air, mixed with the smell of autumn foliage and thus, hit her hard. Victoria was afraid to open her eyes, having understood, that the soft home sofa had disappeared, and she was sitting on the grass…
“I’m probably in the park. And what’s wrong with that?” She thought quickly. “Probably, the prank will happen here…”
“Well, right, a prank,” she heard a husky female voice. “You open your eyes, it’s your station, ha-ha…”
Victoria quickly opened her eyes. Looking around, she found herself in a dense forest. And there was this woman, smiling, and looking at her.
“I’m not in the park, am I?” Asked Victoria softly. “Who are you?”
“I’m a fare collector,” the woman laughed. “Pay for the tickets, will you? Ha-ha-ha… I’m so amused, well done! A park!”
“Yes, of course… Thanks for the tickets,” Victoria whispered, nodding her head timidly. “How much do I owe?”
“Well, at least you are reasonable,” the woman smiled. “To cut it short, a trifle. You’ll be a witch while I’m on vacation.”
“What did you say?”
“Hearing problems? We’ll fix that.”
“No, I’ve heard you,” Victoria got herself together. “Witch means what? To fly on a broomstick?”
“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