Hilda Draugen

Magic

"Are you sure it wasn't in the reference section?" Frida inquired, paging through a blanked book that Hilda swore was the one she read.

"It's right there. Can't you see the page title?" Hilda said, reaching over to point out the text. But when her hand brushed Fridas, the book glowed blue.

Bright lettering swirled in the page to unveil ancient glyphs and scribbled writing on old parchment.

"Woah, that didn't happen when I read it," Hilda said, gazing down at the animated book. Frida sighed.

"Ever since I learned magic. Lots of things are different. I love it. But I didn't realize it was going to take over my life." She ranted to Hilda as she took notes from the book.

Hilda listened to her friend with her elbows leaning on the table. "Yeah. It's not easy. But that's why I'm here." She said, placing her hand on the book.

The lettering began to fade. Frida groaned in frustration. "This book is so annoying. Don't understand why you can read it, and I can't get it to open up on my own." She poked her pencil at the book in accusation.

Hilda then remembered how the book interacted when she accidentally touched fridas hand.

"I think I know why. Here grab my hand." She told her friend that gave her a curious glance. Frida took the offered hand, and Hilda placed their handhold against the page. The text revealed itself once more.

"Thank you, Hilda. Hopefully, this will help David ease his nightmares." Frida said, finishing up her neat writing.

"Hope so. Besides, this just adds more fun with magic thrown in." She stopped her sentence when she saw her friend give her the 'really' look.

"I mean fun and appropriately safe magic. Yay learning?" Hilda failed to convey her enthusiasm, with Frida lamely letting go of her hand.

"Right. Then you wouldn't mind staying over and learning to read 100 new spells. I can't quite crack these books on my own." Frida said, closing the blank book.

"Maybe. But it's going to have to wait for a bit. We have to go see the Rat King." Hilda said with her hand pulling out the recent newspaper.

Frida freezes in her chair. Her eyes widen at Hilda, showing another disappearance of the nissee.

"I don't think I want to go on another adventure, Hilda. David needs us right now. And with whatever is going on in Trollberg. It's not a priority." Frida said in a dead voice.

Hilda furrowed her eyebrows in frustration.

"Frida. It's out there attacking humans and the nissee. We need to know what's going on in the community. Or we could lose others." Hilda pointed at the newspaper with a 'Missing' headline.

"We won't go on this adventure alone. I promise you with my life, Frida." Hilda said, reaching over to hold her friend's hand. Frida stared at the newspaper avoiding her friend's unyielding gaze.

"You're right about looking into what's causing these disappearances. But once there is imminent danger. We call for help." Frida said to her friend.