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As she tells you this in her cool, steady tone, you feel your heart leap into your throat. Does that mean your grandma knows some way of stopping all of this?

But before you can begin to respond, she gives a grim shake of her head.

"I should be clear: there's nothing I can do to protect the forest itself. I'm afraid it's far beyond my abilities to stop all those people with their machines—and even if I could, it would risk us—our magic—being discovered. As much as I hate to think of the forest being cut down, it's out of my hands. The only thing I realized I might have the power to save is the magic that comes from this forest."

Your grandma looks at you for a long moment—and then she stands up and starts to tidy some things almost at random while talking over her shoulder.

"That's what I've been working on while you've been away. I always thought it was a long shot, but I had to at least try. And—I think it might work."

Her voice gets a little muffled as she lowers her head to pick something up. Although what she's telling you should be good news, you get the sense that she's a little reluctant to even be revealing this much. And you haven't exactly missed the fact that she hasn't told you anything about how she's supposedly going to save the forest's magic.

As if reading your mind, your grandma gives you a shrewd look and says:

"I will tell you what I've been planning, Huknock. In a little while. It's not something I can just rattle off in a couple of minutes—and there are a few things I want to talk about with you first. Just…please, trust me when I say that I have a plan, and it could keep our magic out of danger while the forest is being worked on."