Megan
By Min Farshaw
Chapter six: In which there are absolutely no explosions
It may seem odd to take such an abrupt and seemingly unwarranted break in the narrative at this most crucial point in the story, the near climax and the point of highest tension, as the standard, grade school definition goes. However, it is of the utmost importance that certain facts are brought to light.
The first of which, of course, was that Howl had indeed 'done it on purpose' as Megan so aptly observed. Howl had placed himself in a type of harmless magical coma that he would come out of several days later, hopefully after Megan had gone home and given up on him for the time being. A cowardly action for sure, but Howl was never one to claim himself an extraordinarily brave man. Well, not when he was being honest anyway. A fact, not quite as important as the first, but related nonetheless (Let's call it a Sub Fact) was that Michael, nor Sophie, nor Megan had yet identified the true cause of Howl's inability to wake up. In another Sub -Fact, Calcifer the fire demon was probably the only one capable of identifying just what his former heart donor had done to himself, and he wasn't talking. The reasons for which are revealed as we move on to our next important fact.
The second important fact that should be noted was that Megan herself had a small degree of magical talent, something that, incidentally, Howl had known for a very long time. It is rare for someone with even the smallest degree of aptitude in the arts Arcanum, even in the extremely magical country of Wales, where the landscape had been so heavily ensconced with magical lore that it left none for it's inhabitants. However, it would have been rarer still for a man of Howl's enormous potential to be born while the rest of his family remained as magically defunct as road gravel. So, by some unfortunate accident of genetics, practical, down to earth Megan Parry had some small ability to be trained as a witch, if not to the same degree as her dishonest and thoroughly irresponsible brother.
It is perhaps lucky for Howl that, for the majority of her life, Megan Parry (Formerly Megan Jenkins) firmly refused to believe in such nonsense, and, as a result, nearly all of the moderate mystical energy possessed by Megan had been directed inwards, hiding itself and sealing the power away from Megan, protecting her from the harsh reality that not everything had a practical explanation. Megan had married a thoroughly practical and completely common man, who had no more aptitude for this sort of thing than a carrot does for Quantum Physics. That is not to say that Gareth Parry was vegetative or unintelligent, just normal. Neil had not inherited many of the Jenkins' genetic traits, and was as normal as his father. Young Mari might have gained the benefits of her Uncle's unique talents, but it was really too early to tell.
It was for this reason that Howl did not want his dear family member to breech the door that lead to his moving home in Ingary, the land where things like moving castles and Seven League boots really did exist, for he feared that Megan would learn of her now far diminished capacity to perform magical acts. She would also probably learn that Howl had artfully placed no less than seven charms and spells on her person to hide and suppress the magical potential that lay under her skin.
As such, we are brought back to yet another important Sub - Fact: Calcifer. As fire demons go, he was not particularly evil or unfriendly. However, one whiff of the charms surrounding the older Jenkin's sister had sent Calcifer sneezing and huffing back to the grate, where he sat, watching her with wary eyes like she was a bomb that would go off at any moment .
Having made this analogy, it is most unfortunate that the image of Megan exploding has most likely entered you minds. Please put this aside and rest assured that Megan will not explode, splattering icky bits all over the walls. Because it would be cruel to keep you in suspense, it must now be noted that no one will be exploding in this story, as there has been enough of that going on already. It might even be better to continue on and say that Megan does not explode in a magical sense either, as that would be rather inconvenient for the newly put together castle, on which an entire chapter was wasted. One might even go so far as to say that this is an explosion free chapter in all possible respects.
Having learned such things, we may now comfortably return to the scene at hand, that of a peaceful dinner between a group of people only loosely held together by one unconscious and unconscionable man.
" The pie was a bit salty and cold," Megan said before pausing, " Though I'm sure it's quite lovely for what you can get out here." She said 'Out here' like it was a hut in the middle of the desert.
