Once Upon a Time…
would be far too simple.
These are the tales that found their way to Haven Woods.
Some arrived unfinished.
And some should never have arrived at all.
Some arrived forgotten.
THE TALES THAT LOST THEIR WAY
Every story was supposed to follow a path.
Some wandered from it.
Some were forgotten before they reached their ending.
And some found their way into Haven Woods.
STORIES FOUND IN THE WOODS
HANSEL & GRETEL
THE CHILDREN WHO NEVER WENT HOME
THE STORY EVERYONE KNOWS
Two children lost in the woods.
A trail of breadcrumbs.
A cottage too good to be true.
And a witch waiting inside.
Hansel and Gretel escaped.
They found their way home.
At least...
that's the story everyone remembers.
WHAT THE WOODS REMEMBER
Hansel and Gretel have been in Haven Woods for a very long time.
Unlike most who wander into the Woods, they can leave whenever they wish.
And they often do.
They follow the paths beyond Haven Woods, searching for children who have wandered a little too far from their own.
WHAT HANSEL & GRETEL SAY
There's somewhere warm nearby.
Fresh food. Sweets. Games.
And you can stay as long as you like.
THE INVITATION
They never force anyone to follow.
They simply smile and say:
Come with us. It's not far...
THE PART NO ONE AGREES ON
Eventually, Hansel and Gretel always return to Haven Woods.
Sometimes they return alone.
And sometimes...
they don't.
Somewhere beyond the path, there is said to be a cottage waiting among the trees.
Some say Hansel and Gretel escaped that cottage long ago.
Others whisper that they never escaped at all.
And there are those in Haven Woods who wonder whether the story everyone remembers happened quite differently.
DID THE FAIRY TALE INSPIRE THE COTTAGE… OR DID THE COTTAGE INSPIRE THE FAIRY TALE?
THE DRAGON
THE STORY EVERYONE KNOWS
There was a Dragon.
There was an egg.
And somewhere beyond the castle walls, a hero was coming.
The Dragon knew how stories like this ended.
Heroes defeated dragons.
And whatever the dragon guarded belonged to the hero in the end.
So the Dragon did something dragons in stories aren't supposed to do.
He ran.
He took the egg with him.
And the hero never reached him.
WHAT THE WOODS REMEMBER
The Dragon arrived in Haven Woods still carrying the egg.
At first, he remembered the kingdom.
He remembered why the egg mattered.
He remembered what he'd been told about the hero who was coming.
But memories fade strangely in Haven Woods.
The kingdom disappeared first.
Then the warnings.
Then the hero's name.
Eventually, even the truth about the egg became difficult to remember.
But one thing remained.
And so he does.
Protect the egg.
THE EGG
The egg is real.
The Dragon can see it.
Touch it.
Carry it.
Protect it.
But what the egg truly is—or what it contains—is another matter entirely.
Perhaps the Dragon once knew.
Perhaps he only thought he did.
He no longer remembers.
THE HERO WAS COMING FOR THE EGG.
THE DRAGON NEVER STAYED LONG ENOUGH TO LEARN WHY.
THE FORGOTTEN DOLL GARDEN
Not all fairy tales have a happy ending.
Until the Garden appeared.
Haven Woods has always grown trees.
Ancient trees. Twisted trees. Trees whose roots have wound their way through stories for longer than anyone remembers.
But never flowers.
No one remembers planting the first flower. No one knows why they grow here when they grow nowhere else in the Woods.
And no one knows whether the flowers came first...
Some were found beneath the flowers. Others sit quietly among them. A few were hang above the Garden as though they had always been there.
No one remembers bringing them.
But every so often...
Or the dolls.
THERE SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER DOLL.
THE DOLLS
They know more than they are willing to tell.
The dolls rarely speak. Most don't speak at all.
They do not tell visitors where they came from.
They never say who—or what—they may have been before the Garden.
And they certainly never explain how they came to be there.
It would be easy to assume they simply don't remember.
That would be a mistake.
The dolls know many things about the Gaerden.
Perhaps some keep the secrets to protect themselves.
Perhaps others are trying to protect you.
The dolls sit among the flowers. They gather around the little tables. Some watch from above while others remain tucked quietly into the darker corners.
