Chapter 2: The Abandoned Bell Tower
A couple days have past since the witches test and Hilda had spent a decent amount of that time reading the book Kaisa gave her and practicing her new found powers. Today she invited her friends Frida and David to show how much progress she made. They as well as Johanna, Twig, Alfur, and Tontu were all in Hilda's room with the windows blocked of all light. Most of them sat on Hilda's bed while Alfur sat on Johanna's shoulder and Hilda herself stood in the middle of her room.
"Is everybody ready?" Hilda asked.
Johanna gave a thumbs up, Frida and David nodded, Twig swished his tail, Alfur pulled his pad and pencil out, and Tontu just sat where he was.
"Okay, here I go." Hilda held her arms out and closed her eyes.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Hilda's skin started changing color like before. Her nose grew next. Then her clothes slowly vanished into thin air. When Hilda opened her eyes, she was just as amazed as everyone else in the room by what she can now do. Then she changed back to a human just as easily.
"I did it! I can be a troll whenever I want!" Hilda cheered. "Well, sort of."
She switched back and forth a few times just for fun and some of the others smiled at her enjoyment.
"So, Hilda, what else do you plan to turn into?" Frida asked.
"Nothing too scary I hope." David said.
"Actually, I haven't read that far yet." Hilda explained while back in human form. "I didn't want to overlook anything like I did last time."
"Just remember what we talked about, Hilda." Johanna said.
"I know, Mum. Be careful when and where I change at all." Hilda responded. "Don't worry. I know how to keep a secret."
That last part, Johanna knew all too well.
"Oh, that reminds me." Alfur said as he jumped from Johanna's shoulder to the nightstand and then the desk. "Tontu asked me to help with a contract between you two."
"What contract?" Hilda asked.
"This one." Tontu answered, handing a written piece of paper to Hilda. "It's to make sure you promise not to use your powers on my personal home without my permission."
Hilda and Alfur read the contract together. Alfur was impressed by what Tontu wrote, but Hilda was a little bothered by it.
"This seems a little harsh, Tontu." Hilda said.
"Last time you wanted in the nowhere-space, a lot of trouble happened." Tontu pointed out. "Sure, some good things happened too. But you and your mom could've been killed more than once because of it."
Hilda thought about it for a moment. She realized that Tontu was right. Her previous interest in the nowhere-space had quite the butterfly effect and it could've ended poorly.
"Alright, I promise." Hilda said as she reluctantly signed the contract.
"Thank you." Tontu said before snatching the contract back and entering the nowhere-space through a corner of the bed.
"Now that all of that's over, I need to get back to work." Johanna said while she unblocked the windows.
"Alfur, are you up for an adventure today?" Hilda asked.
"Sorry, but I have some work to do too." Alfur said. "Maybe next time."
And so Hilda, Frida, David, and Twig left the small apartment building.
"So I was thinking we could check out that old abandoned bell tower across town." Hilda suggested. "I've seen it once before, but never really got anywhere near it. Maybe we can find some cool stuff there."
"No way!" David objected. "I heard that place is haunted."
"Me too. That's why we should go!" Hilda said with much excitement.
"Hilda, you made me go to a lot of scary places. The sewers, the Witch's Tower, even the cemetery. But haunted houses are the very last place I want to be."
"Oh come on, David. You don't hear Frida complaining."
"Actually, Hilda, I'm gonna have to set this one out too." Frida said. "I have new magic lessons starting today. Sorry."
Hilda understood and knew she couldn't talk either friend into joining her this time.
"That's okay. Twig and I can go by ourselves."
After bidding each other farewell, the kids each went their own way. Along the way to the bell tower, Hilda was starting to feel down again and Twig took notice. He rubbed his head against Hilda's leg to try cheering her up.
"Oh, sorry, Twig. I didn't mean to worry you." Hilda said. "I'm glad that Frida and David understand me, but sometimes I wish I had more friends like them."
She then shook her head and put on a determined face.
"Let's go find us a haunted house."
