Chapter 9
The witch and I actually began walking into the castle together; her body went from being in her mid thirties and tall to short, and her skin sagging like wrinkled fabric. It shocked me, but I decided it was better not to question it-don't want to make her mad now, did I?
"Ms. Pendragon and the Witch of the Wastes!" someone announced.
"You brought a fake alibi?" The witch asked. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Uh, I don't know why it would, that's my maiden name,"
"Is it?"
We kept walking until we reached a room with a lone chair in the middle of the room-before I could think, the Witch ran up to it and sank down.
"A chair!" she called. "It's mine!" she sank down and sighed deeply-my legs ached a little too, but I could stand a little bit longer. Before I thought about it, Howl raced past me to a distant corridor.
"Howl!" I hissed. Checking to make sure the Witch didn't hear me, I followed him to see the wall open and a young blonde boy standing in the middle of what looked like an elevator.
"Ma'am, please follow me," he said.
I followed the boy and he led me up a few floors down and down a few hallways-the walls looked like absolute splendor, like it was obvious I was in a palace. It was simply too beautiful and I kept admiring everything until I was led to a garden, which was also just as beautiful. Huge flowers and plants decorated the garden; I even think I saw a small snake. As I continued to follow the small boy, I noticed an elderly woman in the center of the room.
"You must be Ms. Gloria Pendragon, Howl's elder sister," the woman said.
Elder?
"I am Madame Sulliman," the woman continued. "The King's confidante,"
I curtsied, trying not to seem rude.
"You must be exhausted-please, sit,"
I sat down at a chair across from her and folded my hands gently in my lap.
"So, you are here to tell me Howl is unfit to fight in the war?" Madame Sulliman said.
I nodded, rehearsing the speech I planned in my head. "He's the laziest boy I ever met in my life-I swear, I'm embarrassed to call him my brother-I think you'll just find him useless in the war,"
Madame Sulliman paused for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear that…I took Howl on as an apprentice years ago; I'd never seen such talent and passion in a student. I was so excited-I finally had someone to replace me,"
I was offered a cup of tea and I took it, even though I don't really like tea and took a small sip-it was actually kind of good. "But…?" I asked.
"But then his heart was stolen by a demon,"
Heart stolen by a demon…Calcifer?
"Ms. Pendragon?"
I paused at my sip of tea. "Yes?"
"That man is a menace-if he and that demon of his continue to use his powers unwisely, then Howl will end up like The Witch of the Waste-send her in!"
A big lump of purple was wheeled in on a small flatbed with wheels. It took me a minute to realize it was The Witch of the Waste-but she didn't look anything like before. Before, she looked like she was about to crumble and fall apart-now she looked the same, but her face was just…old. Her hair went from being bright red to grey and her face had countless wrinkles and a giant wart on her nose.
"The hell…" I said and looked at Sulliman. "What did you do to her?!"
"I restored her to the age she actually is," Sulliman said. "Ms. Pendragon, if Howl comes forward and offers to help in the war, then I can rid him of his demon; however, if he refuses, then Howl will be stripped of all his powers-just like her," she said the last part with a nod towards the witch.
I couldn't help but scoff. "Now I get it," I said.
"You find this amusing, Ms. Pendragon?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," I said, standing up. "I thought Howl was just being a sissy about coming here, but now I get it-he just didn't want to fall into your trap,"
"My trap?" Sulliman said, looking a little amused.
"You lure witches and wizards here with invitations from the king, then you strip them of all their powers!"
"Oh?"
I continued, on a roll. "Howl won't come here, you dumbass. He doesn't need your help or anyone's. He can fix his problem with the demon on his own, I know he can! He's a lot stronger than you or anyone else thinks or knows; he's the strongest man I've ever known,"
"Now I see," Sulliman said. "You're in love with Howl…"
"In lo-" I said, feeling myself blush. "Tha-that's sick! I'm his sister!"
"Well, they allow that sort of thing in Alabama, don't they?"
Alabama?
I didn't have time to defend myself because a tall man with a thick bright orange mustache entered the greenhouse.
"Your majesty," Sulliman said, bowing to the man.
"As you were," he said. "So, how are you feeling?"
"Much better, thank you," Sulliman said. "I'm surprised; you rarely come visit me,"
"I'm getting some air-I can't stand those ridiculous war meetings," the man-the king, I guess-looked over his shoulder at me. "Who is this?"
