There was nothing outside. It was neither black, nor gray, norwhite. It was not think, or transparent. It did not move. It had nosmell and no feel. When Sophie put a very cautious finger out intoit, it was neither hot nor cold. It felt of nothing. It seemedutterly and completely nothing.

“What is this?” she asked Calcifer.

Calcifer was as interested as Sophie. His blue face was leaningright out of the grate to see the door. He had forgotten the fog.“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I onlymaintain it. All I know is that it’s on the side of the castlethat no one can walk around. It feels quite far away.”

“It feels beyond the moon!” said Sophie. She shut thedoor and turned the knob green-downward. She hesitated a minute andthen started to hobble to the stairs.

“He’s locked it,” said Calcifer. “He toldme to tell you if you tried to snoop again.”

“Oh,” said Sophie. “What has he got upthere?”

“I’ve no idea,” said Calcifer. “Idon’t know anything about upstairs. If you only knew howfrustrating it is! I can’t even really see outside the castle.Only enough to see what direction I’m going in.”

Sophie, feeling equally frustrated, sat down and began mending thegray-and-scarlet suit. Michael came in quite soon after that.

“The King saw me at once,” he said. “He—”He looked round the room. His eyes went to the empty corner where theguitar usually stood. “Oh, no!” he said. “Not thelady friend again! I thought she’d fallen in love with him andit was all over days ago. What’s keeping her?”

Calcifer fizzed wickedly. “You got the signs wrong.Heartless Howl is finding this lady rather tough. He decided to leaveher alone for a few days to see if that would help. That’sall.”

“Bother!” said Michael. “That’s bound tomean trouble. And here I was hoping Howl was almost sensibleagain!”

Sophie banged the suit down on her knees. “Really!”she said. “How can you both talk like that about such utterwickedness! At least, I suppose I can’t blame Calcifer, sincehe’s an evil demon. But you, Michael—!”

“I don’t think I’m evil,” Calciferprotested.

“But I’m not calm about it, if that’s what youthink!” Michael said. “If you knew the troublewe’ve had because Howl will keep falling in love like this!We’ve had lawsuits, and suitors with swords, and mothers withrolling pins, and fathers and uncles with cudgels. And aunts. Auntsare terrible. They go for you with hatpins. But the worst is when thegirl herself finds out where Howl lives and turns up at the door,crying and miserable. Howl goes out through the back door andCalcifer and I have to deal with them all.”

“I hate the unhappy ones,” Calcifer said. “Theydrip on me. I’d rather have them angry.”

“Now let’s get this straight,” Sophie said,clenching her fists knobbily in red satin. “What does Howl doto these poor females? I was told he ate their hearts and took theirsouls away.”

Michael laughed uncomfortably. “Then you must come fromMarket Chipping. Howl sent me down there to blacken his name when wefirst set up the castle. I—er—I said that sort of thing. It’swhat aunts usually say. It’s only true in a manner ofspeaking.”

“Howl’s very fickle,” said Calcifer.“He’s only interested until the girl falls in love withhim. Then he can’t be bothered with her.”

“But he can’t rest until he’s made her lovehim,” Michael said eagerly. “You can’t get anysense out of him until he has. I always look forward to the time whenthe girl falls for him. Things get better then.”

“Until they track him down,” said Calcifer.

“You’d think he’d have the sense to give them afalse name,” Sophie said scornfully. The scorn was to hide thefact that she was feeling somewhat foolish.

“Oh, he always does,” Michael said. “He lovesgiving false names and posing as things. He does it even whenhe’s not courting girls. Haven’t you noticed thathe’s Sorcerer Jenkin in Porthaven, and Wizard Pendragon inKingsbury, as well as Horrible Howl in the castle?”

Sophie had not noticed, which made her feel more foolish still.And feeling foolish made her angry. “Well, I think it’sstill wicked, going round making poor girls unhappy,” she said.“It’s heartless and pointless.”

“He’s made that way,” said Calcifer.

Michael pulled a three-legged stool up to the fire and sat on itwhile Sophie sewed, telling her of Howl’s conquests and some ofthe trouble that had happened afterward. Sophie muttered at the finesuit. She still felt very foolish. “So you ate hearts, did you,suit? Why do aunts put things so oddly when they talk abouttheir nieces? Probably fancied you themselves, my good suit. Howwould you feel with a raging aunt after you, eh?” As Michaeltold her the story of the particular aunt he had in mind, it occurredto Sophie that it was probably just as well the rumors of Howl hadcome to Market Chipping in those words. She could imagine astrong-minded girl like Lettie otherwise getting very interested inHowl and ending up very unhappy.

Michael had just suggested lunch and Calcifer as usual had groanedwhen Howl flung open the door and came in, more discontented thanever.

“Something to eat?” said Sophie.

“No,” said Howl. “Hot water in the bathroom,Calcifer.” He stood moodily in the bathroom door a moment.“Sophie, have you tidied this shelf of spells in here by anychance?”

Sophie felt more foolish than ever. Nothing would have possessedher to admit she had gone through all those packets and jars lookingfor pieces of girl. “I haven’t touched a thing,”she replied virtuously as she went to get the frying pan.

“I hope you didn’t,” Michael said uneasily asthe bathroom door slammed shut.

Rinsings and gushings came from the bathroom while Sophie friedlunch. “He’s using a lot of hot water,” Calcifersaid from under the pan. “I think he’s tinting his hair.I hope you left the hair spells alone. For a plain man withmud-colored hair, he’s terribly vain about hislooks.”

“Oh, shut up!” snapped Sophie. “I put everythingback just where I found it!” She was so cross that she emptiedthe pan of eggs and bacon over Calcifer.

Calcifer, of course, ate them with enormous enthusiasm and muchflaring and gobbling. Sophie fried more over the spitting flames. Sheand Michael ate them. They were clearing away, and Calcifer wasrunning his blue tongue round his purple lips, when the bathroom doorcrashed open and Howl shot out, wailing with despair.

“Look at this!” he shouted. “Look at it!What has that one-woman force of chaos done to thesespells?”

Sophie and Michael whirled round and looked at Howl. His hair waswet, but, apart from that, neither of them could see that it lookedany different.

“If you mean me—” Sophie began.

“I do mean you! Look!” Howl shrieked. He satdown with a thump on the three-legged stool and jabbed at his wethead with his finger. “Look. Survey. Inspect. My hair isruined! I look like a pan of bacon and eggs!”

Michael and Sophie bent nervously over Howl’s head. Itseemed the usual flaxen color right to the roots. The only differencemight have been a slight, very slight, trace of red. Sophie foundthat agreeable. It reminded her a little of the color her own hairshould have been.

“I think it’s very nice,” she said.

“Nice!” screamed Howl. “You would! Youdid it on purpose. You couldn’t rest until you made memiserable too. Look at it! It’s ginger! I shall have tohide until it’s grown out!” He spread his arms outpassionately. “Despair!” he yelled. “Anguish!Horror!”

The room turned dim. Huge, cloudy, human-looking shapes bellied upin all four corners and advanced on Sophie and Michael, howling asthey came. The howls began as moaning horror, and went up todespairing brays, and then up again to screams of pain and terror.Sophie pressed her hands to her ears, but the screams pressed throughher hands, louder and louder still, more horrible every second.Calcifer shrank hurriedly down in the grate and flickered his wayunder his lowest log. Michael grabbed Sophie by her elbow and draggedher to the door. He spun the knob to blue-down, kicked the door open,and got them both out into the street in Porthaven as fast as hecould.