"Will someone please remind me why we're all going to England?" Pete chewed a sandwich in his plane seat, and the flight attendant gave him a look as she passed.

"Can you listen to me for once?" growled Artie. "It's the opportunity of a century!" He muttered something to himself, and Myka continued.

"We're going to the Foraoise na Breithiunas; it's in Ireland, not England. "

"The what?" Pete looked at her like she was insane. At that moment, the flight attendant returned, interrupting their conversation.

"Excuse me, sir?" She addressed Pete. "The plane will be taking off shortly, can you please save your food for about 20 minutes, until we're in the air? Thank you." She left, and Myka glared after her for the interruption.

"Uh, so rude! Anyway, it means The Forest of Judgement, Pete. The people in a small Irish village believe that Once every century, the forest that surrounds their home selects "contestants" to enter the forest. Allegedly, five people go in and one person, the champion, comes out." Artie then ceased muttering and butted in, hoping to beat Myka to the rest of the explanation.

"Some people in the village endorse the selection. They line up at the edge of the trees and claim that the branches pull in the contestants. Others believe that the forest is a demon that feeds off human guilt."

"The entire forest is a demon?" asked Pete incredulously. Now Claudia and Steve, who were seated behind them, joined in. Claudia poked her head in between Artie and Pete.

"We're going to try to find the Artifact in there before the contestants are chosen." Steve looked skeptical.

"If there really is an artifact." Claudia smiled at him.

"You're such a poopy pants sometimes, Jinksy! Why would we all be going to an island in Northern Ireland if there wasn't an artifact?"


Breithiunas Island, Ireland

"What do you mean, tomorrow is selection day? You told me over the phone that we had at least two weeks?" Artie yelled into an old man's face.

"Well, Arthur, I'm sorry I disappointed you. The Forest has a mind of its own."

"You could have at least... never mind, Barney. Thank you for your help, we'l take it from here." Artie shook hands with the man, and the other agents watched him hobble off down a darkened corridor. Artie turned to them and sighed.

"There's nothing we can do now. I suggest you all get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day."

They nodded and went to their rooms at the inn. Myka and Claudia shared a room, Pete and Steve shared one, and Artie got his own. Three hours later, Myka woke up to find Claudia sitting on the edge of her bed, typing furiously.

"Claud? You really should go to bed, it's late."

"I know, Myka, but I found out some really interesting stuff."

"What?" Myka, now intrigued, rose and strode across the room to view Claudia's laptop screen.

"Tomorrow at sundown, people ho wish to be selected for the forest will crowd around the edge of the woods. They'll stand there, and apparently, the forest will grab the people it wants." There was a picture of long, thick tree branches wound around a waving young man."I also read accounts of a few people who came out of the forest alive. All of them said that they had gone in feeling happy and gone out feeling guilty about watching their friends die. They said that their friends were too weak to fight it, and that it "probed into their heart and mind with its branches to find their guilt." All of them went in as spirited young people and came out believing that the forest was evil."

"Wow. That's a lot of information. But you still should get some sleep. We can tell Artie in the morning."

"Sounds good to me. Good night, Myka."

"Good night, Claudia."


All throughout the next day, they did research, thought, and questioned people. None of the people had seen any type of artifact while in the forest. Finally, it was sundown. The agents joined the crowd, having no intention to go into the forest until the next day. As they interrogated people, the light grew lower and lower over the horizon, until only a small amount of sunlight showed.

Then, the trees started to shake and twist. Surprised, Pete drew his gun and Claudia stepped back. Suddenly, a long. mangled branch reached out of the trees. It wrapped around Artie's waist, and one by one, all the agents of Warehouse 13 were taken into the woods. The branches withdrew, and the Forest had chosen. They were the contestants.