Some time later, Hilda and Twig found the bell tower. As before, it was mostly made of bricks with at least three stories, several hard to see through windows, a round front part with matching steps, and a broken roof right above where the bell would normally be.
"I bet there are at least some ghosts inside." Hilda opened one of the front doors and in she and Twig went.
The interior was completely made of wood with a flight of stairs on either side of the foyer leading to the next floor and some easy to spot doorways. It all would've been harder to see if it weren't for the light from above apparently caused by the big bell that fell through the ceiling and broke the middle of the floor.
"So that's what happened to the bell."
As Hilda and Twig walked in the house, each step caused the floor to creak. They searched the foyer's first floor and found nothing. They entered the left door and found an empty living room, an ugly bathroom, and a study with blank papers on the floor. There was still nothing interesting. So they checked the opposite doorway of the foyer and found an abandoned kitchen and dining room. The only things in there were a broken table, some empty cupboards, and a refrigerator.
"Maybe there's something good upstairs." Hilda said.
She and Twig headed up the stairs while making more creaking sounds. They came to the second floor which was basically a big hollow square with railings and three doors. Hilda opened the nearest door and a hallway with more doors was revealed. She checked each of the doors and they turned out to be former bedrooms except for the first room which was another bathroom. Then she and Twig headed for the middle door. It revealed a small room with a spiral staircase that clearly led to the third floor which was also where one went to ring the bell. Finally, they went to the last door. Just as Hilda was about to touch the doorknob, Twig caught a scent that he smelled before and growled at the door.
"What is it, boy?"
Twig just stood there and kept growling.
"Well whatever it is, we don't have to worry at all now that I have a secret weapon."
Hilda reached for the doorknob again and slowly turned it. She opened the door and stepped inside with Twig right next to her. The last room was apparently once a personal library which now only had empty shelves on the walls and across the floor.
"Whoever used to live here must've really liked books."
Hilda and Twig checked every aisle in the room, but just like the rest of the bell tower, they found nothing. Then Twig growled again, this time facing the direction of the door they entered through. Hilda realized that whatever was in the room was now right behind her. She was a little nervous, but confident that she could handle it. She slowly turned around to see what it was and suddenly...
"Surprise!"
"AHHH!" Hilda fell on her butt and Twig moved infront of her, still growling.
"Hahahahahahahaha!" It was the pig-tailed marra.
"Oh great, it's you." Hilda said as she got back up.
"Hey, I could say the same about you, crazy girl." the marra commented while floating in mid-air.
"So let me get this straight. The haunted house rumors were all because of you?"
"I'd love to take the credit, but no. I wanted to find out what was haunting the place too. It could be perfect for new nightmares."
"That figures. Did you find anything?"
"Sadly, no. It must've been another boogeyman story to keep kids out of trouble."
"A lot of good that's doing." Hilda joked.
"Yeah, I'm outta here."
"So are we."
Hilda, Twig, and the marra went back to the foyer and headed for the door. But before either girl could step outside, they heard a faint sound.
"Ehhhhhhh eeeeeeeh."
Hilda and the marra turned their heads to see if they could spot the source of the noise. There was nothing there.
"There is a ghost!" both girls cheerfully said.
They looked at each other, surprised by their shared sentence.
"That was weird." the marra said.
"Yeah." Hilda agreed. "Come on, Twig."
Hilda and Twig went to the kitchen where the eerie sound came from.
"Hey! I was here first!" the marra said before following them in her green aura form.
In the kitchen, all three of them looked, listened, and in Twig's case sniffed for anything suspicious, but once again found nothing.
"I was sure the sound came from in here." Hilda said.
"Well if it really is a ghost, then maybe it's playing tricks on us." the marra suggested.
"Ehhhhhhh eeeeeeeh!" the sound came again, but less faint.
"It's coming from under the fridge." Hilda made sure there was no daylight and approached the refrigerator.
"Are you seriously going to try moving that?" the marra asked. "Good luck with that, crazy girl."
"Please stop calling me that. My name is Hilda and you know it." Hilda then thought of something. "That reminds me, I never found out what yours is."
*Sigh* "If you must know, it's Amanda."
