“Oh, men…” The woman sighed. “Well, let’s start with the broom. Pick some branches, make a broom. Do you see the house?”

“Yes,” said Victoria.

“You’ll make a broom and clean up. There’s a stream, you can get some water there. Heat the house properly, it’s damp in here.”

“Are there any matches?”

“Yes. My previous helpmate got them in the village twenty miles away, so lucky you are!

Well, I’ll go for a walk now.” The woman stretched and pulled her nose, eagerly swallowing the air. “Can you feel it? Awesome!”

“Yes, the air is wonderful,” Victoria said quietly, looking around. “Will your vacation last long? And how do I address you?”

“I’ve had it up to here with you all! I’ll rest as much as I want to.” Snapped the woman and headed into the depths of the forest.

Very soon she disappeared, and Victoria sighed with relief, but soon the shivers of fear attacked from all sides, preventing her from concentrating. She cried.

“What a mess! Where am I? It does not look like a prank to me now! This woman is so impudent, talking to me, as if I were her property or something.”

Rubbing her stiff legs, Victoria rose from the grass and, having looked around, headed towards the hut.

“It’s just a task,” she prompted softly to herself. “It should be solved…”

“Let’s say she is the core of their transport company. So, I’m in the woods, huh? Dense woods,” she corrected herself. “And what is it they want from me? Am I a hostage? Whose hostage? She said she was on vacation, okay, so what? Everyone takes a vacation where they want to. She’s in the woods. Why does she need me? And then, a witch! What does she mean? I’m no witch! Maybe she finds it difficult to be here all by herself, and she needs an assistant? And let’s assume, she calls them witches. She told me that her helpmate went to the village to get matches… And now I am the assistant. Well, seems logical to me. The helped me, my family hasn’t lost its property, now I have to help her, okay. Well, somehow it feels better now. I should not be afraid. Its vice versa! I have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with non-standard people and stay in a picturesque place! The air is really wonderful here!”

“It’s all, sort of… Why do my hands and feet keep trembling?” Said Victoria aloud and touched the hut door.

The door creaked open, and a wave of dampness splashed out, slowly wrapping around Victoria’s legs, then her back, slightly pausing on the head, and eventually disappearing in the woods.

“And what was that supposed to mean? Did the air just sniffed me? Well, OK, I keep on hallucinating.” Victoria waved her hand and stepped into the hut.

The room was dark; only scarce rays of light, coming through the shutter cracks, illuminated the space.

“Cleaning, yes, that’s it! Once you are up to some activities, nerves come right. Even more so, it seems that I’ll have to spend the night here today.” Victoria was walking around the house, talking loudly and slowly to herself. “I need to get these shutters open, otherwise I see nothing! And I need to find a rag, I’ll manage without a broom.” Victoria smiled. “What a foolishness to say, to fly on a broom…”

The latches on the shutters were tight, but Victoria managed to open them up. She examined the glasses for a long time. They were really unusual: very thick, with a vague greenish tinge, of different sizes.

“Ancient they are… But looking like armor piercing. Interesting, indeed! I need to move my stupid fears aside. I haven’t seen anything in my life except for the lab. Now I get to know the world!” She encouraged herself.

There was a beautiful fireplace in the corner of the room, built of large river stones. A few firewood was stacked in front of it.

After inspecting the house, Victoria started looking for matches and a rag.

Next to the fireplace, there was a bed, in the other corner there were three massive chests, put close to each other.

Near the large window there was a round carved table and a bench. Vic also noticed a small shelf with clay and iron dishes.

“Well, quite ascetic, yet tasteful, I would say…”

She ceased to find the bucket, but found a wooden barrel instead.

“I hope you can use it to wash the floors… Okay, first we need to find matches…”

The first chest opened easily, it was filled with candles. There was also a heavy iron candlestick, a bag of salt and – a precious box of matches.

Victoria fixed a candlestick, lit the candles, and the room instantly changed.

The day passed very quickly. Victoria went to the stream to get water, washed the floors, removed the webs, collected the branches for the fireplace and even managed to rekindle a fire. At the same time, she gathered some mushrooms, and cooked a nice soup in a cast-iron bowl. She opened the second chest. It was stuffed with old books. She tried to read a page or two, but the text was all Greek to her. The third chest wouldn’t want to cooperate and open either. Victoria tried to find its lid as hard as she could, finally, she sat on the floor beside it and looked at the barely visible pattern on the side wall.

“It’s not working out, is it?” She heard a familiar husky voice behind her.

Victoria turned abruptly, and fell to her side, loosing balance.

“Even a mouse can’t make it unnoticed through this creaking door, and I didn’t hear her come in,” Victoria thought, realizing that her hands and feet were trembling again.

