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As you watch, your grandma kneels down in the tiny space at the bottom of the tree. As if this is something they've both done many times before, Carys hops off her shoulder and lands on the wooden floor.

You're more than a little bemused when you see her start to peck at the ground. Whatever you were expecting, it had to have been something far more mysterious—more magical—

But then, a moment later, she pecks again—and her beak seems to stick in the wood. In fact, when you peer a little closer, you realize there's a tiny hole in the wood that she seems to have found.

In that moment, you hear the faintest of clicks.

Then, before you know it, your grandma is digging her fingernails into a crack in the floor and—

A second later, she is carefully lifting up part of the floor itself. Below, you can just about see the silhouette of yet more stairs leading down into the dark earth.

Staring down into the shadows, you ask: