Section II: Nick Summary

In the second section, Nick takes over the narration. He lives in a world much like our own, without any outward signs of magic. He is accompanying his adoptive father to a writing conference. Nick will later hint that he left behind a powerful position in another world for this life, with his father, the mystery writer. At the conference, Nick's father meets his favorite author, Maxwell Hyde, at the very point when Nick is whisked away into an alternate reality, where he enters "periphery security." He joins a group of men who seem to think he has been sent as a guard, and is rather late. Nick's job will be to guard the Prince of Wales during a cricket match, by keeping the periphery clear. After a ceremony with the men to protect the prince, Nick retreats and...