During all the happenings in the bar that the motor gang had no knowledge of, the bikers helped Bubba to his feet. They managed to get the rope off the collar, but the collar itself seemed determined to stay put, no matter hard they yanked at it.
"I'm gonna kill that bitch," Bubba fumed, "but not today! To the bikes!"
Great was their dismay when they saw their precious motorcycles lying in the street, but their fear of the grey-haired woman in the bar was larger than their desire for retribution, so they groaned as they gathered up the heavy machines. As Bubba was engaged in that, he saw something on the sidewalk. It was a necklace, and it looked fancy. "Hey babe, get your ass over here," he barked at his sweetheart, who to the rest was known simply as Angel. Bubba picked up the necklace. "Here. Got you a present. Put it on and get on the bike."
With all of them seated they fired up, and with squealing tires and roaring engines, they raced out of the street and a few minutes later they disappeared from the town. For now.
-=-=-
Hilda emerged from the bar and saw the last motorcycle turn around a corner. She nodded, understanding that the strange two-wheeled machines and the big men were connected. "Hmmm," was all she said. She walked down the street that still was void of other life as the inhabitants of the homes were not sure yet that the bikers had really left.
After a while she found a small park with a bench where she sat down. She opened the bag and looked inside it. Somewhat disturbed she looked again. "Vomotio torquis," she mumbled to make her necklace appear, but nothing happened. She repeated the command, now with more urgency, but the result was similar. "Come on, spit out my necklace, you," she mumbled somewhat louder. Again nothing happened. "I hate Latin," she shared with the bag.
Hilda got up, laid out the bag on the bench and swirled her wand over it. The bag turned back into the clothes she had worn on arriving in this insane place. Quickly she went through her things but the necklace wasn't among them. A stream of mutterings flowed from her lips, and they did not mean good things.
"Hey, got a problem?" a young man wearing a cap and chewing gum asked. He had been walking through the park, shortcutting to the house of some friends. Curiously he peeked at the things on the bench.
"Go away." Hilda was not in the mood for friendliness. Especially not now.
"Hey, I'm just trying to be friendly, you know," the young man commented as he shrugged. He walked on, loudly whistling a tune very out of tune.
Hilda's eyes became slits as she pointed the wand at the back of the man. "Why bother," she then grumbled. She turned her clothes back into the shoulder bag and sat down on the bench once more. "My necklace. Where is it? I must have it." These three short sentences kept churning in her mind. The necklace was a source of power. It would be able to help her get back to the real world, and then she would be able to deal with the obnoxious black-haired girl with her friendly face, her songs and her evil manners. Not many knew what fiendish thing that girl had in mind, and Hilda knew she was the only one who could put a stop to that.
The only place where the necklace could be, if not in the bag, was in the alleyway where she had arrived. Hilda got up and followed her route back, past the bar where a number of voices inside mumbled over the sound of the bouncing man. Then she passed the bookstore that still was closed. Wand in hand, she started looking for the necklace. It worried her that the wand did not immediately pull her towards it. Maybe it had flown away a bit further into the alley...
Hilda went deeper into the small side street, the light of day disappearing rapidly as she progressed. Her wand lit up the space, but there was no tugging in her fingers that indicated that the necklace was near. "Where are you? Necklace, where are you?" Hilda forced friendliness and patience into her voice. If she did not, the necklace would never respond. "Hello, necklace?" But no matter how nicely she spoke, how pleading her words, the necklace was and remained absent. The witch walked back to the main street, to where the alley began.
