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 This is a first edition published in 2020 by Flying Eye Books,
an imprint of Nobrow Ltd. 27 Westgate Street, London £8 3RL.
Written by Stephen Davies and illustrated by Sapo Lendario,
based on the characters and storylines
created by Luke Pearson and Slivergate Media company.
HILDA™ © 2020 Hilda Productions Limited,
& Silvergate Media company
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or by any information and-storage retrieval system,
without prior written consent from the publisher.
13579108642
Published in the US by Nobrow (US) inc.
Printed in Great Britain on FSC® certified paper.

ISBN: 978-1-838740-28-3
Order from www.flyingeyebooks.com
Based on the Hildafolk series of graphic novels by Luke Pearson

QILDA AND THE

GHOST SHIP
Written by Stephen Davies Wustrated ty Sapo Lendario

FLYING EYE BOOKS

Loniton | Mew York
 Wp
SCHOOL

seers IIL)
“se
RY RO
&
Pree
 ONTENTS
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7 .

Chapter 3 ..

Chapter 9

Chapter 10 .

Chapter 11
Chapter 12 ........
Chapter 13 ....

Chapter 14

Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Pages rustled. Students bustled. A clock on the wall
ticked steadily. Sitting around a table in a corner
of the library, noses deep in their books, Hilda,
Frida and David were reading about birds.
The Librarian had given them just the books
they needed. Hilda had finished Feathered Friends
of Trolberg and was already halfway through
a terrifying volume entitled Robber Duckies,
Bloodbeaks and Other Birds You Wouldn't Want to
Meet. Frida had written reams of:notes on her
A to Z of Every Bird in the World and did not seem
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

discouraged that she had only reached the letter

C. As for David, he was giggling his way through
Fowl Play: A Bumper Book of Bird Jokes.
“Psst, Hilda,” David whispered. “What sort of
bird is hard to recognize?”
“T don’t know.”
“One that’s in da skies.”
Hilda sighed and returned to her book.
David giggled. “Don’t you get it?”
“Of course she gets it,” said Frida. “But in da
skies and in disguise don’t sound similar enough
to be funny. Also, none of us are going to get our
Birding Badge if you keep da-stracting us from our
research.”
David leaned back in his chair. “No need
to grumble,” he said. “I was only — whoa,
what’s THAT?”
Hilda and Frida followed David’s gaze and saw
something beautiful fly past the library window: a
black bird with a bright red head.
“I’ve never seen one of those,” said Hilda.
“Do you know what it is, Frida?”
“It’s a super-rare, scarlet-capped warbler!”
 CHAPTER ONE

said Frida. “If we could get a photo of it, it’d

be worth at least ten Birding Badge points with
Raven Leader. Have you got your camera with
you, David?
David sighed and pulled his camera out of
his satchel.
“Hurry!” Frida urged. “You get the photo and
we'll return the books. We’ll come and join you in
a minute.”
David dashed outside and the girls went looking
for the re-shelving trolley. They found it at the
end of Aisle 2 but were surprised to see that it was
already overflowing with books.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“That’s odd,” said Hilda suspiciously. “The

Librarian never lets the trolley pile up like that. Do
you think she’s all right?
“Maybe she’s helping a customer,” suggested
Frida, whose imagination had always been a little
less wild than Hilda’s.
“We can’t leave until we know she’s okay,”
said Hilda, rounding the corner and setting off
up Aisle 3. “You can come with me or you can go
with David.”
“And listen to more of his bird jokes?” said Frida.
“Not likely.”
Up and down the aisles they traipsed, but the
Librarian was nowhere to be seen.
“Let’s try upstairs.” Hilda jumped onto a
ladder propped against the shelves. “If I remember
correctly, there’s a secret reading room on the top
floor. What if she’s in there?”
“Or what if she’s back at her desk after a quick
toilet break?” said Frida, who seemed determined to
suggest the most boring of all possibilities.
Hilda walked along Aisle 6 until she came to the
Science section. She gave two sharp kicks at the base
 CHAPTER ONE

of the shelves followed by a swift elbow jab to a large

tome entitled Cryptomechanics. She knew that this was
not a real book at all, but a hidden lever that allowed

access to a secret reading room full of spell books.

She had found the secret room by accident a
while ago, whilst researching magical tide mice.
Her enchantment of two tide mice had produced
unforeseen and traumatic side effects, but (as
Hilda often reminded herself) such was the life of
an adventurer.
The hidden door in the bookcase swung back,
and Hilda stepped through into a dimly lit reading
room, which was lined from floor to ceiling with
dusty spell books.
“Nobody here,” she said gloomily. “You were
right, Frida, the Librarian is probably back
at her desk.”
“Shh.” Frida held up a hand for silence.
“You hear that?”
Hilda did hear it. The click-clack of high-heeled
shoes was quite clear, and it seemed to come
from behind the shelves. Hilda hesitated, wondering
what to do.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Frida strode to the far wall, knelt down beside

a book called Cauldron Care and jabbed it smartly
with her knuckles. A hidden mechanism clicked and
whirred, and two bookcases in front of her slid apart
to reveal another room beyond.
“Wow!” gasped Hilda. “The secret room
has a secret room. How did you know which book
to press?”
“Easy.” Frida grinned. “Cauldron Care was dusty
on top but clean on the spine. Which means that it
gets pressed a lot but never gets read.”
. They ventured further and further into the
hidden areas of the library. Secret room after
secret room. Hallway after hallway. Staircase after
staircase. Most of the staircases were downward
ones, and soon the girls realized that they were
deep underground.
“TI feel bad that David is missing out on this,”
said Hilda as they wandered along a hallway lined
with spell books and strange artifacts.
“Don’t feel bad,” said Frida. “You know he would
have turned back about five secret staircases ago.”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

The footsteps were suddenly really close. Hilda

and Frida dived into an alcove on their left as two
women in purple robes rounded a corner at the
_end of the hallway. They walked straight past the
girls’ hiding place, deep in conversation.
“Who do you think they are?” whispered Hilda,
as soon as the women were out of earshot.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Frida replied.
“They’re witches. We’ve stumbled into the most
secretive place in all of Trolberg: the legendary
Witches’ Tower!”
 Fs

es
 “The Witches’ Tower?” Hilda goggled at her friend.
“But legends and rumours always place the Witches’
Tower out in the Huldrawood somewhere.”
“Presumably why no one has ever been able to
find it,” said Frida. “It was underneath the library
all along!”
“A tower underground?”
“Of course!” Frida’s eyes shone. “It’s the last
~ place you’d think to look.”
- Hilda’s mind spun. She had always thought there
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

was something wonderfully mysterious about the

Librarian, and now at last she knew the truth.
The Librarian was a witch!
They continued along the corridor, turned right
and passed beneath a foreboding Gothic archway
engraved with the words “Hall of Familiars”.
Framed oil paintings hung along both walls:
portraits of notable witches of the past.
“What’s a ‘familiar’?” Hilda asked.
“A witch’s assistant,” said Frida. “Often a cat,
a frog or a mouse. Or...er...one of those,” she
added, pointing to a funny-faced puff dog sitting
on the lap of a particularly fierce-looking witch.
Frida looked at the witch in the ae and
then at the engraving
on the frame. “Arch-
Sorceress Matilda
Pilqvist,” she read.
“Enchanter of
Livelihoods, Grand
Alchemist of the
Dark Communion
of Halgar, First
 CHAPTER TWO

Bloodsister of the order of the Black Candle,

tormentor of—”
“All right, I get it,” Hilda interrupted. “She’s
accomplished and scary. Let’s go and find the
Librari— aaaargh!”
A door beside the portrait flew open and a
dishevelled woman burst out into the corridor.
Her black cape streamed behind her and her
purple-tinged hair was in a real mess. It was the
Librarian, carrying a large, silver sword.
“Gah!” The Librarian stared at Hilda and
Frida. “What are you two doing here?”
“We were worried about you,” said Hilda.
“Go back, quick!” the Librarian cried. “It’s not
safe here!”
“Why?”
“There’s a triffid behind that door.”
“Doesn’t sound very scary.”
“A triffid is a killer plant.”
“Oh,” said Hilda. “Okay, that does sound a

bit scary.”
“T have to face it!” The Librarian glared at
| the door. “I have to see Matilda Pilgvist, and the
 CHAPTER TWO

only way to do that is to get through her weird

labyrinth, starting with the triffid.”
“Why do you need to see her?” Frida asked.
“She has an overdue library book, The Skeleton
Whisperer by Petra Pakulski. It’s overdue by
twenty-nine years, three hundred and sixty-four
days, and twenty-two hours. Two hours more and
itll be thirty years.”
“What happens at thirty years?”
The Librarian lowered her voice to a hoarse
whisper. “When a book becomes overdue by thirty
years, the keeper of the books gets thrown into the
void of no return.”
“The keeper of the books.” Hilda stared.
“That’s you.”
PXCS.
“You’re sure it’s not the borrower who gets
thrown into the void of no return?”
“No, it’s definitely the keeper. The council of
high witches will bind me hand and foot and then
a bass-playing monster called Lloyd will open the
void and throw me in. Sounds unusual, I know, but
there it is. Now you understand why I absolutely
 HILDA
AND THE GHOST SHIP
at book back.”
rian lifted her sword and reached for
> ofMatilda Pilqvist’s labyrinth.
ed Hilda. “We'll come with you.”
ibrarian looked them up and down.
t children.”
7 id Hilda. “But we got this far,

the sword out of the Librarian’s hand,

abyrinth door and stepped inside.
a erself iin a large greenhouse with
1glass ceiling. The room was full of
otted plants and there was a heavy oak door at the
farend. |
“The moment they stepped across the threshold,
a1 gigantic plant iin the middle of the greenhouse
“unfurled and came to life. It advanced towards them
on leafy tentacle-legs, flailing vicious tendrils like a
cat-o -nine-tails.
SS a Keep our new plant friend busy,” said Hilda.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“You two makea run for the door.”

“The door is locked,” the Librarian said. “I think
that triffid must have the key.”
Hilda grasped the hilt of the sword in both
hands. She swung it fiercely as the killer plant
approached, lopping off three flailing tendrils with a
single swipe.
The triffid shrank back. Yellow sap oozed from its
severed stalks.
As Hilda stepped forward and held out her hand
for the key, she noticed something out of the corner
of her eye. The three tendrils on the floor at her feet
were twitching, sprouting and springing to life.
“Watch out!” called the Librarian. “I should have
mentioned, each severed tendril becomes a duplicate
of the original plant.”
The brand-new triffids were already growing
fast, upwards and outwards, unfurling dozens of
bright green shoots. They lurched towards Hilda on
leafy legs and soon it was impossible to tell which
were the new plants and which was the old one.
Hilda took a deep breath and fought with
 CHAPTER TWO

renewed vigour. She ducked and dodged the whip-

like fronds, her silver blade went snicker-snack, she

lopped and parried like the wind but new plants

kept on growing back.
Frida tugged the Librarian’s sleeve. “Excuse
me,” she said. “Is that your own sword or did you
find it here?”
“Found it,” the Librarian replied. “It was
propped up next to the door.”
“Thought so,” said Frida. “Wish me luck!”
She dashed across the greenhouse, snatched the
sword from Hilda’s hand, limbo-danced under a
low-flying tentacle, sprinted to the oak door and
plunged the tip of the sword into the lock.
The sword turned with a satisfying click and
the heavy door swung open. In an instant, the
crowd of triffids disappeared, leaving just one
tired-looking plant in the middle of the greenhouse.
“Frida, that was amazing!” cried Hilda. “How
did you know what to do?”
“T noticed a pattern of interlocking keys on the
handle,” said Frida. “Also, I noticed you weren’t
really getting anywhere with the plant hacking.”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Even the Librarian was gazing at Frida with

admiration. “Good work,” she said. “If we get
through today. I’m definitely going to recommend
you for training.”
“Training?” Frida gulped. “What sort
of training?”
“Witch training, of course,” the Librarian said.
“You have all the qualities we look for in a young
witch. Raw intelligence, coolness under pressure
and incredible powers of observation. Lead on,
young Frida! You’ve got a whole maze in which to
practise your skills.”

2 30
 While Hilda and Frida were battling the triffid
in the Witches’ Tower, David was busy with a
battle of his own: trying to get a photo of a bird
that would not stay still. So far, he had taken
six photographs of bits of sky the bird had just
vacated, three photographs of branches the bird
_ had just vacated and one photograph of the top of
. his own head — which, as bad luck would have it,
_ the bird had just vacated.
He followed the bird through an area of
- woodland that was in the process of being cleared,

; 33
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

ready for new houses to be built.

