Prettyinpinkgal: So many reviews... You guys are awesome...
By the way, does anyone know the difference between pronouncing Howell and Howl? I keep thinking Howell sounds close to Howl, but it's Welsh, so I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the correct pronounciation. Could anyone help me please? It's been bugging me for a while.
Also, during the time before Christmas I might be writing another fanfiction (a rather short one) of HMC just for the Christmas season. It's going to be a crossover with "The Nutcracker", but it will be...rather odd. XD Lol! And for any reader that has read my other HMC fic "The Thousandth Summer", I WILL update that eventually! I just want to focus on finishing this and some other of my fanfiction first. But I think I might actually update before Christmas! (gasp) lol
Disclaimer: I don't own HMC. It belongs to DWJ. Not me. All recognizable text is from the book. And the ice cream reference is sort of inspired from the best movie ever (besides Studio Ghibli films and Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice) Forest Gump. Wow, typing just the name gave me the urge to have Howl say in this chapter, "I'm Forest, Forest Gu-ump." XP
DESTINY
CHAPTER EIGHT: IN WHICH SOPHIE RETURNS TO INGARY AND LEAVES THE CASTLE
Howl paced the waiting room, feeling very restless. Sophie had been in the hospital for what seemed like forever. Howl wondered what she would do when she woke up in a strange place with wires hooked up to her. The doctors would probably speak English, but Sophie would probably shrink up like the little mouse she could be, especially after what had happened earlier.
At this thought, Howell clenched his fists. He hadn't wanted to hurt those guys; if Sophie had seen what he wanted to do to them, she probably would have been even more terrified. So he had simply whisked them away, although working magic in his world was not something he ought to have done. He'd be scolded for that when he returned to Ingary.
But she had cried.
The Sophie he knew, although shy at first, had seemed like she could hold her own. Seeing her so terrified...
"Mr. Jenkins?"
Howl whirled around and stopped pacing. "How is--?"
The doctor held up a hand to stop him. "Your friend is just fine. She has a mild concussion, and she lost some blood, but she should recover soon."
Howl sighed with relief. Then he asked, "Is she awake? May I see her?"
"She is still sleeping, but she should wake up shortly. You may sit with her, if you'd like."
Howl nodded, then went on his way to Sophie's room. He opened the door quietly, figuring she'd need her rest, then closed it just as silently behind him and went to sit in the seat placed beside Sophie's bed.
Her long ginger hair was out of its braid for once, appearing to shine underneath the light of the lamp beside her. Her face did not show any pain, but instead showed an innocence that surprised Howl. Once again, he was grateful he had found Sophie in time before those...
Her eyes fluttered open just then, then glanced around, apparently still half-asleep. Her eyes landed on him, tearing Howl from his thoughts. "Howl?"
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he teased to hide his own conflicting emotions. "How's your head?"
"It feels like--" She paused. "Something I probably shouldn't say."
Howl laughed. "Well, it sounds like your almost back to your old self."
Sophie grinned tiredly. It was rather late, after all, and it had been a very long day. "What should I call you now?" she asked abruptly.
"What do you mean?"
"Should I call you Howell or Howl?"
Howl raised an eyebrow. "You're still thinking about that? Well, anyway, I suppose you ought to continue to call me Howl, unless we bump into my sister again. If we're in Ingary, you'd best stick to calling me Howl."
"Why do you have so many names?"
"I like to keep my privacy."
Sophie gave a light snort. "You probably just want to slither away from the girls you used to court."
"My dear Sophie!" Howl cried. "Do you really think so ill of me?"
She gave him a look that said, "Yes, I do."
"For your information, Mrs. Nose, there are some people that are after me, along with some other informations."
Sophie looked at him suspiciously. "You've been awfully honest," she said. In the short while she'd known Howl, it was obvious that he was what she would call a slither-outer and an extremely dishonest man.
He sighed pitifuly. "You would have badgered me until I told you anyway."