" Oh I do hope you liked it. I'm afraid it's all we could do for an uninv- unexpected guest on such short notice" Sophie said sunnily, "I suppose the pies you buy back where you came fr- where you live are filled with steak and prime rib."
"Oh yes, But I make all my pies from scratch. But I can make do with what you choose to serve at your table. I suppose that you don't have proper refrigeration do you?" Megan asked politely, indicating the remnants of the pie. There was a pot of soup on the fire which had bubbled over, much to Calcifer's silent dismay. Any thoughts of feeding it to Howl were now abandoned.
" Oh dear me no, we buy our food fresh every day, don't we Michael" Sophie said, a little warning tone in her voice that dared the apprentice to contradict her.
" Oh, er, yes we do." Michael said, his eyes darting between the two gladiators at the table.
" How very old fashioned of you." Megan said off handedly. " Who does the shopping? I doubt Howell remembers"
" Michael and I do it." Sophie said shortly.
" Are they fighting?" Michael asked Calcifer quietly, eyeing the women as they exchanged backhanded compliments .
" Stay out of it kid." Calcifer muttered back, " You don't want to be caught in the middle of that."
The half -argument continued, as the conversation became more and more stiffly polite until Michael decided to but in.
" Ah, Sophie, why don't we go look for that extra room Howl was supposed to put in. It's getting rather late." This came in the middle of a set of expressive comments detailing the sanitary facilities of the castle. It was getting rather dark outside, and Sophie agreed to look with him for it. Megan decided to stay in the living room and 'clear up', which Sophie thought secretly meant to: 'poke my nose into everything'.
The first place they checked was obviously under the stairs, the room that had gained a new door. Sophie told Michael as they approached that, this was obviously where her room was, so she didn't see the point in exploring, when she reached for the doorknob. It opened without a creak to reveal a perfectly ordinary broom closet, equipped with a brand new fleet of brooms, mops, rags and buckets. Like the man he was, Howl had forgotten to include any soap or cleaner at all.
She reached out curiously to finger one of the stylish looking, but probably completely non-functional aprons that hung from the hook inside. All of her pictures and shells had gone, as had her change of clothes.
"Huh." Sophie simply said, staring at it. Her mouth twisted up like she had bitten a particularly sour fruit.
"Howl must have put another room upstairs." Michael said, so they trooped up the steps, even though Sophie was certain that she hadn't seen a new door up there.
True to her suspicions, there was no extra door in the short hall at the top of the stairs. Thoroughly exasperated, she turned to go back, but Michael stopped her, pointing to Howl's room. Curious, she entered it to see a previously un-noticed new door there in the wall nearest to the back of the house. She figured that she must have missed it while she was stressed about Megan being in Howl's room.
Before proceeding, she checked on Howl, listening to his long deep breaths and checking his pulse, an operation that caused her to brush impossibly golden locks of hair out of his eyes. She checked his temperature too, laying her hand against his cheek and forehead. All were normal. Slow, but normal, just as if he were asleep.
Having spend a few more precious moments by the side of Howl, Sophie sighed and got up. The door was on the left side of the room, where Michael stood patently waiting. Sophie first tried opening the door normally, but the knob wouldn't turn, as if it were locked. This was a problem easily solved by Sophie ; she was a witch after all.
"Unlock door," She commanded, pulling at the knob. It still remained shut fast, " Please be a good lock for me and unlock," She said, trying again. The lock still remained shut, so she tried shouting at it," You! Door! Unlock right now!" Still it remained shut. She tried pleading with it, begging it, and finally threatening it. It finally opened with a sullen click.