“THIMBERRRRI” called a gruff voice, and a
lofty birch tree crashed to the ground right in front
of David.
“Oi!” cried a digger driver. “You could have
been killed! Get out of here!”
David did as he was told. He clambered over
the fallen tree and raced out of the wood as fast as
his legs would carry him.
He was not the only one. All kinds of animals
seemed to be fleeing the wood and running for
their lives. Hares, voles, beavers, squirrels and
pine martens scurried and scuttled, skipped
and skedaddled.
The animals emerged onto a grassy plain and
scampered into a run-down windmill. The red-
headed bird alighted on one of the sails and began
to preen itself.
David stopped, regained his breath, then lifted
his camera to take a photo.
“Scarlet-capped warbler,” said a woman’s voice
behind him. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
David spun around to see a tall, hooded figure.
 CHAPTER THREE

“Oh, sorry to disturb you!” he stuttered. “I was

trying to photograph it.”
The woman pulled down her hood. Lustrous
grey curls cascaded around her face. Big eyes
shone with intelligence and mischief.
“It’s you!” said David.
He had met weather forecaster Victoria van
Gale the previous winter, on the day that a terrible
snow storm had threatened to bury the city of
Trolberg. David and Hilda had visited van Gale
at her weather station. What they discovered there
was truly disturbing. She was not just forecasting
the weather, she was trying to control it.
“Hello, David.” Victoria van Gale smiled. “Last
time we met, we had a little misunderstanding,
didn’t we?”
“Tt wasn’t a little misunderstanding,”
said David. “It was a massive argument.
You
kidnapped a baby weather spirit for one of your
crazy experiments.”
“Silly of me,” said van Gale. “But I’ve learned
~ my lesson, David. ’ve changed.”
“You have?”

(ay)cH
 CHAPTER THREE

“Come and see, if you don’t believe me.”

Van Gale opened the front door of the windmill
and led David inside. The interior of the windmill
was just as run-down as the exterior, with cracks
in the walls and holes in the floorboards. But van
Gale had already started to renovate the place.
Everywhere David looked, he saw planks, poles,
pots of plaster and rolls of masking tape. He also
saw plenty of animals: hares on the chairs, frogs in
buckets and birds absolutely everywhere.
“After my weather station was destroyed, I
moved in here,” van Gale said. “I’m doing the
place up, and I’ve also taken in some animals and
birds from that awful housing development down
the road. Poor little things.” She reached out to a
red squirrel on a step ladder and tickled it under
the chin.
David scowled. “Are you doing experiments on
these animals?”
“Of course not!” Victoria van Gale looked
shocked. “I’m simply offering them a safe place
~ to live.”
There was a loud splintering sound and a big
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

crack appeared in the far wall of the windmill.

“Oh dear,” van Gale sighed. “This place is
falling apart around my ears. Every time I fix one
thing, something else goes wrong. If anyone tells
you it’s easy to make a ruined windmill into a
cosy home, don’t believe them.” She glanced at her
watch and forced a smile. “Anyway, enough about
me. You photograph that scarlet-capped warbler,
and I’ll check on my baking. I’ve got a batch of
pastries in the oven.”
David went outside and found the scarlet-
capped warbler was still sitting on the sails of the
windmill. He raised his camera to one eye and
was about to take the photo when an ecstatic yip
filled the air and a deer fox bounded into view, a
furry white bundle of courage and cuteness, closely
followed by Hilda and Frida. The warbler was
startled and flew away.
“Did you get the photo?” shouted Frida.
“No, I didn’t, thanks to Twig. How did you
know I was here?”
Frida grinned. “Your shoes have a very
distinctive zigzag pattern on the sole.”
 CHAPTER THREE

“You tracked my footprints?” David said.

“I didn’t know that was one of your skills.”
“It is,” said Hilda, “and that’s not even the
most impressive thing that Frida has done this
afternoon. She’s also dodged a killer plant, used
a sword as a key, answered seven sphinx riddles,
spotted an invisible glass floor for crossing a pit
of spikes, concocted a glass of pineapple punch
for a genie, navigated a reverse-perspective tunnel
_ maze, crossed a salt lion moat in the belly of a
surgeonfish, beaten a fire monster in a game of
chess, retrieved an overdue library book from an
arch-sorceress and helped her find her kettle. Oh,
and she also saved the Librarian from being cast
into the void of no return.”
David frowned and wiped his nose on his
sleeve. “Frida did all that while I was trying to
photograph one bird?”
“Yes.” Hilda beamed. “And when we finally
_ reached Matilda Pilgvist’s house, she told us
- that many. seasoned witches have failed to get
- through her labyrinth. She was so impressed,
_t she volunteered herself as Frida’s personal trainer.
9

nor
-
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Hilda lowered her voice to an excited whisper.

“Frida’s going to learn magic, David. She’s going
to be a witch!”
“T see.” David gulped. “Plenty more petrifying
adventures in store for us, then.”
A sudden scream of terror filled the air,
making all three children jump. But it was only a
pine marten being chased through the long grass
by Twig.
“Stop that, Twig.” Hilda scooped him up into
her arms.
“Look at all these cute animals,” said Frida.
“They’re everywhere!”
“David!” called a voice inside the windmill.
“The pastries are ready. Come and get them while
they’re hot!”
Hilda gasped. “That voice,” she said. “It
sounds like—”
“Victoria van Gale.” David nodded grimly.
“She says she’s turned over a new leaf. She says
she’s set up home in this ruined windmill and is
converting it into an animal sanctuary.”
“Aww!” Hilda put her hand on her heart.

« 40
 CHAPTER THREE

“That’s so sweet.”
“Yes, well, I don’t believe her for a second,”
said David. “Once a mad scientist, always a mad
scientist, that’s what I say.”
“What do you suspect she’s doing?” asked Frida.
“T don’t know. But whatever it is, I'll bet you it’s
something completely loopy.”
“And what are you going to do about it?”
“T’ll tell you what I’m going to do about it.”
David clenched his fists. “I’m going to go inside,
I’m going to.eat two pastries, maybe three, and
I’m going to offer to help Victoria van Gale
with her renovation project. That’ll give me the
chance to nose around a bit and find out what
ene silipoto.”

- 44
 “Hi Mum, I’m home!” Hilda barged in through
the front door and pulled off her red rubber boots.
The apartment was toasty warm, as always, and a
divine aroma of ginger, nutmeg and caraway seeds
wafted over her.
“Hilda!” Mum jumped up from her desk. “You
were such a long time. Where were you?”
“At the library,” said Hilda, “and then at the
~ windmill. They’re turning it into a-refuge for
animals from the housing development.”

B43
2
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

She deliberately did not mention the fact that

the “they” in question was actually Victoria van
Gale. Mum had borne a grudge against van Gale
ever since the weather station incident, and she
would not be happy about Hilda having anything
to do with her.
“How lovely.” Mum went into the kitchen and
came back with two steaming bowls of stew. “I
hate to see trees being cut down to make room for
yet more houses.”
Hilda leaned close to her bowl and gobbled
her stew. She was no longer thinking about the
windmill, but about today’s adventures with Frida
in the Witches’ Tower, and their conversation
with Matilda Pilqvist. Not only had the arch-
sorceress offered to be Frida’s teacher, she had also
recommended Hilda as Frida’s familiar. Just think
of that — a witch’s assistant!
After dinner, Hilda gathered up the bowls and
took them to the sink. The kitchen was unusually
tidy, with bare, gleaming surfaces.
“What’s going on?” said Hilda.

, 44
 CHAPTER FOUR

“Where is everything?”
“Looks lovely, doesn’t it?” grinned Mum.
“Tontu offered to store half of our kitchen
stuff in Nowhere Space for us. It’s freed up
all our worktops!”
‘Tontu was a nisse, or house spirit, who had
taken up residence in Hilda’s flat.
‘Very generous of him,” Hilda muttered. “It’s a
pity he’s not so generous when it comes to letting
us actually travel through Nowhere Space.”
“T heard that,” said a disembodied voice.
“Nowhere Space is a sacred space, Ill have you
know, and it’s not meant for humans. I should
never have taken you there in the first place.”
As soon as Hilda and Mum finished washing
up, they settled down in the living room to play
the boardgame Dragon Panic. Hilda got off to
a slow start. Her village was on a mountaintop
and it took forever to gather supplies. But when
the dragons started arriving, she was glad
of her high location. Her archers fended off
attack after attack, while Mum’s settlement was

burned to a crisp.

% 46
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Well done,” said Mum, slumping back against

the sofa cushions. “You played cleverly tonight.”
“Let’s play again,” said Hilda.
“No chance!”
“Just one more, please!”
“No,” said Mum, reaching for the TV remote.
“You can watch five minutes of Trolberg Tonight and
then you’re going straight to bed.”
The TV screen flickered to life. Linn Jacobsen,

, 46
 CHAPTER FOUR

presenter of Trolberg Tonight, was looking even

graver than usual. “The fishing ship was called the
Nimbus,” she was saying. “All four crew members
are missing, presumed drowned.”
“Oh no,” said Mum. “It sounds like another
ship has sunk.”
“Tt can’t have!” cried Hilda. “That’s the fourth
sinking this week!”
“Citizens of Trolberg are understandably
anxious about the recent spate of sinkings,”
Jacobsen continued. “Perhaps our next guest can
shed some light on the matter. Commander Erik
Ahlberg, welcome to Trolberg Tonight.”
“Thank you for having me,” said a nasal voice,
and the camera zoomed in on the smug, fleshy
face of Erik Ahlberg. He was wearing the brown
and yellow uniform of the Trolberg Safety Patrol,
complete with a jaunty feather in his hat.
“Who wears a feathered hat indoors?”
said Mum. way
“Someone who is a teeny bit bald and
incredibly vain,” said Hilda. “I can’t believe they
asked him onto Trolberg Tonight to talk about the

f- 47
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

sinkings. He’ll find a way to blame it on trolls, just

you wait.”
“Commander Ahlberg,” the interviewer began,
“you have been investigating the recent sinkings in
Bjérg Fjord. Who or what do you think-?”
“Trolls,” interrupted Erik Ahlberg. “Legend has
it that certain species of troll are able to survive
underwater as well as on land. These amphibious
beasts are wandering our fjord, as cool as sea
cucumbers, occasionally reaching up to pluck a
ship out of the water and devour its crew.”
“And what solution do you propose?”
“T bet he says bells,” muttered Hilda.
“Bells,” said Ahlberg. “Enormous, underwater
bells, and plenty of them.”
Linn Jacobsen raised her eyebrows. “Do bells
work under water?”
“Perfectly.” Erik Ahlberg twirled his thin
moustache. “Some of your viewers may not be
aware of this, Linn, but there is already one such
bell on the seabed near Trolberg harbour. It is five
hundred years old and had never been rung in

48
 CHAPTER FOUR

living memory, but my men tested it last week and

its ding-dong is as clear and loud as any modern
bell.” Ahlberg turned to the camera and spoke
directly into the lens. “Make no mistake, dear
viewer. That underwater bell and others like it are
needed more than ever in these dark days.”
“He’s not thinking straight!” cried Hilda.
“He thinks trolls are behind everything bad that
happens. If his airship ran out of fuel, he’d blame
trolls. If his toast fell on the floor butter-side down,
he’d blame trolls. If a pigeon pooed on that stupid
hat of his, he’d blame—”
“Not so loud, Hilda!” Mum said. “I agree, he

does seem a little obsessed with trolls, but who

knows, perhaps he’s right this time.”
“Amphibious trolls?” Hilda snorted. “Come
on, Mum, there is zero evidence that they even
exist. The explorer Emil Gammelplassen wrote
about that legend in his new book Fjords and their
Unfriendly Occupants and he called it the silliest
legend in the history of silly legends.”
Mum pursed her lips and turned her attention

j AD re
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

back to Trolberg Tonight, on which Ahlberg was

now taking phone-in questions from members of
the public.
The first caller was a fisherman who had
worked in Trolberg harbour for more than fifty
years. “Ahoy there, Ahlberg!” he roared down the
line. “I been listenin’ to you landlubbers gassin’
about trolls, but we seadogs know best. There be
only one beastie in the fjord that could’ve scuttled
those ships.”
“And which beastie might that be?”
Ahlberg asked.
The silence that followed was so long that
Hilda thought the fisherman had rung off. But it
turned out he was only pausing for effect. “That
there Lindworm on Cauldron Island,” he said,
rolling his r’s dramatically. “A mangy, scurvy,
cold-hearted devil if ever there was one.”
&
 The next aeitieie Hilda sat at the breakfast
table with her head on her chin, wondering what
to do. Everyone else seemed to have plans for the
day. David was at the windmill helping Victoria
van Gale with her renovation project. Frida had
gone to the library for her first witching lesson
with Matilda Pilqvist. Mum was working at her
desk. And as for Alfur, her elf friend,’he was away
all week, having been summoned back to the
wilderness for a three-day grammar conference.
Today was Day Three of the conference, which

ae SS ae
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Gf Hilda remembered the programme correctly)

was entitled Fun with Fronted Adverbials.
“Come on, boy,” said Hilda to Twig. “Let’s
go down to the harbour and see what’s going on
there. Maybe we can find some clue to the sinkings
of those ships.”
She finished her porridge, pulled on her boots
and set off running through the streets of Trolberg.
Her yellow scarf streamed behind her and Twig
gambolled at her heels, just like old times.
At the entrance to the harbour was a pub called
The Salty Maiden, and as Hilda passed it, she
was startled by the noise of breaking glass. A big
wooden log smashed through the front window of
the pub and landed on the cobblestones outside.
“And don’t come back, ye worm-eaten knave!”
roared a voice from inside the pub.
Hilda looked closer and realized that the log
was not a log at all. It was a book-loving, guitar-
playing, forest-dwelling wise guy who Hilda liked
to believe was her friend.
“Wood Man!” Hilda hurried up to him. “You
poor thing! Are you all right?”

