Free Hilda the wicked witch by Paul Kater

broke my broom, you... you... ordinary!"
Hilda was close to fuming.
    "So? You broke my fucking nose, bitch," the man
retorted, blood streaming from his fingers to make his take on this
even clearer.
    "Oh, poor man, are you hurting?" Hilda's voice
changed to sugar-sweet. "Let me fix that for you, will you?" Her
eyes in slits, her wand directed at the man's broken nose, she
hissed: "Communtatus rana!"
    The effect was instantaneous, and to Hilda's
delight.
    The workman's clothes fell on top of the frog.
The animal croaked. It was not so delighted.
    Hilda took a deep breath. Then she held out her
hand. "Veni cristallum." The crystal ball jumped up and landed in
her palm, after which she looked at it. She was not far from the
man she had to see. Worrying about the broom would not help now, so
she started walking.
    Only several minutes later already she turned
into a street and a memory hit her. She had seen this street in the
ball, as she was asking it to show her where to go! The houses to
the left and right were there, the horseless carts were there. And
there, further down the road, was the cart that had the box with
the answer! Hilda ran towards the cart, but its doors were closed.
She peered through the windows, pressing her hands and nose against
them, but there was no sign of the box.
    "Calm down, Grimhilda," she told herself. "This
place is getting to you, but you have come so close, don't lose
your grip now. The man is in a house of coffee, he said. Find the
house of coffee and you'll find the man." She slipped the crystal
ball in her bag where it was safe. A passer-by looked at the woman
who was talking to herself for a moment, shook his head and
continued on his way without a word. Which was the best thing he
could have done, and he didn't even know it.
    As the voice from the demon device had said,
there was a coffeeshop across the street. Hilda stepped on the
asphalt, then stopped. She made sure none of the horseless carts
were approaching before she hurried to the other side.
    A few ordinary people that were walking there
looked at her awkward behaviour but left her in peace, which was
exactly perfect for Hilda. Without hesitation she walked upto the
door of the coffeehouse and entered. As she did so, she inflated
the book and held it in her hand. She was quite certain the bookman
would recognise her through that.
    William Connoley looked up as the woman with the
long grey braids walked in. He blinked a few times as he did not
trust his eyes. Had she really pulled that large book from her
shoulderbag just now? He got up and walked over to her.
    Hilda saw the broadshouldered man walk up to
her. It had to be him. He had a friendly face.
    "Hello, I am William Connoley. You are the
person I talked to on the phone?", the man said.
    Hilda liked his voice. It was the same as the
one from demon device, only better sounding. Warm. She grabbed
inside her bag and took out the demon device. "This. Yes. You were
talking through it. Do you want it back?"
    "Back?" William doubted if he should talk to her
much longer. "It is Bert's phone. He's the one who will want it
back. Just keep it with you until you see him again. Ehm, would you
like some coffee?"
    "Coffee. Yes, I need some coffee," Hilda said,
pushing the large book in the salesman's hands.
    It was the first sensible thing William had
heard from her. Relieved, he led her to his table and ordered
another round of coffee. As they were waiting for the order to
arrive, William looked at the book. "You did not wrap it..."
    Hilda looked at the man, fire in her eyes. "You
wanted the book. I brought the book." What was he going on about?
She was, after all, a powerful witch, not a shop's wench.
    William nodded, hoping she'd calm down again.
This woman obviously had a terribly short temper. "You got here
remarkably quickly," he said, "Bert's car usually does not go that
fast. Where is it anyway? The street's quite full."
    Hilda shrugged and decided to wing this one. She
was tired from