Trap. Fantastic fiction

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.

The easiest part of the day was to sharpen the paling in the pits; first in the one she had freed, then in the second, which was located near the lake, easy to find. It was already dark, and Victoria walked slowly to the hut. She almost didn’t feel tired, the dress helped her a lot, giving her strength and power, but she was lonesome, and couldn’t cope with it. For the first time in her life she had to bury a man, even though he was a stranger…

The collar managed to cheer her up a little. Flowers shimmered and brightly lit the way, like a lantern.

Victoria returned later than Trap. Approaching the hut, she noticed Trap in the clearing. She made a large broiling rack and was frying a boar.

“It will be ready soon,” she winked at Victoria. “You’re doing fine today, eat, and go to bed.”

“Thank you,” Victoria smiled sadly and sat down beside Trap. “I am to go to the village,” Victoria said quietly.

“What for?” Trap turned to her.

“Wool. Maybe I’ll find it there.”

“Well, yes, they have goats there, that’s true. Go, you can bring one home, it would be nice to have milk. Head north, you won’t get lost, the dress will help you.” Trap approved.

The boar turned out delicious. Trap and Victoria were sitting in the clearing for a long time, listening to the chirping of birds.

“She likes the stars…” Victoria thought, watching Trap as she looked thoughtfully into the night sky.

“I’m going to sleep then. Thank you for the dinner.” Victoria rose from the grass and walked slowly into the house.

Trap wrapped up in her old shawl and nodded in approval.

Victoria changed her clothes and neatly put the dress on the chest. She curled up on other two chests. She no longer felt their stiffness, as she really wanted to sleep. But all of a sudden, the chests transformed into a soft bed with pillows and a blanket.

“Thank you,” Victoria whispered weakly, smiled and fell into sleep.

Early in the morning, Trap was gone. Victoria washed herself, changed her clothes and found old scissors in the attic. She went out onto the clearing and plunged into reverie, looking at the huge furry spruce around her…

“Where is the nearest village?”

She was staring at the spruce branch for several minutes.

“Why haven’t I seen your beauty before?” She slowly stroked the rough trunk of the tree. A light wind slightly lifted the hem of the dress.

“Looks like I’ll learn to understand the wind soon. Do I understand you correctly? Was that a direction?”

But the wind didn’t answer. Somewhere deep inside, timidly, as if trying to get to know her, inner confidence in her actions awoke.

“Well, Victoria, now we need to go there… It’s very simple,” Confidence grew bolder. “Listen, and you will hear… Look, and you will see. And I will help.”

“All right, that’s a bargain,” Victoria said softly. “We need to get to the village. And if I understand it correctly, we need to go straight.”

“That’s right,” whispered the confidence.

“I have to take food along,” thought Victoria, cutting a piece of meat from the boar and wrapping it in bag cloth. She fixed a small bindle and swung it to her back.

“There we go. Funny, no one ate it up during the night… It seems that the beasts are avoiding the house, they feel there’s something fishy going on here… I’s time for me to think about going back home, preferably unharmed, both mentally and physically.” Victoria looked back at the hut.

“One question bothers me, confidence. A poser, that is… This was me, who thought about the food, and that was you, who gave a clue on signs, is that right? It’s not that I have any problems with that, perish the thought! It’s just that the split mind is not what I need right now.”

“What?” She heard a surprised voice of confidence.

“I’m sorry, dress, is that you?”

“It’s me,” Victoria felt embarrassment. “But I liked the new name, ‘Confidence’. Could you call me that?”

“No problem,” Victoria smiled. “That’s better… I’ve brought something upon myself.”

“I understand… But I like you. You duly raise the hemstitch, and you hear me perfectly well!”

“You know, I’m also very happy, especially that you can talk. Very nice to meet you, can I ask another question?”

“Of course.” The dress livened up a little.

“You hear my thoughts, don’t you? Well, what am I thinking about?”

“No, I don’t. I only feel your condition, you were sick yesterday…”

“Yes, I’m glad that I can thank you. I wasn’t sick, I’d say, scared is the right word… If it was not for you… Well, thank you very much.”

“It’s my duty to protect you and help you,” the dress answered.