But there is always room for one more.
You may visit the dolls.
You may speak to the dolls.
You may even stay for tea.
But never let them learn your name.
WHISPERS FROM THE GARDEN
Haven Woods is full of stories. The trouble is deciding which ones are true.
Some say the dolls were once ordinary toys, forgotten for so long that something in Haven Woods finally woke them.
Others insist they were never dolls at all.
There are whispers of children who followed the flowers and were never seen again.
Some believe the dolls can leave the Garden.
Others say no one ever leaves.
And there is one particularly old story that no one seems willing to tell completely.
It claims that before the flowers grew...
something else stood in their place.
No one remembers what it was.
Or perhaps...
no one is willing to say.
One thing everyone can agree on is
Visitors are drawn to the Garden
Especially the Children
After all—
Flowers can be every bit as tempting as sweets.
What We Think We Know
Primrose — The Hostess
Birdie — The Watcher
Birdie was found inside the cage.
No one remembers putting her there.
No one knows who locked it.
And no one has been able to determine whether Birdie is being kept inside...
or something else is being kept out.
There is only one thing everyone in Haven Woods seems to agree upon:
DO NOT OPEN THE CAGE.
Primrose is rarely far from the tea table.
She arranges the flowers, watches over the gathering and always makes certain there is one more chair than the dolls need.
The chair remains empty.
Upon it rests a small sign:
RESERVED
No name is written beneath it.
Primrose never explains who she is waiting for.
Travelers have asked what will happen when the expected guest finally arrives.
Primrose only smiles.
Lottie — The One Who Notices
Children notice Lottie.
More strangely...
Lottie seems to notice them too.
There are stories of children speaking quietly to her when no one else is near.
Ask afterward what Lottie told them, and the answer is sometimes the same:
No one knows whether Lottie is sharing one of the Garden's secrets...
or warning them about one.
"I'm not supposed to tell."
ONE MORE THING…
Before you leave the Doll Garden, make sure nothing has followed you out. They aren't allowed to cross the iron gates, but sometimes, a name is enough for them to latch onto.
They already know.
PIP
The Marionette Who Looked Up
HE ALWAYS HAD STRINGS
Pip was a marionette long before he came to Haven Woods. In the story he once belonged to, the strings were simply part of him. They lifted his hands. Turned his head. Guided his steps. Pip never wondered who was pulling them. Until he came to Haven Woods.
SOMETHING CHANGED
At first, Pip couldn't explain what felt different. Then he noticed something. The string moved before his hand did. A pull came first. Then the step. A tug. Then the turn. So Pip began watching his strings instead of following them. And eventually... he looked up.
THE STRINGS DON'T END HERE
Pip discovered that his strings don't seem to lead anywhere in Haven Woods. They rise above him. Past the branches. Past the paths. Past everything Pip can see. And then they simply... continue. Where they go, Pip will not say. Perhaps even he doesn't know. But when someone once asked what he was staring at, Pip answered: “The one who's telling us what to do.” Most assumed he meant the Storyteller. The Storyteller apparently thought so too. Until one day, he told Pip there was nothing above them. Pip looked at him for a very long time. Then asked: “You can't see them?”
PIP WANTS HIS STRINGS CUT
Not because they hurt. Not because he wants to escape Haven Woods. Pip wants to know what would happen if, for the first time in his existence, nothing told him what to do next. He asks anyone willing to listen to cut them. So far... no one has. Perhaps they are afraid of what Pip would do without them. Perhaps they are afraid he wouldn't do anything at all. Pip doesn't seem frightened by either possibility. He only wants the answer to one question:
“What would I do if nobody were pulling them?”
LATELY, PIP HAS STOPPED LOOKING UP
Sometimes Pip watches the Storyteller. Sometimes he watches the trees. And sometimes he still tilts his head toward the strings disappearing above him. But lately... Pip has begun looking somewhere else. Not above the Woods. Not beyond the trees.
Beyond the story.
PIP IS LOOKING AT YOU.
Someone has to be holding the strings.
THE GRAVE DIGGER
He Knows Which Stories Should Stay Buried
THERE ARE GRAVES IN HAVEN WOODS
Some have stones.
Some have names.
Some have neither.
