🔥 Book 2 Howl's Moving Castle trilogy 🔥
Six months after moving to Ovela, Sophie and Howl have successfully hidden in plain sight in a country where magic is despised. Though they must be cautious of whom to trust, they aren't taking any chances...
He didn't dream often, nor were his dreams this hazy and muddled, but this was a rare occasion. Maybe it was the way she screamed or the way he cried for mercy, but everything seemed far from normal.
The sound resonated like an echo repeating for miles with no end. Her voice was a sharp-edged sword piercing through a quiet night. It was painful to hear, painful to encounter. This innocent girl, a soft beauty with silver hair, desperate for a remedy to end her torture. The sound of terrifying shrieks as she wept in agony was too much to bear.
The man lay on the floor, pleading for mercy and begging for an end. His own torture mixed with hers was enough to fracture him and leave him vulnerable. This scene of a million broken pieces continued to shatter and snap until those little pieces had grown smaller than imaginable.
The multitude of cries molded into an innocent laughter, as consciousness took over once more. The sleeping dog heard a loud thud, and immediately opened his eyes with panic. He recognized the lively room with the talking fire and energetic boy.
He darted his eyes between the two, trying to remain calm. He remembered his dream, and recognized many of those faces, as well.
"You're going to break something if you keep jumping like that." Calcifer said after he released an irritated sigh.
"No I won't." Markl prepared to jump once more.
"Yes, you will."
"No I won't."
Heen wheezed short breaths, the bickering between the two hardly anything he was concerned with. He had never seen a dream like that. The faces were familiar, their pain as real as they were.
But this was no ordinary dream - it was a vision.
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"Oh my..." Sophie couldn't form the words she wanted to say. She hardly recognized her baby sister after not seeing her in nearly five years.
She wasn't the little girl who cried as their mother forced her onto the train to Wessex Boarding School. Not anymore, at least. Martha sat tall and poised, though her adolescent features appeared through her cross-legged seating and tilt of her head. Her long, black hair flowed like a dark rain to her lower back. Her smile, though blissful, was timid and concealed her teeth.
Sophie always loved how Martha would try fitting every last tooth into her smile when they were younger. Her sister had changed over the years.
Martha uncrossed her legs and jumped off the chair in a graceful charm. "I missed you."
"I can't believe you're here." Sophie extended her arms and Martha tiptoed into her embrace, careful not to push against her stomach. Sophie sniffled as she wrapped her arms tighter around Martha.
"Sophie." Howl said softly. "You know her?"
The girls turned to the crowd watching the sisters' reunion. Heen rushed to the pair and sniffed Martha's ankles. Markl held the Witch's hand as her attention turned to Calcifer in the fire pit, amazed yet again at his brilliant flames. Gwenda looked confused at the scene, but was more preoccupied by the three gashes on her arm. Kenta noticed her pain, so he began a healing spell to close the wounds.
