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Contents ( 57)
  1. HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents
  4. Chapter One
  5. IN WHICH SOPHIE TALKS TO HATS
  6. Chapter Two
  7. IN WHICH SOPHIE IS COMPELLED TO SEEK HER FORTUNE
  8. Chapter Three
  9. IN WHICH SOPHIE ENTERS INTO A CASTLE AND A BARGAIN
  10. Chapter Four
  11. IN WHICH SOPHIE DISCOVERS SEVERAL STRANGE THINGS
  12. Chapter Five
  13. WHICH IS FAR TOO FULL OF WASHING
  14. Chapter Six
  15. IN WHICH HOWL EXPRESSES HIS FEELINGS WITH GREEN SLIME
  16. Chapter Seven
  17. IN WHICH A SCARECROW PREVENTS SOPHIE FROM LEAVING THE CASTLE
  18. Chapter Eight
  19. IN WHICH SOPHIE LEAVES THE CASTLE IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS AT ONCE
  20. Chapter Nine
  21. IN WHICH MICHAEL HAS TROUBLE WITH A SPELL
  22. Chapter Ten
  23. IN WHICH CALCIFER PROMISES SOPHIE A HINT
  24. Chapter Eleven
  25. IN WHICH HOWL GOES TO A STRANGE COUNTRY IN SEARCH OF A SPELL
  26. Chapter Twelve
  27. IN WHICH SOPHIE BECOMES HOWL’S OLD MOTHER
  28. Chapter Thirteen
  29. IN WHICH SOPHIE BLACKENS HOWL’S NAME
  30. Chapter Fourteen
  31. IN WHICH A ROYAL WIZARD CATCHES A COLD
  32. Chapter Fifteen
  33. IN WHICH HOWL GOES TO A FUNERAL IN DISGUISE
  34. Chapter Sixteen
  35. IN WHICH THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF WITCHCRAFT
  36. Chapter Seventeen
  37. IN WHICH THE MOVING CASTLE MOVES HOUSE
  38. Chapter Eighteen
  39. IN WHICH THE SCARECROW AND MISS ANGORIAN REAPPEAR
  40. Chapter Nineteen
  41. IN WHICH SOPHIE EXPRESSES HER FEELINGS WITH WEED-KILLER
  42. Chapter Twenty
  43. IN WHICH SOPHIE FINDS FURTHER DIFFICULTIES IN LEAVING THE CASTLE
  44. Chapter Twenty-One
  45. IN WHICH A CONTRACT IS CONCLUDED BEFORE WITNESSES
  46. HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
  47. Read on for an excerpt from The Merlin Conspiracy
  48. I
  49. ONE
  50. Read on for an excerpt from Dark Lord of Derkholm
  51. ONE
  52. Read on for an excerpt from Archer’s Goon
  53. Chapter One
  54. About the Author
  55. Credits
  56. Copyright
  57. About the Publisher

Sophie was almost awed. “You mean you jilted the Witch of the Waste?”

Howl cut himself another lump of cake, looking sad and honorable. “That is not the way to put it. I admit I thought I was fond of her for a time. She is in some ways a very sad lady, very unloved. Every man in Ingary is scared stiff of her. You ought to know how that feels, Sophie dear.”

Sophie’s mouth opened in utter indignation. Michael said quickly, “Do you think we should move the castle? That’s why you invented it, wasn’t it?”

“That depends on Calcifer.” Howl looked over his shoulder at the barely smoking logs again. “I must say, if I think of the King and the Witch both after me, I get a craving for planting the castle on a nice, frowning rock a thousand miles away.”

Michael obviously wished he had not spoken. Sophie could see he was thinking that a thousand miles was a terribly long way from Martha. “But what happens to your Lettie Hatter,” she said to Howl, “if you up and move?”

“I expect that will be all over by then,” Howl said absently. “But if I could only think of a way to get the King off my back … I know!” He lifted his fork, with a melting hunk of cream and cake on it, and pointed it at Sophie. “You can blacken my name to the King. You can pretend to be my old mother and plead for your blue-eyed boy.” He gave Sophie the smile which had no doubt charmed the Witch of the Waste and possibly Lettie too, firing it along the fork, across the cream, straight into Sophie’s eyes, dazzlingly. “If you can bully Calcifer, the King should give you no trouble at all.”

Sophie stared through the dazzle and said nothing. This, she thought, was where she slithered out. She was leaving. It was too bad about Calcifer’s contract. She had had enough of Howl. First green slime, then glaring at her for something Calcifer had done quite freely, and now this! Tomorrow she would slip off to Upper Folding and tell Lettie all about it.

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Chapter Eight

IN WHICH SOPHIE LEAVES THE CASTLE IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS AT ONCE

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To Sophie’s relief, Calcifer blazed up bright and cheerful next morning. If she had not had enough of Howl, she would have been almost touched by how glad Howl was to see Calcifer. “I thought she’d done for you, you old ball of gas,” Howl said, kneeling at the hearth with his sleeves trailing in the ash.

“I was only tired,” Calcifer said. “There was some kind of drag on the castle. I’d never taken it that fast before.”

“Well, don’t let her make you do it again,” said Howl. He stood up, gracefully brushing ash off his gray-and-scarlet suit. “Make a start on that spell today, Michael. And if anyone comes from the King, I’m away on urgent private business until tomorrow. I’m going to see Lettie, but you needn’t tell him that.” He picked up his guitar and opened the door with the knob green-down, onto the wide, cloudy hills.