Triumphant, Sophie pulled at the door again only to find that it still refused to open. The source of her troubles appeared to be the five paper seals that adorned the door frame. Frustrated she peeled one of them off with a mutter about obstinate, difficult men. Most annoyingly, the little piece of paper stuck to her hand and wrapped itself around her fingers. No matter how she shook it, it would not come away. When she tried to take it off with her other hand, the paper stuck there instead. She stuck it to the new wood of the door and it began to crawl back to it's original position with little crinkly papery noises. The other paper seals were much the same, only now they attempted to camouflage themselves, turning the colour of the wood and the wall. By the time she had gotten one off, the last one she took off had crawled its way back to its original position on the doorframe. Trying to remove several at once was no good ; the blasted things repeled eachother.
Sophie found that there was no ordering the recalcitrant bits of paper to loose their adhesive properties and allow her to remove them. In that way they had undoubtedly been imbued with a drop of the personality of their creator. The man in question was still soundly unconscious, sparing himself Sophie's wrath.
They trooped back down stairs again, very annoyed. Megan was sitting in the armchair with a cup of tea that she had gotten from somewhere. Calcifer was still low in the grate and looking very sulky. Megan must have boiled the water for tea over him as he hid. There were logs piled up all around the brooding fire, but Calcifer refused to rise any higher.
Megan sat, sipping her tea, a perfectly innocent look in her clear blue eyes. A look, Sophie realized, she must have learned from Howl. This made Sophie absolutely sure that Megan had done some snooping or at least something she shouldn't have been doing. However, unlike her miscreant brother, Megan rarely ever did things that required the assistance of a perfectly blankly innocent look, and as such, increased its potency.
"Well, Howl doesn't seem to be waking up anytime soon, " Sophie said, hands on her hips., " Why don't you head home and talk this whole thing out with Howl later. I'll be sure to notify you when he does recover."
Megan took a long sip of tea and closed her eyes, as if savouring the flavour.
" No. I've waited too long for this. I need him to own up to me, at least once. Ever since he started disappearing, It's like a part of him was stolen away from us, from the family. He was always a rouge and a scoundrel, but he had never seemed so remorseless over it before. No, Howell needs to be honest, for once in his life. So I'd like to stay here for the night." Then she added, as an afterthought," As long as it's alright with you Sophie dear." Megan sipped her tea, for all the world looking like an angular, blue eyed boulder that would not be moved.
Sophie thought about it, and her mind went back to the moment where Howl first told her that they were going to that fishy place to see his sister. She had been semi-glad then, for the interruption of the weird and entirely too personal moment she was having with Howl, glad that she didn't have to confront this whole mess really. Despite their conversation in the marsh (Which still made her blush) She and Howl hadn't worked anything out at all, and that was just his nature.
But the removal of his heart had hurt a great many more people that he had intended originally, and he could never set them, or himself straight without it. But now that he had it back...
" You can stay," Sophie found herself saying, and Megan smiled, "though I don't know where we'll all sleep."
The division of sleeping arrangements became quite the hairy matter. Reluctantly, but in a rather chivalrous way, Michael offered up his bed to their guest. However, upon entry to his room, they discovered it to be in even greater disarray than the rest of the castle, as Sophie's protective charm against things smashing from shelves didn't seem to have reached here. Even after they cleared all of the debris off the bed, it still did not look like an appetizing place to sleep. Megan graciously declined his offer, and Michael sighed with relief. They made up a messy pallet in the living room for Megan, and it wasn't until after they had finished that Megan said:
" Someone should stay with Howell, in case he wakes up."
Which is how Sophie found herself sitting on the edge of Howl's bed, wondering just how often the wizard got his nails done. His hand rested above the coverlet, and Sophie found herself staring at the perfectly trimmed, softly shiny nails that adorned his fingers. Staring at his face was no good, as it lead to Bad Thoughts, and opened questions that were really better left unasked. The carpet was clean and boring. The walls were plainly uninteresting, and there was not enough light from Sophie's single candle for her to read the titles on his bookshelves. He didn't move, and the flickering light from Sophie's candle cast dark shadows on his handsome face, which she was trying to not look at. Sophie found herself watching them until her eyelids grew heavy and she found herself with an irresistible urge to lie down across the foot of Howl's bed and go to sleep. There was a blanket and comforter on the floor for her, but this was just so soft, so right here, and the bed on the floor seemed a thousand miles away. Besides, Sophie reasoned as she snuffed out the candle with a yawn. It wasn't like she was sleeping in Howl's bed, which would be indecent, just on top of the covers and at the end, which hardly counted at all. Just a quick rest...
