《House of Anomalies》 prologue ¡°artifact 163 has been appraised to be a greater artifact. Artifact 164 has been appraised to be a rare artifact¡­¡± Oliver is glad to be home but listening to his aunt explain the grade of the artifacts he brought back from Africa has to be one of the most boring things he has ever had the displeasure of attending. He looks around and sees the other family members equally as bored not by the artifacts but by her flat monotonous voice. Even the matriarch seems to be busy with something below her desk. Oliver tries to see what she is doing by looking into her glasses only to see a lot of colors. She''s playing Candy Crush below her desk, isn''t she? After what feels like an eternity, his aunt explains the grade of the last artifact: ¡°Artifact 457 has been appraised to be a trinket artifact.¡± As his aunt settles in, the matriarch opens with the last topic: his uncle''s estate. The family leaders once again argue against sending a family member to manage the estate. Oliver however doesn''t see why everyone is so against the idea of taking over the estate. The last time he was there when he was six he loved kayaking on Lake Vermilion. or tying a sled to Uncle Samuel''s pickup. He smiles as he remembers the decade-long prank his uncle pulled on him. Samuel knew Oliver loved the pickup he had so when his condition worsened he gave the truck to him in his will. He still loves that truck but last year he found out why birds decided the pickup truck was their favorite toilet as he pulled an artifact that attracts birds out from behind the seat. 14 years ago his uncle must have placed it there to mess with him once Oliver got to drive it. The thought of his uncle thinking of ways to mess with people even in his final days sends a wave of nostalgia over Oliver. He remembers the camping trips, the abandoned town nearby where they used to climb on roofs to watch the sunset, and the weird anomalous critters his uncle kept as pets. Now he wonders what happened to Flapper his uncle''s beaver unicorn thing. With all the memories of the good times he had there, he raises his hand for a while the only person to notice is his mother who knows what he is going to do and is silently trying to get him to put his hand back down but the only reply she got was Oliver''s annoying smirk. The matriarch notices Oliver and asks. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Yes Oliver, do you have a question?¡± He lowered his hand and said, ¡°No but seeing that nobody wants it I would be happy to take over Samuel¡¯s estate.¡± This got the attention of every member of his family and they looked at him as if he was crazy. At the stares of his family, he felt the need to defend himself ¡°What don''t look at me like that, if none of you want it I would be more than happy to take it. As to me, it seems perfect, it''s away from the city, it has beautiful scenery and the forest anomalies are generally less dangerous and a lot weirder. I don''t know about you lot but I would not mind owning a multi-million dollar two-century-old estate.¡± The looks from his family show him that some of them were thinking about offering themselves to go so he wouldn''t have to. No matter how much they like bickering they do want what''s best for each other. But after hearing that he would like to go and start his own life out there they seem to accept that it''s not just him doing it to stop the bickering and give him their support as one of his cousins speaks up. ¡°He did very well in Africa no matter how many angry texts he sent about the malaria medication or the threat of using an artifact to block out the sun above the continent. So I say we give him the chance.¡± a few of the people laugh as they are reminded of his rant about the stupid yellow thing in the sky from when he was suffering from a heat stroke. The family head from San Francisco speaks up next ¡°While I do believe he is too young and maybe a bit too stubborn as well I do think he might be the best candidate to take over the estate.¡± There are several murmurs of agreement. The matriarch observes her family discussing if he would be ready to be alone so far away from anyone who could help him in an emergency. So the matriarch puts it to a vote ¡°All who are in favor of letting Oliver take over the estate please stand up.¡± Well over half the room stands up many of his cousins want to let Oliver prove that he has what it takes to search for anomalies on his own while the aunts and uncles who stand are the ones who taught him how to survive against any anomaly he might face, and know that after his test in the deserts of Africa, he was more than ready to take on the forest that his uncle used to patrol. The matriarch lets out a sigh she knew what the outcome would be but she hoped it would be denied she knows he is capable as even the family heads would be happy with the number of artifacts he brought back from Africa so she doesn''t stall any longer and announces ¡°With a majority vote, Oliver will from this day onward be the rightful owner of Samuel''s estate. Oliver, listen well this will be a big change you will be far away from the family so if you get into trouble it will take hours for one of us to get to you are you certain this is what you want.¡± Oliver on the other hand, can''t keep the grin on his face as he finally can make a place for himself so he answers ¡°Yes matriarch I''m certain.¡± Chapter 1: on the road again ¡°I still think it''s a bad idea.¡± ¡°It will be fine, the place just needs some fixing up.¡± ¡°No olive, it won''t be fine there is a reason our family sticks together. What if you come across something you can''t handle?¡± his brother asked in slight annoyance. ¡°I won''t, I''m not moving to a city where we don''t have family, I''m moving to where Uncle Samuel used to live. Forest anomalies are notoriously weird, not dangerous¡± ¡°And look how he ended up.¡± ¡°Stop being dramatic he died of lung cancer the only reason the report stated he got killed by an artifact was because he had a regenerating cigar anomaly.¡± his brother lets out a sigh and fiddles with the radio. After a bit of not finding a radio station, he puts a cassette into the radio. his brother points at an old weathered sign ¡°there gafverts rd.¡± ¡°Finally I thought we passed it,¡± he says while turning onto the old road that leads to the town of Gafvert. Once they enter the town they notice it is abandoned at the sight of the abandoned town he complains ¡°I have to go all the way to Ely to buy groceries. Last time I was there were still some people here. Man, that sucks.¡± He continues to drive to his uncle''s old estate. His brother asks him ¡°What happened to the town, could it have been an anomaly.¡± but oliver answers ¡°No, an accident happened 50 years ago, a school bus that took kids from here to the school in ely got hit by a truck there were no survivors; I guess a lot of people left after that and the town just kind of died after.¡± ¡°That''s kind of sad. But what would you do with the town if you could buy it? It''s not like you''re hurting for money after selling your African artifacts.¡± The mention of Africa sends a shiver up his spine even if the family offers all the money they had he would not go back. he refuses to even look at another bottle of anti-malaria medication. ¡°I could and I might, just to have some people near me.