Howl's Moving Castle 2:
The Flying Cottage
Chapter 1:
The Knock at the Door
"Markl dear, could you bring me the bacon please?" Sophie asked. "Hmm? Oh, sure," Markl said, marking the page in his book. "I'm in a really good part of my story Sophie, the Brave Knight just discovered the Great Dragon's Cave." Markl was really excited. Sophie had bought him a new book, "The Brave Knight", two weeks ago. Markl had barely stopped reading it since, and he almost finished the book. "Here Sophie- oops!" Markl dropped a piece of bacon on the floor. "Oh well, here Calcifer." Markl threw the piece of bacon towards the hearth, where Calcifer, a fire-demon, stood. "Sure feed me the food of the floor!" He shouted, even though when the bacon flew in his direction, he shot out his fiery tongue, and pulled the piece of bacon into his mouth. Suddenly, there was a roaring from upstairs. "Oh, Master Howl must be up." Markl said, looking at the ceiling. A few minutes later, Howl, the wizard who originally owned the Flying Cottage (witch used to be the Moving Castle) came down the stairs. "Good morning Calcifer, Markl, Sophie. Are The Witch of the Waste and Heen awake yet?" He asked cheerily. "Their out in the backyard." Sophie answered. Then there was a knock at the door. "Hello? Anyone in there?" a voice asked. Heen's cough-like barks came from some were behind the house. "That's strange..." Sophie said. Markl opened the door. "Amy!" he said. The door opened a little wider, and showed a 60-year-old woman giving Markl a hug. She was wearing a ragged burlap-looking cloak. She slowly began to skinny, and even grow a little. The hood to her cloak blew off, and reveled a 14-year old girl. She was holding a basket in one arm. "Hello Markl, I've got something for you." She said, reaching into the basket. She pulled out a small, plastic bag full of rainbow-colored candy. "Nettie's Fruit Drops, your favorite."
Markl took the bag. "Thanks, Amy, I'm going to put this in my room" he said, and went upstairs to do so. Then Calcifer greeted her. "Ammmy! Want to have a little competition?" he asked her. Amy straitened herself. Her jade eyes looked at Calcifer. "What kind of competition?"
"You know" Calcifer said, then he blew a little fire out of his mouth. "Not today, I'm only here for a little visit. I've got something for you too." She pulled out a small log from her basket. "Here, this log doesn't turn into ashes, and it lasts a long time, so you won't have to worry about going out again." Amy explained. "Here, I'll give it to you right know." And she walked over to the hearth, and handed the log to Calcifer. "Now, the reason I came here... Oh! Yes, I almost forgot! Happy Birthday to you, Howl. Here," Amy took out a small vile from her basket. "It's to dye back your hair. "But, be careful, this stuff is really strong, so only use on drop or so, okay?" she said, handing the vile to him. Then, she looked at Sophie. "I haven't forgotten you. Here." She handed Sophie a silver necklace. It had a heart-shaped ruby connected to the middle. "It's beautiful, thank you." "Your welcome. I- whats that?" Amy asked. There was a scrit-scrit-scratch, scrit-scrit-scratch. Sophie ran to the back door. Heen trotted in, soaked. He shook himself, then went over to Amy. The Witch of the Waste fallowed behind him. Outside, the rain poured heavily. "Oh! Look at that," Amy said. "I better get going, before that storm gets worse." "What? No, why don't you stay with us, that rain out there is terrible." Sophie said "Anyway, how did you get up here?"