"This is Ms. Gloria Pendragon, Howl's older sister,"
"Ah," The King said and walked over to me and I immediately curtsied. "Thank you," he said. "But I think we're not going to use magic to win this war-Sulliman's magic is strong and protects this palace from the bombs, but they just get deflected on human civilians. Can't have that now, can we Sulliman?"
"My, you're majesty, how generous you are today," Sulliman said.
"Sulliman!"
I stood, shocked to see a man that looked just like the king come over to us with a piece of paper in his hand. "Check out these new battle strategies," he said. "This time we'll get them for sure…" the king stopped when he saw the man that looked just like him standing next to me and started cracking up. "That double gets better every time, Sulliman! Keep up the good work!"
"You're majesty," Sulliman said as the man-the King-left.
I was stunned…if that was the king then…
"So nice to see you again, Howl," Sulliman said.
"You're looking well, Madame Sulliman," Howl's voice came out of the green uniform and I realized what had happened.
"Rather weak disguise," Sulliman said. "Didn't I teach you better?"
"I'm not trying to outwit you," Howl wrapped his arm around my shoulders, his disguise gone and his real face showing itself to me. "I kept my oath-I reported when summoned. Now I'll take my sister and go,"
"I'm afraid not," Sulliman said and smashed her staff down on the ground. Ocean waves came at us and we were soon submerged-after awhile, it became clear that instead of being underwater, we were now floating in the sky. I could feel the Witch of the Waste grabbing my dress and pulling, yelping that she was gonna fall. But I was too scared to kick her off.
"Don't look down," Howl said. "Or they'll pull you under," As if to prove his point, the Witch suddenly screamed and the weight on my ankle was gone. I gulped slightly and huddled a little closer to Howl.
"It's time to show your sister what you really are," Sulliman's voice echoed around us and stars began shooting themselves at us. They flew past us and exploded around Howl, making tiny popping sounds when they burst. Howl started breathing deeply when I began hearing chanting in a language I didn't recognize. Howl tightened his grip on my shoulder as shapes of tiny people began dancing around us and I knew this wasn't good.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw claws and feathers tear out of Howl's hand. I looked and saw his face now growing more and more feathers-fabric tore and I briefly saw wings appear behind him.
Madame Sulliman's image appeared in the sky with her staff poised and ready to throw at us.
"Howl, stop!" I screamed and covered his eyes. "Don't!"
Suddenly, we were taking off in the sky and flying towards what looked like empty sky-soon a small hole appeared and I saw the ceiling of the greenhouse. We crashed through the glass and Howl's wings went away and feathers disappeared. Gracefully, we floated down onto one of the small planes soldiers fly.
"Hold on," Howl said as we took off. "Sophie, sit up here,"
I crawled to the front seat and sat down, trying to keep the skirts of my dress from blowing in my face.
"Sophie, take the wheel," Howl said.
"What?" I said. "No way, you're the flier!"
"They're gaining on us," I looked behind to see a small group of the soldiers flying behind us. Oh, shit.
"Take the wheel," Howl said and I did so. "I'll create a distraction-then you can fly this to my castle in the Wastes,"
"What?" I shrieked. "I don't know the way, what makes you think I do?"
"That ring I gave you? It'll lead you back to the castle-all you have to do is summon Calcifer with your heart,"
"Summon Calcifer with my heart?" I said. "That is the cheesiest thing I ever heard!" Suddenly, the ring started tingling and I looked-it was glowing and a straight line formed in front of me.
"Follow that light to the Wastes," Howl said.
"I can't believe you!" I said, glancing at him. "Why did you send me if you were coming here yourself?"
"Are you kidding? That woman terrifies me-I couldn't face her on my own" Howl leaned down and put his head on my shoulder. I couldn't see but I was positive my face was turning red. "You saved me, Sophie…I was in real trouble back there," It took me a few seconds to realize that Howl had let go of the wheel and I jerked to the right.
"Don't let go!" I screamed as we swerved to the right-I turned the wheel like mad to go the other direction but we still slammed into a bell tower.
"You're good," Howl said, laughing.
"Shut up!" I yelled.
"We've got a good lead now," Howl said and leaned down by me again. "I'm going to give you ten minutes of invisibility-use it wisely," Howl suddenly stretched his arm to the side and I saw him make a clone of us that swerved to the right.
"Howl!" I yelled, noticing that the ship was beginning to turn invisible. Howl's answer to my yell was a salute and flying away.
I continued to steer and managed to avoid a tree as I flew into the sky, invisible to everyone but myself.
