73

On the day you came to the forest—

You remember—

"Huknock! Are you all right?"

You open your eyes.

A thin wisp of smoke is rising up from beneath the desk. In front of you, all of the monitors are black.

When you turn to your right, you see your grandma leaning towards you, straining to see your face. Carys, her feathers in slight disarray, is perched on her shoulder, watching you as well.

You can see at once that your grandma is afraid—but when she sees you looking at her, she lets out a ragged breath.

"Thank god—for a few seconds, I didn't know what was happening, but I just ran to unplug everything I could before anything else happened. I don't know if you felt the same thing, but suddenly, everything was…"

She trails off as you sit up a little shakily, once again taking in each of the blank screens sitting dead on the desk. You're not quite sure what just happened—but it only takes one glance to know that the program hasn't worked.

And then, after another second, you meet your grandma's gaze.