It was only in the evening, when Victoria came to the village. It was a long way. But she liked it. She admired the trees and grass, listened to the birds, peeped at the forest animals. They really couldn’t see her. The dress enshrouded her, the only thing that could give her away was the rustling of fir-needles under her feet, although the beasts took her steps for the wind and were not frightened. Victoria was very surprised.

The constant idea of finding wool pushed her to a desperate experiment, which was quite successful: she managed to shave a piece of wool from the sleeping wolf, neatly folded the lump into her bag and with childish delight continued to look for another opportunity to find something else, but she did not get any more luck in the forest.

“It’s OK, the goats can be pretty fluffy, I’ll get as much as I need. Let the locals forgive me, I really need to go home…”

She walked around several houses, but she didn’t see any goats, so she sat down in confusion near the well, wondering what to do.

“Well, I can’t shave dogs, can I. Although, perhaps, their wool also suits well… There must be some goats in the village! I just need to go around all the yards,” reflected Victoria, when suddenly she noticed a boy coming from the field. He shepherded a dozen or more goats, including the little ones!

“That’s luck!” Victoria was inspired. “So happy about the herd of goats… I would not have believed, if someone told me this a week ago,” she smiled.

After tracing the shepherd, she memorized all the yards, where he had taken his wards to and followed him in the last yard, where he had led five of them. She wanted to start shaving, when she realized that the landlady was going to milk them.

“I’m stupid,” Victoria scolded herself. “She would have me in this barn and shut up with them for the whole night.” She took a deep breath to calm herself and moved away from the barn.

After the whole evening procedure had passed, Victoria slipped into the barn. It was dark there, and for several minutes she wondered whether it was worth turning on the light, but she didn’t dare to do so.

“I feel like a thief, a nasty feeling that is,” Victoria was nervous. “But I really need to go home. Without this shawl, she just won’t let me go… Forgive me, dear house owners, your goats will grow a new coat. This one I need for my return ticket…

Victoria was hesitant.

“I’ve traveled a way that long, now what?”

The collar glowed slightly yellowish, gradually growing brighter.

“Thank you, I can see now,” Victoria whispered with relief and stroked the goat. She twitched slightly, but then calmed down. Carefully, not to injure the animal, Victoria began to shear the wool. At first it worked out with difficulty, the scissors were clumsy, but soon she caught the trick.

“That’s how absurd rumors appear,” Victoria thought, and suddenly stopped, realizing that she was being watched.

She turned her head slowly and saw a large fluffy cat, who kept his eyes on her and jerked his tail nervously.

“Can you see me?” Victoria was genuinely surprised.

The cat lay down on the straw, but didn’t avert his gaze.

“Go, tell me something. I hope you don’t mind me having some wool? Are you guarding milk? I won’t harm them.” She said tenderly and slowly to the cat, who listened attentively.

Victoria went around all the yards, and managed to gather quite a lot of wool. She hoped that it would be enough for a shawl. She felt exhausted, so having reached the last barn, she lay down in the hayloft to get a quick nap. Victoria woke up in the morning, the roosters were crowing loudly. She nervously felt for the knapsack of wool under her head and looked around… A cat was sleeping in her legs. He lazily opened one eye and stretched. Victoria carefully pulled the hem from underneath the animal and silently went out into the street, taking a goat on the rope along…

“It will be quite a challenge, to get you home,” she said, patting the goat on its side. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring you back afterwards…”

“We did great job, you and me.” She fixed the dress. “It’s time to go back, I’ll try to knit a beautiful thing. Although, I’ve never knitted in my entire life…”

The collar reacted by turning blue. Victoria looked back. The cat sat on the well and watched her go.

“Bye, wigglefloof,” Victoria smiled and waved to him.

The way back was far more difficult… The goat would get stubborn, obviously afraid of the forest, and constantly looked around, trying to escape. At one moment, she even managed to escape. Half an hour later Victoria found her near a small river. The goat was drinking water peacefully.

“Don’t you do that again,” Victoria was nervous. “You’ll get lost, and end up eaten by someone. Hold beside me.”

Victoria also drank some water and washed herself. A little further the river formed a small dam. Victoria, after a moment’s thought, looked around, tied the goat to a tree and carefully took off her dress. Then she got into the icy water.