“Yeah, but I’m not a mouse,” the woman said with a grin. She was holding two large dead hares. She walked around the room and threw them near the fireplace on the floor. Choosing a large clay cup, she poured herself some soup and sat down at the table.

Victoria was afraid to utter a word.

“The mushroom soup is delicious!” The woman smiled and scraped her plate with a spoon. Then she looked at Victoria.

“Thank you!” Victoria felt a little embarrassed and sat down on the chest.

“Look in the mirror and you’ll manage to open your chest,” the woman continued.

“But there is no mirror…” Victoria carefully began to examine the walls of the house.

“And… Is this my chest? Sorry for opening these two, I was looking for matches.”

“It’s yours, while you’re here,” the woman yawned and went to the bed. “There are mirrors everywhere,” she added quietly, wrapping herself in the blanket.

“Where can I sleep?” Victoria asked boldly.

“What? Chests make a good bed,” adjusting the pillow, the woman looked at Victoria in surprise, waved her hand and turned to the wall.

“Okay, I understand, good night,” thought Victoria.

“Rest, I had such a nice quiet day today…” she heard in response.

Victoria didn’t want to make noise, although she really needed to find a mirror in the house. She curled up on hard chests and instantly fell asleep.

In the morning, Victoria woke up with an insistent knock on the window. The room was empty, the woman left at dawn. The murky glass hid the one, who was knocking, so she went out into the street.

“What is it you want?” Victoria asked a large bird, who continued to tap its beak on the glass. She noticed the girl, stopped and twitched, quickly nodding her head.

“All right,” Victoria replied with a nod. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a clue of what you’re saying…”

The bird waved its wings, made a circle over the hut and sat next to Victoria.

“I still don’t understand, sorry…” Victoria said, looking at the bird.

She pecked Victoria in the leg and flew away.

“I might not be the nest talk partner, but it hurts!” Victoria shouted after her, rubbing her ankle.

The water in the creek was pure ice, but Victoria didn’t pay attention to the cold. She washed herself, thinking how to open the chest and where to find the mirror.

“And those hares… I need to cook them somehow, maybe, just fry them,” she thought. “I am about to settle down here. I wonder if her vacation is for long.”

After carefully inspecting the house, she didn’t find a mirror, so she started cooking. Then, choosing a book in a thick old leather binding, she tried to read it. It was dark in the house, so, she went out into the street. She had just opened the book, as the bird returned. She heavily pecked it in the hand, so that the book fell down.

“Do not read anything!” She heard a piercing whistle in her head.

“Fine, I won’t! You should have said so at once…” Victoria tried to find the bird, but she disappeared.

“This whistle sounds familiar to me, like a voice,” she thought. “Okay, perhaps, it just seemed to me…”

But she still closed the book.

Victoria tried to open the third chest once more, and then she sat on it, legs tucked, leaning against the wall.

“Shall I try with a knife? It seems to have no lid, where am I to use it…” She thought.

Suddenly, she felt an unobtrusive chill. Victoria sharply recoiled from the logs on the wall and began to scrutinize them carefully.

“Usual logs they are… But something’s not right…” Stroking the logs with her hand, Victoria could not feel the joint. “The glass! The glass is a mirror! A disguised one!”

Carefully feeling the mirror with her hand, she could estimate its size, but there was no reflection.

“How do I open the chest? The woman said: ‘Look in the mirror,’ well, I do look in one, but this mirror does not want to reflect anything… May be, I should clean it?” Victoria rushed to the stream to get water.

“Genius lies in simplicity…” Victoria whispered, slowly washing the mirror with water. She already saw herself in reflection and whispered to the mirror.

“How come did you hide in the logs? It’s just incredible! You absorbed the environment…”

The mirror was made of thick glass, like windows. It gradually became clean and studied Victoria carefully, while she smoothed her hair and looked into the eyes of her reflection.

“I’ll bring more fresh water,” she winked at the mirror and got off the chest. She reached the door, and slowly turned back. “Eyes are not playing tricks on me!”

A slightly open lid appeared on the top of the chest. Victoria slowly put the barrel on the floor.

“Bingo!” Victoria smiled, barely restraining her curiosity. She brought some clean water and washed the mirror to the shining state.

In the third chest, she found a long, ancient dress of black color. Victoria took it out and examined carefully. The two parts of it were completely different from each other.

The big collar was also black, but it was made of a different, gently and airy fabric with elegant embroidery on it. A thick net of animal skin, mixed with wool, covered all the dress down to the hem.

“Kinda queerish,” thought Victoria, ‘the net seems superfluous to me.”

Looking at the mirror for a second, she froze in shock. She looked at her mirror reflection, wearing the dress… But the dress was lying on the chest!

“If you ask me, I’d say it suits you well…” A husky voice behind Victoria helped her wake up.

