In the prosperous city of Market Chipping, located in the north of the country of Ingary, it was getting pretty common to see Ian's moving castle in the bright, blue sky.
Amy Cahill observed the castle with awe from her workshed in the back of her family's clothing shop. Setting her needle down, her green eyes followed the marvelous castle. She was not familiar with magic. After all, the witchcraft apprentice in the house was her older stepsister, Sinead. But she was aware of the very feared twenty-four-year-old wizard that inhabited the castle. Yes, it was the heart-eating wizard, Ian Kabra. Word had it that he lured pretty girls into falling in love with him. And after having them wrapped around his finger, with one swift magic trick, he was already eating their hearts. Unlike most girls, she didn't feel scared about the castle. After all, Wizard Ian only ate pretty girls' hearts. And Amy knew she was not pretty. She did feel sorrow for the girls, though. Most of the victims knew about Wizard Ian's ways, yet, they were still vulnerable to his tricks.
"Are you still working, Amy?" a sweet voice asked from the entrance of the shop.
After a few minutes, the curtain separating her workshed from the rest of the house and successful shop was slid open. A beautiful woman appeared right in front of her.
"Hello, Isabel," Amy greeted, resuming her previous work. She was nearly done with Mrs. Spasky's gown, and was feeling proud of how it was turning out to be. The only thing she enjoyed of herself was her way with the needle.
Amy's stepmother sighed, not pleased. "Amy, I thought you said you weren't coming to Cesari's because you felt ill. And here I find you, working your soul off."
Amy remained silent, suddenly finding the color of Irina's dress alluring. It wasn't really due to the reason that the royal blue was such a gorgeous color. But because Amy had lied to Isabel. She hadn't gone with them because she didn't really like to go out and have people look at her.
Isabel set a pink and white striped box down on her desk. Amy instantly recognized the box from the city's famous bakery, Cesari's.
"Don't let mom think she picked it out!" Reagan, her youngest stepsister, exclaimed. She ran inside the room. "I did." The fifteen-year-old grabbed the box from the table, and gave it back to Amy. "I hope you enjoy it."
Amy smiled, giving her blonde sister a thankful bow of the head. "I'm sure I will." Amy sniffed the air. "Is that almond cake I smell?"
"Your favorite," Reagan replied, smiling proudly.
Amy opened the box, admiring the pastry inside. She'd always loved Cesari's almond cake. Suddenly, she remembered about two very loved ones of her. She looked around, frowning in curiosity. "I'm sure Sinead and Natalie went out with you…did Natalie convince Sinead to accompany her on a shopping spree?"
Isabel's and Reagan's eyes darkened.
Amy instantly knew something was wrong. Her hunch was verified when she heard the shop's door slam shut.
Natalie slid the curtain open, looking disheveled and miserable. Once she stepped foot inside, she broke into inconsolable wails.
"I thought he loved me!" she shrieked, burying her face in her hands.
"Oh, Natalie," Amy began. "What's wrong?"
Natalie was far too enthralled into crying to even reply.
Amy was quite shocked. Those tears didn't look like the ones normally produced whenever Natalie threw one of her hissy fits. They looked genuine.
Reagan was subconsciously playing with Amy's spoon as she spoke up. "Nikolai…"
Amy perked up at this. Nikolai Spasky was Natalie's love interest ever since the girl had turned eleven. Nikolai was just a year older than Natalie, Amy's age, and was the Spasky's son, heir of the famous library near Cesari's. Amy was more than sure that Nikolai reciprocated Natalie's feelings.
"What happened?" Amy asked.
Sinead appeared behind Natalie, a letter in her hands.
"We just found out that Nikolai is getting married," Isabel announced softly, looking down sadly. "In fact, the dress you're making for her is the one she'll use in the wedding."
Amy gasped. Nikolai…married?
Reagan angrily munched down a bite of Amy's cake. There was a flame of rage in her blue eyes, the one that usually appeared whenever something happened to her sisters. "It's an arranged marriage with that girl from my ballet class, Madison. She is just as frustrated by it as Nikolai and Natalie are. And I'm just as frustrated, too. In fact, I wholeheartedly oppose the marriage!"
Natalie was now sitting in a chair, bent down in painful sobs. Isabel was standing right next to her, caressing her daughter's back as she tried to sooth her.
"Well," Sinead spoke up. She flung the letter in her hand up in the air, and turned it into ashes. Sinead, even though Isabel was not pleased, became an apprentice of Mrs. Fairfax, one of the wizard teachers in Ingary, a year ago. "I think you should move on."
The letter happened to be a message from Nikolai to Natalie. The ashes that were once the letter fell down to the ground. Natalie gasped, jumping up to her feet.
"Sinead! I hadn't read that letter!" Natalie shrieked, running toward the ashes. "Please, turn it back to its previous state."
"No can do," Sinead quipped. Her eyes were a glassy green, as if Sinead had no feelings.
Natalie seemed desperate. "Please! I need to know his feelings."
Sinead scoffed, chuckling bitterly. "Natalie, stop overdramatizing. If Nikolai didn't oppose the marriage, it's because he doesn't love you anymore. In fact, maybe he never did!"
Natalie remained silent.
"Maybe all this time you were clinging on to some fairytale fantasy," Sinead added. "Sinead!" Isabel exclaimed, quite shocked.
Natalie gazed at her sister, betrayal written in her eyes, before she ran out of the workshed. Amy heard her footsteps as she ran up the stairs, obviously to lock herself up inside the bedroom and cry her pretty eyes out.
"That was rude," Isabel told her oldest daughter.
Sinead raised her chin up in a sign of defiance. "She has to face the reality."
"Well, I don't think that is the reality," Isabel replied, frowning.
Amy stood up. "I'll go check up on Natalie."
But before she could make her way upstairs, she felt Isabel's warm hand on her shoulder.
"I'll go," Isabel informed her. "I know you usually calm down your sisters, but this seems more like the job of a mother."
Amy tried to oppose, but one look at Isabel's determined eyes shut her up.
"Alright," Amy quietly answered.
Isabel nodded. She signaled at the workshed, where Sinead and Reagan lingered. "I suggest you talk to Sinead about her previous behavior. Maybe you can make her realize how wrong she was."
"Of course," Amy replied.
Isabel gazed with worry at the workshed before making her way upstairs. Once she was gone, Amy returned to her workshed.
"Sinead, I need to talk to you," Amy said.
"Not now," Sinead replied. She seemed to be gathering her stuff. "I need to practice some spells Mrs. Fairfax taught me."
"Please, hear me out-"
"If it's about Natalie," Sinead cut in. She handed Amy a few coins. "Go and buy her a new fancy hat from my part and tell her sorry."
"I think that's something you should personally do," Amy said.
"I will," Sinead assured her. "But not now…please Amy, if I don't learn my spells I'll flunk my exam."
"I don't think that's possible for you," Reagan added.
Sinead ignored Reagan. She sighed. "I'll admit it, I was a little harsh on Natalie. So just let me practice my tricks."
"Fine," Amy replied after hesitating.
"Thank you." Sinead smiled. And with that, the girl ran up to her bedroom.
Amy shook her head. She agreed with Isabel about magic changing Sinead. When she first started practicing magic, the redhead was still the same smarth girl. But soon, she began to get greedy and ambitious, wanting to become the most powerful and rich wizard in the world. And then one day, she came in late, assuring the family that she'd lost the train from Tulip Hill, Market Chipping's privileged neighborhood and Mrs. Fairfax's mansion's location, back to Hatterville, the commercial part of the city where their house and shop was found. But Amy couldn't help notice the difference in Sinead's eyes. They were empty. Ever since then, on some occasions (such as the previous one), Sinead exposed an attitude that sometimes gave Amy the impression that Sinead had lost her heart. As if Wizard Ian had eaten it.
"Reagan, would you like me to escort you back to your job?" Amy asked Regan, who had by then finished her cake. "I'm going back to Cesari's to buy something for Natalie, and I believe you recently started working there."
Reagan shook her head. "Mr. Oh gave me the afternoon off."
"Alright, then," Amy replied. "I'll be back soon."
"I'll take care of the shop!" Reagan exclaimed as Amy left.
Once outside, Amy took in a deep breath, trying to assure her that nobody would glance at such an ugly thing as her. After all, she'd picked up her hair up in a tight braid, her hat hid most of her face, and she was wearing her usual grey dress. Nothing out of the ordinary should happen that day.
But of course, she couldn't expect the meeting she'd have with two very well known wizards.
A/N: What? Isabel...a good person? According to this story, yes. And, no, I'm not out of my mind. I just couldn't find anyone else fit to be Amy's stepmother. And yes, Madison and Reagan are not related in this story.
Hello, and thank you for reading my story :) The amazing idea of this fanfiction is taken from a fabulous book and movie, Howl's Moving Castle. I saw that many writers in this archive are fans of that novel, so I thought that it wouldn't be wrong to make a 39 Clues AU version. Of course, this version will have a few twists. Note: some of the names are also taken from the book. Also, the...thing in the story's cover is actually the castle from both the book and movie (pretty rare, huh? LOL). So, that's Ian's moving castle.
Amy's story will be explained further next chapter. I just didn't want this to become too long, so I had to cut that part out. Also, when you picture the characters in your mind, try to see them dressed as in the 1800s. Now, I'm sorry for the length of this author's note :S I just wanted to explain those...but well, I'm finally done. I hope you liked it!
P.S. I have not read the second 39 Clue series, so don't expect some of the new characters to appear in this :P
