stared at her friend in wonder.
Calandra sat down opposite Hilda. "Come on girl, don't give me that. I know I am far away down south, but I am connected remember?" She pointed at the insanely large crystal ball in her room. The thing was so large and heavy that only a slab of rock was strong enough to support it.
"Uhm?" Hilda really did not understand what Calandra was talking about.
Calandra frowned. "Are you telling me that they've been pinning fancy shit on my sleeve then?"
Hilda was now lost and had the face to prove it. "Who's said what? I don't have the foggiest idea what you mean, Calandra!"
Calandra was next in line to be lost. "Okay, so the line's been buzzing that there's nice tall handsome man living in your house. But obviously-"
"Who told you that?!", Hilda gave it away.
"Aha!! So it is true! And there you were, playing miss Innocent on me!" Calandra manifested another bout of shaking walls, and this time one of the windows did not survive.
"It's not... what you think." Hilda was not very pleased with all this.
"Oh, sure," Calandra snickered, "you find yourself a man for the first time in what is... I lost track of the number of centuries... and then it is not what everyone thinks."
"Everyone? How many know that William is living with me?", Hilda asked, a mild form of panic jumping at her throat.
"You'd better ask how many don't yet. If any." The remark of the southern witch did not make Hilda feel much better. "And it's William, is it? How interesting. Where did you find him? How long do you know him? And do you two have plans together?" Calandra leaned over to Hilda, eager to catch every little snip of information the grey-haired witch was willing to share.
"I am saying nothing. Nothing at all." Hilda folded her arms over her chest and pressed her lips together.
"Okay, girl, okay, I'm not complaining, you hear me? It's of course always the same problem, that if people don't know the facts, there are always some among the in-crowd that are filling in the details with what they -think- is going on. And then you might be worse off than spilling the word right now..."
"William is going to help me beat Lamador," Hilda allowed herself to reveal.
"Lamador? Don't get me wrong, Hilda, but you are not allowed to request magical help on a challenge..." Calandra shook her head, making her hair dance around her head.
Hilda wanted to be anywhere else. "That's all I am going to say."
"Okay, girl, that's fair. I heard you make a really neat couple on the brooms too. Blue suits him well, they say. Big wizard stuff, with the silver on the robes too." Calandra nodded appreciatively. "I could fall for a wizard." She winked at Hilda. "Or on one."
"Hmmpf," Hilda commented. "We did not fall, and he's not flying- oh crap."
"Now what was that, girl? He's not flying? But he wears the blue!"
"I gave that to him." Damn, shut up, Hilda, shut up!
"Oh. Right. Well, you know how safe your secrets are with me," Calandra said with a smile that would take half her head off had it gone just a bit wider.
"I was afraid of that," muttered the wicked witch, who felt a far cry from wicked at that moment.
Calandra seemed to understand that she should not pry more than she had already done. She had enough news to put out on the lines, first hand news. And perhaps she could improve its quality slightly before sending it round, but that was something for later. She changed the subject skillfully, babbling about her new interior and the problems that the wizards and witches further south had had with the water.
The atmosphere in the house of the southern witch improved rapidly, as Calandra maneuvered around the touchy subject to make Hilda feel better. After all, she knew, the wicked witch had quite a heavy load on her shoulders with the challenge from Lamador.
Hilda looked out a window and noticed that the sun had started its downwards trajectory already. "Cal, I have to go back home again now."
"Of course, Hilda, I understand. Quite a stiff flight you have ahead of you. Thanks for dropping by, hon, and don't be a stranger, okay?"
Hilda said goodbye, was forced to take a bag of real southern witch cookies along as Calandra had baked a few hundred too many in her new kitchen, and then finally she was on her way home again. For some reason she pushed her broom to go as fast as possible.
19. Good old house
"William, she is coming back."
"Oh, really? Good! Thank you, house." William pulled his feet under him and got up. He had been reading his books on the blanket that still was in front of the now extinguished fireplace.
He walked to the door and as he opened it, he saw Hilda slump down on the grassy patch. Not an elegant landing at all, he noticed. It was not far away from an emergency landing.
