Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Howl Vents With Green Goo

Hal didn't go out that day, and he didn't go out for the next few days.Sophie sat quietly by the fireplace, thinking away from him.She realized that she was actually angry with the Witch of the Badlands, but she took it all on the castle, and of course Howl deserved it.She was a little depressed to think that she was here under a bogus excuse.Hal probably thought Calcifer liked her, but Sophie knew Calcifer was just taking a chance to make a deal with her.Sophie felt a little disappointed in Calcifer. This state of affairs did not last long.Sophie finds a bunch of clothes that Mike needs to mend.She took a thimble, scissors, and sewing thread from her sewing kit and got to work.By the end of the night, she was happy to sing along to Calcifer's silly ditty about frying pans.

"Good job?" Hal sneered. "I need more work," Sophie said. "My old clothes need mending, if you have to work yourself so hard," said Hal. This seemed to mean that Hal was no longer annoyed.Sophie breathed a sigh of relief.She had been terrified all morning. Apparently the girl Hal's chasing hasn't gotten him yet.Sophie heard Mike ask him about it, and Hal slipped away without answering any questions. "He's a yo king," Sophie whispered into a pair of Mike's socks. "Can't face his evil." She noticed that Hal was busy, trying to hide his displeasure.Sophie understood the trick quite well.

Hal was at the workbench, busier and faster than Mike, concocting spells in a professional but sloppy manner.Mike's look revealed that not only were most of these spells unusual, they were also difficult to craft.But Howl would drop a spell midway, rush into the bedroom to attend to the progress of something hidden—something evil, no doubt—and then run out into the yard to work on a big spell.Sophie opened the door a crack, and was amazed to see the elegant wizard kneeling in the mud, carefully and forcefully pulling a mass of greasy metal into something's skeleton, long sleeves tied behind his neck out of the way.

This is the spell for the king.Another well-dressed and perfumed courier arrived with a letter, asking at length whether Hal, apart from his other undoubtedly important duties, could find some time to borrow a little bit of his powerful and sensitive mind to deal with the problems His Majesty encountered. One small question: How does the army get heavy-duty wagons through swamps and rough terrain.Hal's reply was polite and long-winded.He didn't agree.But the messenger went on lobbying for half an hour, and finally he and Howl bowed to each other, and Howl agreed to make the spell. "It's a bit ominous." When the messenger walked away, Hal said to Mike, "What is Suliman doing? Why did he disappear in the wasteland? It seems that the king thinks that I should replace him."

"He's not as smart as you, everybody knows that," Mike said. "I'm too patient, too polite," said Hal morosely. "I should have ripped him off." Hal was patient and courteous to Port Shelter's customers, but the problem, as Mike uneasily pointed out, was that Hal wasn't charging these people enough.Hal spent an hour listening to a fisherman's wife explain why she couldn't pay a penny, and then promised to make a wind spell for a captain, almost for free.In order to get rid of Mike's questioning, Hal gave him a magic lesson. Sophie sews buttons on Mike's shirt and listens to Howl teach Mike a spell. "I know I'm sloppy," he said, "but you don't have to be like me. Always read it well and start out carefully. Its shape will tell you a lot about whether it will be self-fulfilling, self-discovery, or simple. mantras, or mixed words and deeds. After you have identified them clearly, study them again to distinguish which ones are the words and which ones are puzzles. You have advanced to learn more powerful spells. Every powerful spell has at least There's a deliberate error or puzzle, extra insurance against accidents. You've got to recognize it. Now with the spell..."

Listening to Mike stammering answers to Hal's questions, and watching Hal scribble notes on the paper with a strange, never-fading quill, Sophie realized that she, too, could learn a lot.It occurred to her that if Martha could get the spell at Lady Fairfax to exchange her and Letty's identities, she should be able to do it here as well.With luck, Calcifer might not be needed. Convinced that Mike had forgotten about how much he charged the people of Port Sanctuary, Hal took Mike out into the yard to help with the King's spell.Sophie crunched up and staggered to the workbench.The spell itself was clear, but Howl's scribbled handwriting made her faint. "I've never seen words like that!" she muttered to the skull. "Does he use a pen or a tongs?" She frantically rummaged through each piece of paper on the table, observing the powder and liquid in the crooked jar. "Well, admit it," she said to the skull, "I peeked. And it was duly rewarded. I found a cure for poultry parasites and whooping cough, and learned how to fan and depilate my face." .If Martha had found that, she'd still be with Mrs. Fairfax."

When Howl came back from the yard, Sophie saw him check everything she had touched.But that seemed to be just a sign of his restlessness.When it was over, he was a little overwhelmed.During the night, Sophie heard him wandering back and forth.He was only in the bathroom for an hour the next morning.Hal looked impatient when Mike put on his best fuchsia velvet suit and headed to the palace in Kingsbury.The two wrapped the massive spell in golden wrapping paper.It must have been surprisingly light for the size of the spell.With his arms folded, Mike could easily pick it up alone.Hal turned the handle to turn the red side down, opened the door for him, and sent him to the street lined with colorful houses.