¡± As they drive through the town he notices something odd in one of the abandoned houses. A candle burning on the window sill behind an intact window. He taps his brother as he stops his pickup across the street from the house and points at it. ¡°If this place is supposed to be abandoned, that is either a squatter or something that wants to stay away from people.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. They get ready to investigate what is inside the house Oliver with his pistol while his brother puts his brass knuckles into his pocket. "Best to not have our weapons out if it is just a squatter." His brother said. Pushing open the old door they see the inside is surprisingly clean. Going from room to room they find some signs of something living here as there are pots and pans near the wood stove in the living room, buckets of water in the bathroom along with empty bottles of soap. probably stolen from nearby campers but the most surprising thing is in the room where we saw the candle burning. There in front of them is a large bird nest. Oliver asks his brother ¡°Is that a harpies nest?¡± his brother shakes his head ¡°No harpies are mindless monsters. This place would be disgusting but it''s clean so that rules them out, there are other monsters that are smarter that also build nests but I don''t think we''re dealing with a monster here. The soap and it''s cooking that show it''s intelligent so I''m more inclined to say we found a birdkin nest but don''t think because they are not recognized as monsters by the family elders that they aren''t dangerous, especially if.¡± his brother picks up a piece of a large egg shell. ¡°especially if it has a child with it.¡± ¡°Should we try to find them, birdkin are endangered, aren''t they? We can''t have a frightened hunter shoot it by accident,¡± he asks his brother. ¡°No, they are just as smart as humans. they won''t attack anyone unless they threaten their kid. Let''s get out of here.¡± Oliver follows his brother back to the pickup and gets in. before driving away to find his uncle''s old estate. After a while, they find the road leading to the estate where the matriarch is waiting for them. After entering the property and parking the pickup next to the matriarch''s beetle. They approach her and the old woman looks at them exasperated as they bow down before her. ¡°stand up you brats! I''m not enough of a narcissist to enjoy my grandsons bowing to me.¡± They stand up and hug her. They have been doing that since they were kids to annoy her as she hates it when people are overly polite. She tells her grandsons ¡°It''s good to see you again Bruno.¡± then she turns to Oliver ¡°Oliver I''m still not happy with you for agreeing to this but I won''t stop you. But why would you want to live here? You''ve only been part of the family business for eight years. I know the forest is not as dangerous as the city but what if something happens the closest family member is four hours away in Chicago.¡± Oliver smiles at his grandma and says ¡°Because nobody wants it because the forest is weird. You know what that sounds like to me, it sounds like something fun waiting to happen.¡± Grandma''s eyes narrow at what he said and she responds. ¡°You know your uncle told me something similar when I tried to discourage him from buying this place. Alright, I''ll support your decision but you better promise that if you encounter anything you can''t handle, call your cousin for help, alright." She turns to leave but turns around and tells him ¡°And if I ever see you with a cigarette or whatever else I''ll do what I should have done to your uncle when I found out he started smoking.¡± he laughs and wave her goodby before turning to his brother and saying ¡°thanks for coming with me but I think you should follow her unless you want me to drive you to the bus station in ely.¡± his brother laughs and pulls him into a hug before going after grandma to not miss his ride back home. chapter 2: Natural ventilation, I guess. Oliver waves as his grandma takes the reins of her beetle in her hands, and with a tap of her foot, the beetle unfolds its wings and takes off. He watches as they become smaller and smaller in the evening sky. When he can''t see them anymore, he enters the estate for the first time in 14 years. It''s dusty, and some of the windows are broken, but the grandiose entrance is a sight to behold: the marble flooring, the grand staircase, and most of all, the giant round stained glass window depicting St. Ambrose. Who that is he doesnt know only the name was ingraved below the window on a broze plaquette. He goes around and takes note of what needs doing. Every window has to be replaced as they are single panes of glass most of the furniture needs to be thrown out. The living room chandelier fell and broke some of the tile floor, and the wall between the dining room and kitchen has water damage. Oliver looks up and down the wall, seeing that the damage originates from about the middle of the wall. He guesses it''s a pipe leaking inside the wall. He hears movement inside of it. ¡°Ho dammit thers are mice in the walls too. I''ll break open the wall tomorrow to fix the pipe.¡± He goes into the kitchen and finds a folder on the counter. He opens the folder and finds a note inside that reads, ¡°Please don''t try it yourself. - Mom ¡± Oliver doesn''t understand what the note from his mother means until he looks at the documents that are in the folder. The documents are the quote from a local roofing company. Oliver looks at the documents, finding the price good, but he gets kind of worried as he reads the part where it states a tree fell on the roof not long ago and left a hole in it. He goes outside to see the damage, but it''s covered in a blue tarp. He guesses the roofers doing the quote did it to prevent rain from getting in. Oliver looks at the tarp and thinks aloud, ¡°If they are willing to do that for a potential customer, then I''ll give them a chance.¡± While the quote is reasonable, it is still expensive: seventy thousand dollars for asphalt shingles, one hundred thousand dollars for metal roofing, two hundred thousand dollars for tile, and three hundred fifty thousand dollars for slate roofs. Oliver looks up at the roof curently its dark red tile bit he doesnt think it fits so he decides to go with slate he goes back inside and tries to use the light switch as it becomes to dark to read the rest of the documents only to find they dont work, not in the kitchenor or in the dining room he tries the one in the livingroom a few times before he looks at the chandelier on the gruond. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He turns on his flashlight and searches for the circuit breaker. It''s either in the basement or the garage. He walks back into the foyer and takes the door behind the grand staircase down to the basement. At the bottom of the basement stairs is an armored door. This is probably where uncle cept his transfer formatoin. The formation is the family''s most guarded secret not to maintain a monopoly but just because if they are made incorrectly, someone could a variety of different failures from a minor shock to taking out half the estate. Luckily for him and to the frustration of his grandma and parents, doors could rarely stop him as he begins to turn into smoke and slips under the armored door. Both he and his brother are rare in his family as he is an ofshoot and his brother an original. He, as an offshoot, did not inherit his mother''s anomaly of fire generation, but he did get something that was affected by his mothers anomaly so while his mother creates fire he can become smoke his brother however did not inherit any anomaly from the family and was born with his unicue anomaly of super strength. Inside the basement, Oliver finds his uncle''s old transfer formation, but after 14 years of neglect, it''s merely some chalk on the ground. While he can''t create oceans of flame like his mother, he has learnt how to heat his smoke to cumbust again. he uses this to navigate the small basement as he couldn''t take his flashlight with him. The only thing it must have been used for was the formation, so Oliver decides to go and buy a plasma torch next time he is in town to cut open the door so he can replace it with one that he has the key for. He fades back into smoke and slips back under the door. Going back up the foyer he relizes he needs to gets the lights back on as its pitch black outside now and the only light he has is his phone flashlight he takes the door to the garage but before he gets there he goes through the large library all the books are gone probably taken by the family but he has difrent ideas for the library all the empty shelves will be used to put interesting relics on display for potentail buyers. He walks through the library and enters the utility room there, he finds an old washer and dryer, stuff to clean, and on the far wall, the circuit breaker. Oliver opens the circuit breaker door and looks for why the electricity doesn''t work. He looks up and finds the main breaker turned off. Before he turns it on, he turns off the breaker to the living room so the broken chandelier won''t cause problems. Now, with the living room breaker off, he turns on the main one and tries the light switch in the utility room. The fluorescent lights flicker to life, bathing the room in sterile white light. With power restored, Oliver goes to read the rest of the roofing documents. chapter 3: Who Needs a Fridge Anyway? The slate is three hundred fifty thousand, and the repairs are another fifteen thousand, along with thirty thousand to replace the rotting roof beams and another sixty-five thousand to insulate the roof. Altogether, it''s four hundred sixty thousand dollars to fix the roof. He looks at his phone, where his bank account is open, after all the artifacts from Africa were sold. The price of repairing the roof was negligible. He puts his phone away and goes upstairs to find the main bedroom. As he enters, he sees that the bed has gotten rained on before someone came to board up the window, so he decides to go and take the military cot he found in a surplus store and sets it up in the relatively clean walk-in closet. As he sets up the cot, he hears something from the attic, like clawed feet walking over the hardwood floor. As he listens, he can hear a faint whistle that sounds oddly like a giggle before it gets shushed by something else. He places his pistol near the cot and lies down on it, he is pretty sure a bird made it into the attic. ¡°I''ll need to put the tarp back properly tomorrow.¡± He tries to think of what else needs to be done in the estate, but it doesn''t last long as he quickly falls asleep. The next day, as he wakes up and feels the sun coming through the small window of the walk-in closet, he gets up and goes downstairs and back out to his truck, where he gets the last of his possessions. he brings in the suitcases with his clothes and other essentials and lastly he goes to take the groceries he bought but half of it is gone. Oliver looks at the half-empty bag in the back of his pickup. ¡°I should have brought it inside yesterday.¡± He brings the leftover groceries to the kitchen and opens the fridge only to find it is not working. He pulls it out of its spot to get a look behind it, only to find all the copper missing. ¡°What! Why would someone take the copper out of the fridge and then put it back? I have to go get a new fridge and some tools for the wall and go to the roofer''s office to discuss the quote for the new roof. but first, I''m getting rid of you,¡± he says while pointing at the fridge. He goes to the garage in hopes of finding something to help him move the fridge. The garage is a mess as it is filled with so much stuff: racks full of chemicals, several shelves with ruined paint cans, a stack of boxes that reaches the ceiling, and a bunch of gardening supplies. Among the gardening supplies is a wheelbarrow. While it''s rusted through, it will be enough to get the fridge to the truck, and he might as well take the wheelbarrow to the scrapyard while he takes the fridge there. As he brings the wheelbarrow to the kitchen, it leaves a trail of rusted metal flakes from the garage to the kitchen, but it matters little as he needs to clean the entire estate anyway. With a bit of struggle, he gets the fridge into the wheelbarrow, and as he lifts the handlebars, the rusted metal creaks, and he tries to quickly get them both outside before the wheelbarrow crumbles. The wheelbarrow holds on until it''s outside, but now it has to face a new challenge: the steps in front of the estate. Oliver carefully pushes it down the first step, but the metal doesn''t hold the bars that hold the wheel snap, and the wheelbarrow crashes down the steps along with the fridge. Oliver stands atop the steps and shrugs before going to his pickup and driving it closer to the crash site. With some struggle, he gets the fridge into the truckbed and throws in the pieces of the wheelbarrow. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. After securing everything with straps, he begins the drive back to town. Driving through the abandoned town of gafvert, he thinks about just dumping it in an abandoned house, but he is thinking of buying the town after his estate is fixed and decides to just do it properly and go to Ely to drop it at the scrapyard there. The drive to Ely is nice, the weather is good, and the views of the lakes and streams are great. Even the town of Ely has a nice look to it, as many of the stores along the main road have a rustic feel, such as the small wooden buildings with the charming signs above them. Oliver drives slowly and looks around until he finds what he is looking for: the appliance store. He parks his pickup and goes inside the building that looks straight out of the 70s. he pushes the door open, and the bell signals his arrival. A man busy with another customer tells oliver, ¡°I will be right with you.¡± oliver nods and looks around and looks at the models of refrigerator they have in stock he looks at one he likes and that will fit where the old fridge was. The man, now finished with the other customer, approaches Oliver and holds out his hand. ¡°Good morning sir, my name is Terry, what can i help you with today.¡± oliver shakes the mans hand and answers, ¡°Nice to meet you I''m Oliver. The fridge in my new house is broken and I need a new one. i took a look around and this one will be fine for the time being.