Howl's Twisted Castle

34: The price of silver

The plan was set. All through the night Alex and I sifted through ideas until we came to an agreement on our current plan.  It was simple really, but for it to work, I needed Alex's help. 

I'd been there the day that Howl demonstrated a locator spell in front of my sister and all the patrons of our boutique in the hopes that they might find me. Unfortunately for them, it never worked, but Alex theorized that it was because of my curse and not because I didn't want to be found. So for that reason Alex was certain that our plan would work, we just needed to tweak the spell a little bit.

To begin with, we had to get our hands on an object the Alex could use for the locator spell. We weren't using the locator spell to find Howl, rather, we were using it to find his heart, therefore Alex was adamant it needed to be something that belonged to Howl. 

Something that he cherished deeply. 

Something that he loved.

I was at a loss for ideas as to what that object might be, so I suggested that we sneak into Howls castle and take the top hat he had bought from my shop. Alex dismissed the idea immediately, pointing out that recent events would make it impossible for me to gain entrance to the castle.

I tried not to let it bother me but knowing that I was an enemy in Howls eyes hurt deeply. I needed to fix this.

Alex gave me no time to dwell on that fact. Instead, he offered another way to get our hands on one of Howls belongings. He seemed certain that he knew a place here in Dunbeath where we would find a usable object for our locator spell. Beyond that he would not elaborate. 

Like a mad man on a mission, Alex was quick to flesh out the rest of our plan, running this way and that gathering supplies he would need, all the while going through the rest of the plan with me. Once we activated our spell, as he explained, we would find Calcifer and, if luck was on our side, take Howl's heart back before the Witch even knew of its location.

After that, it was up to me to safe guard it. 

It seemed so simple and straightforward that we felt nothing could possibly go wrong. That was foolish thinking, for I knew how dangerous the man was who coveted it. Calcifer. Thanks to Markels omission, I knew Howl had been actively searching for him and after putting two and two together, it didn't take long for me to guess how Howl had been injured. This man was dangerous and he did not want to be found. Two strikes against us. 

The third strike was because of me. Me and my distinctly silver hair. 

Our plan to seek out and find Calcifer put us at risk of crossing paths with Howl. We were bound to run into him at some point. So if we wanted to succeed, I had to avoid being identified by Howl. 

Disguising ourselves was the obvious solution, but where my creativity usually took over, I felt only nerves. I couldn't think past the fear of failure. After watching me stare at a blank page for almost an hour with no sketched disguises, Alex gently nudged me off the stool and ordered me to take what little remained of the night to rest. 

***

Colorful rays of light danced across the bedspread as I propped myself up on my elbows. I looked down the tip of my nose at the lump of clothes left for me at the foot of Alex's bed. My disguise, I guessed. I recalled us both staying up well past bedtime so I wondered at what point had he found the time to procure these clothes.

Had Alex slept at all last night?

I pulled on the threadbare clothes, careful not to tear larger holes in the already damaged material. With a sidelong glance, I cringed at my appearance in the mirror. The brown tweed pants I had been given were too short, coming barely to my knees in length, displaying the ghastly mismatched mustard and burnt orange knee-high socks I had just pulled up to cover my bare legs. As if that wasn't horrendous enough, the ensemble had a matching vest covered with home stitched patches. About the only thing that wasn't offensive was the simple white button-down shirt I wore under the scratchy vest.