"They're waiting," Hal said. "You should only have to wait most of the morning. Tell them kids can do it too. Show them. When you get back, I'll set you to work on a powerful spell. Good-bye." " He closed the door and began to circle the house again. "My feet are itching," he said suddenly. "I'm going for a walk in the mountains. Tell Mike I promise his spells are on the workbench. As for that, it's for you to work on." Sophie found a grey-red suit, comparable to the silver-blue one, falling onto her lap out of nowhere.Meanwhile, Hal picked up the guitar from the corner, turned the doorknob so the green sign was down, and stepped out into the heather field racing above Chipping.

"His feet itch!" grumbled Calcifer.It's foggy in Port Shelter.Calcifer burned low among the logs, moving with difficulty to avoid the dripping water down the chimney. "Trapped in this dank fireplace, does he take my feelings into consideration?" "You have to at least give me a hint how to break your contract." Sophie said, shaking off the gray-red suit. "My God, what a nice dress, even if it's a bit rotten! It's attractive to girls, isn't it?" "I've given you a hint!" Calcifer hissed. "Then you have to give it to me again. I didn't receive it." After Sophie finished speaking, she put down her clothes and staggered towards the door.

"If I give you a hint and tell you it's a hint, then it's intelligence. I'm not allowed to say that." Calcifer said, "Where are you going?" "Do what you'd only dare to do when they're both gone," Sophie said.She turned the square handle on the door until the black marked side pointed down.Then she opened the door. There was nothing outside.Neither black, nor gray, nor white.Not dense and not transparent.Nothing happened.No smell or feel.Sophie stretched out a finger cautiously, neither cold nor hot.Nothing.It appears to be utter and utter nothingness.