¡± oliver gestures at the fridge he was looking at. Terry asks, ¡°For the time being, are you going to renovate? This is a decently expensive fridge. You might want to look at some cheaper ones if you''re planning on getting a different one later.¡± Oliver answers, ¡°No, this one is good. When I renovate the kitchen, I will put this one in the garage, I would rather that it lasts a long time than that I have to come back to replace it in a year or two.¡± Terry nods and tells him, ¡°if you''re after a long lasting one, I have just the one you need.¡± he leads me to another part of the store where there are more fridges while the fridge i was looking for was nice and sleek this one was robust and blocky and terry begins to explain ¡°we have been selling this model for decades its affordable reliable and if it breaks within ten years you get your money back guarantee. I know it is not the prettiest machine out there, but if you''re planning on putting it in the garage, it won''t matter much.¡± He looks at the fridge and thinks to himself, ¡°Doesn''t grandma have one of these in her storage room? She bought that one before I was born, and it still works.¡± he opens the fridge and it seems like a good purchase so he turns to terry ¡°i¡¯ll take this one then. When is the soonest you can have one ready?¡± Terry opened his notebook and said, ¡°We can send it over at 1 pm today; plus, we will install it for no cost if you live in the area.¡± Oliver asks him, ¡°Is Gafvert close enough for this to also apply?¡± Terry looks surprised. ¡°Why would you want to live there? no offence, but that place is¡­ not the greatest place to live.¡± Oliver shrugs. ¡°I inherited the house, and I liked the area. It''s not even in the town; you just have to go through there to get to my house.¡± Terry nods and tells him, ¡°Well, you live where you want to live, and yes, we will deliver there for free. We just need the address, and we can finalize the sale. Oliver nods and follows him to the desk and pays for the fridge before asking, ¡°Is there a junkyard nearby? I need to get rid of the old fridge.¡± Terry answers There is one in Winston. Just follow the main road until the turn. Just keep going straight past the wolf center, then at the lumberjack statue, turn left, and then keep going straight until you find Winton Road, and then you just drive down it. The junkyard is on the left; you can''t miss it.¡± Oliver thanks Terry, heads back out to his pickup, and follows the directions given to him. he stops at the lumberjack statue and sends a picture to the family group chat before continuing to the junkyard. Chapter 4: Where鈥檚 a good boy? ¡°I¡¯m not going back.¡± ¡°There is nothing in there; you''re just imagining things.¡± ¡°You know what? I¡¯m not doing this anymore. I QUIT!¡± Oliver watches the altercation as he arrives at the scrapyard. He approaches the elderly man who stands defeated in front of the junkyard entrance and asks him, ¡°What was that about?¡± The man looks at him with a hint of annoyance. ¡°That was the third employee this month to quit on me, is what that was. They are convinced there is something in there, something that brushes past them or that they hear growling around them. Weaklings all of them the growling is just machinery and they just brushed their leg on some scrap i tell you.¡± oliver lets the man rant but to him it sounds like something more is at play here. the man calms down enough to ask oliver ¡°so what can i help you with, need to dump something? Oliver gestures at the truck. ¡°Yes, a fridge and a wheelbarrow, but if you want, I can take a look around. I have some experience with the anomalous.¡± The elderly man looks at him with distrust but doesn''t stop him and gestures for Oliver to enter. Walking around the scrapyard, he can feel the anomaly. The man walking with him seems a little itchy but mostly fine. He follows the feeling; the almost electric tingle on his skull pulls him towards the administration building. The feeling is something a few of his family members can distinguis normal items from anomalies by sight they claim it looks like either heatwaves or a pulsing energy coming from the item, he however can feel where the items are as the tingle on his skull gets stronger and stronger the closer he gets to the anomalie and vanishes the moment he touches it, this is good for large anomalies but when you have to look through a drawer with hundreds of items in he will have to take it slow or risk having to start over again, while his way of detecting anomalies is uncommon he has some family and friends in the european anomalie hunter family with rare ways of detecting them two of his cousins can hear anomalies and claim its an annoying buzzing sound while his european friend can smell them and he wishes he couldn¡¯t as most of the ones he has found smelled awful. Oliver approaches the administration building and looks around. It is pulling him towards the back of the building. He goes to walk around the building and notices tracks coming from behind it. He looks at the junkyard owner and asks, ¡± Do you have a dog here?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The owner answers, ¡°Not in some years. We had a guard dog once, but he was too nice and became the mascot.¡± he points at the sign above the administration building depicting a very happy pitbull. Oliver runs his finger through the paw prints that have been left in the dirt and brings them up, revealing a slightly slimy translucent liquid. While he wipes it off on his pants, he asks the owner, ¡°Do you still have some of his things, maybe a ball or a bed?¡± The owner tells Oliver, ¡°his old doghouse is still behind the building. Why?¡± Oliver goes behind the administration building, finding an old, fading dog house. As he approaches it, he hears the growling, but it''s not directed at him but at a bird that sits on top of the fence. As Oliver shooed the bird away, the growling stopped. The owner behind him with a confused look. ¡°So a growling pigeon scared away my workers? You can''t be serious.¡± Oliver places a hand on the doghouse, and the tingling stops. He turns to the owner and tells him ¡°not quite, was there something your old dog hated.¡± the owner tries to figure it out and says ¡°he hated birds.¡± with that, it clicked and Oliver pats the doghouse ¡°Your dog may have died, but he still stayed with you. You might have stopped using a particularly loud machine, one that scared birds away.¡± ¡°So, you''re telling me that my dog is haunting us? The owner asks with wide eyes. Oliver answers, ¡°It''s not really haunting. he didn¡¯t want to scare your workers away; he was protecting you from what he thought was a threat, the birds.¡± ¡°Alright then, now what? Do I tell my workers that it''s alright to come back it was just my gost dog fighting birds.¡± Oliver tells the owner ¡°Well, you see, the doghouse is the thing that binds him to the place; the dog''s soul inhabits the doghouse, so if you would let me, I could get rid of the side effect the one that is making you feel itchy, i also remember writing down the rune to turn invisible spirits visible.¡± It seems to dawn on the owner that he could have his dog back. ¡°Do it. I''ll give you whatever you want, just please, I want to see him again.