Chapter 10: The Swarms
It was a clear night sky in Trolberg and all of the houses were quiet. That is except for one apartment where Hilda was having a sleep over with her friends including an unexpected guest.
*Crash!*
"Bababababah!" Baba had come to visit and was being very energetic.
"Baba, wait!" Hilda chased the baby troll around the living room and finally caught her. "I'm sorry about Baba."
"Why would we be bothered by Baba?" Frida asked. "We're fine with Amanda."
"Very funny." Amanda said as she came out of the bathroom.
"I know we agreed to let her join our adventures, but why a sleepover too?" David asked.
"I thought she'd enjoy doing something other than her usual thing for a change." Hilda said.
While that was true, she really wanted to give Amanda something she never experienced before after what she learned about her. Johanna then came into the living room with Adeline on her shoulder.
"How's Alfur doing, Mum?" Hilda asked.
"He's finally recovering from that cold." Johanna answered as she placed Adeline on the table. "But he still needs to stay in be-be-behCHOO!"
"Oh no. Not you too."
"I told you I should've taken care of Alfur by myself." Adeline said.
*Sniff* "I couldn't help it." Johanna made sure to stay away from everyone. "By the way, Baba likes to play with the pots and pans."
"Thanks, Mum. Will you be okay?"
"I'll be fine.*Cough-cough* I'll also be in my room."
After Hilda gave Baba some pots to play with, she and the others sat on and near the couch. The clanging was a little distracting, but at least she wasn't making a mess or breaking anything.
"So what now?" David asked.
"Well there is one thing I've wanted to do for a while." Hilda said.
"What's that?" Frida asked.
Hilda whacked her with a pillow and shouted "PILLOW FIGHT!"
Frida and David grabbed their own pillows and fought back. Amanda started laughing until Frida whacked her.
"Ohhh, now it's my turn." Amanda grabbed a pillow and joined in.
All four of them were having a ball. Even Twig grabbed a pillow with his teeth and joined in. Then Amanda cheated by floating in mid-air.
"Hey, no fair!" David said before throwing his pillow at her.
"AH! Oh you're gonna get it now." Amanda chased after David.
Then Hilda sprouted her wings and flew right in front of her.
"Two can play that game." she said.
The two flyers then hit each other over and over as they laughed. Suddenly every pillow in the room was floating on it's own. They realized it was Frida controlling them and started to worry.
"Now the pillows can fly too." Frida launched all of the pillows at Hilda and Amanda who both got down and hid behind the couch.
She then saw David and went for him next. David panicked and held his hands up with his eyes closed. The pillows flew at him...
...but didn't hit. David opened one eye, then the other, and saw that the pillows had stopped. Everyone else was shocked too. Then they saw that the pillows were were caught by several beetles that appeared out of nowhere.
"I knew it!" Frida shouted. "The swarms have been coming from you!"
"Me!?" David couldn't understand. "But I have nothing to do with magic."
"Did I overhear right?" Tontu asked after popping out from between the cushions.
"I think I'm missing some information." Amanda said.
"Usually David just has a bug on him for some reason." Hilda explained. "But for the third time now, a swarm has appeared seemingly out of nowhere."
"We still don't know how this is happening, but at least we now know something." Frida said.
"But what am I going to do?" David asked. "What if I accidentally make a lot of bugs appear in front of the whole class? What will everyone think of me?"
"David, calm down." Hilda said. "Maybe Kaisa or Tildy can help us figure this out."
"Actually, I now have a spell that could help." Frida suggested. "It's not a guarantee, but the memory spell could give us a clue."
"Well at least that spell won't hurt me." David sat down on the couch.
Frida pulled out her wand. pointed it at David's head, and said the magic words. Circles then appeared all over the room, each with a memory of David's past.
"Woah. Cool spell." Amanda said.
"Everyone start looking." Hilda said.
Hilda, Frida, David, Amanda, Twig, Tontu, and Adeline all searched the many memories. Some were scary. Others were embarrassing. While they were looking, David caught Amanda staring at a few. He went over and saw that they were some of his braver memories.
"How do you do it?" Amanda asked.
"Do What?" David replied.
"You stood up to me and my friends, ran toward an army of trolls, and faced a pack of wolves. How do you get so brave when you're so easy to scare?"
"Actually I didn't know how at first. Then Hilda figured it out. I just don't like it when bad things happen to my friends."
Amanda was a little surprised and said nothing else.
"Does this count as something useful?" Tontu asked.
Everyone gathered to see the memory. It showed a smaller David in a place unfamiliar. It was some kind of forest, but looked nothing like any of the places any of them had been to.
"I think I know that place." David said. "I was chasing something while visiting a city called Faerieville."
"Faerieville?" Hilda and Frida said.
"Do you know that place?" Adeline asked.
"We met a fellow apprentice witch from there." Frida answered.
"If we go there, maybe we can get some answers." Hilda suggested.
"But how do we do that?" David asked.
*Achoo!* Everyone turned and saw Johanna in the hallway.
"I couldn't help overhearing." she said. "If I could, I'd take you there myself. But I have an idea."
The next day, Hilda, Twig, Frida, David, Adeline, and Amanda were waiting at the train station, most of them with backpacks or satchels. Then along came one more person to go with them.
"Thank you for bringing us with you on your trip to Faerieville, Angus." Hilda said.
"No trouble, Hilda." Angus said. "Just remember that I won't be of much help after we get there since I'm having an important meeting to promote the C.S.P.D. to the Safety Patrols of other cities. Also I promised all of your parents I'd keep an eye on you kids, so don't do more than you need to."
