How I imagine Calcifer to look (I did not create this image so no create goes to me): s-media-cache-ak0 . pinimg 564x / 49 / cd / bb / 49cdbbe785f22f2212057aa0876f3fbf . jpg

Chapter Four

Sophie was startled awake by someone knocking on her door, she went to sit up but the pain in her shoulder and back caused her to stop as a pain filled groan forced it's way out of her. As the knocking continued, Sophie looked around and noticed she was not in her room at the hat shop. It took her brain only a few seconds for it to remember everything that happened.

Footsteps running down the stairs alerted Sophie that she was not actually alone, she laid her head back on the chair she was in and faked still being asleep. "Hey, who's this?" She heard a young boy ask.

"Porthaven!" Calcifer called out from the fireplace.

"When did she get in?" The young boy asked as he walked away from her. Sophie peeked under her eyelid and watched as a young boy with light brown hair pulled a blue cloak from underneath a pile of paper and books before throwing it on. He pulled up the hood and his young face was suddenly covered in a long beard. "Stand by." The boy said, now sounding like an old man as he walked over to the door. He turned a knob and the small colored wheel by the door switched from green to blue and the disguised boy opened the door. "Why, Mayor, sir." The disguised boy said to an older gentleman who was standing on the other side of the door.

"The sun is already high. Is Master Jenkins at home?" The Mayor asked.

"The Master is out. I answer in his stead." The boy told him as Sophie slowly sat up again.

"An invitation from His Majesty. It has come to war. His Majesty desires every wizard and magician, even the witches, to aid our homeland. His presence is imperative. That is all." The Mayor said as Sophie threw some more firewood onto the fire. She watched as the young boy closed the door and walked back up the stairs watching her with suspicious eyes as she moved to sit back down.

"War, how awful." Sophie muttered to herself.

"And who might you be?" The boy asked her still disguised as an old man.

"Calcifer let me in." Sophie said with a smile, she found this boy to be quite adorable.

"Don't look at me. She wandered in from the Wastes!" Calcifer cried throwing a glare at her as Sophie began to quietly laugh.

"The Wastes?" The boy asked taking off his disguise in shock. "That's strange. You're not a witch, are you?"

"A witch could never get in." Calcifer growled out in annoyance at what the young boy was accusing him of. A bell rang and Calcifer sighed. "Porthaven, again."

"A customer?" The young boy asked as he sat the invitation in a book before disguising himself again. "Stand by." He called before opening the door to a young girl. "State your purpose."

"Mama sent me." The young girl said.

"The usual spell?" The young boy asked as Sophie wondered over to the window. "Behave yourself, now." The young boy hissed to her as he lead the young girl to the table that was piled high with books, papers, and dirty dishes. Sophie silently laughed before turning to look out the window and was shocked that she was not seeing the Waste, but instead saw the small town of Porthaven. Porthaven had been a good week's worth of travel from where they had been.

"It's not the Wastes." She muttered to herself with a small smile.

"Granny, are you a witch, too?" The young girl asked from behind her. Sophie turned and looked at her with playful smile.

"That's right, I'm the scariest witch in the land." Sophie said causing the young girl to giggle at her as the young boy walked over to her and handed the young girl a small bag.

"Sprinkle this powder on your ship and the winds will favor it." The boy informed the girl as she paid him.

"Sure." The girl said before leaving.

"Many thanks." The boy called after her before turning to glare at Sophie as he pulled off his disguise. "I can't have you making up things."

"You should give up that disguise." Sophie told him.

"It's not a disguise, it's magic." The boy told her as the bell rang again.

"The Kingsbury door." Calcifer called out and Sophie watched as the boy disguised himself once more before walking down the stairs and turned a small knob causing the color wheel to turn from blue to red.

"Stand by." The boy called before opening the door to show the streets of Kingsbury that was nowhere near Porthaven.

"Is this the residence of Wizard Pendragon?" A messenger asked.

"It is, indeed." The boy answered.

"I bear an invitation from His Majesty." The messenger said as Sophie made her way down the stairs. "Please inform Master Pendragon that he is required at the Palace."

"Our thanks to you." The young boy said taking the invitation as Sophie looked around in shock that she was now in Kingsbury when just a few minutes ago she was all the way in Porthaven.

"A city fit for a king." Sophie said softly, it was no wonder her mother always traveled here when she could.

"Get back in or you'll lose your nose." The young boy ordered and Sophie turned and headed back into the castle. "Stop wandering around." The boy told her as he headed back up the stairs taking his disguise off.