2 64
 CHAPTER FIVE

“I won a fiene of dice,” said the Wood Man,

gazing up at the pub with large, expressionless
eyes. “The sailors at The Salty Maiden love a
game of Sea Bones, but they don’t love it if you
try to leave straight after winning a fully rigged
sailing ship.”
“You shouldn’t gamble,” said Hilda. “And
you shouldn’t visit Trolberg without coming to
see me and Mum. You don’t even have to knock,
~ you know. Just walk right in, like you used to. Oh,
Wood Man, I’ve got SO MUCH to tell you.”
ue

whe 85. ag
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“That’s what I was afraid of,” said the Wood

Man, and he turned and walked away.
“Hey!” Hilda hurried after him. “Where are
you going?”
“I’m going to sea,” he said. “I need to leave
now if I’m to find the Draugen by sunset.”
“Okay...” Hilda almost had to run to keep pace
with the Wood Man. “Wait, what’s a Draugen?”
“Draugen, plural, are the spirits of
drowned sailors, doomed to sail on a ghost ship for
all eternity.”
“And you want to find them?”
“yess
“Good thinking,” said Hilda. “The Draugen
are sure to know what’s been causing the sinkings.
Can I come with you?”
“No.”
They arrived at the waterfront and stared up
at a large sailing boat with the name Nautilus
stencilled on its hull. It was tied to a mooring
post and its pristine white sails were fluttering in
the breeze.

“Nice ship,” said Hilda. “No wonder they

 CHAPTER FIVE

chucked you through that window. You’!l have a

hard time sailing it on your own, though.”
The Wood Man considered this. “Fine,” he said
at last. “You can come if you want to.”
Ten minutes later they were traversing the
harbour with the wind in their sails, weaving
among yachts, schooners, dingies and skiffs. The
Wood Man stood at the helm, holding the wheel.
Twig performed lookout duty on the foredeck.
Hilda stood at the stern and watched a family of
salt lions playing in their wake.
A good south wind sprang up behind the ship,
carrying them past Cauldron Island and out into
the open sea.
“Deckhand!” called the Wood Man. “Tighten
the main sheet!”
“Huh?” said Hilda.
“And ease off the vang!”
“Eh?” said Hilda.
The Wood Man heaved a weary sigh. “Pull the
big rope and loosen the little one.”
“Sure!”
As Hilda hurried to adjust the ropes, a massive

K Ere «i
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

albatross glided over her head. Hilda thought

of her Birding Badge and she wished she had a
camera with her to get a good, clear shot of the
| feathered giant.
“Tacking south-south-east!” the Wood Man
called. “Heading for that eerie patch of mist on
the horizon!”
This seemed like a sensible idea. All of the
ghost ships in Hilda’s picture books at home were
wreathed in an eerie mist. Why should the Draugen’s
ship be any different?
~ Sure enough, the Wood Man was right. The
moment they entered the mist, the wind dropped and
the sails of the Nautilus hung slack. Twig lowered
his antlers and his tail fluffed up to twice its normal
size. As for the friendly albatross, it let out an ear-
piercing caw and doubled back as if sensing danger.
Then there it was, looming out of the fog towards
them. A tattered sail. A rotting hull. Two masts like
brittle bones.
“Wood Man,” said Hilda, doing her best to
keep her voice low and level. “I think we’ve found
the Draugen.”
 CHAPTER FIVE

The ghost ship drew alongside the Nautilus,

and a seaweed-covered gangplank slid into
position. Hilda, the Wood Man and Twig walked
across it.
Slimy, many-legged creatures scuttled across
the deck of the Draugen ship. But it was the crew
that really fascinated Hilda. Stiff armed, stiff
legged and weirdly translucent, they lowered the
tattered sail and dropped an anchor.
“Ahoy me swabbies!” cried a throaty voice, and
a skinny ghost appeared in front of them. “I’m
Nicholas, the First Mate,” he added, in a much
less throaty voice. “Have some Draugen grog.”
A brimming mug appeared in Hilda’s hand, but
when she sipped it, she realized it was basically —
just sea water.
“Thank you,” said Hilda, reminding herself that
it was the thought that counted.
“Meet our captain,” said the First Mate,
stepping aside.
The Draugen captain was a ghastly sight. Bony
wrists and hands poked out from the wide sleeves is
of her tattered overcoat, and a jaunty crest of

BO ae
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

seaweed Sean to her ghostly scalp. Also, for some

reason Hilda could not imagine, there was a metal
hook embedded in the captain’s right shin.
“Sorry about the grog,” the captain chuckled.
“Our real grog ran out some time ago.”
Before long, they were chatting like old friends.
The captain told Hilda all about the Draugen’s
free-roaming, swashbuckling adventures aboard
their ghost ship, and Hilda began to feel that
perhaps being a Draugen was not such a cursed
existence after all.
“Do you know anything about the recent
sinkings in the fjord?” Hilda asked.
“No idea,” said the captain. “Our ship is
always wreathed in this blasted mist. We can’t
see a thing!”
There was a sudden commotion below deck
and a Draugen sailor appeared, carrying the Wood
Man under one arm. Hilda had been so engrossed
in the captain’s stories, she hadn’t realized that the
Wood Man had slipped away.
“Caught this one red-handed,” said the sailor.
“He was trying to steal our magic coral sextant.”
 CHAPTER FIVE

“T wanted it for my dining room,” said

the Wood Man tonelessly. “I’m giving it a
nautical theme.”
 Back in Trolberg, David was struggling with sails
of a different sort. Windmill sails.
Victoria van Gale had given him a delicious
breakfast of cinnamon rolls and then assigned him
his first renovation job: loosening the jammed sails
of the windmill.
“Just clean the dirt out of the middle bit,” she
had said. “You’ll have them spinning in no time.”
As it turned out, van Gale’s breezy optimism
had not been well founded. David had inched
himself up the sails with great difficulty and was
pee

A 66 «€
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

now perched just above the central dial, paralyzed

with fear and clinging on for dear life.
“Put your hand in the gap between the
sprockets and the drive chain,” van Gale shouted
from the ground. “Find whatever gunk is stopping
the sails from turning.”
David had no desire to find gunk of any
sort, but now that he was up here, he had to
do something. He reached his left arm into the
mechanism and started pulling out cobwebs, dead
leaves and nauseating slime.
“Why does an animal refuge need moving
sails?” he shouted.
“Renewable energy,” van Gale yelled back.
“T’ll use the wind to power my lights, heaters, TV,
kettle, toaster, rice cooker, pressure cooker, slow
cooker, cake mixer, ruby laser, waffle iron—”
“Wait.” David frowned. “What’s a ruby laser?”
“Did I say ruby laser?” Van Gale laughed
awkwardly. “Slip of the tongue. I meant
smoothie maker. In fact, I think ’ll go and make
us some smoothies right now. Call me when the
sails are working!”
 CHAPTER SIX

“All right.” David pulled out another handful of

gunk, then another, then twelve more. The central
dial creaked and quivered.
“There!” David yanked from the gap one
final clump of filth. “Aaaaaargh!” he added, as
a sudden gust of wind caught the sails and blew
them all the way round.
David flattened himself against the wooden
slats and held on tight. He was on his side, then
upside down and then the right way up again.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Help!” he screamed. “The sails are turning!”

“Well done, David!” Van Gale’s voice from
inside the windmill sounded muffled but cheerful.
“That’s wonderful!”
“Not wonderful!” shrieked David, turning
upside down again. “Not wonderful at all!
Help me!”
But it was too late. David lost his grip,
plummeted through the air and landed (as luck
would have it) in a leafy rowanberry bush.
“Ouch,” he said, crawling out of the bush on his
hands and knees.
Then he heard it — a weird chuckle from around
the side of the windmill. David turned his head
and saw a flash of movement, as if someone or
something had dodged back out of sight.
“Victoria?” David got to his feet. “Is that you?”
But even as he said it, he knew that the weird
chuckle he had heard was not from a human.
BANG!
What was that? A door being slammed by the
wind? Or something else?

¢ 68 at
 CHAPTER SIX

His heart pounding, David tiptoed around the

outer wall of the windmill. On the far side, he
found a low wooden hatch that looked like the
entrance to a cellar.
He gripped the edge of the hatch and heaved
it open, revealing a flight of stone steps descending
into darkness. Whatever had been spying on him
had almost certainly gone down there.
David would not normally have dreamed of
investigating a dark, scary cellar by himself. But
today was different. He had to find out what
Victoria van Gale was up to, and this was his best
clue so far. Sick with dread, he climbed through
the hatch and tiptoed down the cold, stone steps.
The cellar was pitch black and smelled of
mould. David edged forward with his arms out in
front of him, his trembling fingers touching sacks
of potatoes here, a broken wheelbarrow there and
sticky cobwebs all over the place.
A cockroach skittered suddenly across his foot,
_ causing him to yelp in fright and blunder sideways
into a shelf. Jars smashed. Tins clattered. Matches
and candles rolled.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Matches! Candles! David felt around and

picked them up.
The first four matches he tried were soggy and
useless. The fifth one flickered and went out. The
sixth one worked.
“Hello?” David lit a candle and raised it in
front of him. “Is anybody there?”
Silence.
He inched forward, peering into the shifting
shadows at the edge of the candlelight. “I know
you’re there,” he quavered. “Show yourself!”
Stacked against the far wall of the cellar was a
mound of broken furniture. David held the candle
high above his head and narrowed his eyes to help
him see.
In amongst the odds and ends lay a number
of strange-looking mannequins, or at least, bits of
mannequins. Here an arm and there a leg. Here
a body, there a head. Not one of these weird dolls
was complete.
Except for one.

70
 The mannequin that attracted David’s attention
looked like it was made of moss. It had been
discarded upside down on the side of the heap, a
_funny-looking figure with a pot belly, four stubby
, limbs and a giant, bulbous head. It looked a bit
like a nisse.

71
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

David bent low over the mannequin, shining

the candlelight across its face. It was the eyes
that really fascinated him. At the centre of each
eye was a tiny pinprick of light, as if those dark
pupils were actually reflecting the flame of David’s
candle. Very impressive workmanship.
David stared at the mossy mannequin and the
mossy mannequin stared back at him.
And then it blinked.
“Aaaargh!” shrieked David, dropping
the candle.
“Raaargh!” cried the creature, leaping to its
feet and flinging itself at David, its eyes alive
with rage.
The candle hit the floor, snuffing itself out and
plunging the cellar into darkness. David turned
to run but the creature was too fast for him. It
tackled him around the waist, dragging him down
onto the mound of mannequins.
“Get off me!” cried David, craning his neck
away from the creature’s snapping teeth.
Click.
A shaft of light appeared above and a coiled
 CHAPTER SIX

rope tumbled through it.

“Grab on!” called Victoria van Gale.
David seized the rope and felt himself being
whisked out of the creature’s clutches, up, up, up
and into the light. Victoria van Gale hauled him
through a trap door onto the living room carpet
and slammed the hatch behind him.
“Phew, that was close!” Van Gale double-locked
the hatch and covered it with a dust sheet. “You
met my assistant, then?”
David sat up, blinking in the light. “If your
assistant is a creepy mannequin made of moss that
attacks people for no reason, then ues, I met your
assistant.”
Van Gale sighed. “He does get a little grabby
when he’s startled. But most of the time he’s
completely harmless. I built him to help me with
the renovations.”
“You built him?”
“Yes.” Victoria van Gale smiled. “I knew I was
going to need some help renovating the windmill,
so I made a little nisse to assist me. Do you
like him?”

, ae
 Dangling off the side of a ghost ship in the middle
of Bjérg Fjord, an enormous iron hook lowered
towards the ocean with three very anxious captives
attached to it. The rope creaked as it descended
inch by inch.
“Sorry this is taking so long,” the captain
called. “We’re short on winch oil.”
“Take your time,” muttered the Wood Man.
Hilda strained against the ropes. “Wood Man,
this is all your fault,” she whispered. “You said you
wanted to find out about the sinkings in the fjord.”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Actually, it was you who wanted that,” said the

Wood Man. “I just wanted a.Draugen sextant. Is
that so shellfish?”
“Absolutely!” Hilda glanced at the waves
below, where ferocious salt lions leapt and snapped
their jaws.
“Captain,” shouted Hilda. “Do you always
turn your captives into Draugen, or is there some
sort of alternative?”
“Sorry,” the captain yelled back. “No alternative.”
The Draugen first mate cleared his throat.
“Except—~
“Nicholas!” snapped the captain. “Don’t
you dare.”
“There is one alternative,” the first mate gabbled.
“Tradition dictates that if the captive sailors can
beat the Draugen in a race back to harbour, they
should be freed at once.” The first mate looked
startled by his own words and he clapped a hand
over his mouth.
The captain sighed and looked down at her
captives. “I’m guessing you’re challenging us to a
race, then.”
 CHAPTER SEVEN

“Yes!” yelled Hilda.