¡± Oliver was going to do it to let him dump there for free, but he might as well get something more out of it. ¡°Alright then, how about tomorrow you get some of your remaining workers and a large dumpster and help me remove the old furniture from my house. then you can bring your dog back when you return.¡± Oliver holds out his hand while offering the deal. The owner doesn''t hesitate, as Oliver only asks for help removing some furniture. He grabs Oliver''s hand and nearly shouts, ¡°Deal!¡± chapter 5: When One Door Closes, Break it Open With the fridge and wheelbarrow dumped and the doghouse strapped down on his truckbed, Oliver drives back to town to finish the last errand he has to do. While he drives, the spectral pitbull decides to make himself comfortable on the passenger''s seat. Oliver arrives and parks his pickup in front of the store. He looks at the sign that reads ¡°Ace Hardware¡± and enters to look for what he needs: a crowbar, a pipe wrench, an angle grinder, and something to cut through the basement door. The first two are easy enough to find a sturdy crowbar and a pipewrenche, the angle grinder needs to be rather powerful to cut through, so he goes to the front desk and asks the woman there¡°goodmornig mam i have a question, i have a big steel door in my house and i need to get it open what would you recommend to get it open?¡± She asks, ¡°How soon do you need it open? If you need it open now, I would recommend that one.¡± She points at a large battery-operated angle grinder. ¡°But if you can wait a couple hours, I could give you the number of a good locksmith. Just tell him Tina told you to call him.¡± Oliver puts the crowbar and pipe wrench on the counter and says, ¡°Then I¡¯ll give him a call.¡± Tina smiles and says, ¡°That will be thirty dollars.¡± I hand her the money, and she tells him, ¡°Have a pleasant day.¡± Oliver says, ¡°You too.¡¯ before going back out to his pickup only to find a police officer waiting for him. The officer asks Oliver, ¡°That¡¯s a nice truck. It does look rather familiar, though.¡± Oliver puts his new tools in the back and answers, ¡°Probably because it used to be my uncle¡¯s. He used to live near gafverts.¡± The officer smiles and asks, ¡°You''re Samuel''s nephew? Well, that''s great. You wouldn¡¯t happen to be in the business of collecting them anomalies like your uncle would you?¡± Oliver pats the doghouse on the back of his truck. ¡°Sure am; already did one today.¡± The officer is about to touch it, but Oliver stops him. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you; it has a really annoying side effect. " The officer retracts his hand and says, ¡°That''s right, your family is immune to them. You know when I was a rooky, your uncle was talking to my training officer and i may have touched a anomalie that was in the back of his truck that damned thing gave me insomnia for a week.¡± ¡°Yeah, this one isn''t that bad, but if you touch or stay near it too long, you will get itchy,¡± Oliver explains. The officer laughs and backs away from the anomaly and asks Oliver, ¡°Do you have some time to come by the department? We have some reports about anomalies in the area. We would normally give these to your cousin when he comes by to board up broken windows on Samuel''s estate. Well, I guess it¡¯s your estate now, right?¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Oliver nods and says, ¡°It sure is.¡± he checks his watch to find that it''s a bit past eleven a.m. ¡°I still have two hours before they come deliver the fridge. If you could show me to your department, I will take a look at those reports.¡± The officer nods and heads back to his patrol car, and Oliver follows him toward the police department, where he parks his pickup and follows the officer inside. The officer opens the door to an office where the chief of police sits behind a desk. The officer introduced us. ¡°Hey, chief, the Moreau family finally sent someone to replace Samuel.¡± The chief looks up from his papers and asks Oliver, ¡°Really? That''s great news.¡± The chief turns around, opens a file cabinet, and grabs four bundles of files. ¡°Each of these is a reported anomaly people have encountered around the area, but I want you to take a look at these four.¡± he pluts four documents. ¡°This one is from the church here in Ely. Something in there is making people pray and not letting them go. We believe that it makes them pray after seeing it as when a blind member of the community entered the church he was completly fine and helped the ones stuck praying back outside. Where they recovered¡± ¡°The second one is a bit weirder. A group of tourists was attacked by something in Burntside Lake while kayaking near the listening point. They claim that something rammed into their kayak and stabbed through one of their legs while they were swimming away.¡± ¡°The third one is the easiest; we already have it locked away in evidence. It''s a rifle that makes someone hate wildlife. It was found by a game warden after subduing a poacher. After picking it up, the game warden began shooting at the animals himself, and his trainee had to subdue him and called us to come and get the weapon as he suspected it was an anomaly.¡± ¡°The last one is unknown, but it is suspected that something moved into an old log cabin near High Lake, and when people hike near it, they get the feeling of being stalked.¡± ¡°Are people allowed near these locations?¡± Oliver asks, The chief shakes his head and answers, ¡°No, they have been blocked off from the public. Except for the last one, nobody has been harmed there. It''s only that they feel like they are being stalked, but it''s important to note that that one has the largest area of effect as it engulfs the entirety of Hige Lake.¡° All right, I will check out the church tomorrow, but now I have to get back home as my fridge will be delivered soon.¡± Oliver points at the bundles of paper on the desk and asks, ¡°May I?¡± The chief answers, ¡°Of course .¡± Oliver takes the stacks of files, brings them to his pickup, and goes back for the rifle the moment he enters the evidence lockup he can feel it without needing to be told where he picks the rifle up of the floor and turns to the officer escorting him ¡°how did you manidge to get it here without touching?¡± oliver know that no matter what if you touched it even with gloves or a stick or anything else it would effect normal people. The officer tells Oliver, ¡°We told the game warden some rare wildlife was in the evidence locker and then used a tranquilizer on him.¡± Oliver nods, takes the rifle to his pickup, and makes his way home. Now, the only thing he has left to do is call the locksmith. chapter 6: a wall full of trouble. Oliver parks his pickup on the side of the road and gets out to dial the number Tina gave him. He leans against his pickup and waits for someone to answer. ¡°Uh, hello?¡± ¡°Hello, I was told by Tina to call this number for a local locksmith,¡± Oliver told the man on the other end of the line. "Oh, that''s me! I''m David. Nice to meet you. Are you looking for lockout assistance or help with something else?¡± ¡°I need to get the lock replaced on my basement door. Do you have any high-security locks with restricted keyways?¡± ¡°If you want a high-security lock, I can have one with you within a couple of hours. Uh, could you let me know your address?