“It seems to work too,” Sophie murmured, looking intothe washbasin with a shiver. Water ran into the basin when she turneda blue-green knob that might have been brass and washed some of thedecay away. Sophie rinsed her hands and face in the water withouttouching the basin, but she did not have the courage to use DRYINGPOWER. She dried the water with her skirt and then set off to thenext black door.

That one opened onto a flight of rickety wooden stairs, Sophieheard someone move up there and shut the door hurriedly. It seemedonly to lead to a sort of loft anyway. She hobbled to the next door.By now she was moving quite easily. She was a hale old woman, as shediscovered yesterday.

The third door opened onto a poky backyard with high brick walls.It contained a big stack of logs, and higgledy-piggledy heaps of whatseemed to be scrap iron, wheels, buckets, metal sheeting, wire,mounded almost to the tops of the walls. Sophie shut that door too,rather puzzled, because it did not seem to match the castle at all.There was no castle to be seen above the brick walls. They ended atthe sky. Sophie could only think that this part was the round sidewhere the invisible wall had stopped her the night before.

She opened the fourth door and it was just a broom cupboard, withtwo fine but dusty velvet cloaks hanging on the brooms. Sophie shutit again, slowly. The only other door was in the wall with thewindow, and that was the door she had come in by last night. Shehobbled over and cautiously opened that.

She stood for a moment looking out at a slowly moving view of thehills, watching heather slide past underneath the door, feeling thewind blow her wispy hair, and listening to the rumble and grind ofthe big black stones as the castle moved. Then she shut the door andwent to the window. And there was the seaport town again. It was nopicture. A woman had opened a door opposite and was sweeping dustinto the street. Behind that house a grayish canvas sail was going upa mast in brisk jerks, disturbing a flock of seagulls into flyinground and round against the glimmering sea.

“I don’t understand,” Sophie told the humanskull. Then, because the fire looked almost out, she went and put ona couple of logs and raked away some of the ash.

Green flames climbed between the logs, small and curly, and shotup into a long blue face with flaming green hair. “Goodmorning,” said the fire demon. “Don’t forget wehave a bargain.”

So none of it was dream. Sophie was not much given to crying, butshe said in the chair for quite a while staring at a blurred andsliding fire demon, and did not pay much attention to the sounds ofMichael getting up, until she found him standing beside her, lookingembarrassed and a little exasperated.

“You’re still here,” he said. “Issomething the matter?”

Sophie sniffed. “I’m old,” she began.

But it was just as the Witch had said and the fire demon hadguessed. Michael said cheerfully, “Well, it comes to us all intime. Would you like some breakfast?”

Sophie discovered she was a very hale old woman indeed. After onlybread and cheese at lunchtime yesterday, she was ravenous.“Yes!” she said, and when Michael went to the closet inthe wall, she sprang up and peered over his shoulder to see whatthere was to eat.

“I’m afraid there’s only bread andcheese,” Michael said rather stiffly.

“But there’s a whole basket of eggs in there!”Sophie said. “And isn’t that bacon? What about a hotdrink as well? Where’s your kettle?”

“There isn’t one,” Michael said.“Howl’s the only one who can cook.”

“I can cook,” said Sophie. “Unhook that fryingpan and I’ll show you.”

She reached for the large black pan hanging on the closet wall, inspite of Michael trying to prevent her. “You don’tunderstand,” Michael said. “It’s Calcifer, the firedemon. He won’t bend down his head to be cooked on for anyonebut Howl.”

Sophie turned and looked at the fire demon. He flickered back ather wickedly. “I refuse to be exploited,” he said.

“You mean,” Sophie said to Michael, “that youhave to do without even a hot drink unless Howl’s here?”Michael gave an embarrassed nod. “Then you’re theone that’s being exploited!” said Sophie. “Givethat here.” She wrenched the pan from Michael’s resistingfingers, plonked the bacon into it, popped a handy wooden spoon intothe egg basket, and marched with the lot to the fireplace.“Now, Calcifer,” she said, “let’s have nomore nonsense. Bend down your head.”

“You can’t make me!” crackled the firedemon.

“Oh, yes I can!” Sophie crackled back, with theferocity that had often stopped both her sisters in mid-fight.“If you don’t, I shall pour water on you. Or I shall pickup the tongs and take away both your logs,” she added, as shegot herself creaking onto her knees by the hearth. There shewhispered, “Or I can go back on our bargain, or tell Howl aboutit, can’t I?”

“Oh, curses!” Calcifer spat. “Why did you lether in here, Michael?” Sulkily he bent his blue face forwarduntil all that could be seen of him was a ring of curly green flamesdancing on the logs.

“Thank you,” Sophie said, and slapped the heavy panonto the green ring to make sure Calcifer did not suddenly rise upagain.

“I hope your bacon burns,” Calcifer said, muffledunder the pan.

Sophie slapped slices of bacon into the pan. It was good and hot.The bacon sizzled, and she had to wrap her skirt round her hand tohold the handle. The door opened, but she did not notice because ofthe sizzling. “Don’t be silly,” she told Calcifer.“And hold still because I want to break in the eggs.”

“Oh, hello, Howl,” Michael said helplessly.

Sophie turned round at that, rather hurriedly. She stared. Thetall young fellow in a flamboyant blue-and-silver suit who had justcome in stopped in the act of leaning a guitar in the corner. Hebrushed the fair hair from his rather curious glass-green eyes andstared back. His long, angular face was perplexed.

“Who on earth are you?” said Howl. “Where have Iseen you before?”

“I am a total stranger,” Sophie lied firmly. Afterall, Howl had only met her long enough to call her a mouse before, soit was almost true. She ought to have been thanking her stars for thelucky escape she’d had then, she supposed, but in fact her mainthought was, Good gracious! Wizard Howl is only a child in histwenties, for all his wickedness! It made such a difference to beold, she thought as she turned the bacon over in the pan. And shewould have died rather than let this overdressed boy know she was thegirl he had pitied on May Day. Hearts and souls did not enter intoit. Howl was not going to know.

“She says her name’s Sophie,” Michael said.“She came last night.”

“How did she make Calcifer bend down?” said Howl.

“She bullied me!” Calcifer said in a piteous, muffledvoice from under the sizzling pan.

“Not many people can do that,” Howl said thoughtfully.He propped his guitar in the corner and came over to the hearth. Thesmell of hyacinths mixed with the smell of bacon as he shoved Sophiefirmly aside. “Calcifer doesn’t like anyone but me tocook on him,” he said, kneeling down and wrapping one trailingsleeve round his hand to hold the pan. “Pass me two more slicesof bacon and six eggs please, and tell me why you’ve comehere.”

Sophie stared at the blue jewel hanging from Howl’s ear andpassed him egg after egg. “Why I came, young man?” shesaid. It was obvious after what she had seen of the castle. “Icame because I’m your new cleaning lady, of course.”

“Are you indeed?” Howl said, cracking the eggsone-handed and tossing the shells among the logs, where Calciferseemed to be eating them with a lot of snarling and gobbling.“Who says you are?”

“I do,” said Sophie, and she added piously, “Ican clean the dirt from this place even if I can’t clean youfrom your wickedness, young man.”