bookbag.
“Oh, Pin! Thank you so much!” Mally took the bag and immediately pulled open the zipper to check the contents. “Where did you find it?”
“Seam found it in the field outside during the first sweep of the area,” Pattern replied.
Mally wouldn’t have thought she’d miss her silly school bag so much, but it made her eyes prick with tears to find her books and papers and red sewing box still tucked inside. She hugged the bag to her chest and took a deep breath.
“I lost this the night Ms. Bunny and Sunshine were taken. It’s silly to be so happy I have it back, but I am.” She closed her eyes and tears leaked out between her eyelashes. She took a deep breath and met Midnight’s dark eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard we saved Sunshine tonight, but we lost so many birds in the attack. I don’t know what will happen if we go up against Menda again. I understand if you don’t want to fight.”
She scanned the table, looking at each animal in turn. “I don’t think Menda can kill me because I’m human, but she can easily end all of you. Patch reminded me of that tonight.” Mally caught the cat’s eye and he nodded grimly.
Thimble stepped closer to the table, her long patchwork trunk lifted high. “Our home is Quilst, Mally Maker. If you take us back through the door to the outside, we will go back to just being quilt blocks again. We accept the risks. The only way for us to live is to fight.”
She brought her long trunk down with a smack in the middle of the table. With a great rustle of fabric, every animal followed suit, pounding their paws and wings against the surface as they shouted in unison, “We will live! We will fight!”
“Okay,” Mally said, shakily, her heart swelling with hope. She set her bookbag on the ground and pressed her hands against the table too. “Let’s get to work!”
* * * * *
Mally spread her arms wide. Wind rushed past, pulling her hair back from her face and for a second she felt like she was flying. Instead she was riding on Patch’s back with a dozen smaller animals from the meeting, including Goldie and Pin. They were charging, low to the ground, through the woods and over the hills between the Great Tree and Menda’s purple mountain.
An army of patchwork animals surrounded her on all sides, seamlessly keeping up with Patch’s huge strides. Each animal stood out with distinctive squares, diamonds, and triangles forming patterns on their backs, faces, or paws. It was like looking at a colossal, moving quilt. Mally loved the sound of their paws hitting the soft ground. Individually they didn’t make much noise, but several hundred animals together created a thunderous drum beat that resonated through her body and made her heart swell with excitement.
The meeting in the Great Tree had lasted so long, she’d wondered if it would ever end. But after hours of strategizing and debate, every detail of the plan was meticulously crafted and every animal at the table was satisfied.
The assault on Menda hinged on getting into the mountain as quickly as possible. The longer Menda knew they were back in Quilst, the more time she could prepare her defense. Thankfully all the First Made had agreed the best strategy was to attack as soon as possible.
A tiny sliver of sunlight was peeking over the edge of the horizon. All at once, the sky filled with birds. A great rushing of wings sounded along with cheerful shouts Mally could just make out far below.
“Let’s go! Form up! In a line now, geese!”
“Flying Geese to save the day!”
Rows upon rows of flying geese filled the sky. At some point during the meeting, Mally had realized they would need more birds and she’d pulled out her sewing box to stitch more triangles as they planned their attack. Every animal at the table had followed suit, and it had been the strangest sight watching mice, bears, frogs, monkeys, hens, roosters, turkeys, cats, ducks and even two polka dotted baby chicks hand stitching together. So long as Mally completed the last stitch on the two triangles, the flying geese unit would come to life, flapping its wings happily.
It was worth it. Edge to edge, triangle to triangle, the birds filled the sky in every color of the rainbow. Weaving in between the ranks she watched one bright bird flying harder and faster than the rest, yelling encouragement on the top of her voice.
“We can do this! Yes! Yes! Yes! We’re going to get her! Take that evil queen! Today is your last day in power!”
Sunshine was back to her old self again. Mally had called her over during the meeting and asked if she would like to lead the birds to the mountain. As Spool had pointed out, she was the First Made and should be in command. Mally hadn’t been sure what she would say, but the little bird immediately perked up and began calling orders and running drills. Now she flew beautifully, her body glowing brightly as she shouted cheerfully to the other birds.