“Sure,” said the Wood Man. “Why not?”
The Draugen hauled up the metal hook inch
by inch, and allowed their captives to return to
their ship.
Both crews set about preparing for the race.
They raised sails, adjusted knots and tightened
lines. As soon as the ships were ready, one of the
Draugen sailors launched a flare, which exploded
— BANG! - into the shape of a ghostly skull.
“GO, GO, GO!” the Draugen captain cried.
The ships plunged forward, bow to bow. It
seemed for a moment that the Nautilus had the
edge, but then the Draugen ship suddenly zoomed
ahead, ghostly energy churning in its wake.
“They’re using magic!” cried Hilda.
“That’s cheating!”
“They did seem rather confident for people
with holes in their sails,” the Wood Man noted.
Hilda glanced up and saw a weather
spirit hovering above them, watching the race
- with interest.

pis "4 a7 ese

 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Hi there!” called Hilda. “Could you follow

along behind us, please? We could do with an extra
puff of wind in our sails.”
“No chance,” said the weather spirit.
“Why not?”
“Because a weather spirit is a force of nature,”
huffed the spirit. “Not a servant to little girls.”
Hilda sighed. The Draugen ship was already
half a mile ahead. The race was as good as lost.
“It doesn’t matter,” said the Wood Man in a
 CHAPTER SEVEN

loud whisper. “It doesn’t look like it’s got much

puff in it anyway.”
‘The weather spirit turned dark purple.
“T heard that!”
“Looks a little wispy, if you ask me,” whispered
the Wood Man.
“Wispy!” The weather spirit huffed and puffed.
“T have never been so offended in all my life.
Blue-haired girl, tell your captain to apologize
this instant!”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

The sails of the Nautilus twitched, and an idea

popped into Hilda’s head.
“Don’t take it personally!” Hilda yelled to
_ the weather spirit. “Wood Man here is rude
to everyone. Besides, he’s not the captain of
this ship.”
“Really?” The weather spirit drifted closer.
“What is he?”
“He’s the captain’s log.”
“Haha,” the weather spirit chortled. “The
captain’s log! Good one!” Puffs of wind from the
spirit’s chuckles filled the sails of the Nautilus and
nudged it forward in the water.
“When we first set sail,” said Hilda, “the Wood
Man’s girlfriend came to the harbour to wave
him off. ‘Bring me back a diamond necklace!’ she
called. ‘Sure!’ he called back. ‘Pll bring you back a
diamond — but don’t call me Neckless!’”
“Neckless! Hahaha!” The weather spirit burst
out laughing, powering the Nautilus forward past
Cauldron Island.
“Last week we landed on a tropical island,”
shouted Hilda. “The inhabitants wanted to crown

80
 CHAPTER SEVEN

the Wood Man their king. They said he’d make an

excellent ruler.”
“Bahahahaha!” The weather spirit laughed like
a drain. “He would indeed. He’d make dozens of
excellent rulers!”
The ship surged forward, faster and faster,
drenching Hilda and Wood Man with sea spray.
The spirit followed close behind, eager for
another joke.
“What’s the Wood Man’s least favourite
month?” shouted Hilda.
“T don’t know.”
“Sep-TiIIMBERRRRI”
The weather spirit roared with laughter,
releasing yet more wind. They were moving
powerfully through the water and gaining on the
ghost ship. Hilda could see the Draugen captain at
the wheel, her seaweed hair streaming behind her
in the wind.
“What does the Wood Man wear on his left
foot?” Hilda shouted up to the weather spirit. She
- paused for a moment and then yelled, “Wooden
shoe like to know!”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

The Nautilus was level with the ghost ship,

ploughing through the water with astounding
speed. They were almost back at The Salty Maiden.
“What did the beaver say to the Wood Man?”
yelled Hilda. “Nice gnawing you!”
“PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA"” A final gale
of laughter burst out of the helpless spirit and into
the sails of the Nautilus. The ship shot across the
harbour, veered sharply to starboard and crashed
into the dock so hard that Hilda, Twig and the
Wood Man were thrown clean off the ship’s deck
and onto the quay.
A split second later, the ghost ship arrived at
high speed, colliding with the starboard fender of
the Nautilus. Hilda expected the hulls of both ships
to splinter like matchwood, but the prow of the
Draugen ship passed right through the Nautilus
like a ghost through furniture.
“You hornswogglers!” The Draugen captain
shook her fist and cracked a rueful grin. “You
won’t beat us next time!”
The ghostly sailors turned their ship around
and headed back to sea. Hilda jumped to her feet
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

and waved at them.

“Goodbye,” she called;““and thank you for
the grog!”
The Draugen adjusted their tattered sails,
drifted across the harbour and vanished into mist.
“One more joke,” the weather spirit pleaded.
“Just one more joke, then Ill be on my way.”
“All right,” grinned Hilda. “Knock-knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Definitely not the Wood Man.”
The weather spirit pulled a face.
“The Wood Man never knocks,” Hilda
exploited: “So if you hear knock-knock, you can
be pretty sure it’s not the Wood Man.”
“I don’t find that funny in the slightest,” said
the weather spirit stiffly. “Goodbye.”
And with that, it flounced away.

, 684 4
oe tie
is
 Hilda ran all the way to the library with Twig
at her heels. When she arrived, she found Frida
in one of the secret reading rooms, waving her
hands over a cockroach. Frida looked up with a
start, and goggled at her friend’s wet clothes and
dishevelled hair.
“T went sailing with the Wood Man,” Hilda
explained. “We were almost killed and,turned into
Draugen but I managed to save the day by telling
‘jokes to a weather spirit. How was your morning?”
“Okay... Well; I had my first witching lesson

i, 87
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

with Tildy,” said Frida. “She taught me something

called psychobiokinesis and then she set me an
assignment. I’m supposed to form a strong mental
connection with another living thing.”
“A cockroach?”
“I thought it would be easier to start with
something small.” Frida scowled at the critter on
the table. “I don’t even know if it’s working.”
“Maybe you could try with Twig,”
suggested Hilda.
Twig whined nervously and backed away.
“Another time,” smiled Frida. “Let’s go and
find David, shall we?”

David was outside Victoria van Gale’s windmill,

putting up a bird box.
“David!” yelled Hilda. “How’s the
renovation going?”
David jumped at the sudden greeting and
accidentally bashed his thumb with a hammer.
“OW!” he yelled. “Don’t creep up on me like
that! And for your information,” (he dropped his
voice to an urgent whisper) “it’s not going well at
 CHAPTER EIGHT

all — not even a teeny-weeny-little-bit well. Victoria

van Gale has confirmed all of my worst suspicions
about her.”
He told them about the creepy basement
beneath the windmill and the strange creature that
attacked him there.
Hilda shrugged. “Why shouldn’t van Gale
create a fake nisse thingy to help her out? It must
be ever so lonely out here all on her own.”
“That’s right,” Frida added, “and anyway, just
think how many Sparrow Scout badges you’re
going to earn for your work here: renovation,
interior design, care for animals, birding—”
“Yoo-hoo!l” called van Gale, emerging from the
windmill. “David, I’ve made us some cucumber
sandwiches—” She broke off when she saw Hilda
and Frida. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we had
visitors. Hello, girls.”
“We've met before,” said Hilda, shaking hands.
“During the storm, remember?”
“Ah, yes.” Van Gale’s breezy smile deserted
her for an instant, then quickly reappeared.
“Tell me something,” she said. “Do you like

a:
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

cucumber sandwiches?”
“We love them!” cried Hilda and Frida
in unison.
Five minutes later, Hilda, Frida and
Victoria van Gale were lounging on moth-eaten
armchairs inside the windmill, munching cucumber
sandwiches and listening to an eerie song on
the radio.

i 90
 CHAPTER EIGHT

“Down in the middle of the Iron Pine Forest

there's a pile of screaming stones,
Down in the middle of the lron Pine Forest
there's a pile of gleaming bones.”
David went paler and paler with every line of the
song, and he grew even more anxious when van
Gale’s weird nisse came out of the kitchen with a
tray and started serving drinks.
“Keep that thing away from me!” he snapped.
Hilda peered at the creature with interest.
“What’s it made from, Victoria?”
“Oh, you know.” Van Gale gestured vaguely.
“Moss and hair and other bits and bobs. You could
make your own if you wanted to.”
“Maybe I will,” said Hilda. “My current nisse is
pretty useless, to be honest. He doesn’t even let me
into Nowhere Space any more.”
“Wait, what?” Van Gale leaned forward and
had a weird glint in her eyes. “You’ve been in
Nowhere Space?”
“Hundreds of times,” said Hilda, which was a
-major exaggeration.
| “Fascinating.” Van Gale licked her lips. “David,

Ao
er 6
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

why don’t you show Frida the bug hotel you’ve

been working on? Go on, I can tell she really wants
to see it!”
David and Frida exchanged a confused look
but they went outside. As soon as they were gone,
Victoria van Gale fetched Hilda a notebook and a
packet of felt-tip pens.
“Do you like drawing?” she asked.
Hilda nodded.
“Draw me something nice,” said van Gale.
“T know! Why not have a go at drawing
Nowhere Space?”
Hilda chose a purple pen. Slowly and
carefully, she drew a wobble-walled tunnel lined with
glowing holes.
“Astounding,” breathed van Gale.
“Tell me, Hilda, did you use a quantum accelerator
to enter?”
“A what? No. I just held my nisse Tontu’s hand.”
“How narrow was the entry point?”
Hilda frowned, “Pretty narrow, why do you ask?”
“As narrow as that?” Van Gale flung out an arm
to indicate the crack in the wall behind her.

92
 CHAPTER EIGHT

At that moment they were interrupted by the

return of David and Frida.
“Very nice,” Frida was saying. “Although to
tell the truth, David, your head was already a
perfectly good bug hotel.”
Van Gale pocketed Hilda’s diagram and called
her assistant to bring more cordial.
“We should give him a name,” said Hilda.
“How about Moss Head Fred?”
“Or Evil Steve,” muttered David darkly.
“T prefer Hilda’s suggestion,” said van Gale.
At one o’clock, the lunchtime news came on
the radio. “Another fishing boat has sunk in Bjérg
Fjord,” the newsreader said. “It went down near
Cauldron Island at approximately ten thirty this
morning. Rescue boats are searching the area, but
no survivors have been found.”
Hilda shook her head. “I don’t believe it,” she
said. “That’s the fifth sinking this week!”
The newsreader continued. “Erik Ahlberg of
the Trolberg Safety Patrol is now blaming the
sinkings on the Lindworm of Cauldron Island.

Ay 98
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

He is putting together a marine strike force to

capture the Lindworm and put an end to these
all-too-regular tragedies.”
Hilda jumped to her feet and shouted at the
radio. “This is not right!” she cried. “There’s no
way the Lindworm is involved. David, Frida, we
need to go down to the harbour right this minute
and stop him launching those Safety Patrol boats.”
“How are you going to do that?” asked Victoria
van Gale.

94
 CHAPTER EIGHT

“T don’t know,” said Hilda, “but the Sparrow

Scout Oath is all about being kind to all
animals, people and spirits, and that includes the
Lindworm. We can’t let Erik Ahlberg attack her!”
David shook his head. “Ill be with you in
spirit,” he said, “but right now I’m very busy being
kind to these animals right here.” He pointed at a
family of voles asleep in a cardboard box.
“Right,” said Hilda, doubtfully. “What about
you, Frida? Will you accompany me on this
potentially traumatic adventure?”
Frida smiled up at her blue-haired friend.
“Wouldn’t missit for the world,” she said.

6,98
 Hilda and Frida rode their bikes all the way
down to the harbour and locked them up at The
Salty Maiden’s bike rack. The quayside was a
very different place to the one Hilda had left
two hours ago. Now it was buzzing with activity.
Twelve Safety Patrol boats were being fitted out
with harpoons, ready for battle. Commander Erik
Ahlberg himself strode along the quay, barking
' orders at clusters of nervous-looking sailors.
“Excuse me, Mr Ahlberg,” said Hilda.

:SOT we
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Ahlberg looked down at her with the expression

of a man who has just found a slug in his salad.
“Please don’t attack the Lindworm,” said Hilda.
“We’ve met her, and she’s a gentle, peace-loving
soul. She would never attack a boat. All she wants
is to be left alone to tend her garden.”
“The experts disagree with you,” said Ahlberg
curtly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a million
and one things to attend to.” With that, he strode
off along the quay, inspecting the Safety Patrol
boats and barking orders.
. As Hilda stared after him, she suddenly felt
very small and powerless.
“If we can’t stop the strike force,” said Frida,
“we can at least warn the Lindworm that they’re
coming for her.”
Hilda scanned the harbour and noticed the
Nautilus still moored at the end of the quay beyond
the Safety Patrol boats. “The Wood Man’s ship!”
she cried. “Come on!”
They sprinted along the quay towards the ship.
Frida and Twig ran straight down the gangplank
onto the deck. Hilda untied the rope from the

*. 98
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

mooring post, then boarded the ship with a

giant leap.
“Charming!” cried a doleful voice that seemed
-to come from somewhere up above.
Hilda shielded her eyes from the sun and saw
the tiny figure of the Wood Man perched way up
high at the top of the rigging. He was swaying to
and fro in the breeze like a bee on a dandelion.
“Charming!” he repeated. “I climb the futtocks
to mend a sail, and no sooner do I reach the top
than someone steals my ship!”
“Sorry!” yelled Hilda. “We didn’t think you
were here!”
“That’s fine, then,” said the Wood Man, his voice
dripping with sarcasm. “So long as a person is
absent, it’s totally acceptable to make off with their
property. Where are we going, anyway?”
“Cauldron Island!” Hilda yelled. “Ahlberg is
about to attack it with twelve Safety Patrol boats.”
“Typical.” The Wood Man started to climb down
the rigging. “We’re going to an island that’s about
to get blown to smithereens. The perfect day out.”
As Cauldron Island came into view, Hilda