Sophie watched him go with a smirk before lifting her hand to the knob and turned it to green. She opened the door and found herself in the Waste once more, she returned back to the warmth of the castle and shut the door before turning the knob to blue with a laugh. She opened the door once more and once again found herself in Porthaven, she walked back into the castle and shut the door and turned the knob to red laughing even more. Sophie went to open the door again but was stopped by the boy,

"That's enough! I'm going to get really mad." The boy told her while glaring at her from the top of the stairs. Sophie turned to look at him finding his glare to be more adorable than intimating.

"This is a magic house, isn't it?" She asked him still laughing, she hadn't had this much fun since her father took her swimming when she was 9, before the tugging in her soul began.

"Oh, boy!" The boy groaned in annoyance before turning away from her and walked over to a counter that was covered in food that seemed too rotten to even consider being called food. Sophie walked up the stairs and watched as the boy dug under the pile for something.

"Where does the black one lead?" Sophie asked.

"Only Master Howl knows." The boy said as he continued to look for whatever he was looking for. "I'm having my breakfast." The boy said finally finding some bread that was not molding and a chunk of cheese that was somehow still edible. Sophie walked over to the counter and noticed that the basket of eggs were still good, along with a plate of uncooked bacon.

"But you've got bacon and eggs." Sophie said as the young boy walked to the table and began to shove things out of the way.

"We can't use the fire when Master Howl's away." He informed her. Sophie glanced at Calcifer who was watching her with a guarded stare. She placed the plate of uncooked bacon in the basket of eggs and walked over to a skillet on the wall that was surprisingly clean. She grabbed it and smiled over to the young boy who was also watching her.

"I'll cook for you." Sophie said before making her way over to Calcifer who was now glaring at her.

"But you can't. Calcifer only obeys Master Howl." The boy informed her as Sophie placed the basket on the chair next to the fire noticing her hat on the ground.

"That's right, I won't cook for you!" Calcifer growled out as he flared his flames out, as if trying to scare her away. But Sophie ignored him picking up her hat, having a feeling that she would be able to get him to listen to her, after all, she did have something over him.

"All right, Calcifer. Be a good fire, now." Sophie said smiling at Calcifer as she pushed her shawl up so that it wouldn't get caught in his flames.

"Forget it, I'm a demon!" Calcifer yelled at her once again flaring his flames out as he glared at her. "I answer to no one!" He informed her before sticking his flaming tongue out at her.

"You'll do as I say, or I'll pour water on you. Or would you rather I told Howl about our bargain?" Sophie whispered to Calcifer with a smirk inwardly laughing as Calcifer's eyes widened in fear at the thought of her telling Howl of their bargain.

"Hey! Hey! I never should've let this old lady in!" Calcifer said crossing his arms and glaring at the wall. Calcifer cried out in shock as Sophie suddenly tried to place the skillet on him.

"So, what'll it be?" She asked as the two fought each other for a minute before Calcifer allowed her to set it on him. "That's right, there's a good fire." Sophie said as she placed a piece of bacon on the skillet.

"Here's another curse. May all your bacon burn!" Calcifer hissed and glared at her from under the skillet.

"Calcifer's doing what she says." Sophie heard the young boy whisper in shock.

"I'd like some tea, too. Have you got a kettle?" Sophie asked him.

"Sure." The heard the boy reply. She heard the sound of the color wheel changing right before the door opened. "Welcome home, Master Howl. You have letters from the king. To Jenkins and to Pendragon." Sophie glanced over to see the wizard that had rescued her. She watched in shock as the tired looking wizard made his way over to her and Calcifer. Her heart skipped a beat as his sky blue eyes looked into her eyes before slowly sliding over to Calcifer.

"Calcifer, you're so obedient." Howl said in his deep voice as he smiled tiredly at the fire demon and Sophie went back cooking the bacon before Calcifer burnt it.

"She bullied me!" Calcifer cried out to him from under the skillet.

"Not an easy thing to do." Howl said before turning his tired eyes to Sophie. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm grandma Sophie." Sophie said and was shocked to see a flash of recognition flew through the wizard's eyes before quickly being hidden behind a wall. "You see, I'm your new cleaning lady."

"Give me that." Howl said quickly taking the skillet and the spoon she was using to cook from her as he gently used his body to move her. "Pass me two more bacon slices and six more eggs." He told her as he held out the skillet. Sophie smiled before quickly laying two more slices of bacon on the skillet, and began to hand Howl the eggs one at a time as he put the skillet back on Calcifer. Sophie watched as Howl cracked open the eggs on to the skillet before tossing the egg shells into Calcifer's awaiting mouth.

"Yummy." Calcifer hummed as he ate the egg shells.

