𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 || 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐥'𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞

xii. clockwork ticks as silence speaks for you

Sophie awoke with a gasp.

She paused for a moment to reevaluate her surrounding. The awful sound of violent water hitting the surface was heard above her head, probably up on the floor above her; A fire crackling, her once again wrinkled skin and the faint smell of dust around her, the familiarity of it all brought comfort for Sophie before relaxing her body as it had.

She leads her gaze towards the direction of the staircase that leads up the above floor, before bringing it up to the already watching Calcifer.

"Howl must be back," which she only got replied with: "Sophie, you'd better figure out how to break the spell quick. We're both running out of time" from the demon in fire form, though which pair he's speaking of is unclear.

Sophie flashed back to the weird dream. Howl as some kind of monster, his lonely form, "too late," and then obsidian feathers brushing at her face as she watch Howl flee away from her.

"Meaning Howl will turn into a monster?," she deduced. "Is it true?"

Calcifer glared at her in defiance. "I can't say that. I'm a demon," he says.

Sophie, now fully awake, stood up and walked to pause right in front of Calcifer, making the latter's form shrink a little.

"Calcifer, Suliman told me that Howl has given you something precious." Sophie spoke firmly, bending down Calcifer's level, her eyes set straight for her goal; And that is to figure out the answer for the most important question of all: What exactly is Howl hiding?

The moment-no, even before she stepped in the floorboards, Howl's figure was already filled with mystery. Living in the house and actually getting to know the wizard, everyone in the house just provided her with more mystery to solve than answers to her ever-growing list of questions.

It makes her feel lost and confused with no specific destination in mind; It's like she's a headless chicken waiting for herself to eventually die. However, now that she was given a clue, there's no way that she won't juice every drop of information it can get for her to actually figure out Howl's secret, and the way to break the spell off her.

Then, she smiled sweetly down Calcifer. "What is it? Where is it?"

Only, Calcifer answered her in a blunt tone: "That's confidential information."

Sophie retaliated with her knuckles on her hips, eyes threateningly squinting down at Calcifer, "And if I threaten to dump water over you?"

The fire blanched, "How dare you?! Howl will die with me!"

'Die... with you?'

________

Sophie stood on a steep rock, overseeing the clouds and high mountains below. She was quiet, her head filled with thoughts her mouth wouldn't speak of.

She turned to look back on the large, unmoving machinery of a house behind her. Her mouth pressed into a thoughtful hum, when a presence hopped behind her.

She looked up to see the gentlemanly scarecrow smiling as usual behind her.

She greeted good-naturedly, "Good morning, Turnip." Then, her smile transformed into a determined frown, as she pierced the house with a glare.

"We've got to be brave."

_________

"Ready, Sophie!"

Markl shouted, his hands holding firmly a rope tied to the wrecked plane that's stuck inside the house's mouth, while Mr. Turnip and Heen helped the child on their own way.