A/N: So, I just realized I forgot to do this for the last chapter but...

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Howl's Moving Castle (either version), though I really wish I did. I also wish that Howl was real, but sadly that won't happen either.

Chapter 2

I sat in my bed curled up in my covers, until I heard footsteps walking up the stairs and Mother calling our name. I had forgotten she was coming home today.

"Sophie? Verity?" She pounded on our door, calling our names again when she tried to open it, only to find it locked.

"Don't come in here," Sophie called to her. "I've got a bad cold. I don't want you to catch it."

"You sound ghastly, like some 90-year-old woman. What is Verity doing then?"

"I'm taking care of her, mother. I think I'm already coming down with it though," I said, faking a sneeze.

"I'll just stay in bed all day, so you go on." Sophie told her, glancing at me.

"Well... If you insist." She said hesitantly and we heard her heels clicking as she walked down the hallway and down the steps.

"Up we go," Sophie muttered to herself as she pulled herself up from her bed. I stared at her sorrowfully. "This isn't so bad, now, is it? You're still in pretty good shape and your clothes finally suit you." She tried to cheer herself up as she stood hunched.

"We can't stay here, Soph. They'll get suspicious." I told her softly and she turned to look at my cat form sadly.

"I know." She stated, grabbing a shawl, her hat, and packed a small bag of extra clothes.

"Hey, at least I don't have to worry about clothes!" I said cheerfully. She grinned at me as we walked side by side down the stairs until I paused.

"What are you doing? We'll be caught!" She hissed as I looked down through the spindles on the higher stairs.

"I wonder if I can jump this and survive. Cats always land on their feet, don't they?" I asked her and she paled drastically.

"Don't you dare, Veri. You're not exactly a normal cat, are you?" She warned and I shrugged the best I could, following her the rest of the way down the stairs.

"Guess you're right." She stuffed cheese and bread in her bag from the kitchen and led us out the back door, holding it open for me then closing it behind her. The men on the street were looking at a newspaper, talking about how the other kingdom's prince was missing and a war was starting because they blamed us. Sophie walked across the bridge behind our shop just as a train passed through. I paused on the other side to wait until the train and smoked had passed before catching up with her on the other side.

"Excuse me, could you use some help?" I heard a young man ask Sophie on the other side as she coughed.

"I'll be fine, but thanks for offering. That was really kind," she mused to herself as I braved the smoke and carefully walked through, holding my breath because of my new heightened senses. Sophie asked a man in a cart if she could ride with them and I sprinted to the back as soon as he said there was room, wanting to rest my paws as Sophie quickly joined me. I giggled at her face as the cart of hay started moving.

"You're crazy if you do this, Grandma!" The man yelled once we stopped at the border to the Wastes. "There's nothing but witches and wizards out there!"

"Which is exactly what we need," I muttered to myself as Sophie yelled back to him.

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

"She's going to the Wastes by herself?" A woman asked the man from the house, voice echoing back to me. I stiffened and my nose tilted into the air. Nice to know a cat was nobody.

"Says she's looking for her younger sister." He said back. Sophie and I continued on our trek, her heavily breathing as I chased after a butterfly. Stupid cat instincts. We stopped for lunch and I ate some cheese and a slice of bread out of Sophie's hand. I finished quickly, then moved to play in the grass, pouncing on the grasshopper that leaped around.

"I'll never get there with these legs," she mumbled to herself, thinking I wouldn't hear her. "At least my teeth haven't fallen out yet." I watched as she looked to her side and paused, eyes widening before she sat he bag and food down. I followed her gaze to see a large branch poking out of a bush, which was strange because there were no trees nearby.

"That would make a nice cane," she commented, standing up with a crack of her back. I winced at the noise then perched on a rock to watch. She struggled to pull it out of the bush, tail flicking curiously. Well, it's not like I could help her. She finally pulled it out and shrunk back when the stick stood at full height, leaves falling off.

"A scarecrow?" I asked confused and she turned to look at me surprised. "How on earth is it standing on its own?" She shrugged, turning back to look at it.