"We'll be on our best behavior."
"Oh this will be so exciting." Adeline said from Twig's head. "This marks my first time reporting on my own. I do hope I can substitute for Alfur well."
"I'm sure you'll write a great report, Adeline." Hilda said.
As they all got onto the train, Hilda whispered to Amanda "How did you get Angus to think you had permission from your parents?"
"With a phone and a fake voice." Amanda quietly said while sounding older as a demonstration.
The train had personal rooms for it's passengers and allowed pets to ride with them. Hilda and the others found their room and took their seats. Hilda and Twig sat by the window with Frida and David next to them, Adeline remained on Twig's head, and Amanda also sat by the window with Angus next to her.
"All passengers please take your seats." came a voice over the speakers. "We are about to leave the station in one minute."
A minute passed and the train began to move. Soon enough, they were outside of Trolberg and on their way. Hilda happily watched the wilderness pass by while David started getting nervous.
"You okay, David?" Angus asked.
"Yeah. I'm just scared of whatever's happening to me." David said.
"Whatever it is, we'll work through it together." Frida assured with a hand on David's shoulder.
"So until we get to Faerieville, let's enjoy the view." Hilda said.
For the time being, that's exactly what they did, some of them very eager for whatever might await them.
Several hours had passed and Hilda occasionally walked from one end of the train car to the other due to restlessness. When she ended her most recent walk and sat back down, she saw something out the window. It was a lot of buildings that were similar, but not the same as those in Trolberg.
"Is that Faerieville?" she asked.
"Yes it is." Angus said. "We're almost there."
"Wow. There's no wall surrounding it."
"Did you think all cities were the same?" Amanda teased.
"Of course not. I just wish ours didn't have a wall."
Then the train stopped for some reason.
"What's going on?" Frida asked.
"Attention all passengers!" the speaker voice said. "We regret to inform you that all destinations have been delayed by multiple weather spirits. We will move again as soon as possible. We're sorry for the inconvenience."
"No! Not now!" David whined. "Now we'll never find out!"
"It's okay, David." Angus assured. "We'll walk the rest of the way if we have to."
"Maybe not." Hilda said just before opening the window.
"Hilda, what are you doing?" Frida asked.
"I'm going to talk to the weather spirits. I've done it before."
"Ooh! May I witness this?" Adeline asked.
"Sure, but you'll have to tie yourself down." Hilda let Adeline jump onto her hand and climb to her hair.
"Wait." Angus said. "You don't need to do this."
"You need to meet some people and David needs to know about his bug mystery. Please trust me."
Angus hesitated, but backed off. Hilda then climbed out the window, let out her wings, and flew high into the sky. Adeline held on tight even though she tied herself with Hilda's hair as she was told. When Hilda reached the weather spirits, she found that there were less than the last time she did this. But she knew that even one is still dangerous.
"Excuse me! Could I have a word with you!?" she loudly asked.
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" one of the weather spirits blew her away.
She was then caught by somebody. Hilda and Adeline looked behind and there floated Amanda.
"Thanks, Amanda." Hilda said.
"Good thing your curiosity rubbed off on me." Amanda said.
"How did you do this last time?" Adeline asked.
"Actually I was with... That's it!" Hilda flew back to the weather spirits with a plan.
Once she was literally in the middle of the argument, she unleashed a lot of lightning, getting everyone's attention.
"Now then, I've come to be your moderator!"
"Wait, I know you." a random weather spirit said. "You've done this before, except on a bird. And then you helped rescue my baby."
That was when said baby came out from behind and floated over to Hilda who gave a hug. The other weather spirits realized how good a person she is and decided to hear her out.
Meanwhile back on the train, the others waited as patiently as they could until Frida stood up and pulled out her wand.
"Where are you going?" Angus asked.
"I have an idea that might help us get there even faster." Frida said before turning herself invisible. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Angus felt like he was already failing his promise, but since he already let Hilda try to do something about it, he reluctantly let Frida do the same. Frida opened and closed the door and thanks to nobody being in the halls, got off the train. She then made her way to the front of the engine and saw all the snow blocking the way. There was so much snow just yards away that the train would need a snowplow to get through it all. With a wave of her wand and some magic words, she cast a spell that at first did nothing.
Then the ground seemed to shake. Soon enough, several huge trees came out of the ground on either side of the track. The snow was forced away from the middle by the almost instant large branches that came with the trees, allowing the track to at least be usable again. The engineer was confused, but grateful that it happened. Satisfied, Frida hurried back onto the train.
Back in the sky, Hilda had a couple weather spirits left to go.
"If you want to rain to help someone, then why argue about it?" she said. "I practically help people all the time."
"Hey, you're right." the weather spirit she was currently talking to agreed. "I will just help who I want. Thank you so much."
And so he floated away just like the others before him.
"Now that only leaves you." Hilda said to the father and baby.
"Actually we were just passing by as you most likely were." the father spirit said. "But thank you for everything."
He and his baby then floated away as they waved goodbye to Hilda.
"Wow." Amanda said. "It's not what I'm used to, but that was pretty cool."
"Indeed." Adeline agreed. "And to think the train ride alone was worth writing about."
"Thanks." Hilda said. "Let's get back on the train."
As they flew back down, they spotted a bunch of huge trees that clearly weren't there before and were confused.
"Where did those trees come from?" Hilda asked.
"Perhaps someone saw what happened." Adeline suggested.
They carefully went back in the window they came out of and gave the good news.
