Several of the team immerse themselves in the shine thrown by the burning. Gertrude sees the dragon, and concentrates on it (red scaled skin, round-pupilled eyes with points that suggest the pupil might close to a slid, five claws on each forefoot) and the space behind it, a featureless grey void… though it seems to squirm and change shape slightly when one’s not looking at it.

Bessie holds up a stick to imitate Paton’s posture, and looks for a reflection in the dragon’s eyes: it’s a glowing human figure, but she can’t get much more than that.

Milly touches the wall “through” which the dragon appeared, and gets a sense of distortion, just as Ramsey triumphantly announces “203°”. Apparently this is the sum of interior angles on the triangular surveying-type frame he’s applied to that wall. Bessie ties a rope round herself, gets Ramsey to hold it, and steps through the wall; she’s floating in a grey void, with a brighter disc behind her, and after a bit he pulls her back. The angle is up to 205°. Audrey checks the measurement, and goes through, looking at the grey; it seems to resolve itself into a figure of a very old-school governess advancing in some direction, then into an ever-growing pile of suitcases, then into something with rather too many teeth for comfort, but none of these things is aimed at her.

When she returns, Ramsey thinks it’s up to 206°, but that might be an error in measurement. Two fire bugs follow her through; Milly and Lin Tan catch them. Ramsey tries to walk through, but simply runs into the wall, even without his amulet (which he’s very hesitant to remove, and glad to put back on).

Bessie goes through with a lit torch, though on the far side it doesn’t cast light except on itself and her. After a bit, there’s a policeman advancing on her in a menacing manner, though it passes her; she then sees her late husband, who’s apparently blaming her for his death, though when she passes a card to him in a move they used a lot the reunion becomes more pleasant and they pass a pleasant conversation. She returns with tears and cobwebs on her face; the cobwebs evaporate in a few minutes. (And the card is missing from the deck she was carrying.)

Milly and Ramsey look at the fire bugs, which are happy to sit in the open warming-pan. He tries various lenses to see if he can spot them; he thinks that one made out of a thinly-sliced ruby might be working.

Ramsey will try to get one of his people in with the builders who fix the house.

Gertrude goes through, and sees an advancing line of soldiers and German tanks; then a monstrous, ravening teddy bear, and then a sense of registration, of having to be official and numbered and tied down, though she manages to twist this into having an official exemption from officialdom. As this is ending, she tries to envision a child of hers who died young, and manages to see her; then she senses the shadow of something passing overhead, and has a strong sensation of being looked at. It’s a long, thin shape, with wings…

Lin Tan, Milly and Bessie search through Paton’s books, and don’t find anything significant in common with the other victims; they all have Bibles, but so do most households. There’s nothing occult about any of them.

Bessie is unable to spot the irregularity of the wall from any distance. She checks the servant’s quarters under the eaves, but finds nothing. Gertrude probes the mind of one of the bugs; it’s very, very simple.

The team plans to attend Wilson’s funeral tomorrow, then to visit Sonia again.