Chapter One:
In Which Sophie Makes Two Discoveries and A Mess
On the morning after the Witch was destroyed, Sophie made two odd discoveries. The first was that when she exited the castle to collect flowers for the day, she caught sight of Calcifer-- who she had not expected to see-- zipping through the air around the bright, fragrant blossoms. When he caught sight of her, his body flared navy blue with embarrassment and he sat still, hovering in the air and raising his emerald green eyebrows as if he was waiting for her to judge him for his merrymaking. The second was that Howl-- who she had fully expected to see in the gardens-- was strangely absent.
"Calcifer, where is Howl?" she asked him, making her way toward a bush of lilies. Michael, who had been lagging slightly behind, made an appearance, hurrying to make up for lost time with his floating tub hovering somewhere behind his ear.
Calcifer made a motion that Sophie was sure, had he had shoulders, would have been a shrug. "Don't know," he admitted. "The contract is broken, so it's not my job to keep tabs on crazy wizards," but he said this warmly, and Sophie knew he didn't really mean it. "But I do know he left sometime before I woke up this morning, and he went through the Market Chipping door… it was orange side down when I first saw it."
"I went to Market Chipping after he left this morning…" Michael said, rather sheepishly, and as his cheeks tinted a faint pink, it was clear he had been to see Martha. "But he was already gone when I got up, and I don't remember what color was down. I was so excited to see Let-- I mean Martha, that I didn't really pay attention."
Sophie, for reasons she could not quite place, was disturbed by this. "It can't be past eight o' clock," she said as she reached for the lilies. The sound of their stems breaking was crisp in the damp morning air. "Perhaps our Howl has decided to stop being lazy for once…" she felt much less annoyance than her voice let on, and as she let the lilies tumble into Michael's bucket and reached for more, she nibbled nervously at her bottom lip. She had anticipated enjoying her first morning in ages as a young woman again, and had not exactly counted on Howl fouling it up by marking her worry. It wasn't often he disappeared at the crack of dawn. She could not recall him ever being gone before she woke up in the past.
"The way he held my hands last night, you'd think he never wanted to let go…" she thought, growing more irritated by the moment as she finished with the lilies and moved on to a lush clump of geraniums. "And still he feels the need to rush off first thing in the morning without even a hello? This is so like him. Why did I think things would change between us? It's the same as it's always been; he doesn't see fit to tell me anything!"
Michael gave a little gasp of worry and had to physically grip the edge of his tub with his fists to keep water from sloshing over as Sophie deposited the geraniums quite forcefully into it. "Steady there!" he called uselessly to the tub. Calcifer gave a small chuckle at the teenager's misfortune. Sophie was on a warpath now, and was none too tender with the roses she plunked into the water next, hissing a word even Martha didn't know under her breath as the water splashed her dress and loose strands of red-gold hair, which she hadn't bothered to put up.
"I need to calm down…" she muttered aloud, and ignored Calcifer's snort of agreement. "I'm just blowing things out of proportion. After all, he doesn't need to check with me every time he leaves. Just let it go, Sophie. Don't get yourself all worked up because of that flighty wizard!" and she promptly made herself (almost) forget about him. There were more important matters to attend to, after all. She arranged the armloads of newly collected flowers-- marigolds, lilies, roses, geraniums, lilacs, fragrant tuberose, lacy forget-me-not, and gaudy hibiscus-- into careful bouquets in the workroom and then settled them onto the shelves and countertops in the shop front.
Sophie couldn't help but marvel at how much easier it was to get work done now that she was eighteen rather than ninety. She fairly flew around the room, dedicating her energy to creating a brilliant display. The day after Midsummer Day, there were bound to be girls who did not find the suitor of their dreams coming in to buy comfort flowers, or successful suitors who wanted to buy flowers for their new sweethearts. In what was sure to be a busy day, the shop had to look as vibrant as ever.
"Slow down!" Michael told her in alarm as he moved in with a basket filled with arrangements in vases, ducking quickly to avoid behind hit in the face by Sophie's arm. "You're going to put someone's eye out!" Calcifer, who was floating hidden behind Michael to avoid being seen by any early customers, muttered in what sounded like agreement. Despite Sophie's state the previous day, now it was Michael who sounded like an old woman. Sophie giggled slightly in spite of herself.