"The weather spirits have all left." Hilda said as she put her wings away and Adeline untied herself. "Wait, where's Frida?"
"Here I am." Frida opened and closed the door and reappeared. "I made some trees rapidly grow to move some of the snow."
"Wow. You're getting better at your spells."
"Good news, passengers." the speaker voice said. "Due to a strange miracle, we can move again."
"Well done." Angus said. "Thanks to both of you, we're back on schedule."
Pretty soon the train started moving again, which encouraged Hilda and Frida to high-five. Then David saw something surprising.
"Hilda, your hair!" he said with concern.
Hilda checked her hair to see what David meant and found that some of it was white and cloudy. She and everyone else in the room was shocked to see such a change. Then the rest of her hair changed into some sort of cloudy material.
"I think you're turning into a weather spirit." Adeline said.
"I didn't think talking to them counted as earning this." Hilda said.
"I'm no expert, but did maybe that baby spirit have anything to do with it?" Amanda asked.
"Of course. After that hug, I felt like I was just helping another friend."
"I just hope we can hide this when we get into town." Angus said.
That comment may have made Hilda a little nervous, but it didn't stop her from looking forward to being a weather spirit.
The train finally reached the station in Faerieville and the passengers started getting off shortly after. Hilda's group was among the last to step out of the train. Angus came out first followed by Frida, David, Twig with Adeline on his head again, Hilda wearing Amanda's scarf and sweater with the hood up, and Amanda who apparently had a black shirt with a picture of a ghost underneath. They eventually reached the hotel where they'd all be staying and got into their room A.S.A.P.
"Thanks again, Amanda." Hilda said as she returned Amanda's scarf and hoodie, revealing that her arms, most of her torso, and some of her face had also changed.
"No problem." Amanda put her borrowed clothing back on.
"I know I should be used to this..." David said while staring at Hilda. "...but this is your most surprising form yet."
"It does feel weird having a cloud for a body." Hilda admitted while sticking her hand through her arm.
All of a sudden, something long and black sprung out of Hilda's chest and wiggled like crazy.
"AHHH!" Hilda screamed.
The black thing returned and turned out to be Amanda playing a trick on Hilda.
"Hahahahaha!" Amanda rolled in the air laughing.
"That was not funny." Frida said.
"Ah you guys have no sense of humor." Amanda lied back with her hands behind her head while still in the air.
"Oh really?" Hilda said as her legs started changing.
She discovered that she was already able to float, went above Amanda's head, and rained on her.
"Ah! What are you doing! Wahh!" Amanda fell onto the floor from the surprise shower.
Hilda, Frida, and David all laughed at Amanda's expense.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you fall." Hilda offered a hand.
"Okay, you got me good." Amanda admitted while getting herself up.
"Alright, no more messing around with your powers or someone might barge in." Angus said.
"Speaking of which, how did you already know how to use your new powers?" Frida asked Hilda who was now a humanoid cloud. "Weather spirits seem so... complicated."
"I've been near enough of them to learn that their emotions determine the weather." Hilda explained. "Also the flying part is a lot easier than it
looks, especially since I'm so light now. I would've thought you knew all that stuff too."
"I... never had a reason to read about them." Frida said.
"I hate to interrupt, but we did come here for a reason." Adeline reminded everyone.
"Do we even have a plan?" David asked. "I only remember the forest and this city."
"The first thing we're gonna do is wait for Hilda to change back." Angus said. "In the mean time, you can check this map I grabbed from the lobby."
As Hilda's body shape went from human to a cloud the size of a beanbag chair, Frida received the map and opened it up on the floor for the whole group to look at and plan a course of action.
"Can't you just use that memory spell again, Frida?" Amanda asked.
"A good thought, but that spell can only show pieces, not the whole memory." Frida explained.
"I wish I could remember how I got there." David said.
"Then we'll just have to check all of the nearby forests one by one." Hilda said.
"Actually, I just remembered something that'll make things easier." Frida said.
Half an hour later, not only was Hilda human again, but she and the others except for Angus were out on the street, heading for a random alleyway of all places. Adeline was now on David's head for a better view of the city. They found a perfect place where nobody could see them. Once they were sure it was all clear, Frida pulled out her wand and fired some kind of unseen spell into the sky.
"You really can't see it." Hilda said.
"Unless you're a witch." Frida added. "Now we wait for someone to come."
And so they did. It took a few minutes, but two male witches showed up to find them. One was a grown Asian man wearing two thirds of a three piece suit. The other was a tanned boy with a rottweiler puppy, both of whom Hilda and Frida recognized.
"Jack and Buddy!" they both said.
"Frida! Hilda!" Jack ran over and hugged each of them.
Buddy followed and nuzzled them.
"Is he your teacher?" Hilda asked.
"Yes he is." Jack confirmed. "This is Mr. Khatun."
"A pleasure to officially meet you." Mr. Khatun said. "I was focused on my pupil, but I did catch glimpses of you two. You did quite well."
"Thank you." Frida said. "These are our friends. David, Twig, Amanda, and Adeline whom you probably can't see because she's an elf."
"Hi." "Hey." "Greetings."
"We can not see elves, but it is good to meet one anyway." Mr. Khatun said. "So why did you call for help?"
"We're here because of David." Hilda explained. "Lately swarms of bugs have been magically appearing and somehow he's been the one doing it. We have a lead thanks to seeing one of his memories, but it's in a forest in or near this city and we don't know which one. We were hoping a witch who lives here could help narrow it down."
