Robert Nobel feels bullied by everyone – his parents, the kids at school, and especially Edith Sorrel, his partner in the Elders' Project. She's bullied him into visiting the top floor flat at Chance House, a half-derelict Victorian mansion. He bunks off school to go there and climbs to the top of the house. As he climbs he hears the sound of wings beating and a voice calling to him, urging him on. He reaches the door on the very last flight and, as it swings open, sees a blast of light and three feathers falling from the ceiling.