"Well, Amanda, if I told you a secret, would you keep it?"
"Hmm, alright. What is it?"
Hilda then changed to her troll form, causing a priceless shock on Amanda's face.
"Wha-how-how did you do that!?"
"I recently became a shapeshifter. So far, this is the only form I have, but it's all I need right now."
Hilda grabbed the fridge and pulled it away from the wall with ease. Underneath where the fridge once stood was a secret door.
"Cool! There must be something good down there!" Hilda said.
The door was locked, but Hilda opened it like it was nothing. As one would expect, the door revealed a new flight of stairs descending into the dark. Hilda changed back, but kept her pink troll eyes and went in. Twig hesitated, but Amanda didn't. She went past Hilda in her aura form.
"Hey! That's cutting!"
Amanda blew a raspberry at Hilda. Suddenly, the secret door closed all by itself. Hilda and Amanda rushed back up to get it open again. Twig scratched at it from above, Hilda became a troll to force it open, and Amanda tried getting through in aura form. Nothing worked. Hilda and Amanda were trapped together.
"Don't worry, Twig! We'll find another way out!" Hilda yelled. "But try to find help anyway!"
Twig understood and ran out of the house. Hilda changed back again and she and Amanda took the only path available to them. As they descended the stairs, Amanda couldn't help asking something.
"So, what's it like being a troll?"
"Well the first time it happened, I was... scared... and in denial. But then I realized some cool perks to it. I even found a sense of freedom I never felt before."
Amanda couldn't think of anything to say about that. Eventually, they reached the bottom of the stairs only to find an empty hallway.
"This looks way too easy." Amanda said.
"There's probably a bunch of ghosts waiting for us." Hilda guessed. "And if we get too close, they might try to grab us and take us into the depths of who-knows-what."
"Woah, that was pretty good." Amanda smugly complimented. "You would've made a great marra."
"I would never choose to be one of you."
"You don't know that. Your friend almost did."
"That's because Kelly took advantage of Frida in the middle of an identity crisis! What's your excuse!?"
For a moment, Amanda's eyes widened almost like she was afraid of something. Then those same eyes turned green and angry, her pig-tails rose up, and with her creepy voice, she shouted "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
After a few seconds of silence, Hilda said "Fine, let's go."
They began walking down the hallway, keeping their glowing eyes open for anything suspicious. For a couple minutes, there wasn't a single thing. No traps, no ghosts, and no monsters/creatures.
"I was kind of hoping for something interesting to happen by now." Hilda said.
"Heh, be careful what you wish for." Amanda said.
Then just before they took their next steps, they heard a new faint sound coming from behind them. It was some kind of thud and was repeating itself and growing in volume kind of like a really fast giant. The girls turned around and realized what was happening. Multiple slabs of stone were coming out of the walls and getting closer to them.
"Run!"
Hilda went into her troll form again and ran as fast as she could. Amanda on the other hand took off in her aura form, leaving Hilda behind like she did before. The stone slabs kept coming as quick as can be. Hilda tried her best to stay far ahead, but the slabs were starting to catch up. Luckily the other end of the hall was now in sight. Hilda took a chance and pushed herself to run even faster. The slabs were only a few feet behind her now. Then just a couple feet. Then only inches away from the end of her hair. Hilda took a good leap and barely avoided the last slab. The hallway was now completely cut off. The new room was surprisingly tall with some kind of crystal lights in the ceiling, metal bars on the walls making it look like a cage, and an open entrance to more stairs at the opposite side. Hilda's relief was cut short when she saw Amanda leaning against one of the walls. Still in her troll form, she stomped over to her to give her a piece of her mind.
"Amanda! That's twice you left me to die!"
"Looks like you didn't need my help."
"RRR! Do you ever care about anyone besides yourself!?"
"What's it to you?"
"Since we're stuck with each other, a lot!"
"Hey, I only came here to find something scary, not make friends. Especially with some blue-haired crazy girl!"
"Well better me than some polka-dotted mean spirit!"
