---

Minhyuk placed his hand on her back and gently pushed her forward.

 

“We should get going hmm?”

 

“Mm, yeah.”

 

“Oh, I forgot to apologize about earlier, what happened at breakfast. And I’m sorry your dress got ruined.”

 

“You boys are a bunch of idiots you know that?”

 

He just chuckled at her. “Yeah, I know.”

---

 

The spring day was a bit cooler than the day before, but the slightly chill air felt nice against Youngmi’s skin. She breathed in finding it refreshing. Everything was quiet, save for the birds chirping. Youngmi wouldn’t have it any other way, it was a delightful way to spend the morning.

 

Minhyuk watched as the girl breathed in the fresh air and enjoyed the surroundings. She looked content with the day. Well, aside from what had happened during breakfast.

 

Her profile was quite pretty, especially with the sun shining, illuminating her features. He found it difficult to look away. Even though he had only known Youngmi for less than a day he was interested in her and what kind of person she was. After all, it wasn’t often that they had humans around. He wanted to know more about the human world. The only thing he knew were the glimpses of times he had been there and what other residents of the forest had come upon, and the tales from the past humans that had been there.

 

Youngmi, having noticed that the boy was looking at her, stopped walking and turned her head to him.

 

“What are you staring at?”

 

Minhyuk smirked and began getting closer to the girl. Youngmi started backing up, concerned by the look on his face and the way he was coming at her. She didn’t get very far as she ran into a tree behind her. But Minhyuk continued to get closer, and she watched as he reached his hand towards her.

 

Youngmi’s eyes went wide and her heart started racing. “What are you doing?”

 

His smile widened and his eyes squinted. “Revenge.”

 

Minhyuk’s hand came down and smacked the girl on the top of her head.

 

Youngmi yelped from the pain and wrapped her arms over her head. “What was that for?!”

 

“You had a fly on your head and it was bothering me.”

 

The girl glared at him but then remembered she had done the same exact thing the day before. Maybe she deserved it. But then she suddenly realized something.

 

“Ew, ew! It’s in my hair isn’t it?! There’s bug guts in my hair!”

 

Youngmi went to rub her hands through her hair to remove the dead fly bits but Minhyuk beat her to it. He picked the bug off her head and threw it to the ground.

 

“Ah, thank you.”

 

The boy's eyes locked with hers and he looked at her for a few seconds before walking again. Youngmi had a puzzled look on her face. The way he looked at her in those few seconds was very strange.

 

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

 

Minhyuk peeked at the girl out of the corner of his eye and replied, “Yeah, why? Don’t trust me?”

 

“It’s not that… It’s just we’re going a different way than we came from.”

 

This time he turned his head to look at her. “Yeah. But that’s because the forest changes.”

 

“What do you mean by ‘changes’?”

 

“Well, I guess you could say that the trees move.  For example, if you started at the treehouse and headed north for about a mile, then went south to get back to the treehouse, instead of getting to it you’ll end up somewhere else.”

 

“But how do you know where to go to get to specific places then?”

 

“That’s easy, you just have to know which way to go.”

 

Youngmi glared at the boy. Was he insinuating that she was stupid? But he couldn't, right? Since she knew nothing about the forest she obviously wouldn't know which ways to go. Minhyuk chuckled, seeming to know what she was thinking, which caused her to glare even more.

 

The two had been walking for an hour, occasionally taking a break to rest. Although it didn’t really feel like it as they had been occupied with conversation.

 

A small flash of light then caught Youngmi’s attention. She spun toward where she saw the light and noticed something peculiar. Ahead of her was a path. And there hanging on the trees were mirrors. All along the path were mirrors placed on the trees.

 

Youngmi turned to Minhyuk and asked about it. He told her that it was basically a graveyard for the mirrors that had been found or taken from residents of the forest. The girl questioned why such a thing existed. He simply replied that she would find out soon, there was someone that could explain it better.

 

 

Seunghee could sense that people were approaching. She quickly tidied up her small cottage, it had been a while since she had visitors. Especially a human.

 

She had just put the last book in its place when she heard a knock at the door. She was very excited and rushed over to open it.

 

Standing in front of her were a boy and a girl, only one of which she recognized. She welcomed the two and invited them inside. Seunghee insisted that they sit down, and they gladly accepted her offer, seeing as how they had been walking for quite some time.

 

The idea suddenly popped into her head that she should feed them, it was lunch time after all. Seunghee threw some pots and pans onto the small wood burning stove. And that’s where she let her magic begin. For, you see, Seunghee was a witch.

 

She let her magic take over the cooking process. Youngmi had stared on in amazement. She had seen quite many unusual things lately, but this easily became her favorite. The girl watched as food was carried from the pantry into the cookware by some invisible force. The spoons stirred by themselves, needing no person to manipulate them.

