My Heart Gone Missing (Howl's Moving Castle)

Chapter 13

"I don't think I caught your name." The librarian was sitting in a chair next to you as you continued to pore over the books. Night had already fallen and the school was quiet.

"Oh, my apologies." You stretched out a crick in your name and turned to look at her, "my name is (y/n)."

"So (y/n), how has life treated you since you graduated?"

You shrugged, "I haven't really done anything. That's why I really want to transform into a bird."

"I don't really see how that adds up." The librarian furrowed her brows together in confusion, do explain."

"You might think I'm crazy, but I think there's a war that's about to break out." The librarian's eyebrows raised in concern but she let you keep talking. "I saw a war plane fly overhead a few days ago. I want to help minimize the damage. If I can fly, then I can sneak into the war planes and disable the bombs. It won't do much, but it may curb some of the damage."

The librarian shook her head, "you young people and your crazy ideas. You could get killed doing that!"

You gave a wry smile, "not that it matters. The only people who know about me is the water demon I made a deal with."

The librarian's eyebrows shot up into her hair, "your parents?"

"Uh, gone." You avoided her gaze and turned back to your books. You didn't really like to talk about your parents. Ever since you went to the Academy they were gone. No word of what happened to them or where they were. So you assumed the worst, they were dead.

"A water demon." The librarian repeated, "you made a deal with a water demon."

"Yeah, he's a bit of a jerk." You nodded and picked up another book as the book that you were looking through proved to be fruitless. "He flooded my house the other day."

"Did you ever eat dinner?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh, uh, no." You laughed embarrassedly. Your stomach decided to make itself known and growled loudly which made your face flush in embarrassment.

"Come on," the librarian stood up and gestured for you to stand up as well, "we'll go get some food together."

"Oh no," you waved your hands in front of you as if it would cause the idea to dissipate, "that's not necessary I-" you broke off when the librarian gave you a stern glare through her glasses. "Okay, thank you." You stood up and stretched out your legs and back from sitting hunched over for so long and followed her out of the library.

You rubbed your eyes and tried to refocus on the words in front of you. You were going onto your fourth day of reading the books in the library. The librarian was kind enough to magic you a mattress to lay on for the night, but you were still tired of reading pages and pages of old languages.

You were reading yet another diagram of a person but you perked up when you saw the diagrams progress into a bird. You eagerly looked at the spell description 'transformation of a human into a bird.' You quickly read the spell and it looked like it was exactly what you were looking for. You stifled an excited scream as you read the pages.

"Did you find it?" the librarian asked. Apparently you weren't as quiet as you thought.

"I think I did. Do you have a paper and pen?" you asked her. She nodded and brought out a pen and a piece of paper for you. You eagerly took it and copied down the spell instructions from the book. You faltered when you read the warning. 'Warning: performing this spell on a person will make the person descend into a monster.'

You grit your teeth and write down the warning. You had already accepted when you started this process that you might not ever return from it. You re-read the section about the spell and make sure you copied it down exactly. It looks like you found your spell.

"You found it?" you jumped when you realized that the librarian was over your shoulder looking at the spell.

"Yeah." You replied.

"Be safe (y/n), okay?" she told you.

"I'll try." You laughed.

"It was nice having you here, come back anytime you want." She told you.

"Thank you." You told her gratefully, "really. Thank you."

She smiled, "it was no problem."

"I best be off now." You folded up the spell and put it in your bag. You put on your scarf and jacket and picked up the broom that you had put in the corner of the library.

"Let me walk you out." The librarian exited the library and you followed her. "I think you're right. I heard from the news that we're on the brink of war." You nodded, you really didn't know what she wanted from you.

"Okay." She stopped at the entrance of the school and you continued out onto the gravel pathway, "thank you!" you told her once again and balanced yourself on your broom before you took off into the air.