"I'll show you a mean spirit!" Amanda shouted with her eyes glowing and her hair afloat.
"Bring it on, you bully!" Hilda challenged with her fists up.
With so much anger in them, they charged at each other. Hilda threw a punch, but Amanda disappeared and reappeared behind her. While floating in mid-air, Amanda swung a kick at Hilda only to hurt her foot and yell in pain. Hilda turned around and tackled Amanda. Despite the extra weight, Amanda managed to spin around and throw Hilda at one of the walls. Hilda was okay, but part of the wall was broken. Amanda quickly went and picked up one of the broken off bars to use as a weapon. She swung it a few times, but Hilda was still fast enough to dodge every time. Then Hilda grabbed the other end of the bar, but Amanda and it vanished. Amanda came back above Hilda and whacked her on the shoulder really hard. It was actually enough for Hilda to yell in pain. She jumped up and grabbed Amanda's legs to try pulling her down. With a new idea, Amanda flew all the way up to the high ceiling and then vanished again. Hilda fell with a scream and hit the floor, leaving a big dent. It didn't really hurt, but then Amanda reappeared and swung the bar down like an axe. Hilda rolled away in time and leapt for the legs again. She grabbed Amanda's feet and spun around before throwing her. Amanda was almost too dizzy, but she stopped her uncontrolled flight and flew back at Hilda. After she tackled her back, they rolled on the floor together. Once back up, they not only grabbed each other's sweaters, but were ready to hit each other. Then they heard a strange sound all around them. They looked around and saw that the bars except for the broken ones were floating off of the walls.
"Let's get out of here!" Hilda said.
The bars lunged at the girls like flying spears. Thankfully they were both more than capable of dodging each and every bar that came at them. They knew they needed to escape, so they reached the new entrance and quickly descended the spiral staircase made of stone. After realizing that the bars weren't trying to get them anymore, they slowed down.
"Glad that's over." Amanda said.
"Until we get out of here, we should watch each other's backs." Hilda suggested. "There's no telling what else might attack us. Deal?"
*Sigh* "Oh alright. Deal." Amanda reluctantly agreed.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered another hallway. This one however had several statues in the walls. some held swords. Others wielded axes. A few of them even had spears. All of them reminded Hilda of the time she and her friends met those warriors who kept killing each other.
"I bet all of these are going to come to life." Hilda said.
"Change back and I'll carry you." Amanda offered.
Hilda returned to her human form and Amanda picked her up. Just not the way she expected. Amanda held Hilda by the back with one hand as she flew through the hall of statues.
"Do you really have to carry me like this?" Hilda asked.
"No, but it's funnier this way." Amanda replied with a mischievous laugh.
Hilda crossed her arms and pouted. Then halfway through the hallway, something started to go wrong.
"Wa-wa-woahhh!" Amanda was somehow struggling to stay in the air as well as making Hilda's ride a lot less comfortable.
Her eyes began to flicker like a bad lightbulb. After a while, both girls fell onto the floor.
"What happened?" Hilda asked.
"I don't know." Amanda said, desperately trying to do anything. "Somehow my marra powers are gone!"
Wondering if there was more to this situation, Hilda tried turning into a troll again, but she couldn't.
"My magic's gone too."
"Oh no! NO NO NO NO! This is bad! We can't survive like this! What do we do!?" Amanda dropped onto her knees and started hyperventilating.
"Amanda! Calm down!"
Amanda did her best to stop panicking. She hugged her own legs and looked at Hilda with a sad and pathetic face.
"I'm scared."
Hilda was starting to feel sorry for Amanda. She needed to give her a confidence boost.
"I know this is scary, but panicking is not going to help us. We have to keep going if we want to find a way out of here. Besides, I thought you weren't afraid of a challenge."
Amanda thought about what Hilda just said. Then she took a deep breath and stood back up.
"Okay, I'll follow your lead."
Hilda led the way through the hall of statues, remaining as suspicious as before. Amanda on the other hand was getting more paranoid than anything as she followed Hilda. Soon enough, they could see the next room up ahead. But before they could get any closer, they heard a crumbling sound. Hilda recognized it easily, for it was just like the sound of a troll waking up from spending the day as a rock. All around them, Hilda and Amanda could see the statues coming to life.