"Hmmm. That sounds like your friend might have entered one of the forests on the eastern side." Mr. Khatun deduced. "Unfortunately, I have some important errands to run and can't take you there myself."
Then he gave a proud smile.
"But Jack can."
"Really?" Jack asked with hope in his eyes.
"You're ready to try it without me."
"Thank you, Mr. Khatun." Jack hugged his teacher.
"You're quite welcome, Jack. Now I must get started. Good luck." Mr. Khatun walked away with the confidence he has in his student.
"I didn't know you could learn the translocation spell this early." Hilda said.
"Me neither." Frida said with a confused tone.
"Is everybody ready?" Jack asked.
The whole group nodded.
"Then let's go." Jack held his wand out and while floating in the air for a few seconds, transported the group and himself to an open field just outside of town.
They all looked around and saw that there was a forest not too far away from them.
"Wow! the forests are closer this city than I thought." Hilda said with eagerness.
"Is this the closest one?" David asked.
"Yes. That's why I brought us here." Jack said. "I figured maybe you went in there by mistake."
David took one step toward the forest, but stopped with uncertainty.
"Are you sure you want to go in?" Jack asked. "You seem like the nervous type."
The others waited for an answer. David thought about it for a moment and said "Yes I'm sure. I didn't come here just to change my mind."
So in they went without further delay. Frida stayed in the back feeling bothered by something. Most of the group was too interested in the objective, but Amanda noticed Frida's behavior.
"Something on your mind?" she asked.
"Have you ever had a feeling you were being held back from your full potential?" Frida replied.
"Well I've heard rumors about a way to get even scarier, but I never found out how. Why?"
"It's just that Jack can already use the translocation spell and I can't. It's a very advanced spell."
"Sounds like you're jealous."
"Maybe a little."
"I don't think I can help you. I'm not a witch or an expert on jealousy."
Technically, Amanda did have experience with jealousy, but she didn't want anymore people to know about her issues.
"Thanks anyway." Frida said, ending the conversation.
For several minutes now, the group has been searching the woods for anything that could pass for a clue and so far found nothing. Then Buddy and Twig both smelled something they didn't like.
"Hilda, stop!" Twig said.
"What is it, boy?" Hilda asked.
"Buddy smells something too." Jack said after his familiar growled.
"It's coming from that." Twig pointed to a big black vine with white thorns on the ground.
"Jack, is there supposed to be a plant like that?" Hilda said.
"No, there isn't." Jack started to worry.
He and Frida pulled out their wands and stood ready to defend the whole group. Hilda and Twig were also on guard from anything bad. Then they all noticed that there were more black vines across the ground. That's when the vines started to move. They tried to grab the group, but weren't fast enough. Twig accidentally stepped on a vine right before it rose up, lifting him in the process.
"Twig!" Hilda cried out.
Suddenly a giant white rose lowered from the branches and squirted out green slime that completely trapped Hilda.
"Hilda!" David panicked.
Amanda flew into the slime in her aura form and pulled Hilda out unharmed. Twig then leapt off the vine he was on and landed safely. Frida and Jack started using the capture spell to trap the vines in rings. The rose monster still intended to grab them and most likely eat them. One of it's vines managed to grab Buddy unfortunately. But then Buddy magically disappeared and reappeared next to Jack.
"Buddy can teleport?" Hilda said after dodging another vine.
"That's his familiar power." Jack replied. "I'll explain later."
"That's okay. It's time for me to use mine."
Hilda then turned into a lindworm and aimed her mouth at a vine.
"Don't!" Frida shouted. "We're in a forest!"
"I can douse my fires now." Hilda replied.
"Oh, right. Still be careful."
Hilda then unleashed her blue fire breath and hit only the vines. The rose monster shrieked in pain and swung it's vine around. Frida and Jack decided to follow Hilda's actions and both cast fire spells at the main body. The odds were now in the group's favor. But then the rose monster came down from the branches and rolled the flames away.
"Uh-oh." half the group said.
David managed to keep Adeline and himself from getting hurt thanks to his speed and agility herbs. He was beginning to worry that they wouldn't get out of this situation. Then when the rose monster caught him off guard, he screamed. Suddenly a new swarm of insects appeared before him. They were all locusts. They went after the rose monster as if they were famished. The rose monster released David and retreated out of everyone's sight. The locusts still followed it. Once they were sure it wasn't coming back, Hilda noticed some fire on a couple plants and turned into a weather spirit to rain on them. After that, she changed back and the whole group relaxed.
"Is everyone alright?" Frida asked.
Everyone confirmed yes.
"I am definitely adding this to my report." Adeline said.
"So, how long has Buddy been able to do that?" Hilda asked.
"A couple weeks before the test actually." Jack answered. "I didn't say anything because Buddy wasn't very good at it yet. But he has gotten better. Right now, he can only teleport short distances except if he's coming to me. Which reminds me, you've gotten better too."
"Yup. I now have eight forms I can take, including an elf, a saltlion, a nisse, a thunderbird, and a deerfox. I can even be half of any of them if I
want."
Hilda demonstrated by becoming half deerfox.
"Cool! And I saw what you meant about David's bug magic. But there's one thing that confuses me now."
"What?" most of the group asked.
"How did Amanda do that green thing?"
The group froze for a second, but had no way to lie.
*Sigh* "She's a marra." Frida said.
"Huh? I thought they were evil." Jack was baffled.
"A lot has happened since the test."
"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are." Amanda said.
"Maybe we should get back to finding whatever did... something to me." David said. "It's almost time for the sun to set."
