Another chapter of the tale of mystery.

FAMILY SECRETS

A HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE FANFIC

Chapter 11

By some feat of magic Suliman managed to convince the king to allow us to move our efforts back to my home. While Lettie enlisted Martha to watch Arthur. Making the castle full of people again. Exactly the way Howl hated things. He preferred only a small group to be in the castle at a time. No more than three to four people tops. He didn't really like any visitors at all, really. He much rather meet the people outside of his castle. Then he was fine with people, just not in here. Words couldn't express how grateful I was for him to do this. I know that he was only doing it for me. It was his way of showing me how much he loved me. For that I am grateful. I would have to make it up to him some time.

The castle looked very different now. He had cleared away most of the living room furniture. Only our kitchen chairs remained in the center of the room. They were arranged on a chalk circle that he drew. It was odd but it worked. So long as I got answers then I didn't care. We took their seats as Suliman explained the process.

"We will be linking hands and pooling our power together. Sophie, please to open your mind to those images you saw the other day. Then with your mind try to reach out to them. See where they will take you. And don't worry, Howl and Lettie will act as your anchors. They will pull you back if you go too far." I nodded as he continued, "You will still be able to speak during the procedure. Along with being able to hear what is going in the room. I will ask you questions about what you see. Please try to answer them as best you can."

"You won't be able to see anything?"

"No, I will be able to see as much as the others. That's not why I want you to do this. You will need help interpreting the experience. So, please explain what you see. Even if we can see it. It keep you from getting too absorbed. What we are looking for here is clarity. You must remember that."

I nodded. "I will."

He sat down on his chair. "Good. Then let's begin."

We reached out and held each other's hands. I could feel their power flowing into me. For a moment I was distracted by Howl. I could feel his strong and comforting presence. It was relaxed me and filled me with confidence. I was ready to try to make sense of it all. I closed my eyes then allowed my mind to drift. I could still feel Howl and Lettie. I could sense Suliman. Yet, I was no longer in the room. I was in a void.

"Good." Suliman's voice rang out. "You've taken the first step, Sophie. Now, allow yourself to drift further. Don't worry, Howl and Lettie are still here. Trust them. They have ahold of you. Just relax and drift."

I did as he suggested. I relaxed myself further. I became less concerned of what was going on in the room. It started not to matter. I just allowed myself to drift. I could still feel Howl and Lettie's presence anchoring me, but it wasn't as strong now. I was free to drift.

"Good. That's it, drift. Now, think of the dream you had the other day. Let it fill your mind."

I thought of the dream. I latched on to that image of Howl from my dream. It slowly started to fill the blackness. This Howl didn't move but I could see him better than that I did that day. I realized it must be because this time I was awake. I studied him for a moment. I could see that this Howl was different than the one I knew. He was little thinner and slightly more feminine than my husband. His hair also wasn't that annoying dandelion yellow like I thought. It was his natural color of black. He wasn't as fancy as he normally appeared. For he only wore a few pieces of jewelry and his clothes weren't as silky as normal. I couldn't recall ever seeing Howl like this. It was kind of sweet. I wanted to look at him all day.

"Good. Now, tell me what you see."

I explained everything as best I could. I did notice that the flower I thought I saw was now gone. So, I mentioned that as well.

"Tell me about the flower."

I explained about the flower that I picked in field the other day. It was golden tulip that reminded me of Howl. I don't know why I picked it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now it seemed silly. I could hear Howl groaning beside me. He wanted to say something badly, but just barely managed to keep it in. I felt embarrassed to even mention the thing.

"Howl, stop. Judging Sophie is not helping right now. You can do that later." He waited a moment then said to me, "Thank you Sophie. Let's explore this idea a bit further. You said that Howl was originally holding the flower."

"Yes."

"Good. Now change the picture before you. Make it into the one that you saw in your dreams. Have Howl hold the flower again."

Howl's emotions bled through the link again. I could sense his revulsion to the concept. I don't know why. He's given me flowers before and not had a problem with it. It's a perfectly nice thing to do. Especially, when you've been an ass. Flowers really help make things better. He could learn a thing or two from this version of himself.

"HOWL! SOPHIE! STOP!"

We were going into our old patterns. Which was causing the link to destabilize. I had no idea what would happen to me if that occurred. Howl is supposed to be my anchor. We couldn't afford to fight now!

"Sophie, focus." Suliman commanded. "The flower, Sophie. The flower. Show us the Howl with the flower."

I focused on that image and Howl re-appeared before me. He was almost the same, but now looked like my Howl again. Along with the bright-yellow hair.. It was exactly as I remember it in the dream. However, it wasn't right. It was off and I did not know why.

"What's wrong with it, Sophie?"

I didn't know. I just knew that it was wrong. This isn't how it was supposed to go. The previous image was right and this was wrong. I do not know why.

"I don't know." I told them. "I really don't know. All I know is that this is wrong."

Next Chapter coming up!