 

When it was all finished Seunghee scooped the food out of the pans and onto some plates. Youngmi looked down at the food placed in front of her. She nearly began drooling just by the delicious smell alone. Also partly because she was starving and hadn’t been able to really eat that morning.

 

Youngmi dug into her meal, took a big bite, and she was in heaven. She scarfed down every bit that lay on her plate until it was absolutely clean. She had wanted to ask for seconds but was afraid she would seem rather rude to Seunghee. But the witch, seeming to know what the girl wanted, happily brought her more food.

 

Once their meal was finished, and Youngmi had thanked the witch, Minhyuk took it upon himself to properly introduce the two girls.

 

Both Youngmi and Seunghee found the other to be quite delightful. The human girl because she was excited to meet a (absolutely not mean) witch. And Seunghee because she rarely had visitors and found the human girl to be sweet and charming.

 

The girls struck up a conversation. It mostly consisted of girly things, but also included stories of their lives.

 

Seunghee then had the idea of showing Youngmi around her house. She explained the potions and ingredients she used. She also mentioned that most of the things that the forest dwellers used were made by witches. They supplied the clothing and food and other such things to all that lived there.

 

Youngmi, remembering what she had heard about mirrors, asked why they were such a rare thing, and couldn’t the witches just make them.

 

Seunghee went on to explain that they found looking glasses completely unnecessary. It created vanity and fighting among the creatures of the forest. She told Youngmi of the great war between the pixies and satyrs that fought over a single mirror. It was then that many of the forest’s residents decided that mirrors were not allowed to be used.

 

“But what about the trail of mirrors? Surely those would be a problem as well?”

 

“Ah, that path. You came across it, yes? Well, you see, just as humans can’t leave the forest, neither can human-made items.”

 

Youngmi was still a bit confused, wouldn’t the people of the forest just hang around the path? But the witch had an answer for that as well.

 

“Any of the looking glasses that a witch may find, or is brought to us by someone else, a spell is then cast upon it, so that anyone that shall look into it will find that there is no reflection. We witches are not able to keep up with every mirror that may pass through. But any that we find are placed along that path.”

 

Youngmi found it to be an interesting bit of information. It also explained what she encountered yesterday with the pixies. But something else had crossed her mind.

 

“Well why don’t you just break them? Wouldn’t that be more effective.”

 

“We’ve tried that many times but for some reason they won’t break. It’s something we’ve been trying to figure out. Maybe the forest just won’t allow it.”

 

Youngmi nodded. The forest was indeed a strange place.

 

Seunghee, noticing the stain on Youngmi’s dress, offered to remove the sticky jelly and also make new sets of clothing to wear. The girl was very grateful that the witch would do something as nice as that for her. She also was glad because she really didn’t want to wear any of the boys’ clothes.

 

Youngmi looked through the books on the shelves as Seunghee went about creating clothes for the girl. It would take a while since the thread would need to be spun and the fabric woven.

 

Some of the books contained spells, others were books she recognized from her own world. But one stood out to her the most. She grabbed it off the bookcase and opened it to read its contents.

 

Day 1

 

It has been several days since I came upon this strange magical world. But seeing as how I just received this journal from a very kind witch I shall start it off as the first day. I don’t exactly know what to write. But maybe I should start at the beginning. It was 4 days ago and I had been watering the garden. I had taken a break to have a drink of water. On the other side of the field, where the forest began, I saw the strangest thing I ever laid my eyes on. It looked like a girl but she was covered in flowers, as if they had been growing from her skin. I had called out to her wanting to know who, or what exactly she was. At the sound of my voice she took off, not even bothering to look back at me. And that’s when I saw it. An odd looking tunnel going into the forest. A passageway made of trees.

 

Youngmi stopped reading. This was a journal, and it was written by a human. She spun around and ran up to Seunghee.

 

“Seunghee, this was written by a human wasn’t it?”

 

“Hmm?” Seunghee looked down at the book Youngmi was holding. “Oh that, yes, it was.”

 

Youngmi then asked the witch if she could have it. And so Seunghee gave it to her, she really had no use for it.

 

And finally the magic had finished its job and Youngmi was given several outfits to wear. The clothes were very cute and fashionable, the witch obviously had good taste. She quickly changed, happy to get out of the stained dress. Seunghee complimented the girl, she looked nice in her new clothing.

 

“You look wonderful! Doesn’t she look lovely Minhyuk?”

 

When the boy didn’t reply the witch elbowed him in the side and repeated her question. He looked at Youngmi, taking in her appearance, then gave a gentle smile.

 

“Yeah. She looks lovely.”

 

Seunghee waved at the two as they left. She called out to Youngmi wishing her luck with her time in the enchanted wood, and for having to deal with a bunch of rowdy boys.

