Book six in the Hilda the Witch series.
Hilda goes on quite a remarkable sailing trip and ends up in place no one knew exists.
Excerpt:
"I hope I am not disturbing your peace," said the house, "but there is a gentleman with a bow who is aiming at the pole for the messages and it looks like he - "
Twok.
" - as I already was afraid, he is not very proficient at this," the house finished. There was no comment from the two magical people who lay draped over the purple couch.
"It chipped some paint too," the house tried, but even that shocking announcement was not enough to evoke some movement. "Fine. Be like that. I'll just fall apart around you and maybe you will notice someday."
A black shape dropped from a bookshelf, landed on all fours with barely a sound and tiptoed to the door. Grimalkin sat down and inspected a paw, waiting for the house to open the door. "Meow," she complained as the house took rather long to understand her intentions.
"Oh. You," the house finally said, sounding almost reluctant, and the door swung open. "Try not to soil anything that's attached to me, please."
Grimalkin did not bother to respond to that; she was a clean cat and the house knew that. It just needed something to whine about.
"Oh dear, there is number two," the house sighed as Obsidian Shadow made his way to the door also.
"Stop that," Hilda commented from the couch. "We are relaxing and we can do that just fine without you going on about every little nothing."
"Oh, excuse me for still standing," the house grouched, "I am just trying to tell you- now how did they do that?" The grouchiness had entirely disappeared from the voice of the house. The sudden change in its sound caused movement in the two shapes on the couch also.
"What did they do?" Hilda walked over to the door and was just in time to see Grimalkin come back in with an arrow clenched between her teeth. The black cat stopped and dropped the arrow on the ground. "William, did you see that?"
The wizard was right behind her and he had seen it. "We got us a few really special cats, Hilda. Usually just dogs fetch things." He watched as Hilda picked up the arrow and unrolled the piece of paper that was attached to it.
"May I ask for a moment of attention for the paint?" the house enquired.
"No," two voices simultaneous said, as their owners were reading the scrap of paper. Obsi came in again, his tail flicking left and right, almost as in victory.
"How do you get a large boat in a lake?" Hilda wondered as she sat down on the couch again.
William shrugged and reread the paper. "Honourable witch, there is a large boat in the Green Lake. Can you help?" He rubbed his nose. "How do you get a boat over there anyway," he wondered, "the Green Lake is surrounded by hills."
"Crappedy crap, never a dull moment, William," Hilda said. "Care for a quick flight to Green Lake? It's been a while since we were there."
Also free on obooko:
Hilda the Wicked Witch
Hilda - Snow White Revisited
Hilda-The Challenge
Hilda and Zelda
Hilda - Cats
Hilda - Back to School