She snorted. She went to sit up and give him a piece of her mind mind about this new nickname she realized she had been given, but her head ached. Sophie snuggled deeper in the covers instead. "Where are we, anyway?"
"We're in a hospital in my world."
"...I see." Sophie frowned, discomforted by the sudden swell of homesickness she felt. Leaving the hat shop wasn't so bad. After all, she had moved into the moving castle, which was connected right to her hometown. But now she was in a different country, a different world even!
Feeling more alert, she noticed something stuck in her arm. Her face paled. "Um..." she said quietly, almost in a squeak.
Howl followed her line of vision and quickly said, "It's fine. It's just something to measure your pulse."
Sophie sighed, growing quite fed up with this strange world, wondering how such a tiny thing could possibly measure her pulse. Closing her eyes tightly as if the act would make the object vanish, she said, "Some ladies were looking for you."
She heard Howl mutter, "How long does it take a woman to understand that I'm not interested in her anymore?"
Sophie frowned and said in an annoyed tone, "Maybe you wouldn't have to deal with things like this if you would stop treating women as objects to be played with."
Howl laughed, slithering out of answering. Sophie opened her eyes to glare at him. "And by the way," she said, "they said their names were Miss Angorian and Miss Williams. They said they were looking for you, but it didn't seem like they wanted to beg to have you back. They seemed rather frightening."
"I don't recall anyone by those names. Were they attractive?"
Sophie grudgingly replied, "Yes." Of course he would ask that. She was about to add that they seemed to know about Ingary, but Howl cut her off. Surprise, surprise. Why was it that she just couldn't seem to tell him about scarcely anything regarding those two mysterious women?
"I see. Yes, they probably are women I used to court. Anyway," he said, abruptly changing the subject, "I've kept you awake too long. You're probably exhausted."
He had the look of someone who was concerned about her, but Sophie was sure he just wanted to avoid another argument about his habit of breaking hearts.
"Alright. Goodnight." And with that, she turned over so she no longer faced him.
"The answer is no!"
It was the next afternoon, the sun shining into the hospital room so that all the "magic boxes", as Sophie liked to call them, were very evident. Sophie tried to avoid looking at her arm as she ate what Howl called ice cream. It was awfully cold (most likely why they call it ice cream) yet was quite delicious. Getting ice cream was the one good thing about hospitals. Howl had earlier explained there were many different flavors, and this was vanilla.
"Come on, Sophie," Howl whined. "Wales really isn't all that bad! So you had a bad experience yesterday. But Wales has some good qualities! You already like a dessert from this world," he said, nodding towards the ice cream cone in Sophie's hands.
Sophie snorted, but couldn't help taking another lick of her ice cream. "This is food. All food is delicious, especially when I didn't have scarcely any yesterday. But Wales is a horrible place overall. How could you bear to live here? Those...cars," she said with a shudder, "go far too fast and look like frightening monsters. And--"
"We can just walk around Knighton. No cars necessary."
"But..." Sophie licked at a drip running down the side of the cone. She tried to think of an excuse to get out of seeing more of Knighton. Walking around a place where she was attacked was not a comforting thought. But Howl seemed determined to give her a tour...why was he so set on it, anyway?
"As soon as I sign your hospital release papers, we can leave, alright?" Howl then walked out of the room, not giving Sophie any time to argue.
She sighed and finished her ice cream as she waited for him to return.
Howell was sure the Witch of the Waste was in Knighton somewhere. And if she wasn't in town now, she had been recently. When he woke up this morning, he could feel it. He could sense her magic. Howl must not have noticed it last night when he was focusing solely on Sophie. But now that Sophie was safe...
Or was she? He could tell the Witch had been near her. Had theWitch noticed Sophie was from Ingary and assumed she knew him? Sure, Sophie's clothes were different than what was common in Wales, but the Witch could not have judged she was from Ingary on that alone. Had Sophie opened her big mouth and blurted out that she was from Ingary? Howl had thought she'd have at least a bit more sense than that!