- 100
 CHAPTER NINE

spotted a wisp of purple smoke coiling into the sky

from the garden at the centre of the island.
The Wood Man alighted on the deck.
“Nice to meet you, Wood Man,” said Frida.
“Any friend of Hilda’s is a friend of mine.”
The Wood Man gazed back at her with empty
eyes. “You clearly have more confidence in Hilda’s
judgement than I do.”
When they arrived on the shore of the island,
the Wood Man stayed with the ship while the
others jumped down onto the white, pebbly beach.
Twig seemed delighted to be back on Cauldron
Island. He led Hilda and Frida up over the rocks
and down through the hidden valley beyond. He
skipped over lilac bushes, nibbled at wild sage and
dived joyfully in and out of giant roffleworts.
Before long, they reached the Lindworm’s lair.
The slender dragon was sitting in the middle of
the clearing, using a pair of tiny scissors to trim a
miniature tree.
“Hello!” said Hilda.
The Lindworm reared up tall and sucked

ge, 107 <8

 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

great gulps of air into her hydrogen glands,

preparing to frazzle the intruders to a crisp.
Then her eyes widened in recognition and her
~ body relaxed a little.
“Oh, it’s you,” said the Lindworm, bending
 CHAPTER NINE

low. “Have you come to give me more city

plant specimens?”
“No,” said Hilda. “We’ve come to get you off
this island. The commander of the Safety Patrol
thinks you’ve been attacking ships in the fjord.”
“He’s mistaken,” said the Lindworm. “I’ve been
right here all week, trimming my ficus benjamina.”
She pointed at the tiny tree. “Weeping figs make
excellent miniatures, don’t you think?”
“Forget your weeping fig,” said Frida. “You’ll
be a weeping Lindworm if you don’t get off this
island quick.”
The Lindworm tossed her proud head. “I’m not
scared,” she said.
“You should be,” said Frida. “Ahlberg has
twelve boats and hundreds of harpoons.”
The Lindworm reared up on her haunches,
her massive nostrils quivering with rage. “I am a
Lindworm!” she cried, “and I live by a code, which
is never to back down from a battle. If it’s a fight
they want, then it’s a fight they’ll get. They’ll soon
‘regret picking on a fire-breathing dragon who
suffers from social anxiety
|»?
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

And with that, she turned tail and slithered off

into the trees.
“Come back!” called Hilda. “Come with us on
our ship! You can make a home for yourself in the
Great Forest. It has all kinds of gorgeous plants!”
Frida slipped her hand into Hilda’s. “Let’s go,”
she whispered. “We can’t help her if she doesn’t
want to be helped.”
Hilda’s heart ached as she trudged back to the
beach with Frida. Even Twig walked with his tail
turned down, sensing their sadness.
When they reached the top of the valley and
looked out to sea, they could not believe their eyes.
The Nautilus had left without them.
There it was, in the middle of the fjord, tacking
north towards the harbour with a fair wind in its
sails. From where Hilda stood, the Wood Man was
no more than a tiny speck on the foredeck.
“Hey!” yelled Hilda. “We’re still here! You’ve
left us behind!”
Then she saw the reason for the Wood Man’s
swift departure. Ahlberg’s fleet had set sail and
was heading across the fjord towards Cauldron
 CHAPTER NINE

Island, harpoon cannons at the ready.

“T thought you said the Wood Man was your
friend,” Frida muttered.
“It’s complicated,” said Hilda.
No sooner were the words out of her mouth
than the Nautilus pitched violently to starboard
and disappeared beneath the waves.

ph, 106 «6
 yes
inet
Se
Seer
 “Wood Man!” yelled Hilda, breaking into a run.
Tide-smoothed pebbles clacked beneath her feet as
she sprinted down the beach into the foaming surf.
A mesmerising tone vibrated in the air. Hilda
turned around and saw that Frida was holding a
hefty, pale-blue conch shell to her lips. The bugle
call swelled to a crescendo, reaching out across
the fjord.
WHOOSH |!A tall column of water rose up in
front of the girls. Two watery eyes blinked open.
“Oh,” said the water spirit, “it’s you.”

ihe, 107 oy
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

It was the second time today that Hilda had

heard the phrase “Oh, it’s you” in a disappointed
tone of voice. But this was not the moment to
complain about such things.
“Water spirit, you’ve got to help us!” Hilda
begged. “Our ship has been sucked under the sea
and our friend the Wood Man is on board!”
“Trivial problems,” sighed the water spirit, but
it let down its staircase all the same.
Hilda, Frida and Twig ran up the staircase and
perched on the spirit’s head.
“Where exactly did the ship sink?” the spirit
asked, as it raced across the surface of the fjord.
Hilda considered this, and then had to admit
that she had absolutely no idea.
It was Frida who came to the rescue. “Carry
on north,” she said. “Now east a bit... and a bit
more... and stop!” |
Hilda stared at her friend in wonder. “You
memorized the precise location!” she said. “Did
Matilda Pilqvist teach you how to do that? Is it
some kind of ancient witching art?”
“No.” Frida slid into the sea and held up a

f 408 af
 CHAPTER TEN

coconut. “I spotted this thing floating in the sea,

that’s all.”
Hilda leaped down to join her friend, entering
the fjord with a great splash. She gasped at the
coldness of the water, and then she gasped a
second time, because the thing in Frida’s hand was
not a coconut. It was the Wood Man’s head!
“Well, this is awkward,” said the Wood
Man’s head.
“Tt certainly is,” said Hilda. “I can’t believe
you left us.”
“Ha,” said the Wood Man.
“We could have died.”
“Hahaha,” said the Wood Man.
“And now you’ve lost your body.”
“Hahahahahahaha!” said the Wood Man.
“Wood Man, why are you laughing?”
“There’s something tickling my feet,” said the
Wood Man. “I don’t even know where my feet are
right now, but they’re definitely being tickled.”
“Did you see the thing that sank your ship?”
“All I saw was two enormous tentacles,” said
the Wood Man. “I tried to outpace them, but it was
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

impossible. One tentacle grabbed the ship, another

grabbed my body, and hahahahaha.”
At the mention of tentacles, a cold shiver ran
_ down Hilda’s spine — although that might also
have had something to do with the temperature of
the fjord.
“Now I get it,” said Hilda. “The Wood Man
didn’t leave us behind on purpose. His ship was
being attacked.”
Frida looked unconvinced, but she said nothing.
“Thanks for your help,” Hilda said to the
water spirit. “Could you take our deer-fox friend
back to the harbour, so we can stay here with the
Wood Man’s head and search for the tentacled
monster that’s tickling his feet?”
“Wow,” said the water spirit. “There’s a
sentence that’s never been said before.”
It turned to leave, then stopped. “Will you need
to swim underwater?”
Hilda nodded.
“Hold still, then.” The spirit reached out a
watery hand and slapped Hilda gently around
the face, enveloping her head in a silvery bubble
 CHAPTER TEN

the size of a diver’s helmet. Then it did the same

for Frida.
“Do you want one, too?” the water spirit asked
the Wood Man. “Or are you going to quit while
you’re a head?”
“Very funny,” muttered the Wood Man.
“And yes, I would also like a bubble helmet.”
“Say please.”
“Please.”

=——)
~~
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

The water spirit slapped Wood Man hard around

the face, encasing his headin a third magic bubble.
Then it zoomed off across the bay, chuckling to
_itself. Hilda saw Twig’s ears flapping in the wind as
he disappeared into the distance.
“Wait for us on the quayside, Twig!” yelled Hilda.
“We'll be back soon!”
Frida put her face in the water. “These bubble
helmets are amazing,” she said. “We can open our
eyes, and breathe, and even talk!”
“Pity,” murmured the Wood Man’s head.
_ “Come on, Frida,” Hilda cried. “Race you to
the seabed!” |
Hilda flipped her legs up above her head and
propelled herself straight down with long, powerful
dolphin kicks. Frida tucked the Wood Man’s head
under one arm and followed as quickly as she could.
 At first there was nothing to see — just chilly
green water all around — but as the girls went
deeper and deeper, an underwater paradise
revealed itself in all its beautiful weirdness.
Jellyfish pulsated. Octopodes inflated. A smirking
spiny dogfish glided past. Fluorescent yellow sea
slugs oscillated their antennae while a school of
orange stingrays nibbled clams.
On the seabed far below, Hilda spotted a
graveyard of sunken ships. They looked as if they
had once been magnificent vessels, with sleek
wooden hulls and beautifully carved prows.
“Whoa!” aid Hilda, diving down to the ships.
“Look at these!”
“I’d love to,” muttered the Wood Man, “but I’m
facing into your friend’s armpit.”
“Sorry,” said Frida, turning the Wood Man’s
head around so he could see.

ae
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Oh, that,” said the Wood Man. “That’s the

remains of a pirate battle many moons ago. It has
nothing to do with this week’s sinkings.”
Hilda snapped a rotting handle off a ship’s
wheel and handed it to Frida. “Found you a
wand,” she said.
They swam on through fabulous coral
formations shaped like brains, fans and deer-fox
antlers. They swam past cross-looking crabs and
graceful turtles. They even swam through a kelp
forest, feeling their way forward through the thick,
wavy fronds.
On the far side of the kelp forest, Hilda stopped
dead, gaping in amazement at the thing in front
of her. Standing upright on the seabed, suspended
within a giant metal frame, was a gigantic bell.
It was rigged with cables, which Hilda guessed
were connected to a control booth somewhere in
Trolberg harbour.
As they watched, the cables twitched and the
bell burst into life with an ear-splitting underwater
BONG!

BTN ay,
 CHAPTER TEN

Fish scattered. Anemones retracted. Lobsters

poked their heads back into their holes.
“Whoa!” shouted Frida. “What is that massive
bell doing down here?”
“It’s here to drive away amphibious trolls,” said
Hilda. “Ahlberg said he tested the bell last week,
but it looks like he’s doing more than that. He’s
ringing it regularly!”
The last echoes of the bell died away and a
bizarre creature swam into view. It looked to Hilda
like a cross between a jellyfish and a cow, with
stubby tentacles and wide, dopey eyes.
“Look!” cried Frida. “It’s the monster that sank
the Nautilus!”
“Don’t be silly,” said Hilda. “It’s nowhere near
big enough for that.”
“I’m not talking about the baby.” Frida craned
her neck upwards, her face a mask of horror. “I’m
talking about the mum!”

3 116
 Back at the windmill, the day’s renovation work
was nearly complete. Birds chirped in bird boxes,
bugs scuttled in the bug hotel, squirrels chattered,
frogs played leapfrog, chipmunks chased their
tails and the majestic windmill sails went round
and round.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, Victoria van
Gale went into town to buy supplies, leaving
David to complete the final task of the day —
- filling in the various cracks that snaked across
the windmill’s inner walls. He poured five cups of

Sg AN?
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

powdered plaster into a bowl, added a splash of

water and stirred the mixture with a knife to make
a thick, creamy paste. When it was ready, he got
to work, slapping the paste into cracks in the wall
and smoothing it over with a scraper. He worked
quickly and quietly, glancing over his shoulder
occasionally to check that Moss Head Fred was
not about to attack him again. Being left on his
own with the creature made him feel more than a
little nervous.
To be fair, Moss Head Fred had behaved quite
well this afternoon. He watched David’s plastering
with interest and even tried to help, dipping his
own scraper into the plaster and attempting to fill
a crack. But his movements were too jerky and
he ended up flinging the plaster in David’s face
instead of at the wall.
Eventually they found a way to cooperate.
Moss Head Fred held the bowl and David did the
actual filling and smoothing. They worked their
way around the windmill until only one crack
remained — a deep fissure in the east wall. Victoria
van Gale had left them strict instructions not to fill
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

in this particular crack. She said she wanted it to

be a home for woodlice.
Moss Head Fred put down the bowl and went
outside. David wandered over to the bookcase,
hoping to find a storybook to read while he waited
for van Gale’s return. Unfortunately, all of the
books were science-themed: chemistry, physics,
biology, geology, laser technology, necromancy...
Wait! Necromancy? Wasn’t that something to
do with bringing dead things back to life?
David ran.a finger along the titles in the
necromancy section: Creating Life (The Hard
Way), Playing God for Experts, Reanimation: A
Comprehensive Guide and The Walking Meat.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

He took The Walking Meat off the shelf and stared

at it in horror. Why was vdn Gale so interested in
necromancy? He looked around him at the strange
windmill, filled with birds and beasts and creepy-
crawlies. In the fading light, it was all beginning to
look horribly creepy.
David was about to replace the book when he
noticed a tightly bound scroll in the shelf space
behind. He picked it up and unrolled it with
trembling fingers.
At the top of the scroll were a dozen
mathematical equations, then a diagram of a
windmill with an odd-looking stick poking out
of the top. The stick was labelled “lightning
conductor” and seemed to be connected to the
sails of the windmill, which were in turn connected
to a “quantum accelerator” and a “ruby laser”.
David tried to remember where he had heard those
phrases before.
When he opened the scroll a little further, a
piece of paper dropped out. On it was a drawing
in purple pen, labelled with the phrases “entry
point” and “Nowhere Space”. David glanced

A 120%
up at the crack in the wall and a terrifying idea
occurred to him.
What if that crack was not for woodlice?
Something behind him cleared its throat.
Moss Head Fred was staring at the scroll in
David’s hands.
“T’ve really enjoyed working with you, Fred,”
stammered David, “but I’ve just remembered, it’s
bath night tonight, so I’d better run.”
He pushed past the nisse and made a dash
for the door. He nearly made it, too, but Moss
al

Be 12 Ry
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Head Fred caught up with him at the last second

and tackled him around the waist, slamming him
to the floor. A dozen birds rose off their perches,
squawking in fright.
“Get off me!” yelled David. “Let go of me, you
pestiferous puppet!”
Moss Head Fred was shorter than David but
also remarkably strong. He bound David’s wrists
and ankles with garden twine, picked him up like
a rag doll and carried him to the iron post in the
centre of the windmill.
“Good knotting technique,” said David, as
Moss Head Fred tied him to the post with yet
more garden twine. “You’d make an excellent
Sparrow Scout if you weren’t, you know, awful.”
With the knots all checked and double-checked,
the creature shambled out into the dusk in search
of van Gale.
David was left alone. At least, he thought
he was alone, until he noticed that one of the
rabbits cowering under the coffee table was
carrying something on its back — a little elf with
a pointy hat.

