Sorry about the posting mistake! I put it up when I was tired and wasn't paying attention... Here's the right chapter!

A/N: To all my readers: Thanks for the comments! They inspired me to keep writing. Hopefully this chapter will be longer than the last one.

So I've only been to Wales once, and that was only a day trip and I was to young to remember anything but the fact that I was the first one to step over the line into Wales, and spent the rest of the day proudly declaring I was the first one in the family to step into Wales. Anyway, back on topic… I also have decided to make up a town for Howl's family to live in, because they never said a name in the book and it would be to much work to Google a bunch of towns and read up about them. (And in case you're wondering about the name, I looked at a map of Wales and picked two city names I like and combined them. Original, aren't I?)


Chapter 2- In Which Howl, Sophie, and Michael enter Wales

Sophie grinned in excitement as she stepped through the door and into the nothingness. She experienced the same sensation of walking through the colorless, heatless, until she passed through it, as it was only inch thick.

She looked around. It was not drizzling as it was the first time she had been to "Wales." It was a bright and sunny summer day, but it wasn't very hot. Howl was already at the gate, waiting for her and Michael to come join him. Michael came a second or two after Sophie, nearly colliding with her. They both walked down to Howl at the gate. He smiled at them, before turning around and opening the gate, walking out. His and Michael's clothes had changed, and Sophie could tell hers had too because she felt her legs incased in something stiff and tight. She looked down and saw the tight blue things that were surrounding her legs. Her shirt had, if you could call it a shirt, no sleeves and was just held up by two strips of fabric that went over her shoulder. Howl was wearing the same jacket with the same strange words on it that read: WELSH RUGBY, and had the same blue things around his legs, but his and Michaels were much baggier and looked more comfortable to walk in.

"What are we wearing?" She asked as they walked towards the white box at the end of the yellow house, barely able to bend her knee.

"This is what most people wear here," Howl replied, opening the door to the box. Sophie gulped. It was that horseless carriage again, and it seemed like Howl was going to put them in it again and give them all near death experiences. Howl noticed that both Michael and Sophie were eyeing the car wearily. "Don't worry you two, I've got my license," he said simply, and got into the car.

Michael and Sophie were not quite sure what he meant by that, but they got into the back seat, somewhat unwillingly, but neither of them wanted to miss seeing Wales. Howl smiled and the horseless carriage began to move backwards, then forwards at a fast speed. Sophie made herself trust Howl enough so that she wouldn't hold on to dear life this ride, though occasionally when they hit a bump she would grab the seat.

As with the first time they had driven in the horseless carriage, it was over fast. Sophie believed that the reason of the was that it went a terrifyingly fast speed, but she was much too happy to get out of the carriage that she didn't think much about it. They had all stepped out of the car and Michael and Sophie were looking around them as Howl had begun to walk down the side of the road. Michael and Sophie followed.

They were walking down a flat road that was bordered by what seemed like stores that had two stories. The street wasn't as crowded as it would be in Market Chipping, but there were a reasonable amount of people walking about. When the group passed by people, Sophie could make out snatches of what they were saying. She could understand some sentences, and some were in that foreign talk that she had heard Mari and Howl talking in.

Seeming to sense the question rising I Sophie, Howl began to talk. "Welcome to Crick Well! A small little town, but a nice on, none the less," he said it simply, and it sounded as if he preferred Porthaven or Kingsbury or Market Chipping. "If you hear people talking in an unfamiliar language, its Welsh," he explained, nodding a hello to a passerby. They turned a corner into a more crowded town center. Howl pushed through the crowd confidently, with Sophie and Michael trailing close behind so as not to get lost. "How about some brunch?" Howl called back, with a quick glance over his shoulder. He stepped out of the crowd and into a small shop. Sophie and Michael followed quickly.

The shop had a layout like Cesari's, but it had more places to sit. The three walked over to a table with four seats. Howl sat down on the right with Sophie next to him and Michael across from Howl. A perky girl who looked about fifteen walked up to them. "What can I get you guys?" she asked.

