staring at herself in the mirror. A strand of hair hung over her face. She blew it away, but that only helped for a moment.
In anger she turned to her pillow and pounded on that for a while, until she had lost most of her anxiety. "Damn, damn, what did you do bringing him here," she asked her image, panting away. "He's the last one I can have around now, and I'm stuck with him."
Hilda yanked open her wardrobe door, grabbed a black dress from it and slammed the door. She looked at her mirror image again and said: "Stupid witch. Argh!"
In her black dress she told herself to calm down. "Okay Hilda, play it cool. You're in charge, you're in control. He is an ordinary, nothing magical about him." Mentally armed like that she thundered down the stairs.
The table was cleared. William was in the kitchen trying to wash the dishes, but the brush and the water had their own ideas about that, with a drenched man as the result.
"Fine, suit yourself if you think you know better," he snapped at the precocious kitchen, threw the rag in the water and turned to leave. The rag flew out of the water and hit him in the neck, water and foam streaming down his back and shoulders.
William closed his eyes and sighed. "How is it possible that she can handle this..."
"I don't," Hilda said, who was leaning against the doorjamb. "I let it handle itself. That's what it's there for."
William picked the wet rag from his shoulders and dropped it on the sink. "Thank you for telling me. After the fight."
She grinned. "It was amusing to watch."
"You...", William said, half threatening.
Hilda flared up. "What, me?" She stood up straight, waiting for him to try something.
William grabbed the rag and pretended to throw it at her. With a shriek she shot away from the door opening, out of the line of fire. The salesman dropped the rag again and almost collapsed for laughter.
Fuming, Hilda came back into the kitchen. She had her wand in her hand and murder in her eyes. "You went too far," she hissed, William barely over his laughing. "This time you really went too far."
The spell that shot from the wand picked William up. She carried him into the living room and stuck him against a wall. It happened so fast that only then William understood what was happening. He also understood that his speech was cut off and all he could do was wait.
"You do NOT threaten a witch like me, do you hear that?", Hilda yelled at William. She pulled him from the wall and slammed him into it again. "And you do not laugh at a witch like me either, do you hear that as well?" He slammed into the wall again. "I am not one to be taken lightly, William Connoley, and every ordinary here knows that. It is about time that you learn that too."
She lowered him so his feet were on the floor and then she released the spell. William thanked her by crashing onto the floor as if there was no bone in his body. He was unconscious.
"Hey. Get up." Hilda pushed the man's shoulder with her foot. "Get up."
William did not move, for obvious reasons.
Hilda waited a little longer. Her eyes got large and she kneeled with the man, only then discovering that he definitely did not hear her. "Oh no, what have I done..."
Carefully she shook William's shoulder as she said his name, but William was temporarily out of order.
8. Making the rounds
Without taking her eyes from William's motionless body, she scurried to the table with the crystal ball. "Babs. Are you there? I need you. Now!"
"Hilly, what's up? You sound like there is a real problem."
"There is. There is a man in my house and-"
"What did you say???" Baba Yaga, Hilda's lifelong girlfriend, sounded scared, shocked and full of disbelief.
"There is a man in my house and-"
"Damn, girl! Who is it?" Baba Yaga now sounded as if she wanted to take the next broom over to see this for herself.
"He is unconscious, Babs, and I knocked him out. And now I don't know what to do with him."
"Uhm... can't you just put him outside?" The Russian witch always had a simple and useful solution at hand.
"No, I can't. Not this one." Hilda bit her lip and prayed that her girlfriend would not ask.
"Why not?"
Damn.
"Grimhilda... don't tell me that what I am thinking is what has actually happened..."
"Babs, listen, it is not what you think. He is visiting here and-"
"Whoa. Stop right there, Hilly baby. You have a MAN in your house. And he is VISITING. There are two things here that don't make sense already. Are you sure you're okay, Hilda?"
"Babs, please, I can't go into all this now. William is on the floor and he is not moving. I think he is still alive, and what can I do now?"