"What is it?" she asked Calcifer. Calcifer was as curious as Sophie.His blue face poked out to the right of the fireplace, looking out the door.He put the fog behind him. "I don't know," he whispered. "I just maintain it. I just know it's on the side of the castle that no one can get through. It feels so far away." "It feels farther than the moon!" said Sophie.She closed the door and turned the handle so the green sign was down.She hesitated, then staggered to the stairs. "He's locked up," said Calcifer. "He told me to tell you in case you want to peek again." "Ah," said Sophie, "what's on him?" "I don't know," Calcifer said. "I don't know anything about the upstairs. You know how frustrating it is! I can't even see what the outside of the castle actually looks like. Only the direction I'm going. " Sophie, equally frustrated, sat down to mend the gray-and-red suit.After a while Mike came in. "The King will see me at once," he said. "He—" He looked around the room, his eyes falling to the corner where the guitar had been. "Oh no!" he said. "Don't be that lady again! I thought she was in love with Hal, and it was over a few days ago. Why is she so hard to get?" Calcifer hissed evilly. "You didn't understand the signs. Ruthless Hal found this lady difficult. He decided to ignore her for a few days to see if it worked. That's all." "Damn it!" Mike sighed. "There's bound to be trouble anyway. And I'm hoping Hal's back to his senses!" Sophie threw the dress on her knees. "Really!" she said, "how can you two talk about something so wicked like that! I can't blame Calcifer, he's a demon after all. But you, Mike—!" "I don't think I'm malicious," Calcifer retorted. "If you think I'm turning a blind eye, you're wrong!" Mike said. "You know how much trouble Hal got us into by falling in love like this! Mothers with rolling pins, fathers and uncles with sticks. And aunts. Aunts are horrible. They attack you with hat pins. And worst of all, the girl herself finds Hal's place and comes to the door, crying and crying .Hal slipped out the back door, leaving Calcifer and me to deal with the mess." "I hate unhappy people," Calcifer said. "They tick-tock and wet me. I'd rather they be angry." "Let's explain," Sophie said, clenching her fists tightly in the red satin. "What did Howl do to these poor girls? I heard he ate their hearts and took their souls." Mike laughed awkwardly. "So you must be from Chipping. Hal sent me down to slander his reputation when the castle was first finished. I—er—I said that. Aunts usually do Said. In a sense, it is quite right." "Hal is very fickle," Calcifer said. "Once a girl falls for him, he's not interested. He's never bothered about her." "But he's not going to let it go until the girl loves him," Mike added eagerly. "He's going to lose his mind. I always want the girl to fall in love with him. It'll be all right." "Before they track him down," Calcifer said. "If he's smart enough, he should use a false name," said Sophie contemptuously.The contemptuous tone was actually to hide her feeling that she felt a little stupid. "Ah, he does it all the time," Mike said. "He's a pseudonym, a disguise. He does it even when he's not chasing girls. Didn't you notice he was called Jenken the Sorcerer in Port Shelter and Wizard Pendragon, the Hateful Howl in the castle?" Sophie didn't notice, which made her feel even more stupid.The stupidity in turn irritated her. "Well, I still think it's evil, hanging around and making poor girls unhappy," she said. "It's heartless and unjust." "That's what he is," Calcifer said. Mike dragged the three-legged stool over the fire and sat down.While Sophie was sewing, he told her all about Howl's love affairs, and some of the troubles that had arisen afterwards.Sophie murmured to the delicate clothes in her hands.She still felt very stupid. "So you ate your heart, didn't you, clothes? Why do aunts talk so seriously about their nieces? Maybe they like you, nice clothes. What's it like to be chased by a furious aunt, huh?" When Mike When it came to the story of one of her aunts, Sophie realized that this was probably how the rumor about Howl had spread in Chipping.She could imagine how disastrous it would be for a girl as strong-minded as Letty to fall in love with Howl. Mike suggested lunch, and Calcifer grumbled as usual.At this moment, Hal pushed the door open and came in, feeling unprecedentedly depressed and unhappy. "Eat something?" Sophie asked. "No." Hal replied, "the bathroom needs hot water, Calcifer." He stood sullenly at the door of the bathroom for a while, "Sophie, have you tidied up the spell rack in here?" Sophie felt even more stupid.She didn't have the guts to admit that she had rummaged through boxes and jars just to find the girl pieces. "I haven't touched anything," she replied calmly, going for the frying pan. "Better untouched," Mike said uneasily after the bathroom door slammed shut. Rinse water gurgled from the bathroom as Sophie fried her lunch. "He's used a lot of hot water," Calcifer said from under the pot. "I guess he's dyeing his hair. I hope you haven't done a hair charm. With his plain features and mud-colored hair, he's super conscious of his appearance." Vanity." "Oh, shut up!" snapped Sophie. "I've got everything back where it is!" She was so angry that she poured all the eggs and bacon in the pan onto Calcifer. Of course Calcifer couldn't wait for what he wanted, and he devoured it, the flames kept flickering.Sophie fried some more while the heat was high.She and Mike ate the round.While they were cleaning up, Calcifer's blue tongue was licking his purple lips, the bathroom door slammed open and Howl rushed out, whimpering in despair. "Look!" he cried. "Look at this! What has that woman done to these spells?" Sophie and Mike turned to look at Hal.His hair was wet, but other than that, there was nothing unusual about the two of them. "If you're talking about me—" Sophie began. "I'm talking about you! Look!" Hal screamed.He slammed down on the three-legged stool, fingers running through his wet hair. "Look. Observe. Inspect. My hair is ruined! I look like a pot of bacon and eggs!" Mike and Sophie bent anxiously over Howl's hair.Hair looks the same flaxen color as usual from tips to roots.The only difference might be a slight, very slight red.Sophie thought it was fine.It reminded her of her original hair color. "I feel fine," she said. "Okay!" Hal hissed, "You can do it! You did it on purpose. You can't stop until you make me miserable. Look! Red hair! I gotta hide until new hair grows!" He opened his arms impulsively. "Desperation!" he howled. "Depression! Horror!" The room darkened.Huge, chaotic human-shaped shadows protruded from the corners, approaching Sophie and Mike, howling.The howl gradually changed from a creepy moan to a desperate hiss, and then to a scream of pain and fear.Sophie covered her ears with