¡± ¡°You won''t find it on GPS. Go to the town gafvert and keep going straight until you''re at the town square, then turn right and follow the road until you arrive. You''ll know if you''re at the right place if you see a red pickup.¡± ¡°Right, sir, I''ll be there soon.¡± With that finished, Oliver gets into his car and drives back home.¡± When he arrives at the town of gafvert, he spots a van with two men who look completely lost. he drives up to them and asks, ¡°Are you two here to deliver a fridge?¡± The kid, who looks to be sixteen or seventeen, looks up from the map, and the older guy, who seems to be about Oliver''s age, tells him, ¡°Yes, but we can''t seem to find your address.¡± Oliver tells them, ¡°I¡¯ll show you where it is.¡± He waits till both are in the van before driving towards the estate. Oliver parks his pickup near the garage, The delivery men gets out of the van and one of them comments comments, ¡°damn, nice place¡± Oliver replies with a slight chuckle, ¡°It will be once I get it fixed up, and it''s a bit of a mess right now¡ªI haven''t had the chance to clean up since I moved in.¡± He rubs his neck in slight embarrassment ¡°Don''t worry about it. We have seen a lot of houses, and I doubt this place will be worse than the old Williams house.¡± He goes back to his van as he sees the teen struggle to get the fridge out. ¡°No, you dimwhit, get the dolly out first; it''s in the way.¡± Oliver chuckles at the two. He is pretty sure they are both Terry¡¯s sons as the resemblance is there, and they certainly behave like brothers. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. As they get the fridge loaded up on the dolly, Oliver goes to open the front door so they can bring it inside. They struggle a bit getting it up the steps, but once they are inside, they look around in wonder at the grand foyer. The teen points at the large round stained glass window and asks, ¡°How much did that cost? His brother looks like he is about to tell him of it, but Oliver answers, ¡°For the glass, nothing, I believe. It used to belong to a cult that worshipped a bee anomalie. It was this giant bumblebee, and it was super friendly, and the craziest part is its side effect had nothing to do with making people worship it; its side effect made people want to eat flowers. from what I remember, the cult moved to oregon about sixteen years ago and my uncle asked them if he could have the window.¡± Both the brothers look at him incredulously before the older one asked him, ¡°You¡¯re related to the relic hunter that used to live here? Oliver nods. ¡°Yeah, let me guess he pulled a prank on you when you where younger?¡± ¡°Yeah, you can say that again. he gave me a firework that exploded into giant glowing letters, revealing my secret for all to see,¡± the guy told Oliver. Oliver nods. ¡°That does sound like something he would do.¡± The guy sighs and asks, ¡°Where do you want the fridge?¡± Oliver led them to the kitchen and showed them where the fridge once was, and within a couple of minutes, the new fridge was working. And the two are leaving. Oliver opens his new fridge and puts the things he has bought inside and thinks, ¡°I should go and get the tools out of my truck.¡± Oliver goes out to his pickup, grabs the tools he bought, and goes back to the dining room. He looks at the wall with water damage. ¡°Should I just make a hole in the wood or just break it all down?¡± he takes a step back to observe the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. The wallpaper is damaged, and the doorframe leading to the kitchen has seen better days, so he decides he will break down the wall to make it one large space where something actually can get done. ¡°i should call a plumber to come and redirect that pipe but for now tightening it will have to suffice.¡± Oliver begins by removing the door that leads to the kitchen, then he uses the crowbar he bought to remove the door frame so he can start removing the planks. He slides the crowbar between the plank and the stud and begins prying, but the moment the plank begins to loosen, there is something wrong. ¡°There is light coming from within the wall?¡± Oliver asks, confused. He pushes the crowbar further, and the plank pops out. He looks down into it and sees¡­ Christmas lights? He can also see something deeper in, but not enough to recognize it. He begins to pry off the rest of the planks. With each plank he removes, he understands more of what is within the wall. When he pries away the last plank, he asks, ¡°Why are you living in my wall?¡± Before him is a village of gnomes who have built their houses out of stuff they found inside the estate. The houses were made from cardboard, with playcards for roofs tied together by copper wire. A gnome steps forward and its high-pitched voice begins to tell me ¡°well its a funny story, we used to live outside in the green house but a straycat found its way in and decided to make it her home. You know we''re small, and cats are scary. So we fled.¡± As Oliver looks at the gnome village made from cardboard, paper, and copper wire, he finally knows where the copper from his fridge went. Oliver looks at the group of gnomes. ¡°You''re going to have to move. I''m tearing this wall down.¡± The gnomes begin to panic at his words, and one asks, ¡°To where? We have nowhere left to go.¡± Oliver told them, exasperated, "I don''t know! Can''t you build like ontop of the cabinets in the kitchen¡± the gnomes look appalled at the idea ¡°and have to fight spiders for the rest of our life no not happening.¡± Oliver groans and grabs the gnome and brings him into the kitchen and shows him a corner where there is space between the wall and a kitchen cabinet. He puts the gnome down in the corner and opens the junk drawer, where he finds a roll of black electrical tape. He puts the tape on the floor from the wall to the corner of the cabinet. ¡°There, you can build your village behind the tape. It even has an outlet for your Christmas lights.¡± When Oliver mentions the Christmas lights, he realizes something. ¡°Where did you plug in the Christmas lights?¡± The gnome shuffles a bit nervously. ¡°We pulled a socket into the wall.¡± While annoying, they at least did not mess with the wiring. A pulled-in socket won''t be a problem if he is going to break down the wall. Alright, but this is where you can build whatever, and if you need something, ask; don''t just take it understood.¡± chapter 7: back in busines After helping the gnomes bring their village over to their new spot, Oliver asks the gnome elder he learned was named Kob and asks him, ¡°I''ve looked through everywhere in that part of the wall and couldn¡¯t find what caused the water damage. Is there something I should know?¡± Kob rubs the back of his neck. ¡°That''s our fault. We tried to start a farm there, sorry?¡± Oliver shakes his head. ¡°So it only has an outlet and no pipes in it. Do you know if it''s load-bearing?¡± Kob shook his head. ¡°No, there is a steel beam above the wall.