"I knew it." Hilda said. "It's time to run again."
And run the girls did. Amanda may not be as used to running as Hilda, but her legs were long enough for her to keep up. Not to mention sometimes fear can boost a person's speed. The statues began to step off of their pedestals and the closer ones attacked the girls. One statue almost chopped Amanda with an axe.
"AH!"
Another one slashed it's sword at Hilda who jumped to avoid getting cut. Surprisingly, both girls kept on dodging while still getting closer to the end. Unfortunately when they were just a few yards away, Amanda tripped. She was frozen by fear as the statues surrounded her.
"Amanda!" Hilda ran back for her.
The spear wielders got ready to thrust at Amanda while the rest waited. Hilda ran between the legs of one of the statues, grabbed Amanda's hand, and pulled her out of the way just in time. They went back under the legs and ran for the end once more. Some axe wielders that were waiting for them almost chopped them, but both girls managed to run past them. The last few statues tried their best to kill them, but they were too fast. Jump, duck, and dodge, they avoided every last statue and finally reached the next room. They turned around and spotted a convenient door. When they closed the door, they heard the sound of a lock coming from it. They were now stuck even deeper. Hilda and Amanda sat down and caught their breaths. They looked at each other and started laughing.
"Hahaha! You should see how scared you look!" Amanda said.
"Well at least I'm not supposed to be scary! Hahaha!" Hilda replied.
After they both settled down, a thought occurred to Hilda.
"I wonder why the statues didn't come to life sooner." she said. "And why didn't the other traps activate instantly?"
"What I wanna know is 'What happened to the sound we heard to begin with?'." Amanda pointed out.
"You're right. We haven't heard it for a while."
Then that very sound returned, only a lot clearer.
"Helllllllp meeeeeee!" a female voice called.
*Gasp* "Somebody was calling for help this whole time!" Hilda said. "She must've got stuck here before us."
"That is not a good sign for us." Amanda said.
"Come on. We need to know if she's okay."
Amanda sighed again and followed Hilda to who-knows-where. Hilda then said out loud a new thought.
"I hope Twig found someone."
Meanwhile, Twig was still searching for someone who could help. For some reason though, he was not having the luck that he should. None of the houses he knew had anyone to notice him scratching the doors. He didn't know what to do until he spotted someone he'd seen before. It was Kaisa taking a day off from the library. He ran to her and begged for her attention.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you. What was your name again? Leaf? Fern? No, Twig! That's it!" Kaisa then realized something. "Wait, aren't you usually with Hildy?"
Twig then started whimpering and facing the direction of the bell tower. Kaisa quickly understood with a shock that Hilda was in trouble.
"Take me to her."
Back in the underground empty room of stone, Hilda and Amanda came to a door bigger than all of the ones they've seen thus far today. They tried to open it, but there was no knob, handle, or anything meant for that. Both of them were stumped on what to do until Hilda came up with an idea.
"Hello! Can you hear me?" she called with her ear to the door.
"Yes!" the voice replied. "I know you can't open the door, but I did hear how to do it!"
"Hurry, tell us!"
Amanda now had her ear to the door as well.
"All you have to do is stand back and say these words!" the voice told them exactly what to say.
Hilda and Amanda stepped away from the door as they were instructed to and then Hilda repeated the words.
"Between light and dark, only one obstacle stands. So I ask for entrance with my voice, not my hands."
Suddenly the door slowly opened. It took about a minute, but the girls now had access to the other side where a lady stood. She seemed to be in her forties, her hair was brown and shoulder length, and she wore a red long-sleeved dress with fancy shoes.
"Thank you so much." she said, stepping out of the room she was in.
"You're welcome. I'm Hilda, and this is Amanda."
Amanda waved.
"We originally came here separately to investigate the mystery of the bell tower." Hilda explained. "But then we heard your call for help. What happened?"
