from that thing. If they have cameras on board, they'll film
us and then we're screwed. In a major bad way."
The helicopter flew over without seeing
them.
"Damn. This makes the search for Zelda much
more difficult," William muttered.
Hilda frowned. "But if we just-"
A loud shrieking laugh came from somewhere.
The two looked at each other and knew who did that. Then there were
some raw screeching sounds, where metal was obviously torn from
metal and an engine was forced to do things an engine was not
supposed to do. Several loud crash-sounds and a heavy thud later,
the laugh sounded again.
"I think someone just did. But not the nice
way," Hilda finished. "She's near. Come." Hilda sped away on her
broom, William only inches behind her as they darted through the
streets. The people from the town would look after the ones in the
helicopter. If there was anything of them left to look after.
A few minutes after they had started their
chase of Zelda, Hilda stopped the rapid flight. They hovered in
front of a large, high building. "I've lost her. Too many big
buildings here, I think. At home it's easier. Mad world."
Disappointed, they backtracked to where they
had seen the helicopter come down. From a safe distance they looked
at the group of people who were ignoring the curfew and trying to
get the passengers of the machine to freedom.
"They don't need us," William decided. "I
suggest we go back to the room that Bert allowed us, and rest up a
bit. And we should see about some food also."
Food was no problem, of course, their magic
was more than capable of producing some.
"I miss the crazy kitchen," William said as
they lay on the bed, staring into the darkness.
"It's not crazy, sweet man. It just has an
attitude. Like a witch does. It's this world that's crazy." Hilda
snuggled up to her wizard. "And there's something else I have to
tell you."
"Which would be?"
"I love you." She pressed her lips against
his cheek.
-=-=-
The next morning came with a loud noise. The
couple flew from the bed and looked out of the window. An army tank
moved through the street. The machine had problems conquering the
debris that was in front of it, but it made progress.
Unfortunately, it was going the wrong way, as O'Malley's was down
the other side of the street.
"Crappedy crap," Hilda muttered, "that's no
way to wake up a witch." She was tempted to use her wand on the
noise-maker.
"Let's wait until they're gone before we go
out," William suggested.
"No. We have to move now. It must have woken
up Zelda too. Provided she was asleep at all." Hilda had a point,
so they opened the window and flew out, to the former pub. They
climbed high, hoping the people in the tank would not notice
them.
Around the bar everything was silent. Very
silent. Zelda had put up some kind of dampening spell, Hilda told
William.
"That should mean she's in. Let's pay her a
visit."
That was easier said than done, though. The
spell was obviously intended to keep out more than just sound.
"Not one for visitors, is she?", William
muttered as they did not get through the shielding.
Hilda nodded as she looked up. "Ah. Window.
Maybe..." She launched herself with the broom. "Crap." The window
was sealed also.
William got an idea as he saw Hilda work. He
went to the roof of the building and found it was possible to make
an opening in there. "Hilda, up here."
"Good wizarding, William," she said.
William went down the hole first, having more
experience with measurements of normal houses. Then Hilda followed,
trusting William to catch her as she was coming down. Her trust was
not in vain. Once in the attic of the building, Hilda took her wand
and scanned if the protection that Zelda had put up was near.
Things seemed safe though.
Lighting their way with their wands, they
found a door that led to a staircase, so down they went. Silence
had claimed the building. It was shockingly present everywhere. It
seemed to bounce off the walls that they passed and it ran up