 

Youngmi and Minhyuk finally made it home. But before any of the other boys could greet Youngmi, she ran up to her room. She wanted to get started on reading the journal, she was excited to find out another human’s experience in the forest.

 

Youngmi was just about to start reading where she left off when Sanha walked into the room.

 

“Hey. Uhmm... I’m sorry about breakfast. And your dress got ruined right? I’m really sorry.”

 

Youngmi looked up at him just for a second then returned to her book. “It’s fine.”

 

“Oh. Okay.” Sanha looked at his feet and twiddled his fingers. He wanted to say more but he was unsure if he should speak to the girl.

 

“Sanha.”

 

The boy’s head jolted up. “Yes?”

 

“I’m okay.” She gave him a sincere smile, knowing that he was probably just worried about her. “And I don’t hate you, if that’s what is bothering you. I’m really okay. I mean, I’m still quite shocked at everything, and I’m scared and upset and just want to cry…” the girl took a breath and held back her tears, then resumed with what she was saying, “But I’ll be okay. Okay?”

 

Sanha gave a small nod and seemed to brighten up a bit. He was glad that the girl didn’t hate him, he still felt bad for getting her into this mess. He wasn’t sure if she had truly forgiven him, and he would understand if she didn’t. But her words gave him hope that she could get past her troubles and they might become good friends. He liked the girl. She seemed sweet and gentle, and it was a refreshing change to the atmosphere caused by his group.

 

“Youngmi.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You’re coming down for dinner later, right?”

 

The girl grimaced, remembering the inedible food she had tried earlier in the day. She was not ready to go through that torture again.

 

“Only if I can make it.”

 

Sanha quickly nodded and turned to run down the stairs to tell the other guys. Youngmi breathed out a sigh of relief, she would actually be able to have a decent meal. And she was sure the others would appreciate it as well.

 

After Sanha left, Youngmi quickly got to reading the journal.

 

The first ten or so pages were just about the man’s life before entering the forest and the first few days after he had gone through that passageway of trees. She had gone through about fifty pages, reading all about the things the man went through in his days of being in the forest.

 

There wasn’t particularly anything interesting, just things about the creatures he met and the conversations he had.

 

Youngmi bookmarked the page and placed the journal on the bed. She laid back to collect her thoughts, to just think about all she had experienced and what may lie ahead.

 

Tears slipped down her cheeks. She had told Sanha that she was alright, but was she really? Youngmi still wasn’t sure of that. Maybe she just said it to reassure herself rather than the boy.

 

She wrapped her arms over her eyes and began sobbing. Youngmi missed her world. She missed her father and her house. She missed her friends and school and even the mean teachers. There was so many things that she wanted to see again. But the things she missed the most (other than her father of course) was the photo at the bottom of the staircase and her mother’s beautifully enchanting mirror.

 

Youngmi cried for awhile and when she was done she just stared at the ceiling. She began thinking about the boys she was now surrounded by. They had been so kind to her. She knew they would never understand her pain but they were trying their best to make her comfortable.

 

The girl stayed in the room for a few hours. Just relaxing before she had to deal with what would probably be another disastrous meal. Youngmi quietly snooped through the boys’ belongings, checking if they had anything useful or interesting. They had a lot of odd trinkets hanging from the walls and ceiling, and many more (quite useless) things sitting on the shelves.

 

Youngmi clicked her tongue. They certainly were boys, confusing and strange, just like the ones at school. She wondered if they were also the type of guys to pick on girls. She hated those kind of boys the most.

 

After peeping through the odds and ends scattered about, Youngmi decided it would be a good idea to get dinner started. She was starving and the boys must have been as well. So she headed down to cook dinner and sit through another crazy meal with the six rowdy boys.

 

The girl smiled and giggled to herself as she watched them fight at the dining table. It was rather annoying but maybe she could get used to it. Although loud and rambunctious it was a bit fun to watch.

 

Suddenly Youngmi jumped up out of her seat, grabbed a fish, and chucked it at JinJin. It slapped him in the face and slipped down onto the table. The fighting stopped and every head turned towards the girl. A playful smirk appeared on her face which was instantly returned by the boy she threw the fish at.

 

And the war continued. Now with Youngmi joining in.

 

 

After everyone had gotten cleaned up, the boys retreated to their room to get some sleep. Youngmi made her way into the room at the top of the treehouse, she was ready for sleep as well. She plopped down onto the bed and pulled the covers over her. She picked up the book that was lying next to her and turned it about looking it over.

 

There were humans before her, and this one had written things down. Had it been for others to read in order to help them? Whatever the reason she was glad they had done it. She wanted to continue reading but she could feel herself dozing off.

She set the book on the nightstand and pulled the blanket over her head. Youngmi could barely keep her eyes open, so she let sleep overtake her. The journal would be there waiting for her in the morning. But for now she needed rest.