Sophie was asleep and dead to the world the moment her head touched the soft springiness of Howl's mattress.
It is at this time that more facts of great importance should be brought to light, or if not light, at least to the dark room where Sophie was asleep and Howl lay in a rapidly fading magical coma. The fact is, of course, that Howl was not very good at inducing Magical Comas, and even worse at judging just how far the limits of his powers really extended.
Howl was, and is, an extraordinarily gifted sorcerer. The feat of raising the castle, traveling between worlds and teaching Sophie (Not to mention taking the flight of the castle entirely under his own power for a few moments) was the magical equivalent of a running a fifty mile triathlon without breaks. Most men and women would have crumpled with the strain less than an hour in.
But Howl had never even come close to draining his vast reserves of magic, and if he ever did, there was always the link with Calcifer to draw on. But, with that gone, and the events of the previous few days to consider, Howl had left himself with about enough magic to knock himself out for, at the most, four hours. His resilient body had begun to recover long before that, only aided by the specially induced slee.. As it were, he was due to return to at least a minimum working capacity within twelve hours -- of course at which time he did.
Sophie had passed from the blissful REM sleep of the near dead to that stage of half sleep where you aren't sure if you are awake or still dreaming. She did so because the covers further afield on the bed were being disturbed. No matter, it just meant she could move further up and perhaps steal some of the delicious warmth left behind by the previous occupant. This person paused at her feet before taking off her shoes and tucking her stockinged feet up and onto the bed, where Sophie's sleep clouded mind decided that they were much warmer, and thus snuggled in further to the pile of comforter that had been pushed in her direction. They smelled like apples and of Howl. Mmmm Howl. Howl.
Howl was up!
This was enough to pull Sophie out of dreamland so quickly that she got a brief but intense headache, and it was several moments before she could actually get up, by which time she was absolutely certain that Howl had escaped out the door to some far away land, never to return until she or Megan died of old age. Fears, of course, that were only partially correct. Howl would never have the patience to wait that long.
The house was was quite cold, and Sophie figured that Calcifer was still cranky and hiding. So she gathered Howl's blanket about her shoulders and crept out of the door, which was still open, her feet padding softly across the carpet. She slithered out to the hardwood floors in the hall, any footsteps muffled by the quiet noise of the blanket dragging across the ground. She creaked down the first few steps, still not entirely sure why she felt the need to be so silent.
Oh how houses groaned so at night!
The next step was shallower than she remembered, and her step came down with an audible thud. Sophie froze, listening as hard as she could, when she realized that Howl was talking to someone! To Megan!
This was such a shocking proposition that she had to sit down on the stairs, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She couldn't quite hear properly, so she scooted down a couple more steps, still concealed by the wall that hid half the stairs, but she could hear much better.
Glass clinked together, and a liquid was poured into one, two, three? cups. She heard a splash and a sizzle, and she realized that Howl had poured one of them on Calcifer. A glass clinked down on the table and was refilled. Sophie didn't think it was Calcifer's glass.
Megan chuckled in a rich, throaty kind of way, which was met by Howl's uneven snort, which came out in a sort of way that told Sophie that Howl was not going to be completely sober for the rest of this conversation.
" Whatever it is you blame me for Megan," Howl started, " I didn't do it."
" Oh Come off it Howell, let's be adults about this. You're at least twenty seven years old." Megan said, and then she cut him off " and I'm Old. I don't need you reminding me just how old I really am."
They paused, probably to take another drink.
"But for crisake Howell, what happened to you? One day you just disappear and you become someone else, so distant. You were always irresponsible, but this was a new turn for you Howell."