Her heart nearly leapt out from the sharp sensation of cold. She gasped, slightly out of her breath, but at some point her body switched the tumbler, and dissolved in transparent cold water. Victoria doused completely and closed her eyes. The flow of the river was soft. Like the seaweed, it ran its streams through the strands of her long hair. The feeling of freshness penetrated through the skin and rushed all over the body.

“I’m probably cold,” Victoria didn’t want to open her eyes. “But I should somehow understand, maybe, just for a moment, that everything that’s happening to me these days is like water, it will all go away. Maybe it’s a dream, but if not a dream, then how can I find a way out? What if I’m to stay here forever? After all, she called herself Trap. I don’t know much about people, and now… It’s just more complicated.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by a desperate scream of a goat. It seemed to sound almost like human moan… Victoria instantly jumped out of the water and quickly evaluated the situation. She rushed to her dress, unflinchingly looking at the wolf, which was astonished by his luck. The goat writhed in hysterics. She got entangled in a rope and was now desperately roaring, calling for help.

Victoria was wet and slippery, the dress would stick, the hem was tangled. Finally, she managed to put it on. The collar, this multi-colored garland, changed one color after another, trying to tune to Victoria’s mood, and yet, having picked up a warm red color, it calmed down. The girl’s body became warmer; the cold receded, cool calmness appeared. These moments seemed like an eternity to her, and Victoria rushed to the goat. Having reached the wolf, realizing that he didn’t see her, Victoria was slightly confused about what to do, and touched his head.

“Don’t touch my goat, please,” Victoria said kindly. The wolf jumped from abruptly. Victoria overbalanced and fell down.

“No, that will not do.” She rose and pushed the wolf to the side.

The wolf whimpered desperately and fell to the side.

“I gave you a little push.” She thought in a frightened manner. The force that Trap spoke about could be a reality. “He is obviously hurt…”

Victoria’s heart sank. She felt sorry for the frightened goat, for the wolf she has almost crippled…

“What’s wrong?” Her hands shook… The wolf whimpered, the goat went on screaming. Victoria was trying to calm down and take a decision. She looked around distractedly.

“Are you a she-wolf?” Victoria noticed three small gray fluffballs with tails, staring at their mother. They rushed toward her, head over heels, loudly and gaily yapping. “That’s why you didn’t bite her to death at once,” Victoria smiled. “Did you want to teach your kids how to hunt? Did I hurt her?” Victoria turned to the dress. “Can we do something? I didn’t want to, I…”

“We can…” she heard an answer. “Come to her.

The wolf was lying on her side and whimpered softly, the little ones were spinning around and poking her with their noses.”

“Maybe I broke her rib,” Victoria thought.

“She is hurt, pet her,” the dress whispered, and the collar glowed purple.

“Shut up already!” Victoria shouted at the goat. “You are in no danger, sit quietly.”

The goat instantly went silent and pressed herself against the tree.

Victoria walked slowly to the she-wolf and began to pet her on the side, feeling the warm wave rushing along the fur… A few minutes later the beast clearly became better. She looked around, grasped one of the cubs and staring angrily at the goat, quickly ran towards the river. The rest of the toddlers rushed after her.

“Look, thank you… I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Victoria whispered to her dress and sat down on the grass. “How did you manage to do it? Did we cure it??

“Yes, she’s not hurt anymore…” She heard back.

“I think, I can now distinguish your voice in my head and don’t confuse it with my thoughts! Cool, we have improved our contact! And a thank you for warming me up, otherwise the water was really cold.” Victoria smiled.

The dress didn’t answer, nut small multicolored rays ran across the collar.

It was late in the evening when Victoria and the goat came slowly to the hut. After tying the goat, Victoria went into the house and laid out all the wool she got, near the chests. Trap was not at home. Victoria laid down on the chest. She felt exhausted.

“Something must be done with the goat. I should milk it. Otherwise, she’ll be in pain, besides, milk won’t hurt.” Victoria smiled wistfully. “The barrel will do fine.”

After looking all the possible options for milk, Victoria left the house.

“Let’s go to the river,” Victoria untied the goat, gently patting her on the head. “Let’s go, wash off the road dust. You’ll have a drink, too. Everything turned out just fine! How come? I never imagined in my whole life that I could milk a goat.” Victoria admired in surprise, and, catching a clearly embarrassed shimmer of iridescent flowers on her collar, she quietly thanked the dress. “Thank you so much, I hope you’ll help me out me with a shawl, too, will you? I can’t do it… I know that you are helping me, I don’t possess knowledge like this, even in theory.”