"You seem happy," Calcifer said, peeking out from behind the feathery brown strands of Michael's hair. "I guess it's true what they say about a woman in love."
"What!?" Sophie whirled around and dropped the bouquet she was holding, vase and all. Michael dove forward and managed to catch it before it hit the floor. He gave a small whoop of excitement. She could feel her cheeks flush in spite of herself. "Calcifer, don't be silly! Why would you think I was in love with Howl?"
"No one said anything about Howl," Calcifer sounded smug, and Sophie grumbled, taking the vase from Michael with a small mutter of thanks and placing it safely on the front counter. She brushed imaginary dust from the grain of the wood and then spun around to face Calcifer. Somehow, now that she was young and had more energy, she constantly found herself spinning rather than simply turning, constantly forcing Michael to dodge her fingertips.
"Keep this quiet, Calcifer," she said, narrowing her eyes at the fire demon. She nonchalantly reached forward and grabbed an empty vase filled with water, awaiting the flowers that would be placed in it, and passed it from hand to hand so the water made sloshing noises. "You may be able to move now, but I'm young and I'm fast, and don't think I wouldn't be able to catch you!"
"Noted," Calcifer said, sounding bolder than he looked in the face of being splashed. "I'll keep quiet about it if you promise to let me stay in the shop whenever I want."
Sophie pondered this for a moment, and decided there were worse things he could have asked for in return. She nodded slowly, fixing Calcifer with her best menacing stare. "Alright, you can stay. But you have to swear to stay out of the sight! You'll drive away customers if they spot you."
"I swear on Howl's heart," Calcifer said rather playfully, moving up to a shelf that nearly touched the ceiling and perching himself amid the blossoms of the bluebells in a vase. "See, I match perfectly."
Sophie nodded slightly. "Don't you go moving around!" she warned him as she moved to the door and flipped the sign to Open. She barely had time to step back before Angela Lennox moved in, the bell tinkling behind her. Dressed in violet linen, she caught sight of Sophie and gasped. Sophie recognized the hat she was wearing.
"Sophie Hatter! It'd be a cold day in hell before I didn't recognize you! Where on Earth did you go for all those months, and where in the world is old Mother Jenkins?" Angela moved over to the counter to stroke the petals of a rose as she watched Sophie eagerly for answers.
"I've been… visiting relatives in Kingsbury!" Sophie lied quickly. "But I came to work here when Mother Jenkins died suddenly. I guess since it used to be the family hat shop, Mr. Jenkins thought I would be a natural employee."
"How sad," Angela crooned in her lightly syrupy voice. "I saw the poor old dear only yesterday. Bless her heart. But I can't help but wonder how Mr. Jenkins knew at all that you used to work here. After all, you'd been gone for ages when be bought the shop! Could it be that he simply fancies you?"
Sophie's first impulse was to blush, and she did it before she could think. She knew it was a horrible thing to do, and would make gossip fly around the town faster than a fly to manure. "Can I wrap that bouquet up for you, Miss Lennox?" she asked in a slightly shaky voice.
"I knew it! I simply knew when I saw you this morning 'I'm looking at the future Mrs. Jenkins!' Oh, how lovely for you, Sophie. Yes, yes, I'll take that bouquet. But oh, you must be so excited!"
Sophie had a strong, sudden urge to crawl into a hole and die. She took the bouquet delicately from its vase an wrapped the assorted stems in a piece of lurid pink paper. This situation was more uncomfortable than she could possibly have imagined, and there was little she could do to repair it now. "Yes, yes… I'm very excited."
Angela took the bouquet from Sophie and dropped a gold coin into her hand. "Thank you for the flowers, Sophie dear. And good luck on the marriage. I expect an invitation to the wedding when you get things all sorted out!" she called as she made her way to the shop's door.
"Of course…" Sophie croaked, leaning against the counter heavily and sighing. She had made a mess of things again, and from the look of it, this could be the biggest mess she had created so far.
What was Howl going to think?