21. It's alive

The couple spent the day doing close to nothing. Hilda felt obligated to check things at least through her mirror. William sat with her as she showed him parts of the kingdom he had not seen before.

"Goodness, it is so beautiful here," he said as the image showed mountains, lakes with long beach-like shores and ancient castles.

"It is, indeed," Hilda said. "It's weird though... Now you are here and you tell me it is so pretty, I can see it again. It's all so... normal for me."

"Unfortunately that happens all the time," William agreed. "Let's try to remind each other to see the good things."

"Good idea, but remember that I am a wicked witch. I only reserve that right for you, William. Others won't hear things like that from me."

"I can live with that."

Hilda started looking at all kinds of things then that did not mean anything to William. People, murky places and what looked like haunted houses came by.

"Would you mind if I skip this? I'll be at the table with my book."

"Sure, I can't assume that everything I like fascinates you as well." She brushed his cheek with her lips, just before he got up. Hilda watched her lover pick up the special book with the silk scarf as he headed for the table. "I like the scarf," she grinned. "Can I trade you another one for it?"

"Make me an offer," William grinned and sat down. Something poked him and he jumped up again, reaching into the pocket where the problem maker apparently was. He found the two parts of the wand that had belonged to Gerdundula the witch. As the memory of the overturned house flashed brightly through his head, he put the two pieces of the wand on the table, shaking his head for a moment.

"What's the matter?" Hilda had seen him shake his head.

"I was thinking of Gerdundula," he explained, sitting down and opening his book.

"Hmmm... better try to think of something more entertaining... her fate is depressing..."

In silence they continued what they were doing, Hilda examining the kingdom through her mirror, William reading his treasured book.

"So, what is that precious book you are reading?", Hilda asked after her curiosity had been satisfied. She leaned on William's shoulder and looked at the pages he was studying.

"It is a book about magic," he told her. "I just love the paper, the print, the drawings and the way the spells are written down."

"Lemme see!", Hilda said as she squeezed herself between William and the table, sitting in his lap at ease once he had moved the chair back a bit. The wicked witch was more interested in the texts themselves than the paper they were printed on.

"Where did you find this?", she asked after looking over the open pages. Slowly her finger traced the line of one of the images, it was a flower that probably had never existed, except in the mind of the illustrator.

"It was in a monastery," William said, "in a chest somewhere in a basement. The monastery was not in use anymore as the rumour went round that there had been witches living there at some time. I doubt that they were real witches, but I suspect that they left the book there. There were other books there also, but this one appealed to me so much that I took this one."

"Shiny. You should have taken more of them. This is a fascinating book. It feels alive."

William frowned. "Alive? Anyway, there were more people there, so I could only get one of the books. I was lucky to be in the first wave, so this one was still there."

Hilda paged through the book. "Amazing," she mumbled, her mind fully absorbed by the text and the illustrations. "Can't be real."

William felt left out a bit, but he watched her face as Hilda skimmed through the book, at times stopping her fast going through the book to read a page or a passage.

She looked at him, turning in his lap and putting an arm over his shoulder. "You picked the best book of the lot."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's alive. I can feel it. Here..." She took one of his hands and placed it on the page that she had studied only moments before. "Do you sense it?" With anticipation she regarded his eyes as he tried to concentrate on the page. If he sensed something, she knew, it would show in his eye first.

"Sorry... I don't feel it," he said, feeling disappointed. "I wish I could, but there's nothing."

Hilda shrugged. "It was worth the try. I could see you did not catch it. But it is nice that you tried it, sweet man." She kissed his cheek. "It's witchy stuff, after all. But take care of that book. It is alive."

"You keep saying that, but what do you mean by that? That it's magical?"

She shook her head, making her hair fly. "No. Not magical, but something that has the same charge. Argh, I wish I could explain this to you. It is the difference between a flower you picked from its stem and one that is still growing in the soil." Hilda looked at him, hoping that these words would make him understand. She saw they didn't.

She sighed. "Too bad... it is such a special thing to sense, my dear. But I have an idea. Let's go out and fly around a bit. To get out of the house and clear our heads."

William was game for that. Hilda went to prepare herself for flight as she was only wearing her housecoat. William looked at the book again. "Alive," he said, closing the book and touching the leather cover. "I wish it was alive enough to fix that wand." The book responded by cracking a tiny streak of lightning between the leather and his hand. "Ouch!"

"What?!", Hilda yelled from her room.

"The book just tried to electrocute me!" William stared at his palm where a tiny black mark was visible, the result of the uncanny discharge.

"It tried what?", asked Hilda as she came bolting down the stairs. "What's with your hand? How did you do that?" She saw the black mark also. William explained what had happened.

"Suck an elf," the witch frowned. "That is quite a special way of it to tell you it's alive. At least you felt it well," she grinned, her wicked streak popping to the surface. She touched the leather. Nothing happened. "It's still alive, so you did not kill it," she winked. "Come, poor hurt person, I'm going to turn you into a fly-boy!"

They got hold of their brooms and went outside for a bit of late afternoon flying.

"They're going to be amazed," Hilda chuckled as they lifted off, "I usually don't fly about this late!" Her shrieking laughter mixed with William's ordinary's laugh.