"You're head's a turnip. I've always hated turnips, ever since I was little." I nodded my head, knowing she was speaking the truth. ...But she was still talking to a scarecrow. "At least you're not upside down now. So long. Come on, Verity. Let's get moving." She told me.

We continued our way up the rocky path. "It's too cold." Sophie muttered to me, shawl clutched tight around her hunched, shaking shoulders. "And I can still see the town. We've barely moved."

"At least we've gotten somewhere." I stated optimistically. Tapping came from behind us and Sophie stopped. I hopped up on another large stone to see the scarecrow moving on its own, hopping after us with something on its arm.

"Go away! Quit following us! There's no need to thank me, you don't owe me a thing." She said, trying to shoo it away but it only hopped closer. "I'm sure you have some kind of spell on you, and we've had more than enough of witches and spells." It stopped for a moment, looking at Sophie from a yard or two away. "So, just go find some field and stand in it!"

She started walking again but I waited, watching amused as the scarecrow hopped closer and dropped a cane in front of her. She opened her closed eyes hesitantly, then gaped at the gift. "Thank you, this cane is perfect, it's just what I need. If you'd like to do me one more favor, you could run off and find us a place to stay." She called to him and I chuckled as he turned on... stick, hopping off in the other direction. She waved the cane in the air then started off again, chuckling. "I seem to have become quite cunning in my old age."

I quickly caught up to walk beside her, staring up at her until she looked down at me. "What?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And you were teasing me for the wizard? At least I don't have a scarecrow stalking me," I laughed as she glared at me, threatening to whack me with her new stick. A battleship roared above us before a cold wind blew, making me shiver even with fur.

Sophie pulled her shawl even tighter around her. "Why do you get so cold when you're old? I'm fatter than ever, yet the wind blows right through me." She complained as I slunk close to her heels, hopeful for some body heat. She sat on the ground as I curled in her lap, letting her stroke my fur and purring as she breathed heavily once again. Then she sniffed the air.

"Someone's got a fire going. Maybe there's a cabin nearby." She said, standing up again and starting her walk, only to freeze when a large, moving metal structure hissed and walked closer to us. My eyes widened and I mewed in fear, hiding behind Sophie's legs. Howl's castle. The scarecrow came hoping along beside it.

"You turnip-head! That's Howl's castle! That is not what I meant when I asked for a place to stay." Soph yelled at him.

"Well, you didn't really specify on the type of place, so it is technically your fault. He did what you wanted." I told her smartly, cowing under her glare. The metal growled as it pulled to a stop, steam hissing around us as it rested.

"Look at that. They call this a castle?" Sophie asked just before the structure started moving again. Turnip-head hopped after it, and I spotted a doorway. I sprinted after the castle, leaping and landing easily onto the stone porch as I waited anxiously for Sophie.

"Is that a way in?" She asked, not catching on yet. She raced after the fast moving castle almost falling onto her face when she tripped. "Slow down! For Heaven's sake! Make up your mind. Are you gonna let me in or not?" She asked, clutching onto the railing as she ran after it. The castle scooped her up, making her loose her shawl as the scarecrow went after it.

She cracked open the door and I raced inside, feeling the warmth of the fire from the bottom of the steps. "It's nice and warm in there, so I'm going in. Oh, my shawl, thank you. I'm sure Howl won't eat the heart of a shriveled, old lady like me. It's been a pleasure meeting you. Even if you are my least favorite vegetable. Take care, Turnip-head," she told the scarecrow before coming inside with the shawl in hand, closing the door behind her.

She walked up the stairs carefully as I practically strutted up them fearlessly. I don't think Howl would mind a cat wandering around like he would an old lady, but it would still be best not to touch anything. I hopped up on the hearth where a fire was going, curling up as close to the heat as I could without getting burnt. Sophie threw two more logs onto the flame before settling back into the chair to warm her hands.

"What a dump. When I think castle, this is not what I picture." She stated, looking at the mess I couldn't even begin to describe that laid all around the room.

"Well, we haven't actually seen the inside of a castle, so we can't really say anything," I told her simply, glad she was too tired to even glared at me.

"Well, one thing nice about getting old is nothing frightens you." She said, slinking further into the seat and sighing as she closed her eyes.