‘122
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Coo-ee, David!” called the elf. “You seem to

be in a bit of a pickle.”
“Alfur!” cried David. “What are you
doing here? I thought you were at a grammar
conference.”
“It ended this afternoon,” said Alfur. “When I
got back home, I couldn’t find Hilda anywhere.
Mum told me that she might be here.”
“You just missed her,” said David. “She and
Frida went down to the harbour to save the
Lindworm, whilst I stayed here and got attacked
by Victoria van Gale’s moss monster. I found some
secret plans, Alfur. Van Gale is planning to use a
ruby laser and a quantum accelerator to open a
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

massive portal into Nowhere Space!”

“Interesting,” said Alfur. “Why did you choose
‘whilst’ instead of ‘while’?”
“What?” said David. “How is that the
interesting part of what I just said?”
“Because we were discussing it at the
conference only this morning!” said Alfur.
“Most grammarians agree that ‘while’ is more
up to date than ‘whilst’, and also less pretentious.
No offence.”
At that moment, Moss Head Fred returned.
He had not managed to find van Gale but he had
managed to find a big pointy stick. He pulled up a
chair and sat on it, glaring at his hostage.
“Cut me loose,” said David loudly. “There’s a
knife in the plaster bowl on the floor by the wall.”
Moss Head Fred shook his mossy head.
Alfur ran over to the plaster bowl. He jumped
up, grabbed the end of the knife and swung on it.
The knife did not budge.
“Okay, forget that idea,” said David. “Go to
the harbour and fetch Hilda and Frida. Tell them
to come quick!”

4124
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

Moss Head Fred shook his head again and

pointed his pointy stick towards David’s chest, as if
to say, Be quiet or else.
Alfur climbed up David’s clothes and into his
inner ear. “That’s another interesting one,” he
whispered. oce
“‘come quickly’ is correct, of course,
but your ‘come quick’ is so commonly used that
you could probably make an argument for its
acceptability. It all depends on whether you see
grammar as prescriptive or descriptive. If you’re
asking for my opinion on the matter—”
“Just do it!”
Alfur did as he was told. He jumped down to
the floor, leaped onto his buck-toothed steed and
rode off towards the harbour.

Hi, 126 «6%

 Hilda stared up‘at the sea monster. Beneath a sun-
bleached shell, a barnacle-covered body pulsated
grotesquely. Eight gnarly tentacles wriggled and
_ writhed. Dozens of yellow eyes kept unblinking
watch on their surroundings.
No words could do justice to the sheer bulk of
the thing. It was bigger than massive, bigger than
gigantic, bigger than colossal. Although it was at
least two hundred metres away from Hilda and
-Frida, its tentacles were so gargantuan, it could
easily have reached out and grabbed them.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Okaaay,” said Hilda. “Mission accomplished.

Perhaps we should go back up to the surface now.”
“Definitely.” Frida’s voice came out like
a squeak.
“Good plan,” said the Wood Man’s head.
“Who needs a body, anyway?”
Up and up they swam, using their feet like
flippers to propel them towards the surface.
Compelled by a mixture of fear and fascination,
they kept their eyes on the many-eyed monster the
whole way up.
“Look,” said Hilda, pointing. “It’s so
humongous, it pokes up above the surface of the
water. I can see waves breaking on its shell.”
“You’re right,” said Frida. “What I don’t
understand is, how come we didn’t see it from
Cauldron Island?”
Hilda reached the surface first and her bubble
helmet burst with a soft pop. The sun was setting
in the west and the pebbles on the beach of
Cauldron Island shone glorious shades of pink,
purple, orange and red.
Hilda frowned, then gasped out loud.

128 a
 CHAPTER TWELVE

“Frida, get up here quick!” she yelled. “There’s

a very good reason why we didn’t spot the
monster’s shell from Cauldron Island. It’s because
the monster’s shell zs Cauldron Island!”
As Hilda gaped at the rocky island, she was
reminded of Bobblehat Mountain near her old
house in the wilderness. That mountain had
turned out not to be a mountain at all but an
ancient Giant that had fallen asleep thousands of
years ago.
Had the gargantuan sea monster in front of her
also been asleep for millennia? Hilda imagined the
natural deposits of sand, rock and vegetation that
could accumulate during such a long period of
time, creating a habitat where all sorts of flora and
fauna could thrive.
“It’s called a Kraken,” said a doleful voice in
Hilda’s ear. The Wood Man’s head was bobbing on
_ the waves between her and Frida.
“A what?” ,
“A Kraken,” said the Wood Man’s head. “But
according to legend, it should be asleep for another
hundred and seventy-five years.”

AIG ssh
HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP
 CHAPTER TWELVE

“Wait,” said Hilda. “You knew this thing existed?”

“Of course. Didn’t you?”
“No!”
“You should read more,” said the Wood Man.
“That massive bell must have woken the Kraken,”
said Frida. “Remember, Ahlberg sent out Safety
Patrol divers to test it six days ago, which was
exactly when the sinkings began.”
“You’re right!” cried Hilda, excitedly. “We have to
tell Ahlberg.”
“You can do it now if you like,” the Wood Man
said. “He’s right behind you.”
Hilda turned and saw the prow of a Safety Patrol
motor boat bearing down on them. It missed them
narrowly and continued towards Cauldron Island.
“We're coming for you, Lindworm!” shrieked a
nasal voice. “You can run but you can’t hide!”
“She can hide, sir,” came the voice of Gerda
Gustav, Ahlberg’s Safety Patrol deputy. “She can
run and she can also hide. We hear she’s very good
at both.”
Another boat soared past, then several more.
There were twelve boats in all, some made of wood
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

and some of metal. Hilda and Frida waved and

yelled, but the Safety Patrol officers did not see
them. They were focused instead on Cauldron
Island, staring in mingled terror and excitement at
the Lindworm that had appeared on a rocky slope.
The girls watched the bold dragon slither
towards the oncoming ships. They watched her
rear up on her back legs and suck three massive
gulps of air into her hydrogen glands, preparing to
fight fire with fire.
“Harpoons at the ready!” Ahlberg yelled.
A black cannon stood on the deck of each
Safety Patrol boat. Officers busied themselves
priming the cannons, inserting a long spear into
the muzzle of each one.
 CHAPTER TWELVE

Hilda swam after the boats. “Don’t fire!”

she yelled. “The Lindworm is innocent! We
have proof!”
“FIRE!” bellowed Ahlberg.
With a thunderous boom, the twelve harpoons
exploded out of the cannons. High into the air they
sailed, their ropes unfurling behind them.
All twelve splashed harmlessly into the water on
the far side of Cauldron Island.
“Wow,” said Frida. “They’re not very good
shots, are they?”
The enraged dragon thrust its long neck
forward and blew a fantastic jet of fire towards the
boats, causing the seawater between them to roil
and hiss. Steam drifted across the water, stinging
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Hilda’s eyes and throat.

“Reload!” bawled Ahlberg. “Lower all cannons
by five degrees!”
Hilda and Frida swam on into the churning
chaos of the battlefield. “Lindworm!” cried Hilda.
“Lindworm! Over here!”
“FIRE!” thundered Ahlberg.
 CHAPTER TWELVE

Again the harpoon cannons boomed.

Again the vicious spears soared high into the air.
Again the Lindworm sucked in air to belch a
scorching jet of flame. But then, quite unexpectedly,
the dragon paused. She had spotted a little blue-
haired girl struggling in the waves.
“Hello, you!” the dragon called. “Hardly an ideal
place for a swim, if you don’t mind my saying.”
“The island is a Kraken!” yelled Hilda at the top
of her voice.
The Lindworm cupped a clawed hand to one ear.
“You feel a little shaken?” she queried. “Don’t we all,
my dear!”
Hilda tried again.
“THE. ISLAND. IS. A. KRAKEN!”
This time the dragon understood. As harpoons
rained down on the island, the Lindworm made a
great leap forward, plunging into the surf with an
almighty crash.
The harpoons missed the Lindworm
but pierced
the Kraken’s shell. A cloud of bubbles fizzed up to
the surface of the fjord — a howl of indignation from
the titan of the deep.

A138 <f
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Oh no,” said Hilda. “Now they’ve done it.”

Rocks clashed. Seashells cracked. Pebbles on the
beach vibrated ominously. The whole of Cauldron
Island was shaken to its foundations and then,
with a shuddering groan like the end of the world,
the harpoon ropes twanged tight and the Kraken
reared up from the sea.
Tentacles waved. Yellow eyes glared. Slimy
mouthparts slobbered and gnashed. The Kraken
of Bjérg Fjord was well and truly awake, and she
was furious.
CHAPTER TWELVE

: . ae 137 “f
 Immense volumes of sea water continued to
cascade off the island’s rim as the Kraken
ascended majestically into an indigo sky. The
Safety Patrol boats, still connected to the monster
by the triple-strength harpoon ropes, began to rise
up out of the fjord.
“Disengage harpoons!” cried a frantic Erik
| Ahlberg, but it was too late. The keels of the twelve
boats were already clear of the water and the
- harpoon operators were tumbling head over heels
down the sloping decks.

he 139 ‘ &
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Abandon ship!” squawked Ahlberg, letting go

of the wheel and flopping backwards into the sea.
All twelve patrol boats dangled above the water,
- bobbing and spinning in mid-air like corks on a
wide-brimmed hat. As Hilda watched in horror,
a monstrous tentacle breached the surface of the
sea, curled itself tightly around one of the wooden
boats and plunged back down beneath the waves.
“Oi!” bellowed Erik Ahlberg. “That’s my boat!
Give it back!”
Hilda and Frida put their faces in the water to
see what the Kraken would do with the boat. They
soon had their answer. A tentacle reached down
towards a crimson coral shelf and dropped the
wooden boat into a nest of baby Krakens.
The babies were small but ravenous. They tore
the boat apart and wolfed it down in seconds.
Another boat followed, then a third, a fourth
and a fifth.
“Look,” said Hilda. “The mama is offering
them some wooden boats and some metal ones,
but the babies are only eating the wooden ones.”
“Picky eaters,” smiled Frida. “If only we could

140 «
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

tell the mama Kraken that there is an all-you-can-

eat buffet of wooden pirate ships right beneath her.
Then she wouldn’t need to grab fishing boats and
Wood Man bodies and suchlike.”
Hilda nodded excitedly. “Maybe there is a
way to tell her. You could use that thing you’ve
been learning — forming a mental connection with
another living thing.”
“Psychobiokinesis?”
“That’s the one! If you were able to point
the Kraken towards the delicious ship graveyard,
perhaps it would leave the Safety Patrol boats
in peace.”
“All right.” A gleam of determination appeared
im Brida s eyes. 1 il try.”
Frida headed for the Kraken, slicing through
the water with lithe fish kicks. But as soon as she
got close, a blue-grey tentacle whipped towards
her and seized her around the waist. |
“Stay-calm!” Hilda yelled. “Use your magic.”
Frida closed her eyes and laid her hands on the
coiled tentacle.
“Have you still got that stick we took from the
ae

% 141 3%
HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

sunken ship?” Hilda yelled. “You could use it as

a wand.”
Frida pulled the stick from underneath her
jumper and stroked it back and forth against the
Kraken’s gnarly skin.
“Concentrate!” yelled Hilda. “Block out
all distractions!”
Frida opened her eyes and shot her friend an
exasperated look.
“Sorry!” yelled Hilda.
Frida closed her eyes again. Hilda could only
imagine the mental strain of trying to link minds
with an ancient sea monster. But after a minute
or two, a serene smile appeared on Frida’s face
and the tentacle around her body seemed to relax
a little.
“What’s it saying?” yelled Hilda, frustrated at
being left out of the conversation. “And what are
you saying? And what is it saying back? And what
are you saying to that?”
“Hang on, Hilda,” Frida murmured.
Ever so gradually, the Kraken lowered itself
back down into the sea. An extra-long tentacle

2, 148
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

reached into the inky depths of the fjord and came

back up with the wreck of a wooden pirate ship.
It fed the wreck to the babies on the coral shelf
and they reacted with bubbly squeals of pleasure
and excitement.
“Look at that,” said Hilda. “I guess old ships
are tastier than new ones.”
The tentacle reached once more into the
babies’ nest, pulled out a headless doll and passed
it to Frida.
“Aw, cute,” said Hilda. “The Kraken gave Frida
a doll.”
“That’s no dolly,” said a morose voice close at
hand. “That’s my body.”
It did not take long for Cauldron Island to
return to its normal position, with the tide lapping
quietly against its pebbled beach. Nobody seeing
this picturesque island for the first time would
believe that it was in fact the shell of a colossal
sea creature.
As for the strike force, it was a sorry sight
indeed. Three boats had been devoured by the
baby krakens. Eight were floating upside-down in

" A 144 «f
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

the surf. Only one had been lucky enough to land

in the water the right way up, and this was now a
rescue vessel, puttering back and forth, picking up
dozens of soggy survivors.
- Erik Ahlberg sat cross-legged on the bow,
wrapped in a yellow blanket and staring forlornly
ahead of him. He had lost his feathered hat,
his steel-capped boots and (for now at least) his
- insufferable arrogance.
Hilda, Frida and the Wood Man did not
_ attempt to board the Safety Patrol boat. They were
—
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

lucky enough to be offered a ride by an alternative

rescue vessel. :
“Where will you make your home now?” Hilda
asked the Lindworm as they climbed onto her back
and shot off across the bay. “Will you go and live
in the Great Forest?”
“No,” said the Lindworm with a smile in her
voice. “Living on the back of a Kraken will suit me ~
perfectly. I'll have even fewer visitors than before.” —
 “Alfur, you’re Back from your conference!” cried
Hilda, jumping off the Lindworm and onto the
quay. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” said Alfur. “I mean, ’m
well. I mean, you need to come to the windmill.
David thinks that Victoria van Gale is about to do
. something terrible!”
“Relax,” said Frida with a knowing smile.
~ “David always thinks van Gale is about to do
3 something terrible.”
| “Does he?” said Alfur. “Well, this time he

BO 449 «af
Ps s ea a
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

thinks she’s planning to use a ruby laser and a

quantum accelerator to open a massive portal into
Nowhere Space. Like you say, I’m sure it’s nothing
to worry about.”
Before the elf had even finished talking, Hilda
and Frida were off and running, sprinting side by
side towards The Salty Maiden’s bike rack.