"I am Gladys. I was kidnapped by an evil witch for no reason and taken to this horrible prison. I begged for mercy, but she didn't care. Then she put this collar on me to keep me down here forever." Gladys explained. "Will you please help me out?"
Hilda started thinking about it. On one hand, this reminded her of the Mountain King who tricked her. But on the other, she knew that not all prisoners were bad, one example being a baby weather spirit. Hilda made up her mind.
"I think I have something that'll get it off." Hilda pulled out a swiss-army knife and stepped into the final room. "Like my friend says, a Sparrow Scout is always prepared."
Gladys turned and crouched down as Hilda approached her. Amanda just stayed where she was and looked into the room. Inside was nothing really. Just several sealed doors along the circular wall, one of which was destroyed by a really big crack. Then she started thinking too. A horrible thought came to her and made her do something she didn't think she'd ever do.
"STOP!" she shouted before pulling Hilda away from Gladys.
"What do you mean stop?" Hilda asked.
"This doesn't feel right." Amanda kept one eye on Gladys just in case. "I think she might be lying to us."
"I am not!" Gladys defended.
"Amanda, I thought the same thing at first. In fact, I've been tricked like that before. But that doesn't mean she's doing it too."
"Look in the last room."
Hilda took a look and saw the same things Amanda saw.
"Think about it." Amanda continued. "This is an actual prison. People get thrown in them for a reason."
"That's true, but not all prisoners are the same." Hilda looked at Gladys who seemed unlikely to try anything.
"Well, how do you know she's not the evil witch?"
"How do you know she is?"
"She's wrong! I didn't do anything! I swear!" Gladys said.
Amanda took a breath and spoke to Hilda in a surprisingly mature tone. "Look, I know you still hate me and my friends for the things we've done, but we agreed to watch each other's backs. And I don't go back on deals. I trusted you this far. Now it's your turn to trust me."
Hilda took a moment to think it over. Her instinct said to help as usual, but what if it was a trick just like before? Then again, she knows of some witches who like unfair penalties. She wasn't sure what to do anymore. Then she remembered something she was told in the past, but had to learn the hard way.
Actions have consequences.
"Alright, I'll trust you."
Suddenly, Amanda tackled Hilda to the ground. For a second, Hilda thought that Amanda was double-crossing her. Then she saw that Gladys tried to attack her. Amanda was right.
Above the ground, Twig and Kaisa were still running as the latter wondered what Hilda had gotten herself into this time.
"Please let us be almost there." Kaisa was not used to this much running.
Luckily for her, Twig finally stopped and pointed at the abandoned bell tower. For a moment, Kaisa felt like there was something important about this place that she was forgetting. Then her memories of it came back to her, widening her eyes with fear.
"Oh no!" Kaisa quickly pulled out her wand and a miniature spellbook and searched the pages for a specific spell. "I hope I'm not too late!"
"Give me that knife!"
Hilda and Amanda got up and stepped away from the woman. Between a locked door and a dead end, there was no escape for the girls. Their eyes went around, searching for a solution. Sure enough, they found one and glanced at each other. They weren't sure how, but they knew they had the same idea.
"All I want is out just like you. Help me and I assure you that I'll return the favor."
"Why don't you discuss it with her? She has the knife." Amanda stepped away from Hilda who had the look of someone who was betrayed.
Gladys saw the perfect opportunity and approached Hilda with a villainous grin. Hilda ran from her and into the prison room. Unfortunately, she didn't get far due to the size of the room. Her back was now against the wall and Gladys was already too close for her to escape. Gladys picked Hilda up by the front of her sweater and started shaking her.
"If you won't give it to me, then I'll take it myself!" Gladys went for the knife.
Suddenly, Hilda kicked Gladys in the face, forcing her to drop her. She landed like a pro and dashed past her. Gladys turned and furiously chased after Hilda. She was about to grab her again when she noticed that something was off in the room.
"I don't remember this door being open." Gladys said.
"That's because I just whispered for it to do that." Amanda said from behind her.
Before Gladys could make her next move, Hilda and Amanda pushed her into the open cell and the door immediately closed.