But perhaps the Witch had not done anything to Sophie. Perhaps they had merely bumped into each other on the street. Still, Howell could not help but feel something awful had happened to Sophie thanks to the Witch.
Besides the Witch coming into contact with Sophie, another discomforting thought was that the Witch had been in Wales at all. It could not have been a coincidence that the Witch just felt like traveling to another world and just so happened to stumble upon his, then decided to take a tour of Wales, his home country, and then shop in Knighton, which was rather close to Megan's place.
Howl signed the hospital release forms, flashed a smile, which completely hid his uneasy feelings, towards the rather attractive nurse who was smiling flirtatiously at him, and quickly walked back to Sophie's room. As much as he hated bringing Sophie near the Witch of the Waste again, she might be able to identify who was the Witch. Howl could possibly find her on his own, but because the Witch liked to play with her prey, she often put up a barrier so that Howl would not recognize her. Sophie had some residue magic from the Witch, so she could probably recognise the Witch. Howl had heard rumors that anyone who came in contact with the Witch of the Waste's powers could somehow recognize her. Perhaps they were true. And if Sophie could identify the Witch, Howl might be able to finish her off once and for all before the Witch could cast her curse on him.
Sophie was staring out the window when he returned. "Howl," she said, without turning around. "What's that big bird thing?"
Howl froze, then rushed to the window. It must be the Witch! he thought, his breath caught in his chest. However, when he followed Sophie's line of vision, he cracked up. "It's called a plane, my dear Sophie!" he cried once he could breathe.
"A plane? What on earth is that?"
Howl explained, and Sophie listened with utmost attentiveness, her eyes wide with amazement as they followed the airplane until it was out of sight.
Howl watched her as she stared earnestly at the sky to see if any other airplanes would appear. The pleasantly surprised smile on her face seemed to make her light up. For once, his attention wasn't drawn just to a woman's lips; he was being drawn to Sophie's everything: her heart, her soul...
And it wasn't because he was hungry, no matter what the rumors Michael had spread told.
What the heck was going on? Howell mentally kicked himself for getting too attached to the redhead beside him. It was one thing to be attracted by a woman's looks, but being attracted to Sophie in other ways? Something was wrong with this picture. Never had Howl felt like this with a woman, even before he lost his heart!
"Howl?"
The curious voice shook Howl from his thoughts, and he turned his attention back to the real world. Sophie was looking at him, her head cutely tilted a bit to the side. "What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing, Sophie. Let's go," he said, managing to keep his voice even. He took her hand.
Then dropped it as if his hand had caught on fire.
It can't be, Howl thought numbly, his face growing paler by the second as he stared at his own hand, then stared at Sophie's. A terrible jolt far stronger than what could be blamed on as static electricity had flowed from Sophie's hand to his own, and he knew it had nothing to do with Sophie's own powers. Oh, no, he knew far too well who was responsible for the shock, and what the true identity of the shock was.
Sophie had felt the jolt too. "I felt something like that the other day!" she cried. Her own face began to pale, knowing something was terribly wrong.
"It's the Witch's curse. It's caught up to me," Howl stated, although his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"The Witch? Do you mean the Witch of the Waste?"
Snapping out of his stupor, Howl glared with his marble eyes at Sophie. "Of course I mean the Witch of the Waste! Who else would I mean?"
Ignoring his attitude, Sophie asked, "But how did she--?"
And suddenly she recalled the handkerchief she had seen vanish. And the two women who were searching for Howl. And how they knew of Ingary.
"Those women from yesterday!" Sophie gasped in a hushed tone, as though she expected the Witch to hear. Then again, she probably could cast a spell so she could hear them.
Howl looked at her, then whispered, "We can't talk freely here. Let's go back home."