Hilda grabbed her broom and almost ran inside, quickly closing the door. Paranoia was creeping, but creeping very quickly. She leaned against the door, as if her weight would keep it closed much more securely.
"Hey, what's wrong?", William wondered about her strange way of coming in.
"They know," Hilda told him as if this would mean the world to him.
"Who knows, and what?" He looked a puzzle.
"The others. About us."
"I am sorry, dear witch, but you are talking in shorthand, so bear with me when I try to analyse this," William said. He put his hands on her shoulders, peeled her from the door and steered her to the large black table. "You are going to sit down, I'll fix you some tea and then-"
"No tea, I need a drink," Hilda surprised him.
"Oh dear." William had never heard her say that. She had not touched wine in the daylight before as long as he had been around, so this was worrying. "Okay, I'll go get-"
"That takes too long," she snapped, snipped her fingers and filled the table with glasses of wine. As she grabbed one (of the diluted ones of course), William held her hand, preventing her to drink it down. He knew he was taking a risk. A big risk.
"Maybe, before you drink yourself into a stupor, maybe there is something you want to tell me?" He spoke calm and kindly.
Hilda slapped his hand. "I need a drink, not a babysitter."
He let her drink and sat down next to her. He took one of the glasses that was not diluted. A quick count of the glasses told him that they both were in for at least five hangovers, if they were going to have a serious go at all that wine.
Without ceremony Hilda emptied her glass in one large gulp. This earnt her an astounded glance from William.
"Argh...", she then said. "Do you know you don't taste a thing when you drink wine like that?" She looked at the man sitting next to her, his brown eyes only paying attention to her. With a sigh she sat back in the chair, trying to relax. The alcohol she had just poured into herself started to work, calming her down.
"Do you want to have another one?", William asked.
"No! Do you want to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?" She giggled.
"What do you think of me?" William asked, his face straight.
"Not sure, you know, but the idea is sort of exciting." The fast shot of alcohol was really getting to her. She stared at a second glass, picked it up to make sure it would not run away.
"Hilda, perhaps that glass is not a good idea," William tried, not sure if she needed some help to slow down her intake.
"Are you going to try and stop me?" Her wand appeared in her free hand. "See, I am not drunk yet. I can still do my magical trick." She looked at William and saw his worried face. A smile showed on her face and she put down both the glass and the wand. Then she turned round so she faced William and took both his hands in hers.
"I'm sorry, William, I am making a fool of myself, I know. But they all know about you already, and that scares me. Why do they all know about you while we are still getting to know each other?"
By now William had had enough time to add up the digits. "By they you mean your witch colleagues?"
She nodded. "From what
Calandra told me, we are the big news all over the crystals." Then she quickly put a hand over her mouth. "I forgot to call you! I'm so sloppy... can you forgive me?"
The book salesman slowly took her hand from her mouth and rested it in his. "Don't worry, Hilda. I was sure you were busy with something. And you had inflated my books, so I had a good time reading."
The witch kept looking at him, but the expression on her face changed to one of incomprehensiveness. "Inflated your books? What do you mean? I had forgotten all about your books, William."
It was his turn to be surprised. "No, really, you haven't. See there, on the blanket? Books. My books. Big books."
Hilda resolutely shook her head. "Impossible. I have not done that, William."
"But," he then wondered with reason, "if you didn't... who did it then?"
Hilda frowned. "Did anyone come to the door while I was out?"
"No. I took a bath and then came down with the books to read. You can ask the house."
"It is true," the house confirmed. "He was in the bath. And he was in the room reading."
Hilda picked up her wand. "That's impossible, I tell you. Only someone with magic can undo the shrinking. They don't just pop back." She pointed her wand at one of the books. "Come here, you."
After a hesitation of a few seconds, the book calmly floated through the room, into Hilda's hand. William was surprised again. He found it hard to believe that she could actually hold the heavy book with one hand. But then, Hilda was magical.
The witch stared at the book, muttering things William could barely hear, let alone understand. Her hair fell around her face as