1.) Be prepared: have a map of your route; carry a compass in case your phone loses signal; bring water and snacks. Ignore your grandmother’s advice to not go for a walk alone when you asked her if you could stay in the old family cottage for a few days to recover from your broken engagement. Tuck that iron ring that she insisted on giving to you for your sixteenth birthday in your pocket, just in case. At the last minute, pack the little cakes with lemon icing that she insisted you bake and bring as gifts, the same kind she always stuffed your pockets with before sending you out to play.

2.) Pay attention to the trail markers. Don’t wander off the trail to get a closer look at the patch of dreamy watercolor flowers you’ve never seen before. Don’t think about how they would have been perfect for the bouquet at your now-canceled wedding, how the soft shades of lilac would have looked beautiful on your bridesmaids.

3.) Keep track of your progress. Consult your map and compass when your phone stops working and loses its charge even though you turned off the data and haven’t touched it for hours. Has it been hours? The estimated time of this hike is only ninety minutes, but your legs feel like you’ve been walking for days. Insomnia can do that to you. Push away the memory that’s been keeping you up at night. You know, the image of catching your fiancé fucking his co-worker when he said he was working late for the seventeenth night in a row, and you decided to surprise him at his office with take-out from his favorite Thai place.

4.) Avoid perfect circles of natural objects. Oh, you’re pretty sure you already wandered through a circle of goose feathers? You did find it rather odd to see them, but then a gorgeous blackbird cawed overhead, and you blindly followed it trying to decide if it was a crow or a raven. Shit. You really should have been paying attention. You’re always missing clues until it’s too late, like how Stephen kept getting phone calls at weird hours and would quickly send them to voicemail, claiming they were spam. How did you miss the signs? Your grandmother always said you were too good for him.

5.) Rest when you need it. That towering weeping willow will do. Drink some water, eat your trail mix, and try your best to recall those stories your grandmother told you about wandering through fairy circles. You always thought she was making them up, but now you’re not so sure, are you? Didn’t she mention something about there being two courts—seelie and unseelie—and that you’d better hope you encounter the former because they were a little friendlier toward humans? Immediately regret not listening to her as she patiently explained all of this when you were a child. Remember squirming and craning your neck to watch your older cousins running around the yard while she talked. At the story’s end you shot off like a stretched rubber band finally released into the air.

6.) Consult your map. Admit that you are lost. Notice the flash of movement in the patch of bright red tulips with yellow polka dots. Yes, the ones that are so red they look like fresh drops of blood. There it is again! See how the air shimmers? You have company.

7.) Be cautious of the wildlife. Now would be a good time to offer one of the cakes to whatever is hiding in the tulips. Place a piece a few feet away, then another piece a little closer. Sit still and pretend like your heart isn’t pounding a million miles an hour, like you aren’t afraid that you’ll be trapped in this fairy forest forever. If you’re lucky, they may decide to lead you home again to nurse your broken heart in peace.

8.) Do not ingest any food or drink offered by the fae. Yes, it may feel rude to not partake in the feast prepared in your honor. And yes, you may be very hungry or thirsty since you finished the last of your water and trail mix eons ago, while your new fairy friend led you deeper into the woods instead of out, but DO NOT give in unless you want to stay there forever. And yes, the fairy king may be handsome with his curly dark hair and mesmerizing star-dotted irises. He may charm you as he twirls you around the ballroom, his warm hand pressing on the small of your back, his cool breath tickling your neck as he whispers promises of a pleasure-filled life, but he can’t be trusted. Besides, what will happen when the queen returns and finds you in her bed? You already know what a punch to that gut that is.

9.) Remember to wear the iron ring. Your head may be foggy from all the dancing but put your hand in your pocket and find the tiny iron ring. Don’t toy with it for a few moments as the fairy king pulls you against him and you wonder, for just a moment, what he might be like as a lover. Slip the ring on your pinky finger even if it barely fits. Watch as the illusions drop away and wish all truth was that easy to reveal. Realize you are in the middle of a deep, dark wood all alone, dancing by yourself.

10.) Quickly and carefully follow the path home. Tune out the whispered promises of an enchanted future and ignore the rustling of wings echoing through the dark woods as you run. Don’t look back, no matter how much you would like to warn the queen about what her husband has been up to. She already knows.