The whole group agreed and started searching again. Jack and Frida kept their wands out in case of any new threats. Hilda and Twig kept their eyes, ears, and noses open for anything that could either help them or hurt them. For half an hour, nothing else had gotten in their way. Then they stopped next to a few rocks of various sizes to rest. Hilda naturally leapt onto the biggest one while the others sat on the ground or smaller rocks.
"I don't think we're getting anywhere with this." Amanda said.
"Me neither." David sadly agreed. "I wish I could remember exactly what happened. For all we know, we probably just followed the wrong memory."
"I guess you're right." Hilda said. "I'm sorry I suggested this i-"
Then she smelled something. Something she had never smelled before. Twig and Buddy then caught scent of it too.
"There's something here."
Everyone else looked around for whatever was nearby.
"It's somehow very close."
Hilda then saw a small being who was eight inches tall, green skinned, had almost matching hair, and wore clothes that were practically straight from the age of vikings.
"Hello there."
The small being screamed and ran.
"Wait! Come back! We just want to talk!"
Amanda saw the the creature, swooshed in aura form, and caught it.
"Got it!" she said.
"Let me see." Hilda said as she walked over.
"Wait." Jack grabbed Hilda's tail which made her fall on her butt and annoyed her a little. "I think you scared the little guy by looking like that."
"Oh." Hilda changed back. "Sorry."
The others went to get a better look as well.
"Stop!" came a voice. "Release him!"
As the group looked for the source of the voice, they saw something unexpected. Flying sparkles of light coming out of the rocks and some of the trees. The sparkles then turned into more people the size of the first one. They all had similar clothing and came in unique colors such as green like the grass, blue like the water, and grey like the rocks.
"Woah! Little people who live in rocks and trees." Hilda said in awe.
"I've heard of these." Frida said. "They're landvaettir. Spirits of the land."
"That is correct, child." an older mushroom colored landvaettir said. "Now if you really do wish to speak with us, then release him."
"Do as he asked." Hilda said.
Amanda released the green landvaettir.
"Thank you." the elder landvaettir said. "Now normally we do not like to be seen, but it appears that one of you has caused an exception."
Everyone turned to look at David who was baffled.
"Me?" he asked. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know any of you."
"Of course you don't." the formerly caught green one said. "We were hiding as usual, but I can never forget your kindness."
"My kindness?"
"Yes. Please sit down and I will explain."
"Won't we be in danger?" Frida asked. "We were attacked by a plant monster earlier."
"Not at all. We recently created that for self defense. We've been having a bird problem lately."
The whole group sat together on the ground and awaited the story they were about to hear. The green landvaettir began.
Four years ago, I was scouring the edge of this forest with my trusty beetle. We usually only took turns checking for any threats to our home until recently. Anyway, one day while my beetle and I were on patrol, a branch broke off a tree and hit us. I was alright, but my beetle lost three legs all on the same side. She could still fly, but she needed to walk too. Then before I could do anything, a rabbit ran by followed by a little boy. So I hid and waited for the boy to leave. You were that boy, David. When you stopped and saw your surroundings, you were suddenly terrified. That fear went away however shortly after you saw my beetle. You looked sad when you saw her condition. But then you had an idea. You collected some leaves, a stick, and some tree sap, then put them together to give her new legs. And to my surprise, it worked. She was actually walking again. I had never seen a human do anything like that before. Then your family called your name and you left. My beetle and I followed you back to your family just outside of the forest. I chuckled when your mother mentioned your sticky hands. Just when you were about to enter what you call a car, I decided to reward you for your kindness with a blessing. That blessing is that there would always be insects who would help you.
The group was very surprised to hear the truth about the bugs, especially David.
"It was a... blessing?" David asked. "All this time I thought it was just bad luck."
"It was not." the green landvaettir assured. "And even though my beetle is gone now, she still lived a fair life because of your deed. Thank you, David."
That moment was one of the very few times in which David felt good about himself.
"Why didn't you tell us you did something that cool?" Hilda asked. "It could've helped us figure this out."
"I... did think there was a connection, but..." David then had a face of shame. "Last time I told someone what I did, they laughed at me."
"What!?" Hilda and Frida cried out.
"There's nothing funny about that!"
"Yeah! If Raven Leader had seen you do such a brilliant thing, she would've awarded you a special badge!"
"I barely know you and I would've defended you!" Jack said.
David was then back to feeling good again.
"You know, now that you're here, I can help you learn to use your blessing if you want." the green landvaettir offered.
"That would be helpful." David said. "I've been accidentally making swarms appear lately."
"Then let's get started."
While David was learning how to control his gift, Hilda shrunk down to four inches and joined Adeline in conversing with some of the other landvaettir on one of the smaller rocks.
"Hi. I'm Hilda and next to me who you can't see is Adeline. She's an elf."
"How do you do?" Adeline greeted.
"You may call me Sopp." the mushroom colored landvaettir replied. "I must say, I've never come across an elf nor a human who can change."
"It's a long story." Hilda said. "But I was hoping you could answer some questions."
"Me too." Adeline said with a pen, a notebook, and excitement.
"I don't mind." Sopp assured.
"So how do you live inside of rocks and trees?" Hilda asked.
"Have you heard of a husvaettir, also called a nisse?"
"Yup. I'm friends with one. In fact..." Hilda showed off her nisse form for a few seconds and then switched back to being four inches. "I can even be one."
"Well unlike house spirits, we are able to create our own living space within a piece of nature instead of entering unused space. However, only we can enter and leave such a space which is why your people still don't know much about us."