“Well, now you do,” she heard an answer.

“Good! Thanks!” Victoria was inspired.

Time passed… Victoria span wool into yarn, and now knitted a shawl. She gladly walked among the woods near the hut, bathed in the stream; cooked food. She got along with the goat, and would often talk to her. The goat would walk alongside the house and, not running away. At first, Victoria was very afraid for it, but Victoria’s dress calmed her down, saying, that no one would touch it… The beasts from the woods avoided Trap’s house, and Victoria noticed this.

The dreams bothered her… Victoria was really homesick, she dreamed of her mother, her lab, a warm bath and a strange bird that pecked her when Victoria was about to take the book out of the chest… Sometimes she went desperate, unable to get out of this strange place she… How much longer will she have to live in the forest? One could only guess. She only hoped, that once she’s finished with the shawl, she might be gone. But the knitting moved on very slowly. It seemed to Victoria that as soon as she have finished it, Trap would let her go.

Victoria often put her dress to the question and asked to explain some unclear issues, but the dress addressed only the everyday questions, although Victoria seemed to befriend it.

Trap would always return by night. She brought prey and disappeared from the house by dawn, barely even speaking to Victoria.

It was like that, when sleeping Victoria felt her eye on her, slowly opened her eyes and jumped up sharply.

Trap was sitting next to her, looking at the mirror.

“Get ready,” she said thoughtfully, without looking at Vic. “We’ll go to the old swamp today. Oh, I miss it so much. It’s my favorite trap, you can get an eyeful of it!”

Trying not to think about anything, Victoria quickly put on her dress and silently looked at Trap.

“What a cunning creature you are! Cunning, indeed! Why don’t you ask why I’m taking you with me? Not even a thought in your head! Have you finished my shawl?” She bent over to Victoria’s face.

“It’s almost ready,” answered Victoria, gasping.

“Good, well done… Get some food for the road. You are rather reasonable, by the way… Well, whatever,” Trap waved her hand, got up and left the house.

Victoria quickly put the fried meat in a knapsack, grabbed the matches and salt and popped out of the house.

Trap was sitting on the door sill, gazing at the stars. It was hard to tell the time of day, she had long ago ceased to use the concept of time. She breathed in some light, fresh forest mist, she realized that the dawn was coming.

They went for a long time, and stopped only by night. Victoria collected firewood and built a fire. She laid out the supplies and started cutting meat for dinner.

“Why don’t you read the books? You like to discover new, don’t you? You have a great chance… I do not quite understand you.” Trap asked gently. “And what is that bird you’re thinking about all the time? None is here, isn’t it?”

“Why do you even need my rubbish?” Victoria sighed wearily. “You are on vacation, take a rest…”

“Don’t you get smart with me!” Trap snapped. “If I ask you a question, all you need is to answer it, don’t push it.”

“Well, I do not know what kind of bird it is.” Victoria answered honestly. “It pecked me a couple of times, by the way, when I took the book. I’d also like to know, what that was.”

“Ah, everything is clear, it’s your mother… Argh, I’m sick and tired of you both, can’t get any rest!” Without saying another word, she went down to the river, leaving Victoria completely confused.

“What about the dinner?” Victoria said quietly to Trap, trying hard to understand her words. “Dress, honey, maybe you will explain me what she said about my Mom?”

The dress flashed thoughtfully.

“I know you can talk to me, I can’t decipher your shimmering… At least a couple of words, what happened to my mother… She disappeared, and I worry so… Well, think about my mother, please… What? Do you know about books in the chest?”

The collar blushed with a bright green light, and Victoria heard its joyful words in her head.

“You read them and become a superb witch, and you will always be with me, I like you so much!”

“Why did the bird peck me if the books are good?” Victoria continued in one breath.

“Your mother sent a bird. She doesn’t want you to be a real witch…” Squeaked the dress and stopped abruptly.

“Dry up, you, rag!” Trap appeared all of a sudden, out of the blue, her evil eyes sparkling.

