Have you ever woken up and completely forgotten where you were, only to have the previous night slowly come back to you? That's close to the situation she's in at the moment, this girl with eyes like the ocean, waking to find herself in a musky house, cobwebs dangling from the rafters and books strewn about. The room was small, possibly from the hoarded clutter, and it was dark, the only source of light coming from a small flame in a peculiarly shaped fireplace. The architecture confused her, she'd never been in a place like this nor did she know anyone who lived in one. Where was she? The prior day was just a blur…
Footsteps brought her out of a daze.
"Hey Calcif-oh. Who are you?" A voice asked timidly.
"Who the hell are you?" She responded with her guard up. She gave the boy a once over, he couldn't be older than fifteen, with dark brown eyes and sandy blonde hair. He looked shocked at her abruptness.
"Michael, uhm, I'm Howl's apprentice, I, uhm, I'm sorry, I-"
"Who is Howl? Where am I?" She stood quickly, taking a step towards him.
"Uhm." He looked from side to side quickly, looking for a way to answer her. "Master Howl isn't here at the moment, uhm, I'm sorr-"
She raised her hand to silence him and shook her head in defeat, he obviously had just as much knowledge of the situation as she did. She sat back down on the dusty couch and held her head in her hands.
"Uh… Calcifer?" The boy whispered.
She looked between her fingers to his feet.
"Don't ask me." Another voice.
She looked up, but no other figure was in the room.
"Who-"
"Me."
She looked to the fire place. There, on the logs, was a face in the flames, two beady eyes staring back at her. She swallowed nervously and simply stared back.
"Well there's something you don't see every day." She said through her teeth.
"Where did Howl find you anyway?" It asked her, coming a bit nearer to inspect her.
"Maybe you should ask him" She snapped.
"Well, aren't you charming" He replied sarcastically, turning his attention to the front door as a circular dial spun to a black triangle.
She looked as the door opened to reveal a fair haired man with soulless blue eyes, smiling in on them.
"Hello there," He said as he zeroed in on her "nice to see you awake"
"You must be Howl," She said dryly "where am I?"
"Ah, my home in the Wastes. I'm sorry for my rudeness, I wish I could have explained last night" He bowed in apology.
What a tool. She thought as she watched him straighten himself. "So, why did you bring me here?"
"To protect you" He said simply.
"From what?" She tried to prod as she watched him walk past and go for the stairs.
"Calcifer, hot water for my bath"
"Oh, no no no. I'm not done talking to you" She stood and walked towards him.
Michael's eyes widened as he watched her stand up to his master. He turned slowly, with a smile on his face, to look down at the young girl.
"What is it that you felt so inclined to protect me from? Hmm?" She placed her hands on her hips.
"We will talk later over supper" He went to turn again.
"No, we will talk now." She took a step forward.
She was interesting, she amused him. A young girl with unheard of beauty and a spark that even Calcifer couldn't match. The women in this world would never dream of talking back to a man, and especially with such an attitude.
He sighed in agreement and descended the stairs and made his way over to the filthy table. He hunched his shoulders and rolled them slowly and proceeded.
"The Witch of the Waste has her eye on you" He started, "She's envious of you, you see, she is very vain, and up until your existence became evident, she was the most beautiful being in the land." He looked up at her through blonde locks. "But, unlike you, her beauty is merely a facade. You, my dear, your beauty seeps through your skin, runs through your veins, and lives in your soul." He watched her expressions change, from anger to confusion to embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong girl."
"Ha, no, I know beauty when it faces me." He flashed a charming smile, "The people in your world just couldn't see-"
"The people in my world?"
"There are many worlds, all very different but alike."
He watched the information sink in. She took her deep blue eyes off of him and looked off, subconsciously twiddling her fingers through her long hair. She really was a sight to behold; alabaster skin contrasting against her dark chocolate colored hair. She reminded Howl of the porcelain doll; small, fragile, and absolutely immaculate. He couldn't deny that he was drawn to her; physically that is, he could do without the demanding attitude.
"What does she want with me..?" She said softly, still looking into the distance.
"I'm not entirely certain."
She was silent again, her eyes cast downward and a shadow fell over her face.
"When can I go home?"
