Robert has been given a strange task by Edith Sorrel, the old lady he's met as part of his class Elders' Project. She tells him to find a place called Chance House, and it is only by chance that he finds it - a derelict and boarded-up house at 26 St Aubyns. Robert finds a way into the house but discovers that, although derelict, it is not empty. Having propped a door open as a safe retreat, he hears footsteps and the slamming of the door. Someone or something is with him in Chance House.