¡± Oliver nods, heads over to the wall, and begins to remove the planks. After breaking the top part of the wall down, he does find the steel beam Kob was talking about and continues to break down the rest of the wall. Breaking down half of the wall reveals that the two rooms used to be one room, but someone separated them with the wall. He is about to begin with the other part, but the doorbell rings. Oliver puts the crowbar down on the dining room table and tells the gnomes to stay in the kitchen while he goes and sees who is at the door. Oliver makes his way out of the kitchen and towards the door and opens it, where he finds a young man waiting for him with a toolbox in his hand. ¡°Hello, I''m David. You called to get the lock on your basement door changed? Oliverr nods and says, ¡°That''s right, I¡¯ll show you to the basement.¡± Oliver lets the man in and shows him the locked door at the bottom of the basement steps. David lets out a whistle when he sees the door. ¡°Where did they get this thing?¡± he traces some fading letters on the doo. ¡®its a military armory door.¡± he fiddles with the handle and tells me ¡°your in luck with this if it was the newer model i wouldn¡¯t be able to open it.¡± ¡°What makes you say that?¡± Oliver asks ¡°The newer model has an electric keypad after it was found that the lock supplier had sold them subpar locks.¡± With a press of the hook tool and the tension tool, the lock turns and opens up. David takes a new lock out of his toolbox and explains, ¡°This one is a multi-point locking system with great protection against lockpicking, but I could also make a new key for this one or replace it, but I would have to drill into the wall to make the holes for the locking system.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Oliver shrugs and tells him, ¡°I would prefer the new lock after seeing how easily you could open the lock. Also, don''t go into the basement; there is some confidential material in there.¡± David nods and says, ¡°I''ll get started right away. It won''t take longer than half an hour.¡± Oliver nods and lets david do his job while he goes back up the stairs and back into the kitchen that is now filled with the scent of coffee i look towards the coffee machine and a gnome waves him over and tells him ¡°we made coffee for your guest.¡±oliver goes back out into the foyer and stands atop the basement stairs and asks david ¡°do you want some coffee?¡± David smiles and tells me, ¡°Oh, yes, thank you.¡± Oliver goes and gets the cup of coffee from the kitchen and brings it to David before returning to his work of breaking down the wall. He begins to break the parts out from where the doors once stood and begins to work on the second part of the wall. This part goes a lot smoother as there is no gnome village here. When he is ten percent done with breaking down the wall, David knocks on the kitchen door. Oliver says, ¡°You can come in.¡± David steps into the kitchen and is surprised as he sees the gnomes building their village in the corner of the room and running along the countertop. Oliver places his tools down and asks him, ¡°How much will it cost?¡± David doesn¡¯t stop watching the gnomes as they build their village but does answer, ¡°It will be three hundred dollars.¡± Oliver hands him the money, and David asks him, ¡°What are those?¡± ¡°gnomes. Found them living in the wall a couple hours ago.¡± ¡°Is that common?¡± David asks, going pale. I ask one of the gnomes, ¡°Is it common that your people live in walls?¡± The gnome shakes her head. ¡°No, we prefer the outside but that damned cat is still out there, i can feel it,¡± she answers. It''s obvious to Oliver and them but not to David. ¡°There you have your answer.¡± After hearing that gnomes don''t commonly live in walls, David seems to calm down and says, ¡°The lock has been replaced. Here are the keys.¡± Oliver thanks David and opens the door for him so he can get far away from the little people that distress him so much. With the keys to the basement, he can finally begin removing the side effects from the anomalies and turn them into proper artifacts. He goes and takes some cleaning supplies from the storage room and cleans up his uncle''s Roman transfer formation. It doesn''t take long to clean up the pain,t having long ago gone bad from disuse. He goes to his walk-in closet/bedroom and takes his duffle bag with him downstairs to the basement. He takes out a can of ash paint, a box of sealing amulets, his notebook, and several tools to carve or paint runes. Oliverr flips through his note book and weighs the pros and cons of each formation; ¡°the egyptian one immediately destroys the side effect so i wouldnt need the amulets but its slow, the chinese one is only good for when your on the move but the others are better for permanent formatoins, the roman formation is the fastest but it needs the amulets and doesnt even puts them on it permanently, the celtic one is fun with it just giving the item a new side effect but im looking to sell so the only one i could use if i want to put the side effect on an amulet permanently is the nordic one¡± Oliver skips over several other formations until he finds the Nordic transfer formation. Oliver reads his old notes on the formation: ¡°the noordic foremationn keps the side effect good to destroy side effect melt several amulets tegheter?¡± Oliver struggles to read what twelve-year-old Oliver wrote, but at least he was better at drawing than writing at that age. Oliver opens the can of ash paint and dips two fingers into it. He begins by painting a dot in the center of where the formation will be. Then, he draws four circles around it, each spaced exactly ninety degrees apart. Next, he adds another circle between the north and west circles and another between the north and east circles. Once that is done, he connects the six circles and draws four more. The two circles closest to the outer edge are drawn close together, while the other two are spaced a bit further apart. He drew a triangle inside the formation and started to inscribe the runes. After three hours of drawing and correcting his mistakes, the transfer circle is complete. He places an amulet in the south circle, and at that moment, the six circles begin to glow, signaling that he has finished the formation. chapter 8: Fowl Play in the Doghouse With the transfer formation finally complete, Oliver goes and gets the doghouse and rifle from his truck. he opens the pickup door, slings the rifle over his shoulder, and moves to loosen the straps on the doghouse. When he picks it up, he feels something inside, but it''s probably just the spectral dog moving. He struggles up the steps and says, ¡°damn, this thing''s heavy.¡± he brings it into the foyer before taking it down to the basement and telling the dog, ¡°Calm down, I¡¯ll set you down in a second,¡± as it is moving around in there. Finally, he makes it to the bottom of the basement stairs and gently puts the doghouse down near a stool while he takes the rifle from his shoulder and laces it in the middle of the transfer circle along with an amulet. ¡°that will take about an hour so lets start carving the rune to make you visible again, shall we.