“A unique bug she has, she can hear everything!” Victoria thought, and a chill instantly ran down her spine. “Powerful help and constant control at the subconscious level is a new word in science!”

“That’s right,” she heard Trap’s husky voice in her head. “You are clever. Don’t you beat about the bush with a dress. It’s bored, and it’ll gladly tell you too much. You, dress! Don’t relax either, it’s the real witch that we have here, since she managed to teach you to lie! I don’t give a damn about your science. Once came to me, don’t forget that you’re on a visit… And don’t spoil my vacation, I can get really angry.”

Victoria was sitting on a thick fallen branch silently. Nice talk.

“All right,” Trap snorted. “Let’s have supper and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll go into the swamp, it’s not far away…”

“My swamp! My quagmire! What happened?” Trap was literally freaking out.

“What’s wrong?” Victoria asked excitedly.

“Everything! It’s a mere puddle, it’s not what my favorite swamp used to be! What is left of it? How did it happen? Why? Trap ran along the bank of the quagmire, stroking the wet slime. She was furious.

Victoria looked at the vast forest swamp in confusion and did not quite understand her despair.

“It was giant, do you get it! Why is it vanishing?” Trap screamed in a shrill voice, so that all the birds around took off, as if they were blown away by the wind.

Victoria closed her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. “There must always be a reason,” flashed the thought.

“I’ll be right back!” She shouted loudly to Trap, and walked along the shore, grabbing a strong stick.

Trap waved a hand, still stroking the moss and whispering something…

Victoria returned by the evening and found her in the same place.

“It’s very dear to her…” Victoria heard the voice of the dress in her head, and then answered quickly: “Everything will be fine, let’s go faster!”

“Listen to me, please…” Trap heard Victoria’s cheerful voice and angrily turned her head.

“Having fun? Although you don’t. I hear, you know something.” And she turned all ears, so that Victoria, just for a moment, thought that she was peeping in her head like in a chest with things. She felt goose bumps on her skin…

“I’m sorry, but I found the reason and I know how to save the swamp!” Victoria blurted out in one breath, unable to tolerate such interference in her brains.

Trap approached Victoria closely and sniffed her face.

“Speak…”

“I have found a ditch a few kilometers away. It was made artificially, with some machine. “They might have decided to drain the swamp to pick up the peat… It’s extracted ' Victoria replied. “This is money. People didn’t think that the swamp and everything around would wither and die.”

“People?!” Trap went mad. “They need money. Isn’t that great.”

“I’ve been to the village, when I went to look for wool, and saw a swamp buggy. I know how to drive a car, I think I can manage it. It’s unreal to backfill it by hand, the ditch is huge, and it dewaters the swamp…”

Trap silently cruised around Vic.

“Go, take the buggy, my little reasonable witch. I understand the reason, we’ll sort it out. Let’s get back,” she continued in a minute. “Let’s heal my quagmire, and then I’ll take care of everyone, who thought of this. It’s next door to blasphemy! They drink this water! They breathe this air after the rain! Idiots! I play hell to them a lot, well, not enough, since they’ve decided to kill themselves like this. Well, isn’t it funny!”

“Let’s go together…” She gasped. “You won’t cope by yourself. I’ll bring down delusion, so everyone will sleep. You’re not able to do it yet… I’ll send some beavers to build a dam. It won’t hurt.” Trap sighed. “I didn’t think that I could be out of sorts! But what a thing to do; to dry my best trap! Ugly little people, you’ll get what you deserve! Ungrateful bastards, should have thought with their own heads! They spoiled everything!”

The theft of the vehicle and spare cans with diesel fuel went at the touch of a button. Vic didn’t expect she could manage with a machinery like this, but she guessed that the dress still helped to direct thoughts to reach the result, especially when the whole village was sleeping and no one interfered Victoria.

Several days after, the beavers have built an excellent huge dam with all the intricacies one can think of. Now they sat proudly on the hummocks, watching Trap and Victoria on approach on a tractor with bucket.

Trap didn’t prevent Victoria from working and disappeared in an unknown direction, leaving a bag with food.

Victoria spent the three lonely nights on a swamp in the forest, calmly listening to the birds before going to sleep, realizing that the beasts won’t touch her, and her dress will warm her like a warm blanket.