"I don't envy you, lady. That is one bad curse. Curses are tough. You're gonna have a very hard time getting rid of that one," a voice suddenly came from no where and I shot up with a hiss, twirling around confused as I looked for the 'enemy'. "Settle down, kitty-cat. You've got an even worse one." I looked to the fire, stiffening up when I saw eyes staring at me.

"The fire spoke!" Sophie said stunned, eyes wide and body stiff.

"Let me guess, the curses won't allow either of you two to talk about it, right?" He asked us.

"I don't exactly know, she never told me." I said. Hey, we were in a wizard's castle, anything can happen, right?

"'She'?" The fire asked but Sophie spoke up instead, still in a state of shock.

"Are you Howl?" She questioned.

"No, I'm an extremely powerful fire demon named Calcifer." He said, flame flaring from his mouth. "I just like to do that once in a while." He said after I jumped back with another hiss.

"A fire demon. Well, then you should be able to break my curse. Both of our curses." Sophie said.

"Maybe, maybe not," he said, holding fire arms up like a shrug. "Listen, if the both of you can find a way to break the spell that's on me, then I'll break the spell that's on you, you got it?" Calcifer told Sophie.

"Only her spell?" I asked suspiciously. He turned to me with a frown.

"Yeah, kid. I will try to break your spell, but I don't think it'll do much good. You still be stuck turning into a cat at times, or you'd have cat features. Not really a full-breakage spell."

"If you're a demon, how do we know we can trust you," Sophie asked, tearing her sorry gaze from me. "You promise to help me if I help you?"

"I don't know, lady. Demons don't make promises."

"No, they make contracts or deals. Give and you receive," I said suddenly, remembering what I had heard once. I grinned when the fire demon winked at me with a nod.

"You're a natural. You should have this figured out in no time at all." He told me.

"Go find someone else," Sophie stated with a frown.

"Come on! You should feel sorry for me!" He cried out, waving his arms wildly around then clasping them together pleadingly. "That spell keeps me stuck in this castle, and Howl treats me like I'm his slave. It burns me up. You've got to keep the water hot, the rooms warm, keep the castle moving." He ranted as Sophie started to doze off.

"Oh, that's rough," she muttered.

"Come on, you ever try to move a castle? If you can figure out how to break this thing I'm in with Howl, then you can break my spell," he said, crackling. "After that, I can easily break the spell that's on you." He tried to convince Sophie. I had already decided to help, knowing the even being human some of the time was better than never being human again.

"All right, it's a deal," she said before falling asleep with a snore. I giggled as Calcifer's jaw dropped.

"Hey, lady? Lady? Hello? Lady? Hello?" He called out to her, rising in his grate to get a better look at her. "Hey, hey, hey! Lady? Lady? Hey, let me get over there." He tried to reach over to her and I laughed more. "Some big help you're gonna be. Is she usually like this?"

"More so because we've walked from the nearby town and she was changed into an old lady." I stated. "Just like I was turned into a cat."

"Can you say who?" He asked curiously.

"The Witch of the Waste. Hm, that curious. I wonder why she only made Sophie not able to talk about it," I questioned. The fire demon shrugged. "So, how long have you been with Howl?" I asked and he grinned.

"Since he was a kid." I nodded.

"Now, are you allowed to tell me what your contract was about?" I asked him and wasn't very disappointed when he shook his head.

"Sorry, kid. You'll have to figure that one out on your own." I sighed and hopped down from the hearth, hopping up on the couch and sneezing when dust flew into my face. I settled down for the night, hoping I figure this puzzle out soon so at least Sophie would be free of her curse.

A/N: Wow, this is my first time updating from school (Shh...Don't tell ;D) I'm so tired today, but at least it's a Friday! Like I told you, I updated on a Friday! And I will be updating again next either Thursday or Friday (b/c I'm planning to skip on Friday *crosses fingers*) Well, see ya!

Oh! And thank you for deciding to read this! I'm so glad so many people (like, 4) have already reviewed/favorited/followed this story already! It makes me so happy! Honestly, the LoTR story that I have on my profile wasn't reviewed so quickly!