He tried again. Same thing. No matter how he turned the dial by the door, it opened to one view or another of the same City.
“Howl?”
Again.
His frustration and fear were mounting.
“HOWL!”
The wizard spun around, finally registering Calcifer. “What's going on? Where are we? WHERE IS SOPHIE?”
“I don't know,” the fire demon responded calmly. He needed to stay rational, as Howl could hardly be counted on to think clearly.
“Did she do something? Did she talk to the castle?”
Calcifer considered for a moment. “Not that I can tell. The castle seems to be normal.”
“Normal?!” Howl wailed. “How can you consider this even remotely normal?” He began to pace the room. A tell-tale green smear like a snail's trail began to follow him.
“Howl. Now, Howl, settle down. You need to think this out.”
“I'm going out. I need to find out what is going on.” With that he gave the dial one final, hopeful spin. As before, the City loomed beyond them. He stepped out into the unknown world, fearing what might be out there.
The first thing he did was turn around to look at the outside of his home. It appeared to be exactly the same as his Porthaven residence, which was odd considering he'd given that one up some time ago. It even had the name above the door in big letters: Wizard Jenkins.