When Victoria van Gale returned from town,

she was surprised to find David tied to a post in
the middle of the windmill.
“What’s going on?” she gasped.
“Your creature went ballistic again,” said
David. “He’s a menace, that one. If I were you,
I would disassemble him and use the parts for
something more useful, like the stuffing in a cuddly
woff toy.”
Unfortunately, Moss Head Fred was
already telling his side of the story in a series of
bizarre mimes.
“Bookshelf?” Van Gale frowned. “Hidden
scroll? Oh dear, David found out about our little
machine, did he?”

“Ax 160 af
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Whatever you’re planning to do, don’t do

it,” said David, struggling against the knots that
bound him to the post. “Surely you remember
what happened up at the weather station.
Interfering with nature always leads to disaster.”
“Nonsense,” snapped van Gale. “I’m not
interfering with nature, I’m protecting it. Why
do you think I want to open a portal into
Nowhere Space?”
“Because you’re as nutty as a fruitcake!”
shouted David.
“T’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” said van Gale.
“The reason I want to open a portal into Nowhere
Space is so that people can live there. If we start
building homes in Nowhere Space, we won’t have
to bulldoze any more trees and displace these
poor animals, will we? Think about it, David. Why
should nisse have that glorious empty space all to
themselves? It’s not right.”
The scientist raised her arms in eager appeal
and a sudden flash of lightning lit her from behind,
: making her look more than ever like an out-of-
control comic-book villain.
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“The storm is here,” van Gale said.

“Let us begin.”
She took a remote control out of her inside
pocket and pressed a single button. With a
loud grating of gears, the ceiling of the living
room began to move, opening up like the flaps
on a cardboard box to reveal a mass of heavy
machinery in the cavity above. It hung there like
a huge car engine: a well-oiled engine block, a
powerful battery and an intricate jumble of wires
and hoses.
What worried David most was the long, metal
pipe that protruded from the middle of the engine
block. “Is that a gun?” he stammered.
“Of course not.” Van Gale frowned. “It’s a ruby
laser. It emits deep red light at a wavelength of six
_ hundred and ninety-five nanometres.”
“T see,” David quavered. “That’s all
right, then.”
Van Gale pressed another button with her long
index finger. A leather harness dropped down
| from the ceiling space, connected to a jumble
of coloured wires. She carried it over to Moss

ro <5
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Head Fred and slipped the harness over his head,

coupling him to the machine above.
“House spirit, quantum accelerator, ruby
laser...” Van Gale counted off the checklist on her
fingers. “Ah yes, lightning conductor.”
She stabbed a third button and David heard
a quiet buzz high up on the windmill. It sounded
like a metal antenna extending in segments to its
full length.
Van Gale bent down and kissed her creature’s
mossy head. “Be brave, my dear. This is the
-moment for which you were created. Tonight,
we make beautiful history!”
Lightning flashed, the windmill sails flew
around and a deep-red beam shone out from the
muzzle of the laser gun.

The horizon blazed yellow, pink and purple in

the west, but the sky over Trolberg was an ominous
black. Hilda and Frida set their faces against the
wild wind and pedalled as if their lives depended
on it, flying up the street like startled woffs. Twig
streaked along behind with Alfur clinging to his
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

stubby antlers.
“We should pick up Tontu!” yelled Hilda.
“Come on, this way!”
They crested the hump of the Bronstad Lane
footbridge so fast, their wheels left the ground.
Sheet lightning flashed ahead of them. Thunder
rolled across the rooftops. Furious weather spirits
piled up on top of each other, eager to release
their downpour.
“Girls, slow down, wait for us!” yelled Alfur.
Up and down the railway embankment they raced,

wh, 156 <<

 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

then past qe Scout Hut and through a maze of

terraced houses. Five minutes later they leaped off
their bikes in front of Hilda’s building and raced
up the stairs to the second floor flat.
“Mum!” called Hilda, bursting into the hallway.
“Hilda, where have you been?” cried Mum. “Oh
my word, you’re soaked to the skin! Frida, you
too! Adventuring is all very well, girls, but if Pd
have behaved like this when I was your age, my
parents would have—”
“Tt’s our neighbour, Mr Ostenfeld!” yelled
Hilda, pointing down the stairs. “I think he’s
calling for help.”
Mum leaped into action, as Hilda knew she
would, dashing down the stairs and hammering
on their neighbour’s door. “Hello!” she shouted.
“Are you okay in there?”
Frida was shocked. “I don’t believe it,” she said.
“You just told your mum a bare-faced lie.”
“I had to,” said Hilda, rushing into the living
room. “All right, maybe I didn’t have to, but it’s
done now. Where’s Tontu? TONTUI!!!”

& 166 ex
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The house spirit’s fuzzy head poked out from

between the sofa cushions. “I disapprove,” he said.
“You just told your mum a whopping great—”
“V'M SORRY, OKAY!” yelled Hilda. “We came
to tell you that Victoria van Gale is about to use
a ruby laser and a quantum accelerator to open a
massive portal into Nowhere Space!”
Tontu gasped and all his fuzz stood up on end.
“Our bikes are downstairs,” said Hilda. “Come
with us!”
“No, you come with me.” Tontu’s right hand
poked up between the sofa cushions. “Unlike
your various other escapades, this one is an
actual emergency!”
The four adventurers linked hands, arms
and paws, and Tontu yanked them into
Nowhere Space. By the time Mum had finished
apologizing to Mr Ostenfeld and returned to the
flat, all she found was a couple of puddles on the
living-room floor.
 ‘Two girls, a deer fox, a house spirit and an elf
burst out of the drainpipe of a newly built house
and sprinted through the wood. Horizontal, driving
rain stung their faces and the howling wind made
them gasp and shiver.
“What’s the worst that could happen if we’re
late?” Hilda shouted.
“A massive rip in the fabric of time and space,”
panted Tontu.
“And what would that do?”
“It’s hard to say for sure, but it would
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

probably suck the whole of Trolberg into a vast,

endless nothingness.”
Hilda saw the outline of the windmill up ahead,

its sails a spinning blur and a mysterious antenna

poking out of its roof. Behind the windmill, forked
lightning shattered the graphite sky into a fiery
mosaic. The antenna crackled and sparked, and
the sails spun even faster.
Hilda sprinted to the windmill, wrenched open
the door and dashed inside. The scene that greeted
her there was horrifying in so many ways: David
was tied toa post, Moss Head Fred was wired up
to some sinister-looking machine, terrified animals
cowered in every corner and a ruby-red laser beam
streamed across the room into a crack in the far
wall. She watched in horror as the crack opened
like a startled eye, wide and pink and watery.
Victoria van Gale strode towards the portal
with her head held high. She clenched her fists,
gritted her teeth and stepped through into
Nowhere Space.
“Come on, Tontu!” cried Hilda, ‘rushing towards

the portal. “We’ve got to stop her!”

 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

But Hilda had reckoned without the interference

of Moss Head Fred, who stuck out his leg with
perfect timing.
“Hey!” cried Hilda, sprawling on the floor.
“That wasn’t nice!”
Moss Head Fred picked up a pointy stick and
hurled it like a javelin, missing Hilda by a whisker.
Hilda scowled. “That wasn’t nice, either!”
Moss Head Fred sprang out of his chair and
leaped on top of her, his hands reaching for
her throat.
“Whoa!” yelled Hilda. “This definitely
isn’t nice!”
“Perhaps I can save you some time here,” said
David, struggling helplessly against his ropes.
“MOSS HEAD FRED |S NOT NICE!”
Twig darted to Hilda’s aid, growling and
snarling. He sank his teeth into the creature’s leg
and shook it hard, scattering moss all over the
floorboards. But Moss Head Fred was weirdly
strong and completely ignored the plucky deer fox.
Frida was next to join the fray. She jumped
on top of Moss Head Fred, frantically tugging

: 162 «ag
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

and ripping at its mossy head. Great clumps of

moss and hair fell away in her hands, revealing
something white beneath.
Hilda screamed, Frida screeched, David
squealed, Tontu yelped, Alfur shrieked and Twig
howled, all at the same time. For the head on
Fred’s shoulders no longer had a single scrap of
moss on it. It was bare and gleaming — a grinning,
chattering skull.
Frida was the first to recover her wits. She
grabbed the skull in both hands and wrenched
it upwards and sideways as hard as she could,
allowing Hilda a few precious seconds to wriggle
out from underneath.
“You go and get van Gale!” Frida panted. “Tl
keep Bone Head Fred busy.”
While Frida continued to grapple with the
chattering skull, Hilda staggered to her feet and
rushed to the crack in the wall, but there was
now something different about the portal. It was
contracting and dilating, and watery liquid seeped
out around its edges.
It was Alfur who realized what was happening.
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Fred’s harness got damaged during the fight!” he

shouted. “The machine is malfunctioning.”
Alfur was right. The machine in the ceiling
space above sparked and fizzled and the all-
important laser flickered from ruby to puce to
sickly green.
“We need to get that woman out of there,” said
Tontu, joining Hilda in front of the portal. “You
should probably take my hand.”
“Why?”

“Two reasons. First, in case the portal returns

to a normal-sized crack when we’re half-way
through. Second, I’m a teeny bit frightened.”
Hilda and Tontu linked hands and stepped
forward in unison.
This was not like Hilda’s previous experiences of
entering Nowhere Space. Instead of the satisfying
shoop of sudden relocation, the feeling was more
of a bloob-bloob-bloob like swimming through
jelly. And when they emerged into Nowhere Space,
the wobble-walled tunnel looked even wobblier
than usual.

164 <a
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Victoria van Gale stood a short distance away

from them, marvelling at her surroundings.
“Victoria!” Hilda shouted.
Van Gale turned around. Her face was grey
and sallow but her big eyes shone with childlike
excitement. “Hilda, I’m so glad you’re here,” she
said. “After all, without your insights, none of this
would have been possible.”
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“Victoria, it’s not safe here!” cried Hilda.

“We need to get you back to safety!”
“What?” Van Gale frowned. “Hilda, I honestly
thought you’d be impressed this time. You wanted
to explore this place just as much as I did. You’ve
been here hundreds of times. You said so.”
“I exaggerated,” said Hilda. “I’ve been here five
times at the most. This space is not for humans,
Victoria. It’s not our world.”
“And yet here we stand,” van Gale snapped.
“Hilda, I have a dream that one day we will
all make our homes right here in Nowhere
Space. There will be no more tree-felling. No
more housing developments. Just peace and
tranquility for every animal and bird on the face
of the earth.”
An eerie gurgling sound came from the
windmill portal and a radio smashed at Hilda’s
feet. Then a coffee cup. Then a drinks trolley, a
record player and an armchair.
“I knew it!” cried Tontu. “The portal is
unstable. It’s going to suck the whole windmill into
itself, and then the whole of Trolberg, and then, for

& 166
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

all we know, the rest of the universe.”

The gurgling sound turned to a rumble.

The glowing holes on the walls and ceiling of
Nowhere Space began to fade and flicker.
“Victoria!” begged Hilda. “Please, we’ve got
to go!”
The scientist looked around with wide,
frightened eyes. “I don’t understand,” she
said. “My calculations were perfect. Where did
I go wrong?”
Two startled-looking sparrows tumbled into
the tunnel, followed by dozens of books and
records. Pla ying God for Experts struck Hilda
square in the chest.
Hilda held up the book for the scientist to see.
“I’m guessing, you got quite a few things wrong.
But we can talk about that later. Come on!”
Cogs and sprockets from the machine itself
were now being sucked into Nowhere Space.
Hilda, Tontu and van Gale staggered towards the
quivering portal, arms in front of their faces to
: protect themselves from flying debris. As Hilda
ran, she bent down and scooped up the sparrows,
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

one in each hand.