Mally closed her eyes and Grandma’s face swam through her mind. But she wasn’t sure if her memory was accurate anymore. It felt fuzzy, as if Grandma was blurring out of focus.
She had found many beautifully stitched projects in progress in the Great Tree along with half of Grandma’s collection of threads, needles and her favorite thimbles stashed in cabinets in the sewing nook. Seeing the supplies had made her tear up again, but not in sadness.
It had made her furious. Clearly Grandma had been living in the Great Tree, and she must have come back home to get more supplies. Why didn’t she check a clock or go downstairs to see the calendar? Couldn’t she have left a note at least?
And now where in Quilst was she? Had Menda caught her and dropped her into the deepest, darkest pit she could find, as she’d threatened in the mountain? The hawk that had left to search for her hadn’t returned.
As she watched Sunshine the words SHE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN flashed through her head, and she clenched her fists. It has to be the same again, she thought. I will prove her wrong. I’m going to save Ms. Bunny and Grandma and I will make that evil witch pay for what she’s done.
She was pulled out of her thoughts abruptly as Patch slowed his pace, then stopped. They were only a few yards from the largest purple mountain. A low rumble sounded from deep below the ground.
“What is that?” She asked, scanning the landscape.
“I think we’re about to find out.” Patch said. He hunched his shoulders, digging his paws into the fabric as the landscape suddenly shifted. The material under their feet buckled as the rumble grew to a roar.
RRIIIPPPP!
The ground split open less than twenty feet away. Mally watched as a deep gash cut across their path, circling around the mountain. The earth quaked again and something emerged from the break in the cloth.
Blue and purple threads shot up from the ground and began weaving themselves together. Ten feet tall, then twenty. In just a few seconds, a thick barrier formed, casting the landscape into shadow. Mally pressed her hand over her nose as the overwhelming scent of cloves hit her full in the face. The stitches were large and haphazard, but the pattern they made was unmistakable.
“It’s a spider web! Everyone, back up! Don’t let it touch you!” Mally yelled and her call was picked up and repeated, but it was too late.
&nbs
p; The chorus of stampeding paws abruptly changed as the animals in the front halted, digging their claws into the landscape. But everyone in the back was still pushing forward. The air instantly filled with screams. Mally saw a red hen and her four chicks struggling against the press of bodies. The chicks bobbed easily between the legs of the other animals, but the hen was trapped. She squawked, flapping her wings frantically as she was pushed closer and closer to the wall.
A pink rooster rushed to the rescue, shoving the hen away from the spider web, but his momentum carried him too far. His wings hit the wall and immediately blue threads wove through his body, locking him tight to the surface. Mally watched, horrified as his fabrics were pulled apart, the threads unraveling one by one. Soon only a blotch of pink fiber remained, spreading slowing in a spiral pattern across the wall.
A deafening screech sounded overhead. The birds in the air weren’t fairing any better. The wall had caught hundreds when it first formed and seemed to grow bigger with every animal it ate.
“Back up! Get away from the wall! We’ll find another way in!” Mally ordered.
Patch crouched low trying to open his wings, but the press of bodies was too close. Mally shifted her legs to give him more room, but nearly lost her balance as a knotted rope, thick as a tree trunk, lashed out from the wall. It punched through the crowd, capturing a dozen animals at once. Then with a yank, it pulled them back into the spider web. Panicked screams filled the air as animals fought to save their friends.
“Patch! What do we do?” Mally yelled.
“There’s nowhere to go! We’re stuck!”
She scanned the field desperately and watched as another rope shot out nearly thirty feet long. Mally bent down and held out her hands so nearby animals could scramble up her arms and onto Patch’s back. With more space to move, the cat spun and leapt away from the wall.
Another rope shot out, catching the red tip of his tail and they jerked to a stop. The world spun wildly as Mally flew off Patch’s back. Too fast. It was all happening way too fast. The ground rushed up to meet her and she spread out her hands ready for the crash.