49

Your grandma gives an uncharacteristic snort of laughter.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I know a little about computers from what I've picked up over the years, but thankfully magic gives you quite a lot of flexibility even with machines, so I've never needed to learn too much about the technical side of things. I'm not quite sure what it is that hackers hack, anyway. Please don't tell me if you do know, Huknock; I'd rather not worry about what you've been getting up to these past couple of weeks."

She pushes two chairs up against the desk, and she ushers you into one of them. Sitting down in the other, she faces you with utter seriousness.

"Huknock—there's a lot that I need to tell you. I'm afraid it can't all be explained in just a few minutes, but if you bear with me, then I promise you will have some answers to your questions. Maybe not all of them—but hopefully, as many as possible."

She takes a long breath, reminding you of somebody about to plunge into deep waters.

"For a long time, I've had a question in my mind—about the true potential of our magic. There's always been a part of me that's wondered just how far its limits can truly go. You would think that magic could do almost anything, but I believe everything has its limits, and I decided I wanted to know what those limits were. The thing is, you really need to understand how something works to find out exactly what it's capable of. And discovering how our magic works has not been an easy task."