Disclaimer: Pink bunnies don't eat human flesh… usually…

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"Wha-wha-wha…." Sophie was surprised to register that Markl was the one making the incoherent noises, not herself. "Sophie! You're old!" Turning to Howl, he demanded, "What happened to her?"

"Hmmm… I believe it's a very tricky spell, called the Rifters' Time, but I just call it the Speed-Up-Time spell. Basically, Sophie came into the castle already touched by the spell, which was dormant, waiting for specific circumstances to trigger.

"Once those circumstances arrived, the spell activated, and effected the thing or things that the spell was programmed to effect." Howl looked around expectantly, but to his disappointment saw, instead of a captivated audience, saw Markl staring at him, still not understanding, and Sophie running her hands over her face, seemingly traumatized.

"Well?"

Howl looked at Markl. "Well what?"

Markl huffed angrily. "Well what was it supposed to effect?!"

"Well, seeing as Sophie managed to banish most of the traces, I can't be sure, but based on the results, I can make a few inferences." Sophie was still obviously not listening at all, and Markl was nonplussed, not understanding a word that had come from Howl's mouth.

Howl sighed. "Sophie killed most of the spell, but I can guess what it was supposed to do from the way it effected her and us." Markl's face brightened. "What I could tell from the beginning was that it was not only meant to effect her, but also myself and the rest of the castle. Markl, did you feel anything odd as Sophie was be taken by the spell?"

"Well, it seemed to get hard to move, and I felt really tired."

"That's what I thought. It was probably meant to effect anything within a certain distance from, which meant you, the castle, and, what I'm sure the Witch was aiming for, me. It took a hold of us all, and sped time up around us, making us age rapidly. Basically, within a few moments, we'd all be dust."

"What do you mean it effected the castle?"

"Well, I'm sure it sought out one of the major hotspots of magic in the castle, Calcifer, which helped it to weaken the wards enough to begin to work on the castle." Howl smiled reassuringly at the nodding Calcifer, who seemed to be a bit pale and sickly for a demon.

"It would have sped up time on the castle, as it did on us, and crumbled it. However, it wouldn't have actually done anything to the buildings the door here connects to, because the castle actually exists outside of time.

"Only the door links it to the buildings, and the connections seems to have been to slippery for the spell to get a hold on, considering we still have all our colors intact on the door." Howl finished the statement as he gestured down towards the door.

"But what does that mean for Sophie?" asked Markl, more concerned than curious again.

"Well, the spell certainly didn't go out without putting up a good fight, so Sophie had some side-effects, as her body was not able to heal as quickly as her mind. However, with a little-"

But was cut-off as Markl suddenly exclaimed, "Sophie! Where'd she go?"

Howl straightened and looked about quickly. "Markl, go up to your room. I think the spell might have more in it than I thought."

"But-"

"Go!" Markl hurried away when he heard the stern don't-mess-with-me voice.

Taking another quick look around, this time after making a quick Rune in the air used to enhance the senses, and immediately noticed the fact that the door leading to the backyard garden was not fully latched shut. Hurrying out, but not before checking the door for any traps, as he had once again been reminded of the need for caution, he stopped dead with the sight before him.

Sophie was sitting in the grass, streaks down her face giving evidence to the fact that she had been crying. But she wasn't crying now, instead she stared at her hand confusedly, and slightly frightened.

From the wrist up, it was not wrinkled and invaded with liver spots like it's twin, but rather young and dainty, as it had been before Sophie had been rudely attacked by the spell.

Howl made a small cough, alerting Sophie to his presence, making her jump up and look at him through a pair of eyes that seemed to not know whether to cry or scream.

"What happened?" Howl asked, speaking in a slow, soft voice, like one he would use with a very distressed child.

"I-I don't know. I came out here… after a little while… while you and M-Markl were still talking, and just stared at my hand. I just remember not believing, telling my hand over and over again to turn back again, and to stop tricking me. Then… it did."

Howl just watched, careful to keep his expression neutral, but in reality his mind was working at speed equivalent to running with Hundred-League boots. What Sophie was saying sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember what... Suddenly it struck him.

Squatting down swiftly, and ignoring the small flinch from the on-the-edge Sophie, he said quietly, "Do you remembering anything like that happening before? It doesn't even have to be something about you, maybe you told something, like a hat, something, and it came true. Anything like that?"

Sophie had a pondering look on her face, apparently having somewhat forgotten about her rather unfortunate predicament. She responded slowly, "Well... I once told a hat I was working on that… I think I said it would be the best hat I've ever made and that whoever wore it would marry the Duke. Then this poor, generally known as ugly, or at least very plain, girl bought. The next day, she was off to marry the Duke, whom she'd met at the May Day dancing."

As she talked, she grew more sure of herself, once again showing her natural resilience, although Howl knew it couldn't last.

"What does it mean?"

Howl looked at her and sighed, unsure of himself. "Well, I've heard of something like this before, but I can't quite remember what it was. I'm going to go look for anything like this, and you're free to do anything you want, just don't attempt to change anything else back. This could be another trick from the Horibble Hag, after all."

Sophie nodded, and watched Howl leave. Then she looked at her hands, watching a young, soft hand seemingly mock her other, shivering hand, old, creased, and leathery. Again, her place as the third child reared its ugly head.

She got, a few tears still leaking out of her eyes. She couldn't understand why this sort of thing always happened to her, but at least she could take solace in the fact that her sisters would likely never experience anything like what she was. A wizard whom was neither evil nor good, a child appretice whose heart and naivety knew no bounds, and a demon whose melevolance was belied by a the child -like way it acted at times, al residing under a huge, impossible structure of magic. And her, a young unlucky girl, forced into service and changed into a hag.

Life always surprised her. But what surprised her more was hearing Markl scream from inside the house.

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Oh my god, I deserve to be thrown into a tub of rabid monkeys... I'm so sorry guys, but things didn't work out the way I expected so I could only get out this short chapter, and it's a week late.

What happened was I expected to be able to type at my Grandmother's house, where I went to for Thanksgiving. The first day there, I literally typed this chapter in one sitting. however, before I could post it, we left for a small trip to New York (we rode the bus the whole way there... yayyy... cough cough gag...). Then I wasn't allowed to go on the computer 'til I came back home, because we were out all day.

So I got home, and my sister remembers the huge power point thing she has to make on the computer for school, so guess who hasn't been able to go on the computer until today? If you said Mickey Mouse, you're wrong.

Hope you liked the chapter (I didn't), see you in the reviews! (At least I better...)