“Well, yes…” Victoria answered quietly. “The net seems superfluous to me.”

This net hides you from any animal or human being. So, it’s not superfluous,” the woman grinned. “You put it on and go into the woods. I need to sharpen the paling in my pit. And, by the way. I need a new shawl. You are to knit it for me. This one is old.”

Victoria looked at the woman in amazement. Her old ragged shawl was tied around her waist. She asked timidly:

“What about the wool? Besides, I know nothing about knitting…”

“Well, you do now. The wool is your concern.”

“I never asked what your name was,” Victoria said more boldly.

“I’m Trap, call me this…” the woman laughed and sat down at the table.

“Well done with these fried hares. I like you. Get dressed while I eat,” she added.

“Maybe it’s better to climb in the pit, wearing a sport suit?” Victoria asked busily.

“Put on a dress! A fat lot of use you are, wearing this sport suit. You can’t even lift up a wild boar,” Trap said, grimacing.

“Surely, I can’t. It’s a boar,” Victoria smiled, taking Trap’s words for a joke.

“This is not a joke!” Trap suddenly became angry, putting the hare leg aside. “Take a look at yourself, you’ll be blown off with the wind in moment. You can’t lift or carry anything. And the dress will give you strength enough to do what’s required. Is this clear, point-head?”

“Excellent!” Victoria was surprised. “I felt that I’m pretty weak…”

“Well, now you do not have to worry. You may easily take out a bear. Okay, get dressed and let me finish, I’m no chatter-box. You could have read everything yourself, the books are for you.”

“The books…” Victoria stepped aside and rubbed her aching arm, pecked by a bird.

“So, here’s an ax, careful, it’s sharp, and a rope. There’s a boar in the pit. Bring it here, and then fix the paling and sharpen it with an ax. The second pit is near the lake. There’s a fallen tree, you’ll see it right away. Don’t fall in there. I removed the branches, but you need to watch your step anyway.” Trap instructed Victoria. “I’ll be back by night, I still have a lot to do.”

Victoria crouched, peering into the pit.

“Trap, I can see a boar, but there’s also a man there! Look!”

“We don’t need him. Put him in a corner.”

“What do you mean? Should I bury him?” Victoria looked at Trap in perplexity.

“Well, OK, bury him, good Samaritan. There’s a shovel in the attic, I guess. He spoils my pit! It’s not his grave.” Trap snapped, and disappeared among the trees without uttering another word.

Victoria sat beside the pit in confusion for a long time, occasionally throwing dry grass-blades into it. She sadly examined the spoiled manicure, while biting the tips of her dirty hair pulled up in a tail.

“My life has sure changed dramatically in the last few days, to an incredible degree, and it’s me who brought it upon myself… I’ll wash my head, I can heat up a pot of water… But how am I supposed to bury the corpse? A-a-a!” Victoria began to cry and covered her face with her hands.

A light wave of warm air blew into her face. Victoria slowly opened her eyes, afraid to make another move. The huge collar of the dress was iridescent. The flowers on the embroidery changed color from black to light green, then to purple… She felt calm and appeasement. Her hair went loose, and she felt someone slowly comb her hair…

“What is this?” Whispered Victoria, examining the collar with iridescent flowers. “Are you calming me down?”

With a slightly perceptible wind, the collar rose and soaked the tears on her face.

“It’s too much. Do you want me to go crazy?”

The color waves on the collar slowed down slightly, the flowers became blue.

“I agree,” Victoria said softly. “I do not know much, maybe I should read your library. But thank you, I really feel better now. Fear is gone, as well as the desperation. Thank you…”

And she gently stroked the collar, adjusting the dress.

“Okay, let’s assume that I’m a brave girl,” Victoria said aloud, and, tied the rope to a tree, and threw the other end into the pit.

She climbed down carefully, and then quickly tied the wild boar with a rope, trying not to look at the human. She got out in a clap. It was easy to pull the boar out of the pit. Vic was no longer surprised about her new power.

The boar had obviously fallen into the pit recently. It was covered with fresh blood. Its hair was still warm.

“It’s not enough for a shawl,” sighed Victoria. “But I guess I have to start with something, otherwise I’ll be here forever.” Having untied the rope from the tree, she dragged the boar into the hut.

She quickly found the shovel in the attic. She also noticed a spindle with a spinning wheel, carefully covered with a dusty cloth.

Victoria didn’t feel like going back to the pit, but she had to.

The man was lying awkwardly crouched, his hands clasped. Victoria was shaking all over. Trying not to panic, she tightly tied him with a rope and instantly climbed out of the pit.

“I need to dig a grave for him,” she said to herself, “I can’t look at him. And then I’ll get him out and quickly put in the grave… That I can do, ‘she reassured herself.