"Just as we thought." Hilda said. "The doors in here use the same spell and magically close on their own."
"You tricked me!" Gladys pounded on the door of her new cell. "Let me out!"
"You're not as clever as you think you are." Amanda looked at Hilda. "Believe me. I know clever."
"Now all we need is a way out." Hilda said.
Then a white flash caught both of their attention from the room before. They went to see what it was and were surprised by the cause of it.
"Kaisa!"
"The cool librarian?"
"There you are." Kaisa said with relief. "Do not go in there. It's full of..."
"Bad guys?" Amanda interrupted. "We know. We even handled one who got out."
"It's true." Hilda said. "Amanda and I surprisingly made a good team."
Kaisa was a little surprised, but impressed. Then her attention went from Hilda to Amanda.
"Amanda?" Kaisa looked at the teen for a moment. "I thought I recognized you. You used to sneak into the horror section and try reading books above your age."
"That's where all the good books are!" Amanda replied with her arms wide open.
"So, do you know anything about this place or a prisoner named Gladys?" Hilda asked.
Kaisa sighed and closed the big door before answering.
"Before the Committee of three became as it is today, their predecessors used this prison as punishment for all manner of being. Witches were no exception. But there is one problem. A spell was cast so that any being with magic that comes down here loses that magic except for witches because that's where the spell came from. So whenever a witch is sentenced down here, they must wear a collar that makes them powerless. They chose to have the prison separate from the Witches Tower to keep the non-witches from stealing any magic if they managed to get out. The current Committee was allowed to choose their own way to punish people under the condition that penalties that were given before do not change. To this day, someone still feeds the prisoners down here. As for Gladys, I met her once. I watched her be given her sentence for multiple misuses of magic including murder. You girls were very lucky."
"Does that mean all those traps were to keep anyone who might break out of that room from getting any further?"
"Correct. Though the timing is off for those who are not prisoners."
"Wait a minute." Amanda said. "Have you been a witch this whole time?"
Kaisa knew she couldn't lie. "Yes."
"I knew it! You always seemed suspicious."
"Well enough about me. Let's get you two out of here." Kaisa pulled out her wand and book again and cast the translocation spell. "Good thing I started relearning some spells."
After a little floating and a flash, all three of them were back above ground right in front of the bell tower.
"We're finally out!" Hilda and Amanda cheered.
Twig ran up to Hilda and started licking her.
"It's good to see you too, boy."
"I trust neither of you will repeat this mistake." Kaisa said.
Both girls gave their word.
"Good. I'll see you later." Kaisa walked away to enjoy the rest of her day off.
The two girls then checked if they had their powers back. Hilda jumped as high as her troll powers let her and Amanda could float again.
"Well I got what I came for." Amanda said. "Those traps are sure to scare someone. Later."
"Hey, Amanda." Hilda said, getting the marra's attention. "Thank you for back there. I almost got tricked again. And I have to admit, having an adventure with you turned out to be fun. It makes me wonder. If things were different, do you think we could've been friends?"
Amanda was surprised by that question as if it was impossible to say. After a moment of silence, she gave an answer.
"Maybe, but they aren't different." Amanda then gave a surprisingly kind smile. "Either way, you did do a lot for me today. So thanks... Hilda."
Amanda walked away to the nearest alley and once she was out of sight, a green flash appeared and she was gone.
"Let's go home, Twig." Hilda said. "Frida and David are not going to believe this."
Author's note: I know I promised multiple forms for Hilda, but I wanted to show her getting used to her new ability first. Sorry about that. Anyway, while Hilda herself is my favorite major character in this show, the pig-tailed marra is my favorite minor character. She amuses me somehow and I see more character potential in her than Netflix is ever going to take advantage of. I knew that if I ever made a big Hilda fanfic, part of it would involve the marra as a more complex character. And in case you're wondering why I chose the name Amanda, I can answer that. I noticed that there was a pattern among some of the character names and I wanted to add to it. I considered a couple of similar names, but Amanda was the best sounding to me. I probably could've done a better job with this chapter, but I'm only human.