Chapter Eight
The two girls landed once again on their feet and Ethel looked around with an smile on her face.
"Finally, we are back in the present" Ethel commented as they were stood in the storeroom they had originally left from.
"Finally" Mildred replied as she put the watch in her pocket "Come on let's go see HB" Mildred commented as the two girls left the storeroom.
"Should we tell her about the locket?" Ethel asked
"I think we better, for all we know someone could have stolen it off her" Mildred replied.
The two girls walked down the familiar corridors of their school towards the potion lab. Arriving they decided not to knock as they were sure the locket going missing was important. Mildred threw open the potions lab door.
"Who are you?" Ethel asked rudely.
There woman sat behind there desk was not their potions teacher. This woman was dressed in purple and had bright piercing green eyes and very curly blonde hair.
"I am Miss Starlight" the woman replied confused
"Where is Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred asked
"Miss who?" the teacher asked confused
"Hardbroom, Hecate Hardbroom, you know tall, dresses in black, hair in an bun, really stern" Ethel replied.
"Girls, I have worked here for over twenty years and have never met anyone with that name, stop messing or I will have to give you detention" she told them as Mildred closed the door and turned to face her enemy.
"What is going on?" Mildred asked not able to keep the fear out of her voice.
"I am sure there is an misunderstanding" Ethel replied but she was clearly also worried.
"Ethel, it's time...I think we should go to Miss Cackle" Mildred replied
"You are right...come on" Ethel replied as the two girls ran fast down the corridor both with an bad feeling in their stomach that something wasn't right. Arriving at their head's office Ethel knocked on the door and there two girls were granted access to go in. Mildred rushed in ready to tell Ada everything.
"Miss Cackle, Miss Cackle...Mis...AGATHA!?" Mildred said as she realised the woman sat behind the headmistresses desk was not Ada Cackle but her evil twin sister Agatha Cackle.
"No, Miss Cackle to you" the woman replied.
"Where is Ada?" Ethel asked
"Ada? That is an name I have not heard for an while" Agatha replied
"WHERE IS SHE?" Mildred shouted. She couldn't help herself she didn't understand what was going on.
"Prison, I thought that was common knowledge" Agatha replied as the two students looked at each other both with their mouths hanging open before they looked back at the woman at the desk.
"And where is Miss Hardbroom?" Ethel asked finding her voice
"Who?" Agatha asked
"Hecate Hardbroom, the deputy, you two hate each other" Mildred replied
"I have never heard of that name before, the deputy is Miss Gullet" Agatha replied
"GULLET?" Ethel shouted
"Oh no not her!" Mildred commented
"Right that is it, I have had enough of these silly games, I suggest you two leave before I turn you into frogs" Agatha said standing up and shaking her hand getting ready to cast an spell as the two pupils quickly left both clearly panicking. They rushed down the corridor clearly on edge.
"Ethel, what is going on? Agatha headmistress? Gullet Deputy and Ada in jail?" Mildred asked her voice full of fear and higher than normal.
"I don't know, everything has gone weird, why does no-one know who Hardbroom is I mean think about it, if Agatha had forced her out wouldn't she brag about it?" Ethel replied.
Mildred closed her eyes and thought about what had happened in the past. They had saved Hardbroom's and Pentangle's friendship and had found that necklace but they had also...
"Oh no" Mildred said as there realisation hit her
"What is it?" Ethel asked
"Remember at that restaurant, we mistook that woman for HB and had both come to the conclusion she was her mother?" Mildred replied
"Yes, what about her?" Ethel asked
"What if the man she was with is Hardbroom's father, we made them break up what if they never got back together and if that is the case..." Mildred replied
"They never had an child which means..." Ethel said
"Miss Hardbroom doesn't even exist!" Mildred replied
Both girls looked at each other in shock for an minute. Somehow the thought of Hardbroom not existing made them have an really bad feeling.
"Oh no, this is so not good, we made her vanish" Ethel said after an minute
"Which is why Agatha and that teacher didn't know who she was" Mildred replied.
"But I still don't understand, how does Hardbroom not existing make Agatha headteacher?" Ethel asked
"It is simple Ethel" Mildred replied "Who is the most powerful witch you know?" Mildred asked
"Hardbroom" Ethel replied straight away
"Exactly, Ada is very powerful but she is not as powerful as Agatha and Gullet together only Hardbroom is that is why they always try to get rid of her first because she is the threat that can ruin their plans" Mildred replied
"Not to mention, Ada is gullible she always falls for it when Agatha tells her she has changed" Ethel replied
"Yes, it's Hardbroom that sees through her, it is not that hard to guess what happened, Ada fell for Agatha changing when she hadn't and by then it was too late she and Gullet together were able to overthrow her and get her out the school" Mildred replied
"So wait an minute you are saying just by Hardbroom existing she is able to keep Ada in the school and keep Agatha away?" Ethel replied
"Yes, even when Agatha took over the school in our world Agatha and Gullet were powerless because they had Hardbroom watching them, I mean obviously they did things but they didn't have there full powers to work with as they knew Hardbroom could overthrow them that is why they didn't try anything major until she was trapped in the painting" Mildred said.
"It also explains why Agatha hates her so much, it is because she knows she is more powerful and she is always getting in the way of her plans" Ethel said
"Yes that is correct, I can't believe this we were just trying to make her happy and we made it so she doesn't exist" Mildred sighed
"What do we do?" Ethel asked
"There is only one thing we can do..., I think we should go and see Ada" Mildred replied
"But what's the point she won't remember HB" Ethel replied
"She doesn't have to remember her, but we have to get things back to normal and ask her about that necklace we found" Mildred said
"But that is Hardbroom's how will she know anything about it?" Ethel asked
"I don't know but right now Ada is our only hope" Mildred replied.