Howl sighed, and Sophie heard him slump into the armchair heavily.
" Ah. And now it comes out, the miserable story of the disreputable Howl Jenkins," He snorted again, " The end of my existance, it seems as a irresponsible, no good, good for nothing."
Then, for some reason, Howl explained himself, in a way at least. It was not entirely truthful, as he left out the parts where he had tantrums with green slime, or where he stole the hearts of young ladies, or even when he tried to deceive the king. But he told her about the magic (Albeit, he pinned most of it on Calcifer) told her about his heart (Also blamed on the fire demon), and, at the end, where Sophie was near dropping with exhaustion, he told her about Sophie.
He was fairly smashed at that point, and some of his words slurred together. Megan, who was considerably less drunk, had been pretty quiet up until this point. She sensed, as Sophie did, that Howl had a significant amount of unburdening to do. Hearts do that to people.
" an' Sophie..." He said, " She's far to good for me. Far too good."
" She's far too young for you." Megan said, causing Sophie to scowl.
" She's not!" Howl insisted. " I'm not old enough for her. Or I'm too old. She'll never stay. Soonaz me'n Calcifer broke the curse, I knew she was gone. Gone ferever." Sophie's sleepy brain had trouble sorting this out. He thought that she was going to leave him? Didn't he know she was terrified that he was going to leave her?
" Don't tell me you want to settle down?" Megan said, incredulous, slapping her drink down.
" Settle? I never settle Megan. I win." he slurred.
" A girl's heart is not a thing to win Howell."
"... Tried that... Din work. Too many girls, wimin, didn't love them enough. Sophie deserves better if she's gunna stay with me. If she's going to marry me." Sophie's heart gave a little start and she was sure that they could hear it pounding. Howl wanted to marry her?
" Marry you! Howl you asked her to marry you and you didn't tell me!" Megan yelled, seeming more upset about being left out than that her brother was getting married.
" Yeah I did!" Howl said, mustering up a smug tone that said he was proud of himself for making Megan angry. " At least I think I did. 's what I meant anyway." She heard the frown in his voice.
" Ah, no wonder she's so confused. You have to ask her properly." Megan said in a sagely tone, which rung with more than a hint of smugness.
" No I don't." He responded, sounding more like a five year old child than an adult of seven and twenty years. " I was going to, but you always ruin everything Megan." Megan sensed the impending tantrum, which, combined with Howl's relative state of sobriety, would not be pretty. Sophie sensed too that this was the end of the coversation.
" Of course I do Howell. Why don't you go back to bed" She said soothingly. Sophie knew that Older sister tone, having used it herself many times before on her recalcitrant sisters.
" 'sright." Howl muttered smugly, yawning behind his hand.
"... so you can have the strength to properly deny everything before I leave tomorrow morning." Megan added quietly so that Howl didn't hear. He started to head for the stairs, and Sophie quickly realized she would be discovered. She gathered up the goose down comforter and swept back to Howl's room just as he started to ascend the steps. She tried to make his bed, but she realized this was both a futile and pointless operation, as Howl never made his bed anyway.
Besides, she was so tired. Even Howl's heart pounding, drunken confession couldn't have kept her up much longer. She fell asleep, her arms an head on the low bed and her legs curled up on the buttery carpet.
Howdy folks, Glad to be back.
I was on Salt Spring Island, a place covered in real life hippies, Granola, and deer. It is also a place highly conducive to writing. I managed to squeak out this chapter, half an HMC one shot, and half of an original short story I've been writing for a while. It might have been all the organic food. It might have been the really Awesome used bookshop (Sabine's fine used and Rare books) I don't know what it was, but I want to go back with a desktop computer and just write all day.
I have also decided that Michael is the bravest character I know.
So, without further adue, thanks for reading, and I hope you'll review, for it makes me happy, and I'll write more for you.
-Min