"I'm sorry, I can't know for sure." Howl could understand her situation, adjusting to this world is difficult. Of course, when he came to Ingary it was by his own accord, instead of being kidnapped in the night. "I promise you'll like this place," He started, "It's simple here, not as fast paced as your world. People aren't bustling around, letting their lives pass them by, there's barely any crime and it's a time of peace-"
"I'm sure" She wanted the conversation to be over, she didn't care about this world, she wanted hers. She wanted to go to work and lie in her bed; she didn't want anything to do with this man, his 'apprentice', or his talking fire.
.
.
.
"So, girl"
"My name is Sadie." She snapped at the fire, giving him a cold stare.
"Yeah, yeah, how long you planning on sitting there moping?" He teased.
She sighed; she knew she couldn't just lay about all day wishing the situation wasn't so. She looked at her surroundings; by the looks of it no one had done a single lick of house work in ages. Layers upon layers of grime and filth covered every single thing in the house, from the books to the knick-knacks. In the corner of the room was what she guessed was suppose to be a kitchen, although there was no sign of a refrigerator or oven, only a large tiled sink with over-flowing dishes. Even Calcifer's hearth was overthrown with mounds of ashes.
"Calcifer, how do you live like this?"
"HA! It's not like I can do anything about it, Howl is the one who calls the shots around here."
"So, you mean to tell me that he refuses to let the place be cleaned?" The idea seemed incredulous, who would actually want to live in filth?
"Well, no, but he never does anything about it, so neither does anyone else."
Men. So damn skanky.
She stood and arched her back, letting it crack in a few places and then cracked her knuckles. "Okay then, I guess it's on me." She dared to start with the 'kitchen' first.
.
.
.
She didn't know what time it was, apparently no one in this world knew what a clock was, but it seemed like she was working for hours. Her fingers were red, swollen, and sore, along with her knees, her back was tight and her neck ached. The kitchen was cleaned, down to the last spoon, the table cleared off, books organized, and everything dusted. The floors were swept and mopped and every bug beheaded.
"You know it's bad when you have to wash the cleaning utensils before you use them" She said to no one in particular. "Hey, Calcifer?" She looked to the peculiar fire who was staring intently at her.
"Yes?"
"Would you be willing to help me make some tea?"
"WHAT!? Absolutely not! I am a great and powerful fire demon! I DO NOT MAKE TEA!" His flames tripled in size and his embers turned royal blue in anger.
"Oh, please Calcifer, I'm so tired and sore and all I want is a nice hot drink…"
"oh-dam-ar-ugh! Fine!" He stammered.
She lit up and grabbed the freshly cleaned tea kettle and filled it halfway with water. "Thank you so much, Calcifer."
She heard footsteps on the stair case and out of the corner of her eye she could see the fair haired Howl descending. The smell of Hyacinths wafted over her in a warm steam, such a beautiful scent from the man with the eyes of the dead. He looked at the surroundings slowly and turned towards her, an incredulous look on his face.
"You manage to clean the entire downstairs and tame Calcifer all while I was in the bath?" He put an arm around her shoulders. "I should have brought you hear a long time ago!" He said playfully.
"Ha" She said sarcastically as she shrugged his arm off of her. She didn't care how devilishly handsome he was, how good he smelled, or whether his intentions were good, she didn't want to be near him. She still didn't want to be here. She just wanted her hot tea, a book, and a nap.
Howl was shocked by the girl, not only by cleaning five years worth of mess, not only for getting Calcifer to help her make tea, but for denying his touch. No woman has ever been able to resist him, he had always been able to break even the most headstrong of ladies. Between his looks, his fashion sense and his charm he was a real lady-killer, so what was so special about her?
"I'm sorry, did I hurt your ego?" She played as she poured the searing hot water into a small tea bowl.
"I'm wounded, yes" He admitted "No lady has denied me.
"Ha, yeah, well I'm not a lady" She said as she turned to face him. "I'm a woman. And you can't swoon me. I know your kind, Howl, you play the game and quit once you're about to hit home." She narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. "Don't try and play games with me, Howl, you'll end up being the one who's broken." She then grabbed her tea and took a seat next to Calcifer.
His eyes followed her, he really had never met a girl – oh, sorry, woman – like her before, even when he lived in Wales. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not, he was in uncharted territory with her, didn't have a game plan or even a next move, he couldn't even come up with a smart reply to her little monologue. He wasn't fond of being blind.