And some, according to the Grave Digger...
aren't graves at all.
No one remembers when the Grave Digger first appeared in Haven Woods. No one remembers seeing him arrive. They simply know that when something needs to be buried... he is already there.
NOT EVERY GRAVE HOLDS A BODY
Haven Woods has always collected things that stories leave behind. Pages. Names. Memories. Endings. Most who wander the Woods believe that anything lost is worth finding. The Grave Digger knows better. Because some things in Haven Woods were never lost.
They were buried.
Perhaps someone wanted a story forgotten. Perhaps an ending became something it was never supposed to become. Perhaps some tales were buried because someone decided they should never be told again. The Grave Digger knows the difference. He doesn't explain how.
SOMETIMES THE PAGES COME BACK
Lost Pages have a troublesome habit of appearing where they aren't expected. Caught beneath the roots of Old Haven. Carried along the Path. Tucked into places where no one remembers leaving them. And sometimes... one appears beside a grave. When that happens, the Grave Digger does something strange. He picks up the page. He does not read it. He takes his shovel.
And he digs.
Then he places the page back into the earth... and covers it again. No one knows whether he is protecting Haven Woods from whatever is written on those pages. Or whether he is protecting the pages... from whatever is buried beneath them.
THE GRAVE DIGGER DOESN'T ANSWER QUESTIONS
Ask him whose name once appeared on an empty stone. He will keep digging. Ask why some graves have no markers. He will keep digging. Ask what lies beneath the patch of earth that always seems freshly turned. He will keep digging. But there is one question someone once dared to ask.
“Can something buried here ever come back?”
For once, the Grave Digger stopped. He rested both hands upon his shovel. And looked toward the disturbed earth.
“Anything can come back if someone keeps digging.”
Then he returned to work.
SO IF YOU FIND A GRAVE...
Read the stone. Look for a name. Listen for a story. But if there isn't one... leave it alone. Some stories were forgotten. Some stories were lost. And some stories...
WERE BURIED FOR A REASON.
THE WARDEN’S WARNING
THE TRAVELER WHO LEFT THE PATH
THERE ARE RULES IN HAVEN WOODS
Stay on the path.
Do not follow voices into the trees.
And if you find a page that does not belong to your story... leave it where it lies.
Most travelers assume these rules were created by the Warden to keep the inhabitants of Haven Woods contained. They are mistaken.
THE TRAVELER
No one remembers when the Traveler arrived. Like so many who find their way into the Woods, they simply appeared upon the path. But this Traveler was curious. They had heard whispers of the Lost Pages—pieces of forgotten stories scattered throughout Haven Woods. Pages containing endings that had been lost, abandoned... or deliberately left unwritten. The Traveler wanted to find one.
THE WARDEN WARNED THEM
Stay on the path.
But sometime after nightfall, the Traveler disappeared into the trees. The crows noticed. Of course they did. They see nearly everything that happens beneath Old Haven’s branches. Their calls echoed through the Woods that night, carrying secrets from tree to tree until eventually reaching the one creature who understands what their whispers mean. The Warden.
BY MORNING
The Traveler had been found. They were lying just beyond the path. And clutched tightly in one hand was a torn piece of a story. No one knows what was written upon it. No one knows what the Traveler encountered. And the Warden has never spoken of what the crows told him that night.
THE LOST PAGE
I found it.
The Warden was wrong.
There’s nothing out here except—
PERHAPS WE MISUNDERSTOOD THE WARNING
Perhaps that is why the Warden still watches the paths. Perhaps that is why he protects the pages. And perhaps we have misunderstood his warnings all along. The paths of Haven Woods were never meant to keep travelers from discovering what lies within the trees. They were meant to keep what lies within the trees from discovering them.
[ THE PATH WATCHES ]
YOU WERE TOLD TO STAY ON THE PATH.
The Woods Have Only Just Opened…
The Hatter has only recently found her way into Haven Woods, and not every story has revealed itself yet.
Some tales are remembered slowly.
Some are discovered in fragments.
And some seem to change each time they are told.
As more Lost Pages are found and more of the Woods reveal themselves, their stories will appear here.
Return often. The Woods are still writing themselves.
Not every tale arrived here whole.