"Awww, I was hoping I could look inside one of them." Hilda moped.
"My turn!" Adeline said. "What kinds of activities do all of you traditionally do?"
"That is a good question." Sopp said. "Where should I begin?"
While Hilda and Adeline continued to listen, Jack noticed Frida reading a spellbook.
"Hey, Frida. How's your training?" he asked.
"Oh it's going great." Frida answered with a fake smile. "I've been learning a new spell everyday. Yup. Even the advanced ones. Hahaha."
It was so obvious something was up that you'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to think otherwise.
"Did I upset you somehow?" Jack asked.
"Of course not." Frida lied badly. "Why would I be upset about anything?"
"Oh for crying out loud." Amanda moaned. "She doesn't like that you can use that relocating spell."
Frida facepalmed and said "That's translocation."
"Ohhhh." Jack said. "I see. You haven't learned that spell yet and now you're jealous."
"Yes." Frida admitted. "It's just that Tildy said that I'd make a great witch someday and yet you already know at least one very advanced spell. I'm starting to think maybe she was wrong about me."
"Frida, it's not what you think. The only reason I learned that spell early is because Buddy needed help with his teleporting power." Jack explained as he rubbed his puppy on the head. "Mr. Khatun says that every student is taught a little differently and becomes a special witch in their own way. We just have to trust our teachers and find what makes us special. Besides, at least your wand has taken it's true form. Mine is still just a stick."
Frida looked at her wand and slowly felt better from hearing all that.
"Thanks, Jack. I needed that." she said.
Back to David, he tried his best to summon any kind of bug as instructed.
"Remember, you must see the insect you want in your mind and silently ask for it to come to you." the green landvaettir said.
David thought about the bug he wanted and held out his hand. After a couple minutes of patience, a glow between yellow and orange illuminated above his hand, getting everyone's attention. Then a butterfly appeared from that glow and landed in David's hand.
"I did it!" he cheered.
Hilda returned to normal size, then she and Frida ran over and hugged him with just as much joy.
"Way to go, David!" Hilda said. "Now we all have cool powers."
"That's right. We do." David still couldn't believe it, but he was happy.
At that moment, everything felt perfect. Then a large hawk flew in out of nowhere and surprised everyone.
"It's back!" one of the landvaettir shouted.
As the little beings ran and the hawk chased them, Hilda and most of the others recognized the latter despite her somehow being bigger.
"It's Clarice!" Frida said.
"Who?" Jack asked.
"Never mind that! We have to stop her!" Hilda became half thunderbird and flew after Clarice.
She caught up and tackled the evil hawk, then with a shock, she sent her to the ground. Frida and Jack cast the capture spell and trapped the bird in several rings. However, Clarice turned black and even bigger, breaking all the rings off and knocking both witches down from the force of said break. She now looked like a black wyvern demon. Hilda tried to zap her again, but she was kicked away by a large leg. Clarice then spotted some of the landvaettirs and lunged at them with a snake-like neck. Amanda saw where the monster was aiming and quickly flew over to save them. She missed a brown one which Clarice caught by the hair in her beak. David leapt close and threw a pepper-spray herb at the demonic bird only for a wing to knock it and him away. Twig and Buddy then each bit one of Clarice's feet, causing her to shriek in pain and release the landvaettir. Hilda caught the little being, but Clarice struck again. This time, she only tore some of the hair out and blew everyone back with her wings. Suddenly a portal appeared and Clarice flew into it. Before anyone could get close, the portal vanished.
"Is everyone alright?" Hilda asked.
Frida and the others confirmed themselves to be uninjured. Then after a minute of checking, Sopp stated "All are present."
"What was that thing she did?" David asked.
"It looked similar to Hilda's power, only dark." Frida said.
"No. It's something worse." Hilda said with a more serious tone than usual. "I read about it in that familiar book. If a witch and familiar both go down a terrible road, the familiar has a chance to wield a collection of dark abilities like what we just saw. There's even a rumor that such powers are what made people start saying 'black magic'."
"That is bad." Jack said. "But I still don't understand who that bird is or why she kept attacking these guys."
"Clarice belongs to a witch named Gondul who plans to destroy Trolberg." Frida explained. "She's probably planning some big spell."
"Perhaps that is the reason for these attacks." Sopp suggested while examining his fellow landvaettir's head. "We are magical beings ourselves, so a piece of us would make a powerful ingredient to a witch."
"Speaking of witches, where is Gondul?" Amanda asked. "She could've just done this herself."
"You're right. This doesn't make sense." Frida said. "Unless... she's been collecting something else! She must've sent Clarice here to save time."
"We should probably head back and figure out what to do next." Hilda suggested.
Suddenly they heard what sounded like a faint explosion.
"What was that!?" David said.
"Let's find out." Hilda took off into the sky past the trees.
"Can anyone help me up there?" Jack asked.
*Sigh* "Hang on." Amanda grabbed Jack and followed Hilda.
Together they searched for anything that could've caused that sound.
"There!" Hilda pointed to a distant broken building. "What is that?"
"That looks like the place where the Safety Patrol works." Jack answered.
"Oh no." Hilda's eyes widened in fear.
"What?" Jack asked.
Hilda and Amanda flew back down to inform the others.
"Angus is in trouble! Someone destroyed the Safety Patrol building!" Hilda shouted. "We've got to do something!"
Nobody argued and Jack began the translocation spell.
"Goodbye, guys." David said to all the landvaettir. "Thank you for helping me."
"Farewell and good luck." Sopp said.