The windmill portal was already closing, as if
being zipped up from bottom to top. Tontu leaped
though the remaining crack, followed closely by
Hilda and her rescued sparrows, followed closely
by... no one.
Hilda staggered a few paces and collapsed on
the floor of the windmill. The last thing she saw
was Frida flinging the still-chattering skull into the
disappearing portal, and then the crack was just a
crack and the room dissolved to black.

R 168 «ag
 When Hilda came to, she was lying on a
workbench in the middle of the living room with
a blanket over her. The first thing she noticed on
opening her eyes was that the ceiling above her
head had been closed, hiding van Gale’s damaged
machine from view. The second thing she noticed
was that David was fanning her face with a book,
Frida was massaging her feet and a mouse was
‘running up and down inside her trouser leg.
“Eew,” Hilda shrieked, shaking the mouse free.

4171
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

David grinned. “Tooks like we’ve succeeded in

reanimating our patient.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” said Frida.
“Reanimation is extremely dark magic. I can’t
believe Victoria van Gale actually dug up a
skeleton and — ugh, I don’t want to think about it!”
“She was pretty over the top,” said Hilda. “And
David, we owe you an apology. We were too quick
to assume that van Gale had changed.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said David.
“You two always see the best in people, and
that’s not something to apologize for. I think
it’s a good thing.”
The storm was still raging outside so they all
decided to stay in the windmill a while and wait
for the rain to stop. They switched on van Gale’s
radio and sang along to a couple of songs to keep
their spirits up.
“What do you think will happen to all these
animals?” said Hilda.
“I’m sure they’ll live here very happily indeed,”
Frida replied. “The windmill belongs to them now.”
All of a sudden, the front door flew open
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

and two people en heavy raincoats dashed in.

The moment they pulled down their hoods, the
children groaned.
“What are YOU doing here?” cried Hilda.
“We could ask you lot the same question,”
snapped Erik Ahlberg.
Deputy Gerda wiped her boots on the welcome
mat and stepped forward, glancing around in
obvious surprise. “The Safety Patrol’s seismometers
detected unusual movements in the ground in this
area,” she said. “We came to investigate.”

A APG
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

“What’s a seismometer?” asked David.

“Something that detects unusual movements
in the ground,” snapped Ahlberg, shooting him
a scornful look. “So tell us, what’s been going
on here?”
Hilda’s hand shot into the air. “Here’s what
happened,” she said. “A scientist opened a
portal into Nowhere Space, but her giant laser
malfunctioned and the portal turned into a black
hole, sucking everything into it. The scientist was
harvesting lightning to power her machine, so
I’m guessing that’s what caused the trembling in
the ground. We tried to get her out of Nowhere
Space before the portal closed, but we failed. And
then I fainted.”
Ahlberg bent down so that his face was close to
Hilda’s. “If you’re going to keep making excuses
for marauding trolls,” he said, “you should at least
come up with more believable stories. Come on,
Deputy Gerda, let’s search the woods before that
troll gets away. It must be a really big one if it’s
causing earthquakes!”
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Yes, sir,” said Deputy Gerda, but as she turned

to leave, her eye fell on the scroll lying face-up on
the floor with a clearly labelled diagram of van
Gale’s machine.
“Deputy?” Ahlberg adjusted the toggle on his
hood. “What are you waiting for?”
Gerda Gustav looked back at the three children
and Hilda thought she saw the tiniest twitch of a
smile at the corner of her mouth.
“Nothing, sir,” she said, and they disappeared
into the night, slamming the door behind them.
“Hey, David,” said Frida. “Did you see what
flew in when the door opened just now?” She
pointed at a big bird perched on top of the step
ladder: a glossy, black bird with a scarlet cap.
“Hooray!” David punched the air and reached
for his camera.
“ll do it, shall I?” said Frida, taking the
camera gently out of his hands. “Might be easier
that way.”
While Frida set to work taking photos of the
~ scarlet-capped warbler, David plonked himself
down in an armchair and went to sleep.

A 176 +88,
 HILDA AND THE GHOST SHIP

Hilda felta slight tickling sensation on her

earlobe, which usually meant that Alfur was
climbing into her ear.
“That was a great trick, Hilda,” chuckled
Alfur. “You guessed that if you told Ahlberg the
whole traumatic adventure, he definitely wouldn’t
believe you!”
“I know,” grinned Hilda. “Do you think it
might work on my Mum?”
 Enjoyed Hilda and the Ghost Ship?
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iLDA
AND THE
WHITE WOFF

Catch up with your favourite blue-haired adventurer

as she meets new creatures and faces new perils in
the latest instalment of Hilda tales.

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Here's a sneak peek just for you...
Rain poured. A deer fox snored. A house spirit
gazed at a Dungeon Crops board. In the corner
of the living room, a little girl with blue hair was
gabbling excitedly into a telephone.
“Frida, that sounds amazing... yes, of course
I want to come with you... wouldn’t miss it for
the world!”
Hilda went into the kitchen, where Mum was
busy spooning hot-chocolate powder into mugs.
“Sorry, Mum,” said Hilda. “Slight change of
plan. I need to go and meet Frida.”
 HILDA AND THE WHITE WOFF

Mum frowned. “I thought we were going to

play our new board game.”
“Sorry,” said Hilda again. “I do want to play
Dungeon Crops soon, but Frida says she needs
help with some homework she’s been given.”
Mum poured hot milk into each of the three
mugs and stirred it briskly. “Frida? Needs your
help? With homework?”
“Don’t sound so surprised!” laughed Hilda,
pouring hot chocolate into a thermos flask and
slipping it into her adventuring satchel. She ran
into the hall and grabbed her scarf and beret from
a peg. “Frida says I can sleep over if I want to.
Is that all right, Mum? Please say yes!” Hilda
scooped up Twig and squashed him against the
side of her face, big-eyed and pouting.
“All right,” said Mum, “but I want you back
here in time for lunch tomorrow, is that clear?”
“Hooray!” Hilda punched the air and twirled
on her toes. “Thanks, Mum, you’re the best! Come
on, Twig! Bye, Tontu! Sorry about Dungeon Crops.
We'll play tomorrow. Bye!”
With Twig at her heels, Hilda dashed out of
 CHAPTER ONE

the flat, down three flights of stairs and out into

the fresh air. She jumped on her bike and rode off,
pedalling hard.
The rain eased off a little as Hilda coasted
through the maze of apartment blocks and out
onto Fredrik Street. As soon as she was on the
main road, she leaned low over the handlebars
and picked up speed. Twig galloped behind, ears
flapping in the wind.
As she sped through the city gate and north
towards the wilderness, Hilda did feel a pang
of conscience for the half-truths she had told
Mum. It was trac that Frida had asked for help
with homework, but it was witching homework,
not schoolwork. And it was true that they were
planning a sleepover — just not at Frida’s house.
Frida and David were already waiting for her
on the edge of the Great Forest. Their mission,
Frida explained, was to collect dust from the
ruins of Fort Ahlberg. Ancient castle dust was an
essential ingredient for the invisibility spell that she
_ was trying to learn.

Wp 181 Sp
 HILDA AND THE WHITE WOFF

The three friends hid their bikes inside giant

roffleworts and set off westwards into the trees.
Frida and David carried huge camping rucksacks
and Hilda wore her smaller adventuring satchel.
They agreed to swap when one of them got tired.
David had camped at Camp Sparrow several
times, but this was his first time camping outside
the city walls.

f 182
 CHAPTER ONE

“What if we meet a troll after sundown?” he kept

asking.
“Relax,” said Hilda. “We'll have the castle dust

by then so Frida can just make us all invisible.”

“Exactly,” said Frida, but she sounded more
certain than she looked.
They came to a narrow river where canary
grass waved in the breeze and weeping willows
stooped to brush the babbling water. Hilda took a
long run up, jumped through the air and landed in
a giggling heap on the far side of the river. Frida
followed and then Twig, soaring gracefully like a
champion shiotwiimnper:
“Your turn, David!” they called.
David lowered his head and pawed the ground
like a bull preparing to charge, but then he
straightened up again. “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t
dare risk it.”
No amount of encouragement could persuade
David to attempt the jump. In the end, they had to
leap back across the river and search for another
place to cross.
 Half a mile further downstream, a pine tree had
fallen across the river, creating a natural bridge.
“It’s like a balance beam!” cried Frida,
prancing across the tree trunk with her arms out
to her sides.
“You may as well come back now,” muttered
David. “There’s no way I’m walking across
that thing.”
Hilda took David’s heavy rucksack and gave
him her light adventuring satchel, but still he
refused to cross the pine tree bridge. “I’m slowing
you down,” he sighed. “I should just go home and
let you two carry on without me.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Hilda. “I’m sure we can
find an easier crossing point.”

ite 184 Cp
 The walk continued like this all afternoon.

David refused to use the stepping stones because

they looked too slippery. He refused to take a
short-cut through a glade of twisted yew trees
because he imagined there might be a troll rock in
the middle. Later, as the sun sank low in the west
and shadows lengthened, his face turned pale and
he jumped at every sound. Hilda tried to cheer him
up by making up a river-crossing puzzle involving
a troll, a goat and a sack of grain, but this just
scared him even more.
It was dark by the time they arrived at Fort
Ahlberg. They shrugged off their rucksacks and
- stood in silence, gazing in awe at the ancient,
jagged ramparts and half-ruined walls.

fe 186
 HILDA AND THE WHITE WOFF

While Frida collected dust, Hilda climbed the

castle walls. The great, grey stones were pitted
and scarred, offering plenty of natural hand and
footholds. Hilda climbed quickly, except for one
awkward overhang where she had to take her feet
off the wall and haul herself up by her fingertips.
When she reached the pinnacle of the ruined
turret, she stood up and leaned into the wind, as
high and free as a migrating woff. In front of her,
the dense canopy of iron pine, birch and bludbok
trees stretched away towards the snow-capped
mountains of the north, where a hundred troll fires
crackled and popped.
“Be careful!” yelled David down below.
“I will!” Hilda called back.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she
noticed a pyramid of rectangular boulders poking
up through the canopy about five miles away.
“Hey, guys!” she exclaimed. “You’ll never guess
what I’ve spotted. It’s the Screaming Stones!”

aa 186 Wp
 How much can you remember from
Hilda and the Ghost Ship? Answer these
fiendish quiz questions to find out!

1. Which book did Frida press to

get into the secret room's secret room?
2. What kind of animal is Matilda Pilqvist's
familiar?
. What is the terrifying plant in the Witches’
Tower called?

. What kind of conference does Alfur go to?

. What TV show do Hilda and Mum watch?

. What is draugen grog made from?

. What is the Wood Man's ship called?

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PRAISE FOR THE HILDA COMICS

“Pearson has found a lovely new way to

dramatise childhood demons, while also making
you long for your own cruise down the fjords.”
The New Yorker

“Plain smart and moving. John Stanley's

Little Lulu meets Miyazaki.”
Oscar award-winning Director Guillermo Del Toro

“Hilda is a curious, intelligent,

and adventure-seeking protagonist.”
School Library Journal

“The art is as whimsical as the protagonist,

and the bright colours enhance this comic book's
magical realistic effect.”
The Horn Book Review

“Luke Pearson's Hildafolk series mixes

humour, mystery and fantasy into a superb piece
of escapism for young and old alike.”
Broken Frontier
PRAISE FOR THE HILDA FICTION

“A fun and pacey adventure combining

a contemporary heroine with a gentle
mythological element.”
BookTrust

‘Want to take the kids on a great

adventure? Hilda is the one!”
The Great British Bookworm

“| have loved Hilda since the Hildafolk

graphic novels, and now the full-length
novels are just as good (maybe better)!”
Mango Bubbles

“Dynamic cartoon art brings the book to life,

Hilda's bravery is an inspiration, and the world's
details -the giant she chats with, the rabbit-riding
elf army—will pull readers in.”
Publishers Weekly

“The Hilda books are already beloved favourites

of many kids; the Netflix series and these chapter
books are likely to get her even more fans.”
the Beat
aa
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 COLLECT ALL THE BOOKS
\
IN THE HILDA SERIES...
z wT

(|. FICTION BOOKS

Written by Stephen Davies

Hilda and the Hidden People

Hilda and the Great Parade
Hilda and the Nowhere Space
Hilda and the Time Worm
Hilda and the Ghost Ship
Hilda and the White Woff

oO GRAPHIC NOVELS
Written and illustrated by Luke Pearson
Hilda and the Troll
Hilda and the Midnight Giant
Hilda and the Bird Parade
Hilda and the Black Hound
Hilda and the Stone Forest
Hilda and the Mountain King

Discover more of Hilda's world at

www. hildabooks.com
Te me}o o (e <2) =iecd) D ccfe) 7)os i) ie2
 . Ships are disappearing in Trolberg Bay, and our
favourite blue-haired adventurer, Hilda, is on the
~case. With the Wood Man and Frida by her side, she
sets out to find out what kind of creatures could be
causing all this havoc. Speaking of creatures, why
are-animals fleeing to the old windmill? Hilda must
solve both mysteries to save the town from danger!

The perfect companion to the BAFTA

Award winning NETFLIX show!

GBP £6.99
ISBN 978-1-838740-28-3

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