Sophie nodded. She followed the pale man out of the hospital and into what she assumed was his car. She was so terrified at the thought of being in contact with the famed Witch of the Waste and so worried about Howl that she didn't hardly notice the car ride back to Megan's home. She noticed enough to make a little squeak now and then when they would go up and down the rolling hills.
But the Witch of the Waste! She had heard rumors that the Witch was on the prowl again, even though she had been banished to the Waste about fifty years ago. Sophie had even read in the paper that the Witch had threatened the king's sweet little daughter's life!
Sophie stole a glance at Howl, seeing how deathly pale he was and wondering if it was merely from the shock or if it was the curse itself, draining the life out of him. She noticed his hands, however, and decided that if he was able to grip the wheel so hard, he was still alive.
He drove into Megan's yard, and soon they were in the moving castle.
Sophie thought she should have felt very relieved to be in her own world again, but under the circumstances, she was only slightly glad to see Michael and Calcifer. The fire was lying low in the hearth, looking quite distraught. Michael greeted Sophie and Howl. "I'm so glad you're alright, Sophie! Howl told us what happened when he came home last night. Oh, and Howl, something's wrong with Calcifer. A while ago, he was his old energetic self, but now he seems really down about something."
Howl, seemingly unconcerned for Calcifer, walked over to his friend. "She caught up, old blueface."
Calcifer flickered on the logs. "I know," he replied, looking at Howl with saddened eyes. "I felt it take."
Howl flopped into a chair and Sophie fidgeted by the door, unsure as to what to do in situations like this. "Um, those two women yesterday. They knew about Ingary. I tried to tell you about that, but you kept cutting me off."
Howl let out a humorless chuckle. "Of course. The Witch would never let you off with telling me about her. If she had, I would have known how to avoid the curse. She touched you, didn't she?"
"She handed me a handkerchief. I had felt a shock and dropped it. She and the other woman walked off, as did I. But I turned around, and the handkerchief had disappeared." Sophie gasped, finally realizing what had happened. "She used me to give the curse to you!"
Again, a humorless laugh came from Howl. "It figures. They said curiosity kills the cat, but your nosiness might just kill me instead."
Sophie frowned. She knew that Howl probably didn't mean to say it to be cruel, but she really did feel awful enough without him reminding her it was her fault. It was all thanks to her that the curse was set in motion. And if she hadn't gotten so scared and angry, she wouldn't have ranted about returning to Ingary and mentioning Howl. It was all her fault. "Well," she said, trying to keep her voice from revealing the hurt she felt, "you know how I'm the eldest. I warned you before that I'm destined to fail first and worst, and it seems my misfortune is affecting you."
"Sophie," Howl groaned from near the hearth.
"In fact," she continued, ignoring him completely as she swept past him to retrieve her things from the space beneath the stairs. "I'll just take my leave of you right now. I hope you find out how to break the Witch's curse."
"Wait a second, Sophie! You're not going to leave, are you?" Calcifer asked, poking his head out from under the logs.
Sophie paused at the door. She noticed how Howl did not say a word. He's probably glad I'm leaving. After all, I basically delivered his curse right to him. This is exactly why the eldest should never attempt to seek her fortune. I only make mistake after mistake after mistake.
"Yes, I am," she replied quietly to Calcifer. She did not dare to look over her shoulder. It was silly how attached she had become to the castle and the inhabitants of it.
"But what about our deal?" he cried.
She sighed. "You should find someone else to help you. Not a girl like me. But...if I do find out how to help you somehow, I might come back to help you. It would just be a visit though. Good-bye, Michael, Calcifer." She paused. "Good-bye, Howl. I'm sorry," Sophie added quietly, but loud enough to be heard by Howl.
She shut the door to the castle behind her, walking down the street in Market Chipping.
Prettyinpinkgal: I was going to add a bit more to the ending, but I think I'll save it for the next chapter, which I expect will consist of green slime. XP Well, I hope you enjoyed it so far! Please review! Thank you very much!