Jack completed the spell and the whole group was now in front of the Safety Patrol building. Unfortunately, said building was almost completely destroyed now.
"No!" Hilda was devastated.
The entire group had a moment of silence while Hilda started crying.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" came an evil voice most of them heard before.
They all looked up where the words came from and down from the night sky came Gondul and Clarice.
"Ah yes of course. You're the ones who messed up my original plan. I didn't expect to see you here."
"How could you!" Hilda screamed. "Our friend was in there!"
"They are nobody's friends. They got what they deserved. Besides, they've been trying to get in my way since I came here for some necessary things."
Then Hilda got so mad that she turned into a troll and unleashed the magic that now comes with that form.
"What!?" Gondul was taken by surprise not only from Hilda's transformation, but from the spikes that came out of the ground.
She was almost skewered, but she flew high enough to dodge them all. Then a steep stone ramp rose up from the ground and Hilda ran up it to leap at Gondul and Clarice.
"ROARRRR!" she almost got them, but Clarice grabbed her and threw her to the street.
Frida and Jack aimed their wands and trapped Gondul with rings. Amanda then flew up to kick her in the head. However, Gondul still had her wand and shot at the young witches with a lightning spell while Clarice attacked Amanda. The former two were knocked out, but the latter avoided harm with her aura form. Gondul broke free, but David summoned a swarm of stag beetles and sent them her way. They repeatedly pinched and bit her until she made them all vanish with the translocation spell. Twig then went up the stone ramp and successfully bit her leg while Buddy teleported and bit her arm.
"OWWW!" Gondul shook them both off.
Amanda saw Twig and Buddy falling while she was being chased by Clarice and quickly caught them. Hilda got back up, turned into a lindworm, and shot her fire breath at Gondul. Unfortunately the evil witch cast a reflection spell and sent the fire back at Hilda. The little lindworm dodged in time and then turned into a weather spirit, bigger and darker than before. Amanda and Clarice stopped in midair the moment they saw Hilda in that form.
"Woah." Amanda said.
Hilda blew at Gondul and sent her into what was left of the front wall. Gondul fell to the ground, but got back up. Hilda hovered over her enemy, ready to electrocute her when she was frozen in place by her. Amanda went to grab David and whomever else she could and retreat, but then Clarice shot what looked like a black spell shot from her mouth and knocked her, Twig, and Buddy down. David knew he didn't stand a chance on his own.
"Did you really think any of you could do anything to us?" Gondul said as Clarice changed back and landed on her shoulder. "If anything, you should be thanking me for what I'm trying to do. I guess you'll only understand when you're older."
Then she heard a crack from above. Gondul looked up and the spell she cast on Hilda shattered.
"How!?" she knew only a powerful enough force or another witch could undo that spell.
She and David looked around and there partly standing up was Frida casting another spell. Frida shot a fire spell at Gondul while Hilda shot down a lot of lightning. Gondul cast an angled reflection spell and sent both attacks back. Frida avoided the backfire and Hilda ended up full of holes, but was alright. Hilda quickly changed and landed on her feet as a half deerfox. Frida came forth and cast the armor spell on her friend and herself. As the fight continued, the others got back up one by one and David gave each of them a herb to heal quicker. Hilda brawled with Clarice while Frida and Gondul traded ranged spell attacks and blocked with some reflection spells. Frida then shot out another new spell that caused a large flash of light, almost blinding her opponent. Gondul countered with a lightning spell that was unfortunately too much and knocked Frida down again. Before the others could try anything, Gondul then magically lifted a large piece of rubble and sent it at Hilda. Just as Hilda turned into a troll again, Clarice flew away. Hilda turned around and saw the wall piece inches away from her. She couldn't dodge in time and Frida knew it was too much for the spell-armor and maybe even her body. Then someone came out of the shattered building and tackled Hilda out of the way. Hilda looked at her savior and was happily surprised.
"Da-I mean Angus!" she said before hugging him.
Angus was clearly bruised, but alive and kicking. Gondul was surprised to see a survivor come out of the building, but she got over it and levitated all of her enemies to one spot. She then cast a spell that trapped all of them in a glowing cage. Amanda tried to aura out, but the cage's magic was too strong for her. David however was able to summon a swarm of hornets, all of which were outside of the cage and he had them attack the witch. They all managed to get in at least one sting before Gondul made them all disappear too. Now she was mad.
"I've had enough of you!" Gondul with the help of her familiar prepared the biggest spellshot the kids had ever seen and added fire, lightning, and
darkness to make it even more powerful.
She then aimed and fired away. Buddy somehow managed to teleport out of the cage to stop her, but he was too late. The spellshot was like a giant beam flying a few inches over the ground and obliterating anything in it's path. When the spellshot was done, the cage was empty.
"That will keep you from interfering again."
Satisfied, Gondul and Clarice vanished courtesy of the translocation spell.
Soon after, the cage disappeared too. Buddy howled to mourn those he had lost. He lied down and did nothing with the saddest face a puppy could have. Then Mr. Khatun appeared also too late. The moment he saw Buddy in his sad state, he knew the worst had happened.
"NOOOOOO! Stupid translocation spell! If not for the time problem, I could've saved them!"
Just as he was about to mourn as well, Buddy smelled something. It was coming from where the cage was. Mr. Khatun noticed and followed Buddy to the source of the scent. They looked at the ground and saw something tiny begin to grow. It was Hilda and the others. Apparently they all survived by shrinking down. Soon they were all back to normal size and Buddy rushed to Jack, thankful to still have him. Mr. Khatun also went and hugged his apprentice.
"Good thinking, Frida." Hilda said.
"That was your doing?" Mr. Khatun asked after releasing Jack. "Students at this age don't usually learn that spell yet. You're going to make an excellent witch someday."
"See? Your teacher knows what she's doing, especially with her reputation." Jack said. "She apparently even taught you a couple spells I don't know yet."
"You're right. What was I thinking?" Frida said.
"I know everyone's having a moment, but there are still people under all that rubble." Angus said.
"Allow me." Mr. Khatun held out his hands and lifted all the broken pieces from within the shattered building into the air.
For some reason, only a couple of people were inside.
"Where are the others?" Hilda asked.
"We got as many as we could into the basement when Gondul first struck." Angus answered. "A few of us tried to defend, but were turned into animals."
After Mr. Khatun placed the debris somewhere safe, all of them went in and down the stairs. At the bottom were the other Safety Patrol members including those who became animals from rats to pigs and even a frog. All three witches changed the animals back together while Hilda carried an injured man, still in her troll form. The rest did what they could for anyone who needed help. Even Amanda helped someone with a bad ankle. When the last parson was brought up, a head count was done and it turned out there were miraculously no deaths. But then something occurred to Frida.
"Wait, why haven't any of the other witches come to this emergency?" she asked.
"Because not all cities have as many as yours does." Mr. Khatun said.
"You mean you two are the only ones?" Hilda asked back in human form.
"Sadly yes." Jack confirmed. "Magic is frowned upon here more than most places."
"Not by us anymore." one of the Safety Patrol members said. "We were this close to planning a war against witches because of the one who attacked us, but after what you just did for us, we now know we've been wrong for a long time. We're sorry."
All the other members hurrahed in agreement.
"And Angus, your chief's suggestion to add the C.S.P.D to all Safety Patrols is now accepted. We'll spread the idea as soon as we can. And don't worry. Everything we saw will be a secret."
"Thank you, Sir." Angus shook hands with the local chief. "All right, kids. Back to the hotel. We're going home tomorrow."
"Goodbye, Jack." Frida said. "And thank you for helping us."
"Goodbye, guys." Jack replied.
The whole group bid everyone farewell and left the destroyed premises.
"So how did your bug adventure go?" Angus asked along the way.
"Better than I thought." David said. "Now I can summon bugs when I want."
"It was indeed very interesting." Adeline added. "This will all make quite the report."
"What about Gondul?" Hilda asked.
"With all those hornet stings, she'll have to recover which could take a while even with magic." Frida assured. "That gives us time to inform the other witches about the hair."
"Hair?" Angus asked.
While Frida explained what happened with the landvaettir, Hilda saw that Amanda looked confused.
"Is something wrong, Amanda?" she asked.
"It's just that... somehow I keep ending up helping someone." Amanda said. "It's not like anyone's ever helped me."
Hilda understood her friend's situation and said "I bet they're all glad you did. I know we are. And if you ever need it, we'll definitely help you."
"Thanks, Hilda."
After Hilda looked forward again, Amanda felt her hand start shaking for some reason. She pulled her sleeve and saw her hand move out of control and then just stop. Amanda was baffled, but decided that it was nothing.
The next day, everyone was back in Trolberg and the now cured Alfur had just finished reading Adeline's report.
"This is amazing, Adeline!" he said.
"Thank you, but I wish I could've done more like you do." Adeline said.
"Don't worry about that. Our primary job is to report what we see and learn about, and you not only accomplished that incredibly well, but also met spirits that the rest of our people have never seen before. This is a report to be proud of."
Adeline couldn't help blushing from the praise Alfur was giving her. At the same time, Hilda came out of her room wearing her winter clothing.
"Hilda, why are you wearing that?" Johanna asked before blowing her nose.
"Take a look for yourself." Hilda turned into a weather spirit, opened the window in the kitchen, and flew outside.
Johanna looked outside and was surprised to see that her daughter had covered some of the area with snow before returning home even after learning about her new form earlier.
"Of course you would do that." she said with a smile.
Hilda landed on the ground back in human form and joined her friends in all the fun in the snow. After what happened last night, this was something that they all needed.
Author's Note: I'm sorry for taking a long time again. There was a lot of writer's block despite me having an idea of what I wanted to happen. I may have had a lot of trouble, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. And now for the info. I'll admit that I wonder if I should've saved the weather spirit form for last considering what they're capable of, but I have my reasons for not doing that, mostly involving what comes after this chapter. The only problem with this particular form was that I needed to try to up Frida's magic since Hilda's supposed to have the short end of the stick in comparison. It wasn't easy, but I did a better job adding new spells than last time. I hope you don't mind that I gave Frida a moment of jealousy. I thought it would be interesting to give her a taste of how Hilda felt in chapter one. But you're probably more interested in David's part this time. Well I've come across a couple fan theories about his bug thing and wondered about it myself. I even found out from a youtube video that Luke Pearson himself likes the idea of there being more to it, so eventually I decided to make up a reason for it. That wasn't easy either, but I did some research and learned about landvaettir. After hearing about a story involving a sheep blessing, I knew this was the best option and went with it. As for some other characters, I thought it would be fun if Adeline substituted for Alfur for a change. Just like her, I wish I could've done more though. I also chose to bring back Jack and Buddy from chapter one since it's normal for characters Hilda meets to make a return at least once. I'd say more things about this chapter, but this note is already long enough as it is. The only other thing you need to know is that I will complete this fanfic as soon as I can. Only three chapters to go.