“He swore,” said Sophie. “In Welsh. Then he sent Michael and the new apprentice away. He wanted to send me away, too. But I said if he and Calcifer were staying, then so was I, and couldn’t he put a spell on me that would simply make the djinn not notice I was there? And we argued about that—”

Lettie chuckled. “Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” she said.

Sophie’s face became somewhat pink, and she put her head up defiantly. “Well, Howl would keep saying I’d be safest right out of the way in Wales with his sister, and he knows I don’t get on with her, and I kept saying I’d be more use if I could be in the castle without the thief noticing. Anyway”—she put her face in her hands—“I’m afraid we were still arguing when the djinn came. There was an enormous noise, and everything went dark and confused. I remember Howl shouting the words of the cat spell—he had to gabble them in a hurry—and then yelling to Calcifer—”

“Calcifer’s their fire demon,” Lettie explained politely to Abdullah.

“—yelling to Calcifer to get out and save himself because the djinn was too strong for either of them,” Sophie went on. “Then the castle came off from on top of me like the lid off a cheese dish. Next thing I knew, I was a cat in the mountains north of Kingsbury.”

Lettie and the Royal Wizard exchanged puzzled looks over Sophie’s bent head. “Why those mountains?” Wizard Suliman wondered. “The castle wasn’t anywhere near there.”

“No, it was in four places at once,” Sophie said. “I think I was thrown somewhere midway between. It could have been worse. There were plenty of mice and birds to eat.”

Lettie’s lovely face twisted in disgust. “Sophie!” she exclaimed. “Mice!”

“Why not? That’s what cats eat,” Sophie said, lifting her head defiantly again. “Mice are delicious. But I’m not so fond of birds. The feathers choke you. But”—she gulped and put her head in her hands again—“but it happened at a rather bad time for me. Morgan was born about a week after that, and of course, he was a kitten—”

This caused Lettie, if possible, even more consternation than the thought of her sister eating mice. She burst into tears and flung her arms around Sophie. “Oh, Sophie! What did you do?”

“What cats always do, of course,” Sophie said. “Fed him and washed him a lot. Don’t worry, Lettie. I left him with Abdullah’s friend the soldier. That man would kill anyone who harmed his kitten. But,” she said to Wizard Suliman, “I think I ought to fetch Morgan now so that you can turn him back, too.”