Chapter Sixteen. The Lake

On a rainy Sunday, Dr Walden eats a meagre staff lunch and chats with Todd, who worries about funding his great-nephew’s budding magical talent and declines Walden’s suggestion of adult studies. Walden reflects on inequities in access to magical education and on Laura Kenning’s absence.

Walden meets Mark Daubery at Reception, banishes an imp from the keypad, and notes the unusual uptick in minor possessions. They plan a boundary-to-core sweep in the rain. Despite his showy arrival, Mark accepts a school umbrella and follows Walden toward the rugby pitches and lake.

Seeking a liminal site for a portal, Walden chooses the jetty at the lake—the edge between school property and public water. Mark, unexpectedly capable, evokes a clean, arched portal. Walden reins in her skepticism and professional resentment, recognizing she partly resents Mark for not being Laura.

Walden steps through first into a vast, pastel-grey demonic plane: empty, waterless, and inhospitable to lesser demons. When Mark tries to re-enter the school side, the wards repel him; Walden provides a guest lanyard keyed with her spellwork, explaining the system deters human threats as much as demons.

Crossing the boundary with proper credentials reshapes the plane into vivid, abstract “grass” and distant, echoing rugby—an imprint of Chetwood’s history and use. Walden and Mark discuss why rowing leaves little echo across the boundary and note how institutional memory shapes the plane. Mark muses about his younger self; Walden reads the calculated charm beneath his schoolboy persona.