her hands, but the scream pierced through her hands, getting louder and more horrific by the second.Calcifer hastily retreated into the fireplace and squeezed his way onto the lowest log.Mike grabbed Sophie by the elbow and pulled her to the door.He turned the handle to let the blue label down, kicked the door open, and the two of them fled as fast as they could into the streets of Port Shelter. The sounds heard there were almost as terrifying.Doors were thrown wide open along the street, and people ran out covering their ears. "Is it right for us to leave him alone?" Sophie asked tremblingly. "Of course," Mike said, "if he thinks it's your fault." They scurried through town, pursued by screams of terror.A large group of people ran with them.Despite the drizzle on the seashore after the fog cleared, all the people flocked to the port or the beach, where the noise seemed to be more bearable.The raging vastness of the sea weakened it a little.Wet huddled together, looking out at the misty white horizon, the dripping ropes of the moored boats, while the noise became a loud, mournful whimper.It occurred to Sophie that this was the first time in her life that she was so close to the sea.It's a pity she couldn't appreciate it. The whimper faded into a loud, pained sigh, and then fell into silence.People began returning cautiously to town.Some timidly walked up to Sophie. "What's the matter with the poor wizard, Mrs. Witch?" "He's a little upset today," Mike said. "Let's go. We can venture home now." As they passed the quayside, several sailors shouted anxiously from their moored boats, trying to ascertain whether the noise portended a storm or bad luck. "Not at all," Sophie shouted back. "It's all over." But it doesn't end there.They went back to the wizard's house. From the outside, it was a small, crooked, ordinary house, and Sophie wouldn't have recognized Mike if she wasn't by her side.Mike opened the humble little door very cautiously.Inside, Hal was still sitting on the stool.He sat there in utter despair.The whole body is covered with thick green mucus. It was a hideous mass of green slime, in appalling quantities.Hal was completely enveloped.It hangs over his head and shoulders in sticky clumps, piles up on his knees and hands, drips down his legs like a slurry, and drips down the stool in sticky streams.The floor was almost reduced to pools and trickling puddles.Its long fingers crawled into the fireplace.It smells bad. "Help!" Calcifer whispered hoarsely.He had shrunk into two small clusters of dying flames. "This thing is going to put me out!" Sophie lifted her skirt and got as close to Howl as possible—not really. "Stop!" she said. "Stop it! You are acting like a child!" Hal didn't react, didn't answer.He stared from under the mucus, pale, horrible, wide open. "What do we do? Is he dead?" Mike asked anxiously by the door. Sophie thought Mike was a nice guy, but a bit useless in a crisis. "No, of course he didn't," she replied. "If it wasn't for Calcifer, I wouldn't care that he was a jelly eel! Open the bathroom door!" Mike spearheaded the way to the bathroom in the pool of slime, and Sophie threw her apron into the fireplace to stop the thing from getting any closer to Calcifer, then picked up the shovel.She scooped up piles of ash and filled the largest pool of slime.It hissed violently.The room was filled with steam, and the smell was as bad as it could be.Sophie rolled up her sleeves, bent down to get a good grip on the wizard's sticky knee, and pushed Hallen and the stool into the bathroom.Mike came over and tugged at Hal's slime-covered sleeve.Together they got him into the bathroom.Since Hal was still motionless, they wheeled him into the shower. "Hot water, Calcifer!" Sophie ordered, breathlessly. "Be very hot." It took an hour to wash the slime off Hal's body.It took another hour for Mike to convince Hal to get off the stool and put on dry clothes.Fortunately, the gray-red suit that Sophie had mended earlier hung on the back of the chair and escaped unharmed.The silver blue one is ruined.Sophie asked Mike to soak it in the tub.Meanwhile, she babbled to get more hot water.She turned the green tag off the doorknob and swept all the slime over the wasteland.The castle leaves a track in the heather like a snail crawling through it, and it's a good way to drain the slime easily.As Sophie washed the floors, it occurred to her that living in a moving castle would be good.She wondered if Howl's noise was coming from the castle too.In that case, she sympathizes with the townspeople of Qiping Town. By this time Sophie was tired and angry.She understood that the green slime was Hal's revenge on her, and when Mike finally ushered Hal out of the bathroom, put him on a gray-red suit, and lovingly helped him sit on the chair by the fireplace, she showed no sympathy. "What a fool!" said Calcifer, angrily. "Are you giving up your best magic, or what?" Hal paid no attention.He just sat, looking sad and shaking. "I can't get him to talk!" Mike whispered pitifully. "Just a tantrum," said Sophie.Martha and Letty lose their temper very much.She knows how to deal with that situation.Besides, it's risky to fight a wizard who is hysterical about his hair.In any case, Sophie's experience had taught her that tantrums were seldom for the apparent reasons.She asked Calcifer to move so that he could level a pot of milk over the wood.When the milk was warm, she stuffed a large glass into Hal's hand. "Drink it," she said. "Well, why make such a fuss? Is it because of that lady you've been seeing?" He sipped his milk lonely. "Yes," he replied, "I snubbed her to see if that would make her feel good about me, but it didn't. She hesitated, as she did the last time I saw her. Now she told me that there was another A guy." He sounded so miserable that Sophie felt bad.His hair was dry now.Her hair, she noted apologetically, was almost pink. "She's the most beautiful girl around," Hal went on sadly. "I love her so much, but she despises my affection and pities another guy. How can she have another when I care so much for her?" What about alone? Usually when I show up, they dump the others." Sophie's sympathy shrank suddenly.It occurred to her that if Howl could cover himself in green goo so easily, he could change his hair color back to normal just as easily. "Why don't you give that girl a love potion and settle this?" "Ah, no," Hal said, "it's not a game. That would spoil all the fun." Sophie's sympathy narrowed again.game, eh? "Don't you ever think about that poor girl?" she demanded sharply. Hal finished his milk, stared into the glass, and smiled sadly. "I think of her all the time," he said. "Lovely, lovely Letty Hyatt." With a bang, Sophie's sympathy was completely gone.With that comes powerful anxiety.Ah, Martha!she thought.You are really busy!So you're not talking about the people in Cesare's shop!