"Three teas, please," Howl answered, smiling at the rhyme.

"Coming right up," the girl said, scribbling something on a piece of paper and handing the three of the little booklets before walking away.

Howl, who was looking ever so arrogant at being the only one who seemed to know what was going on, took his booklet and opened it up, his eyes flickering back and forth down the page. Sophie and Michael followed his lead, picking up their own booklets and reading them. Luckily it wasn't in "Welsh" so they could understand it.

"So, pick what you want to eat, then tell the waitress when she comes back," Howl explained to them, putting down his booklet.

When the girl came back with the tea and took their orders, Howl ordered an omelet, Michael ordered fried eggs and bacon, and Sophie ordered French toast because she thought that it has sounded interesting. Conversation over breakfast was mainly questions and answers, and Howl managed to tell them what they could and couldn't do in Wales, because it seemed they had different customs than those in Ingary.

"First, and one of the most important," Howl said in between bites of omelet. They had been given their food and Sophie and Michael quite enjoyed their meals. The French toast was very delicious, and Sophie loved the sugary syrup that the girl gave her to put on it. "Don't talk about Ingary in front of other people. Not too many people know about it here." Michael and Sophie both nodded. The breakfast continued on like this, until everyone was done and full from their meals. The girl brought over the piece of paper she had been writing on before. Howl grimaced.

"Here you go sir," she said, handing him the paper and walking away. Howl frowned.

"Forgot to get money… hmm…" Howl mumbled, looking over the paper. He muttered a couple words under his breath and some coins and slips of paper appeared in his hand. He handed them to the girl as she came back to collect it, and stood up to leave. "That's another thing" he said as they left the store and headed back into the crowd. "Try not to use magic. I only used it because I didn't have money," he said quickly as Sophie was about to say something. "But if you must use magic, don't let people see it. That means no talking to inanimate objects," he said looking at Sophie. "And no practicing spells," he said to Michael. Then he smiled. "Now let's do some sightseeing!" he exclaimed, and dived into the crowd.

Howl took them to see the park first. They saw a statue of a man on a horse, a little pond with brightly colored fish, a small flower garden, and were about to leave the park to see other things in Crick Well when they ran into another crowed. It seemed like there were crowds of people on either side of a walking path, and walking down the path were a line of people marching, dancing, playing music, and some just walking.

"Ah. I was wondering why there was such a crowd in the center. Must have been the parade…" Howl was muttering to himself, as he began walking through the crowd trying to find a way through to the other side of the walking path.

Sophie found the parade fascinating. She watched all the people in colorful clothes dance, and the people in green and white beat drums and sound trumpets play music. She watched Howl out of the corner of her eye so she wouldn't get lost in the crowd, and hoped Michael was following because she couldn't see him, but assumed he was standing on her right side, her head now turned to the parade on the left so she couldn't see him.

They crowd finally began to thin and they reached a point where there was no parade, and the people either began to follow the parade or go about their business. Sophie turned and smiled wide at Howl, then looked around to see what Michael thought of the parade. He wasn't there.

Sophie's smile faded as she turned around looking for him, but she couldn't see him anywhere. "Howl! Where'd he go! He got lost, we have to find him, what if…" she said quickly, but trailed off when she saw Howl was grinning at her. She eyed him. "What?" she asked slowly.

Howl grinned "You worry too much. Have some fun! Michael will be fine, don't worry" he said, and held out his arm to her. "Care to take a stroll with me?" he asked and smiled dazzlingly at her. She took his arm and they began to stroll through the park, Sophie vaguely wondering whether Howl had split with Michael on purpose.


A/N:
Okay, sorry for the delay between chapters. I'll try to get the next one out soon… And sorry if about halfway through the characters got OoC, because I had stopped writing it about halfway and was reading a bunch of fanfics for a different thing, so the characters might have merged… Review!