Only a particularly bad attack of aches and painsprevented Sophie from setting out for Market Chipping that evening.But the drizzle in Porthaven had gotten into her bones. She lay inher cubbyhole and ached and worried about Martha. It might not be sobad, she thought. She only had to tell Martha that the suitor she wasnot sure about was none other than Wizard Howl. That would scareMartha off. And she would tell Martha that the way to scare Howl offwas to announce that she was in love with him, and then perhaps tothreaten him with aunts.

Sophie was still creaking when she got up next morning.“Curse the Witch of the Waste!” she muttered to her stickas she got it out, ready to leave. She could hear Howl singing in thebathroom as if he had never had a tantrum in his life. She tiptoed tothe door as fast as she could hobble.

Howl of course came out of the bathroom before she reached it.Sophie looked at him sourly. He was all spruce and dashing, scentedgently with apple blossom. The sunlight from the window dazzled offhis gray-and-scarlet suit and made a faintly pink halo of hishair.

“I think my hair looks rather good this color,” hesaid.

“Do you indeed?” grumped Sophie.

“It goes with this suit,” said Howl. “You havequite a touch with your needle, don’t you? You’ve giventhe suit more style somehow.”

“Huh!” said Sophie.

Howl stopped with his hand on the knob above the door. “Achesand pains troubling you?” he said. “Or has somethingannoyed you?”

“Annoyed?” said Sophie. “Why should I beannoyed? Someone only filled the castle with rotten aspic, anddeafened everyone in Porthaven, and scared Calcifer to a cinder, andbroke a few hundred hearts. Why should that annoy me?”

Howl laughed. “I apologize,” he said, turning the knobto red-down. “The King wants to see me today. I shall probablybe kicking my heels in the Palace until evening, but I can dosomething for your rheumatism when I get aback. Don’t forget totell Michael I left that spell for him on the bench.” He smiledsunnily at Sophie and stepped out among the spires of Kingsbury.

“And you think that makes it all right!” Sophiegrowled as the door shut. But the smile had mollified her. “Ifthat smile works on me, then it’s no wonder poor Marthadoesn’t know her own mind!” she muttered.

“I need another log before you go,” Calcifer remindedher.

Sophie hobbled to drop another log into the grate. Then she setoff to the door again. But here Michael came running downstairs andsnatched the remains of a loaf off the bench as he ran to the door.“You don’t mind, do you?” he said in an agitatedway. “I’ll bring a fresh loaf when I come back.I’ve got something very urgent to see to today, but I’llbe back by evening. If the sea captain calls for his wind spell,it’s on the end of the bench, clearly labeled.” He turnedthe knob green-downward and jumped out onto the windy hillside, loafclutched to his stomach. “See you!” he shouted as thecastle trundled away past him and the door slammed.

“Botheration!” said Sophie. “Calcifer, how doesa person open the door when there’s no one inside thecastle?”

“I’ll open it for you, or Michael. Howl does ithimself,” said Calcifer.

So no one would be locked out when Sophie left. She was not at allsure she would be coming back, but she did not intend to tellCalcifer. She gave Michael time to get well on the way to wherever hewas going and set off for the door again. This time Calcifer stoppedher.

“If you’re going to be away long,” he said,“you might leave some logs where I can reach them.”

“Can you pick up logs?” Sophie asked, intriguedin spite of her impatience.

For answer, Calcifer stretched out a blue arm-shaped flame dividedinto green fingerlike flames at the end. It was not very long, nordid it look strong. “See? I can almost reach the hearth,”he said proudly.

Sophie stacked a pile of logs in front of the grate so thatCalcifer could at least reach the top one. “You’re not toburn them until you’ve got them in the grate,” she warnedhim, and she set off for the door yet again.

This time somebody knocked on it before she got there.

It was one of those days, Sophie thought. It must be the seacaptain. She put up her hand to turn the knob blue-down.

“No, it’s the castle door,” Calcifer said.“But I’m not sure—”

Then it was Michael back for some reason, Sophie thought as sheopened the door.

A turnip face leered at her. She smelled mildew. Against the wideblue sky, a ragged arm ending in a stump of a stick wheeled round andtried to paw at her. It was a scarecrow. It was only made of sticksand rags, but it was alive, and it was trying to come in.

“Calcifer!” Sophie screamed. “Make the castle gofaster!”

The stone blocks round the doorway crunched and grated. Thegreen-brown moorland was suddenly rushing past. The scarecrow’sstick arm thumped on the door, and then went scraping along the wallof the castle as the castle left it behind. It wheeled its other armround and seemed to try to clutch at the stonework. It meant to getinto the castle if it could.

Sophie slammed the door shut. This, she thought, just showed howstupid it was for an eldest child to try and seek her fortune! Thatwas the scarecrow she had propped in the hedge on her way to thecastle. She had made jokes to it. Now, as if her jokes had brought itto evil life, it had followed her all the way here and tried to pawat her face. She ran to the window to see if the thing was stilltrying to get into the castle.

Of course, all she could see was a sunny day in Porthaven, with adozen sails going up a dozen masts beyond the roofs opposite, and acloud of seagulls circling the blue sky.

“That’s the difficulty of being in several places atonce!” Sophie said to the human skull on the bench.

Then, all at once, she discovered the real drawback to being anold woman. Her heart gave a leap and a little stutter, and thenseemed to be trying to bang its way out of her chest. It hurt. Sheshook all over and her knees trembled. She rather thought she mightbe dying. It was all she could do to get to the chair by the hearth.She sat there panting, clutching her chest.

“Is something the matter?” Calcifer asked.

“Yes. My heart. There was a scarecrow at the door!”Sophie gasped.

“What has a scarecrow to do with your heart?” Calciferasked.

“It was trying to get in here. It gave me a terrible fright.And my heart-but you wouldn’t understand, you silly youngdemon!” Sophie panted. “You haven’t got aheart.”

“Yes I have,” Calcifer said, as proudly as he hadrevealed his arm. “Down in the glowing part under the log. Anddon’t call me young. I’m a good million years older thanyou are! Can I reduce the speed of the castle now?”

“Only if the scarecrow’s gone,” said Sophie.“Has it?”

“I can’t tell,” said Calcifer. “It’snot flesh and blood, you see. I told you I couldn’t really seeoutside.”

Sophie got up and dragged herself to the door again, feeling ill.She opened it slowly and cautiously. Green steepness, rocks, andpurple slopes whirled past, making her feel dizzy, but she took agrip on the doorframe and leaned out to look along the wall to themoorland they were leaving behind. The scarecrow was about fiftyyards to the rear. It was hopping from clump to heather clump with asinister sort of valiance, holding its fluttering stick arms at anangle to balance it on the hillside. As Sophie watched, the castleleft it further behind. It was slow, but it was still following. Sheshut the door.

“It’s still there,” she said. “Hoppingafter us. Go faster.”

“But that upsets all my calculations,” Calciferexplained. “I was aiming to circle the hills and get back towhere Michael left us in time to pick him up this evening.”