She coped with a huge wide canal and a few smaller ones. The tractor didn’t fail her, and Victoria admired that she mastered the new skill.

“Great!” Victoria heard the familiar, hoarse voice of Trap behind her. “Can you drive it into the swamp?”

“We won’t return it?? Victoria asked in surprise.

“Not if I can help it! They have probably gag out this filthy thing with it. Get it in the swamp!” Said the Trap. “So that they have no desire to do anything like that!”

“What if they do it again? Say, they will find another machinery?”

“Not here,” Trap smiled. “Can’t speak for other places, though… Well, can you drive it in?”

“I’ll try, of course,” Victoria agreed thoughtfully. “The main thing is to jump out when it goes to the bed…”

“Take off your dress, otherwise you’ll soak up the hem,” Trap continued hoarsely. “Take that driftwood with you, and then I’ll help you out.”

“Why do I need take off the dress?” Asked Vic.

“It’s a must,” the Trap smiled wryly. “Take it off, and don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Well, that’s it,” flashed the thought in Vic’s head. “The dress is a necessary thing. I’m not. Why should anyone mess with me? Send home? To pipe me down, so as to prevent chatting too much… Classic, but I still didn’t think that I would end my life by drowning in the swamp…”

The collar of the dress sparkled nervously.

“Hush,” the Trap hissed threateningly, and in the next breath added gently. “Otherwise she’ll mess you up, you know? She’ll put you on real soon; first, she’ll drown the tractor, and then she’ll be dry and warm, don’t worry.”

Victoria carefully put the dress on the grass, took a driftwood and, not looking back at Trap, headed the tractor into the swamp water. Very soon she realized that it ingulfs her, so, she quickly jumped out of, grabbing a driftwood. At first, it helped a little, but soon Victoria began to get bogged down.

“It’s so stupid,” thought Victoria… “She’s Trap, why have I even decided that I’m her guest? No, I will not say goodbye, that’s too good for her…”

Realizing that she could no longer make a single step, Vic looked up at the sky.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered, barely audible.

“You know,” she heard Trap’s hoarse voice from behind. “Jealousy had really got up my nose with you, so had Vengeance. I don’t care so far, whose way did your mother stand in, but you helped me to save the swamp, which I didn’t expect at all… And the dress confirms, that you absolutely sincerely wanted to help me… Me! So it’s kinda… I don’t quite understand it, so I am making an amendment. Hold the stick!” She threw Victoria a long pole. Jealousy and Vengeance, go and dig their souls in another place. I like you, you are reasonable…” Trap muttered, pulling Victoria out.

“Thank you,” sighed Victoria, falling to the grass, having lost almost all her strength from the tension in a few minutes. She cried.

“No tears, will you? It’s already damp all around, if you didn’t notice it.” Trap snorted, spat on the ground and turned away from Victoria.

“Why are you like that?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? How else do I check my marshy trap?” Trap has gone cheerful.

“It’s all right,” Victoria laughed, too. “Tell me about my mother! Who hates her so much, and where is she?”

“Where is your mother or who hates her?” Trap grinned.

“Where is she? Well, if I know who wants to harm her so bad, that’s would be good, too.”

“Your mother is at home. You have almost finished the shawl, I know, that you’ll finish it… So I’ve let her go. Speaking about who hates… Turn on your dampen brains.”

Victoria stood up and reached for the dress.

“Angelina Sergeevna?”

“Well, you see, you have guessed without a dress,” pleased Trap approached Victoria and added without a smirk. “She’s always number two. Your mom’s mate, she sold her soul to Jealousy; Vengeance is always around. They are hellions, they always go together. They’ll now eat your Angelina for breakfast, after such a mistake…”

“She’s not mine,” Victoria answered dryly.

“And that’s right, she’s mine now. I didn’t want to think about work, it’s so nice in the forest…” Trap sighed.

 
                                           ***
 

“My goat…” Victoria burst into tears and curled up in her soft bed.

“Your goat is at home,” her mother stroked her head. “Trap has returned it, she also liked it… You are so smart. I had faith in you. You saved us, my precious,” her mother whispered proudly.

“That’s fantastic!” Victoria smiled. “Will we live here now?”

“Yes, this is our old kind apartment. You will love your hometown, you were born here.” Her mother smiled.