10. The bookstore

Shielded by an invisibility spell, Hilda landed in the alleyway next to the bookstore. After releasing the shield she walked into the bookstore, one particular line from the quill's poem reverberating through her head. "The use of magic is forbidden." It worried her, and that was a bad sign. Witches of her standing never worried. This place was getting on her nerves.

She stared at the sharp sounding bell at the door, that made Bert Bantrey's head rise up from behind a stack of books. How easy would it be to make that bell go silent.

"Ah, dear lady, please excuse my appearance. One moment please..." Bert scrambled to his feet. He grabbed hold of another stack of books that was on the verge of collapsing, and after steadying that part of his assets, he turned to Hilda again. "Welcome to Bert Bantrey's Bookstore. I am Bert Bantrey. Please state your wishes, and I will do my utmost to fullfill them." He ended his little talk with a quick bow.

"A gentleman at last," Hilda smiled benevolently. "I thought this world had seen no civilisation, but it appears I have to revise my opinion about that." She nodded regally, something that looked quite odd with her denim attire, the red and black bag slung across her shoulders and the broom in her hand. And yet, it suited her.

Bert was accustomed to strange customers, even people calling themselves witches, asking for grimoires, books of shadows and other impossible things. This was the prerogative of owning the only bookstore in town and its surroundings. "So, with what can I be of assistance?" There was something enticing about this woman that fed his male feelings, his urges. It was something that not many women managed to evoke.

"I am looking for a man who has a book," Hilda said.

"For a book, dear lady, I am your man," Bert smiled, waving his arm around the store. "And I own many of them. Therefore I assume that makes me a whole lot of man." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

The gesture was lost on the witch. "I am looking for..." - Hilda rummaged in her bag and took the papers - "...William Connoley?"

Bert's hopes of capturing this lady's heart shattered on the floor, in front of his feet. He could almost hear the shards clatter. Bert however was not one to be thrown out of the ring that easily. "Dear lady, I am convinced that you and I can come to an agreement. Whatever it is that my friend William has, I have it too."

Hilda could smell the stream of stale pheromones that flowed from the man. It almost made her gag. "There must be something that William Connoley has that you do not have," she said. "My paper states that."

"Hah, dear lady," Bert said, leisurely stepping towards her. "William and I go back a long time. I know what he has for sale, as he obtains most of his merchandise from my store. He is, how could I put it, almost my personal travelling sales-representative."

Hilda closed her eyes and tried to keep her calm. Magic is not allowed. Magic is not allowed. The words spooked her. This, she knew, was going to be very difficult. "I have to know where William Connoley is." She spoke the words slowly and clearly, as friendly as she could. Without magic, she had to stay in control and put up with any misfit that came on her path, in the annoying way that ordinaries did everywhere.

"Can I first offer you some tea? Or coffee, perhaps?" Without knowing it, Bert had spoken a magical word.

"Coffee. Yes. Coffee is good." Hilda was grateful for this break. "Do you-", she started, but did not ask about the extra Arabica. This man would not know, he was not magical.

"Do I what, dear lady?", Bert asked, his charm offensives blasting and his most dazzling smile on his face.

"Oh. No. Nothing. Just... coffee." Hilda emphasised her wish by nodding a few times and repressed the revulsion.

"Very well. Please, browse around, make yourself comfortable on the sofa if you want. I'll be back soon. With the... coffee..." He spoke the last word as if he tried to turn the sound into an aphrodisiac.

To Hilda it was the ultimate turn-off, something that made her want to scream and turn the man into a toad and flee from this place. Instead, she just nodded and turned to the long lines of books. Instinctively she located the books about magic. Randomly she took one and looked through it, after placing her broom against a rack.

Bert came back with two cups of instant brew, and his heart jumped for joy to see the woman still standing there, obviously entertained by a book, as he heard her grin and giggle. "Dear lady," he said, in a voice as husky as he could muster, "your servant." He had intended to add: "And your coffee", but the first two words startled Hilda, and that was the start of bad news for Bert. As he said "your servant", she had already closed the book and was turning towards the man behind her. Quickly. With the book at face-height.

The impact of the big, bound book against Bert's skull was shocking. He uttered a muffled "oompf". His head turned away from Hilda, his body following suite. The two cups of instant coffee suddenly became either very hot or very heavy, because he dropped them to the floor.

"No magic," Hilda told the unconscious man, whose body was obeying the laws of gravity. She looked at the grimoire that had had this dramatic effect. "At least I assume that hitting someone with a book about what they call magic here was not included in that line, otherwise I am majestically screwed."

Carefully she stepped over the body that lay in a heap on the floor and found her way to the small kitchen annex toilet. Locating a bucket was not difficult, but filling it became a problem. There was no pump or well inside the small space, and through the tiny dirty window she could not see anything that resembled one either.

"The use of magic is forbidden, or from the town you will be ridden." The words laughed at her, taunted her. She could not fill the bucket using magic, nor with anything she recognised. Drawing on all her willpower, she walked back to the store and looked at the motionless body. "And I thought you were a gentleman. Goes to show."

A very unhappy Hilda paced the bookstore. She had gone to the door that had the "Open" sign shown to this crazy world and turned that around, decreeing that the store was "Closed". At least that would give her some peace and time to think. Waiting until the man regained consciousness was not her preferred option. He might not take the course of past events very well. Hilda could not be bothered by that fact, but she still needed to know where William Connoley was, and this was the place where she could find out. Provided the quill had not played a trick on her. Bert, after being treated to a taste of solid magic, was probably not eager to help her out.

In the kitchen Hilda had found a packet of cookies covered in chocolate, and she was working on reducing the contents, when suddenly an eerie sound rang through the store. The wicked witch ducked behind a stack of books, wishing that the sound would go away. Her wish was not granted, the sound persisted. It also did not move through the store, she noticed, so she got up and went around to locate the source of this noise and silence it once and for always. A large book she had picked up would serve her well in that, she hoped.

The phone rang and blinked. That is how Hilda found it on the counter. "Magic is not allowed, eh?", she snorted. "Really."

She put down the book and examined the device with its noise and its blinking light. There was a small window on it, and there was a text on it. William Connoley. Hilda stumbled backwards, pressing herself against the shelves of books, holding a hand over her heart. This demonic device bore the name of the man she needed to talk to! She then saw the small blinking button that read 'talk'.

Hilda looked at the device and said: "Talk!"

It didn't.

"Talk!!"

It remained unimpressed.

Boldly she stabbed at the flashing button. "Talk, you abomination!"