Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House

While Alice and her father are visiting the newly reopened Appleton Museum, Alice notices a dedication plaque on the wall from something called the Lonely House Foundation. She remembers the Lonely House from her run with Andre and the Nocturnal Academy teachers through the Astral Plane, where they helped to close a rift to the Immaterium.

But what is the Lonely House Foundation doing in Appleton? What are its intentions? Is it a good or evil organisation?

Alice and her friends are now in year 9, and apart from the occasional fight between Toby and Carla, and Professor Longenfang’s drunkenness, things have been uneasily quiet at the Nocturnal Academy.

Then Longenfang realises he needs help because he has lost his Beast, and is sent on a spirit quest into the depths of the Sub-Astral Plane. He is accompanied by Toby and Carla, who each had their own issues to deal with.

Alice stays behind, overjoyed that she is not the centre of attention for once. But then she receives a call from a near-hysterical Janice Cooper, who claims she saw demons roaming the grounds at a party hosted by the Lonely House Foundation. Now Janice possesses the ability to see through glamours and Magick, Alice believes her and goes with her to see what’s going on.

They discover that the Lonely House is actually a conduit to a realm even darker than the Immaterium, containing a trapped demon-god from before the dawn of time itself, a monstrous creature who wants to destroy the entire universe.