Howl kept his face interested in a most general manner, but the points regarding different worlds or times were all too plausible. Of course, this young lady, as pretty as she was, could have been genuinely insane. Likewise, Howl had to admit, there was a possibility he himself could be considered mentally unstable if he divulged his life story to the wrong person. He folded his arms and tapped one well-tended nail against his lip, which was only mildly choreographed.

Periodically it became difficult to reconcile his two lives. Howell saw a rather bland hospital setting in an unremarkable world in which things were straightforward and plain. But Howl was scared by how very, very possible some of the elements of such a scenario could be. Was he being paranoid and cowardly, or simply acknowledging the warning signs?

"I did see an assortment of notes mentioning, ah, threats at night," he conceded as a strand of dark hair slipped and fell back in front of his glassy eyes. He paused to fix it. "But what exactly do you mean by different worlds?"