On the edge of the old forest stood the village to which Nina had moved in the summer. She was fourteen and there was a new sky outside her window, smelling of smoke. Her grandmother used to say that this forest remembered vows from before her baptism. In the heart of the forest grew the Sacred Oak with the scars left by Perun's lightning bolts. Under it in the evenings someone would leave ribbons, clay beads and a handful of honey. People spoke to it in whispers, as if it were someone who really answers. After lessons, Nina walked along a path that disappeared between thick ferns. She looked for the place from the story, although she promised herself to be very careful. Eventually she found an oak tree, bigger than the house and dark with resin. It had bark cut with marks, and dried old garlands hung around it. In the grass shone an amulet with a scorched line, like a snake with a noose. She picked it up, and the wind whispered something that sounded like the word "Give it back". In the evening Igor, the boy from the neighbouring homestead, came by and muttered. - 'Don't go there alone, because the woodchucks like it when children forget the way,' he muttered. He told about the Kupala Night, jumping over the fire and garlands thrown on the water. - The mermaids sing better than the birds then, and the oak tree listens to oaths. Nina pretended to be calm, but the amulet burned in her pocket like a hot button. By the river it smelled of damp clay and mint lazily choked the mosquitoes. The day was catching up when Nina stood under the oak again, holding the amulet. She wanted to put it down and excuse herself before the campfire people returned. The water murmured, and a garland with a blue ribbon flowed against the current. Lines trembled on the bark, as if someone had cut them with a fresh knife. - Who's there? - She asked, and her voice trailed off into the thick foliage. A cool light came out of the darkness, as from the moon on the snow. Only the oak tree saw them, for the shadows had fled from under its crown. Someone without heavy footsteps circled the trunk, leaving footprints that disappeared. - 'Nino,' she heard, and each old tree repeated her name quietly. And then an invisible foot trembled on the moss, the garland stopped by her boots, and the bark swung open like a door.