"Oh, he even has a name. My, oh my..." Baba Yaga gave her best cackle. Then she became serious, as she understood that Hilda really was having a problem. "If you can, get him on a bed. Feel if his forehead is hot, and if it is, cool it with a wet rag. And keep asking if he can hear you."
"Okay, I can do that. Thanks, Babs." Hilda waved the connection down and then took her wand again. Magically she lifted William and floated him up the stairs. She followed and opened the door to his bedroom, where she put him down.
"Right."
A wet rag appeared in her hand and she put that on his forehead. "Oh, wait." She took the rag and felt William's forehead. It was not overly hot, but she put the cloth back, just in case. Better safe than sorry.
"William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? ..."
Slowly William regained control of his awareness again.
"William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me?", he heard someone say.
"I do. I hear you..." Carefully he raised his hand to the back of his head.
Hilda sighed with relief. "Man, you scared me!"
"Welcome to the club," William said, "I think I beat you to it though. Good god, you have hard walls in your house..." He lifted the cloth from his forehead and blinked his eyes against the light. Then he noticed where he was and smiled as he turned to Hilda, whose face still showed worry. "And this time you put me in bed. That makes us even, I think."
Hilda pouted for a moment, then stood up. "Looks like I can't leave you alone here." She flicked her wand and a set of new, dry and clean clothes appeared near his feet. "If you think you can, change clothes and come down. I have to go out and will take you with me." Then she marched out of the room and down the stairs.
William sat up. His head did contain a slight throbbing, but it was not too bad. He put on the clothes, that were quite different from the set he had just taken off. A long robe-like garment, deep blue with silver embroidery, black shoes and an equally black cloak with a hood.
Dressed like that the salesman went down the stairs, going slowly as he was not used to wearing something that resembled a dress so closely. The faces in the pictures all frowned as he went by, but he did not notice that as he kept watching his feet. He made it to the ground floor safely.
Hilda sat on the table, dangling her feet as she was waiting. Two brooms floated nearby in the room.
"Okay," she said resolutely, "let me have a look at you. We want you to look like the real thing, right?"
"I am sure, even if I don't know what real thing I should be," William said, wondering what would be coming.
"These are wizard's clothes. You shouldn't be wearing them, but since when do I care about rules." Hilda walked around him, nodding, tugging, prodding. "You're not fat enough to be a wizard, William," she concluded. "Proper wizards have sturdy bellies."
"Can't we say I am still in training?", William attempted, holding his belly. He was very happy with it the way it was.
Hilda snorted and said a few words in Latin. And then, no matter how hard William pushed, his belly grew. Not too much, but it was still considerable.
"Ehm, you will be able to take this away again, won't you?", he asked, pointing at his extra presence.
"Sure," Hilda sai
d, satisfied with the way William now looked. "Come on, or we'll be running late."
"Of course. Where are we going?", William asked as he caught the broom that she made fly towards him.
"Making the rounds. Don't worry, usually it's fun."
"Usually?", William asked, Hilda was already out the door, so he just followed her.
"Have fun, William," said the house as the salesman got onto the broom. It was a bit of a struggle with skirts, but in the end it worked.
"Thanks, house." William waved at it, and got hold of the broom again just in time, as Hilda made them take off quick and steep.
"Oh, forgot: hold on!", she yelled at William as the brooms quickly gained altitude.
The wind rushed in their faces and made their hair fly. William noticed that his clothes were amazingly calm in comparison, only with some kind of wind they would flap a bit, but that was all. Probably there was some magic involved to make the ride more comfortable that way, he assumed.
As they had reached cruising altitude, Hilda slowed the brooms down and pulled up next to William. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. More than fine actually, this is a real thrill."
"Oh, right." She frowned for a moment. "Now, we shouldn't need to touch down anywhere, but if we do, I want you to pull the hood over your face, okay? No need to talk, I'll handle that."
William nodded, he was certain that Hilda knew what to say. "No problem so far."
"Cool puppies," Hilda said. "If someone asks who you are, I'll tell them you are a wizard from far away who is here on a visit. And that is not even a complete lie, as your machine is quite a wizard's mechanic." She laughed her cackling