Fallen Stars [Howl's Moving Castle Fanfiction]

Chapter Thirteen - Another Day

Chapter Thirteen - Another Day 

I took a deep breath, slowly raising my eyes.

”You did well, again! I can’t believe it, soon you might be able to classify as the same level as dear Markl here.” I heard Howl say, as he gave me a small applause. I stared at the swirling plate above me in the air. I mananged to do it again huh? It’s a bit weird though, it’s not that surprising anymore. Howl went forward and tapped on the surface of the plate, with a swift draw of his fingers breaking free from my magic. ”This is really good, you just need to keep it up there, nothing should be able to budge it even one slightest bit.” The plate landed in my hand and he patted my shoulder. ”Keep trying, you’ll succeed in the end!”

I nodded at him, sighing briefly. ”I’ll keep trying, it can’t be that hard, can it?”

Markl patted my head, once he arrived to the scene, shaking his head. ”You’ll never know with magic, it might take different turns than from what you expected.”

I raised an eyebrow and hummed. ”Couldn’t have said that better myself actually…”Magic is complicated, especially when you thought you wouldn’t have it from the start. Thinking about it, a few month have passed since that day back at the bakery, though just a week as an apprientice here. It feels like years since that accident back there, if not more, just like distant memories slowly fading away. How dramatic as that sounds, it’s actually true, the pictures of my family and the bakery is getting hazy and cloudy. I still remember them, but it’s like there’s a little distracting cloud invading my memories. Though, the thing in my mind that won’t disappear or even fade the tiniest bit, is how everything stopped the moment the wizard found our bakery. Or more likely, found me. Maybe it’s not even a memory, it’s more of a secret I’ve been participating in that I don’t even know the beginning of and there’s no one here to even explain it. I’d like to find my family, let alone talk to them, but there’s this feeling inside me telling me not to.

”Alice? Are you alright?” I heard Markl say, snapping his fingers in front of my face to bring me back from my thoughts. I blinked. ”Yes, I’m fine, there’s just so hard to make this plate start flying sometimes!” I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. Though that wasn’t really what was on my thoughts actually but he didn’t need to know that…

He tilted his head and took the plate out of my hands. ”You just need to focus on it, and at the faintest movement is where you’re chance come, after that it’s just to make that movement grow larger and larger until it you’ve finished the task.” Markl explained, throwing the plate up in the air without even looking at it. His hands moved in a few circles, but he still didn’t even look at the plate. Maybe he should have looked at it? I don’t think that making fall down to the ground and break in to pieces would benefit his words.

”I think I prefered the cookies, they didn’t make that much of a sound once they met the ground like this.” Calcifer said, his eyes wary around the mess on the floor. Markl’s confused eyes stared at Calcifer and then at the destroyed pieces of the plate scattered on the ground. I gave him a sympathic smile, ”next time maybe you should focus with your eyes as well.”

”But that have never happened before, at least not since that first time a while ago… What is this?” He mumbled to himself and hurridly gathered the remaining pieces of the plate, throwing it away outside the window nervously.

”Ehm, that’s bad for the nature if you just throw it casually like that out of the window, you know that don’t you?” I replied, poking him on the shoulder. He turned around to face me quickly. ”Well that way they won’t notice, this is after all Sophie’s favourite plates.” He whispered lowly in my ear. ”Wait what, why would Howl use them for this then!” I asked a bit surprised and stared at the spot outside the window where the shattered plate now was. Markl shook his head, ”You’ll never know with Howl sometimes, but you do know with Sophie, and she won’t be that happy once she finds out!”