Chapter One. Risk Assessment

Late at night, Dr. Walden, Director of Magic at Chetwood School, forces herself to complete a detailed risk assessment for an Upper Sixth lab that will include a first summoning of a medium demon. Her safety culture—filters, refreshers, and mandatory forms—reflects hard-won experience and a determination to prevent avoidable accidents.

Chief Marshal Laura Kenning arrives unannounced to challenge Walden’s plan, pressing to exclude Nikki Conway from the practical. Kenning cites research that prior incursions predict future ones, arguing Nikki’s childhood incident—where a demon killed her family—marks her as an unacceptable risk.

Walden counters that Nikki’s talent and caution, combined with structured supervision, make the classroom the safest venue. She stresses pedagogical expertise and controlled conditions over prohibition, rejecting the exclusion and warning that delays increase unsupervised risk. Power dynamics surface: Marshals answer to governors and their Order, while Walden oversees teaching and safety inside the school.

Kenning declares she will observe the lesson, and Walden acquiesces politely. Their philosophical divide—Marshal militarism versus academic control—remains unresolved but bounded by professional protocol.

After Kenning leaves, a possessed wall clock briefly manifests a screaming cuckoo, a trivial demon Walden tolerates. Walden resumes her form and, under “DEMONIC INCURSION,” writes the mitigation: herself, affirming personal responsibility for the lab’s safety.