"And who hired you to clean?" Howl asked her looking away from the skillet to look at Sophie with the same look that Calcifer had given her last night.

"Why, I hired myself. I've never seen such a filthy house." Sophie said shocked that she had actually said what was on her mind without having someone force her to do so.

"Hmm." Howl hummed before turning to look at the young boy. "Markl, plates." He ordered as he took the skillet off of Calcifer and carried it over to the table that the young boy, Markl, had made space enough for them to eat on.

"You're all ganging up on me!" Calcifer yelled angrily flaring out his flames causing Sophie to flinch back as a tendril got too close, she felt a wave of what she assumed was magic fly past her and hit Calcifer forcing the fire demon to retract his flames with a grumble. Sophie peeked over at where the wave had come from to see Howl watching her with a soft look.

"Please join us, Sophie." Markl called to her and Sophie made her way over to the table as Howl served the bacon and eggs.

Sophie sat down and watched as Howl handed Markl the now empty skillet while taking the empty kettle from him. Sophie watched amazed as Howl cleaned it by blowing into it, she jumped when Howl's sky blue eyes landed on her as he waved his hand and magically filled the kettle with warm tea. Markl sat a small chipped bowl in front of her before taking the now filled kettle from Howl, freeing the wizard's hands to hand Sophie her plate as Markl filled the small bowl with tea.

"Pick one." Markl said holding out a fork and two spoons, all of which were dirty. "Everything else is dirty." Sophie was amazed that Howl could literally magically clean a kettle by blowing on it yet could not take the time to magically clean anything else. With a soft laugh, Sophie took one of the spoons and used her hand to try and clean it as best as she could.

"I've got my work cut out for me." She told herself before looking up at Howl who was watching her as he sliced through the loaf of bread cutting off a piece for her and Markl.

"Markl." Howl said handing Markl his piece.

"Yes." Markl said taking it.

"Sophie." Howl said as he handed her her piece.

"Thank you." Sophie said taking it from him with a soft smile.

"Brethren, let us partake of our daily bread." Howl prayed holding up his own chipped bowl of tea.

"Our daily bread." Markl cried with his bowl of tea in the air. "Haven't had a real breakfast in a long while." Markl said before digging into his food.

"So many manners to teach..." Sophie muttered as she watch Markl.

"So, what's that in your pocket?" Howl asked Sophie startling her. She had something in her pocket? Sophie sat her spoon down and reached into her pocket before pulling out a folded piece of red paper.

"I wonder what it is." Sophie said and went to open it when she was stopped.

"Let me." Howl said holding out his hand for it, slowly Sophie reached out to give it to him. The second the paper touch Howl's hand the paper sent a painful shock up Sophie's arm causing her to release the paper. When the paper touched the wooden table it caught flame and left scorch marks of a man and a shooting star on the table.

"It's scorched into the table. Master Howl, this is..." Markl started as Sophie cradled her hand to her chest and watched as Howl glared at the scorch marks.

"Ancient sorcery. And powerful, too." Howl said.

"The Witch of the Waste?" Markl asked him.

"'He who catches a falling star, o heartless man. Your heart shall be mine...'" Howl read, a dark look in his eyes. "Well, so much for the table." Howl said before placing a hand over the scorch marks a second later Sophie felt the hair on the back of her neck raise as the air around them became filled with magic. Sophie watched in amazement as Howl used his magic to remove the scorch marks from the table.

"Wow, it's gone!" Markl said as Sophie noticed the burn on Howl's right hand, the hand he used to remove the scorch marks. He hadn't removed the scorch marks completely, he had just transferred them from the table to his hand.

"The scorch mark has vanished, but not the spell." Howl said cradling his hand to his chest before he stood up with his plate in his left hand. "Brethren, continue your meal." He said before walking over to Calcifer and dumped the food into his mouth, never once touching it himself. "Calcifer, move the castle 100 kilometers." Howl ordered before starting up the stairs to the second floor. "And send hot water to the bath."

"Not that, too!" Calcifer complained but Howl ignored him as he continued up the stairs.

"Do you work for the Witch of the Waste?" Markl asked her suspiciously.

"Don't be stupid! The witch..." Sophie started but found the words trapped in her mouth, and no matter how hard she tried she could not tell Markl that the Witch of the Waste was the one to curse her. Frustrated with everything, Sophie stood up before slamming her hands down on the table, knocking over a few books. "Damn that Witch of the Waste! Wait 'til I get my hands on her!" Sophie yelled before sitting back down and looked over at Markl who was watching her in shock while holding his plate of food, having saved it from being knocked to the ground. "Eat your breakfast." She ordered him before beginning to shovel food into her mouth.