Howl's POV
"Sophie is not a happy looking lady, Howl!" Markl comes running to me, as I remove my hand from the door knob.
I don't understand, I was trying to leave for the market, just like she wanted . . .
"Howl!" comes the shout from not one, but two women. What has this world come to?!
I open the door, and Artemis steps in. I really need to start changing the settings, so that we aren't always at Jenkins! This happens at the precise moment that Sophie stomps in. Artemis trips over thin air, then knocks me over. Lying on my back on the filthy, dusty floor, Artemis completes the heap.
"Would you mind getting off of me?" I ask, wearing a gentle smile. I didn't need both women to be mad at me.
"Howl Jenkins Penndragon!" Oh no, "Why is she here?!" Sophie shreiks. Why can't she get along with Artemis?
I roll over so that Artemis no longer lays on my chest. "What is this?" I ask her, curious about the symbol carved into her arm. It resembles a star on a long, straight line. It still bleeds, the skin raw, showing that this carving was done recently.
"Your curiousity seems to be the last thing that you should be satisfying at the moment, Howl," Artemis remarks. I hear Sophie grunting as she trudges up the stairs, off to take one of her long baths, surely.
After several minutes of staring a the mark on Artemis's arm without receiving an answer to my question, I pull out a pan to make bacon. The one type of food that Markl wouldn't complain about, besides eggs.
"Calcifer, cook this," I command, as I decide to take care of the errands I had intendid to do before Sophie's outburst. Just when I step out into the sunlight, Artemis shakes her head, and there is a resonating scream from up the steep stares in my castle. Sophie!
When I manage to break through the door, Sophie hasn't even undressed and started the water in the claw footed bathtub. She lies on the ground, her revealed flesh shining red, like it was scorched in the hot blaze of a fire. I see one of my open potions bottles at her foot, and I know it is too late. But it can't be . . . This is Sophie. She has to be alright!