¡± Oliver sits down on the stool and begins to carve the three runes that will be connected with a triangle to form the complete rune. It isn''t actually a rune to make them visible but one to make a light companion. It''s something he once made on accident, where the runes he was supposed to use, ???? ?????, which means spirit shed light, he wrote ???? ????? ???? which means spirit become light. At first, Grandma wasn''t all too happy with the spectral pigeon flying around the family main estate, but now it''s just part of the main estate''s charm. He carves the first rune, which gives the spirit a semi-corporeal form for when someone wants to touch it. The second rune doesn''t do much until he carves the third rune, which makes the doghouse glow. Now, he only has to connect the three while the dog is now flickering in and out of sight. He connects the three runes in a triangle so they start properly working together. Oliver looks down at the glowing blue rottweiler laying lazely at his feet and gives it a scratch behind the ears before standing up and picking up the doghouse to be moved closer to the transfer formation but once again something moves in there ¡°calm¡­¡± oliver looks back at the rottweiler still laying near the stool and realizes something else is in the doghouse he gently sets down the doghouse and pulls his pistol he steps back and starts to move around to the entrance. When he finally can look inside, he sees¡­ a preschooler? He quickly puts his gun away and tells her, ¡°get on out of there. you must be itching all over.¡± oliver thinks ¡°I¡¯m in so much trouble i have to call the cops.¡± atleast that is what he thinks until the preschooler is halfway out of the doghouse her eye¡¯s are to big her clothes are old and are to big but most noticeably are the feathers sticking out of her sleeves. When she is out of the doghouse, it becomes apparent that this isn¡¯t just a preschooler; this is the birdkin¡¯s kid. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Now he''s in even bigger trouble. He could have explained what happened to the officer, but now he has to call his family to ask them what he should do. He looks at the kid in front of him. ¡°At least she won''t suffer the side effect.¡± he crouches down to meet the kid at eye level, her big eyes staring into his soul. ¡°How about we go upstairs, and I''ll make you a sandwich.¡± At the mention of food, the kid seems to stop being scared, and she follows me out of the basement. I close the armored door behind us and take her to the kitchen. The moment I walk in, the gnomes stop what they are doing and all stare at me. The gnome elder, Kob, who is standing on the counter, says, ¡°You have a kid? You don''t seem like the fatherly type.¡± Now he has to explain to a bunch of gnomes, ¡°No, I¡¯m not her father. I was working on a anomalous doghouse and she must have gotten in when it was still outside on my truck.¡± Kob asks, ¡°What are you going to do now?¡± Oliver sighed. ¡°I will bring her to where I found their nest and hope her parents are there. And if they aren¡¯t, I might need to call someone.¡± Of everyone in his family, this could happen to it happened to the one who is the worst with kids. Oliverr looks at the kid who is crouched down near the gnome village, watching them. ¡°I¡¯ll make her a sandwich before bringing her home.¡± Kob nodded and told the other gnomes, ¡°Clear off. Oliver needs to use the counter.¡± The gnomes start going towards the rope ladder they use to get onto the counter and leave the counter. Oliver takes the bread from the cabinet and the mayo, ham, and cheese from the fridge and makes her a simple sandwich. He takes the sandwich and hands it to her. While she doesn¡¯t have hands, the tips of her wings have claws to help her grab things. Oliver tells her, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get you home.¡± As he left the kitchen, she followed him into the foyer and through the door outside. He opens the pickup door to let her in and buckles her up. Oliver gets into the driver''s seat and starts the pickup before driving down the road to gafvert. While he is driving, the kid is happily devouring the sandwich. When they arrive at the house where he found the nest last time, he gets out, opens the door for the kid, and unbuckels her and helps her out of the pickup. The moment she is out of the car, someone comes running out of the house. Oliver guesses that she is the kid''s mother as the woman and the kid both have wings for arms. Oliver, not knowing what to do but standing awkwardly, tries to leave, but before he takes a single step, the mother asks, ¡°Where did you find her?¡± Oliver rubs the back of his neck as he explains ¡°she climbed into a haunted doghouse i was working on. and i didn¡¯t check inside it before bringing it into my house.¡± the woman without letting go tells the kid ¡°your going to give me a heart attack one day¡± but what she says next takes oliver by surprise ¡°i¡¯m sorry for the trouble she caused you, i wont let her leave my sight anytime soon.¡± Oliver stammers, ¡°no¡­ There is no need to apologize, I should have looked inside before I brought it inside.¡± chapter 9: No Cage Can Hold Him oliver follows the birdkin woman inside of her house after she invited him in for tea. she sets a cup down infront of and introduces herself ¡°i am sierra and you have already met the little truiblemaker eva.¡± she takes the kettle of the wood stove and carefully pours the hot liquid into olivers cup where it mixes with the dried herbs. Oliver takes a sip of the tea and afterwards introduces himself. ¡°I¡¯m Oliver Moreau. I moved into the estate near Lake Vermillion.¡± She nods and says, ¡°Yes, we saw you yesterday when you arrived in town, and don''t worry, I don''t fault you for coming in here as far as you could have know something dangerous moved in here.¡± Oliver answers, ¡°Yeah, it''s a habit, always prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and most of the time it won''t be near what you think is the worst, but that one time it is the worst. We''ll be prepared. But that''s what we learned for the city¡¯s here its prepare for weird and and get even wierder.¡± She chuckles at that. ¡°You''re right about that; the ones living in these forests are a strange bunch, but they are nice. We once met a treant, and he told us the story of how he used to be an apple tree. He was a great help when we first arrived here. I do wonder what happened to him.¡± ¡°A treant, he''s probably slumbering. They can stay like that for a couple of years at a time. I wouldn¡¯t worry about him if he came from a tree. It meant he''s a progenitor. Oliver took another sip of the tea and saw she had no idea what it meant to be a progenitor treant. ¡°A progenitor is the first of its kind; like a hazel nut treant would have its progenitor. Basically, he would be where all future of his veracity comes from.¡± ¡°You seem to know a lot about them. Have you met one before?¡± Sierra asks. ¡°Once when I was out in Oregon, two of my cousins were going to go to a city there and watch their items get uactoined of i asked if they would let me come with as there was a hiking trail I wanted to do there¡­ I''m getting off track. There on the trail, I met possibly the biggest tree there is, the redwood tree progenitor. I tried to get his attention, but he was too busy trying not to step on animals and people to notice me. Still, I would go again; it was lovely there.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Eva looks at him with eyes full of wonder while Sierra looks more relieved. ¡°It¡¯s good to know that he can take care of himself. Would you like some more tea?¡± Oliver nods, and he asks, ¡°How did you two end up here? Not to be rude, but this isn¡¯t the best place for your kind.¡± Sierra sighed. ¡°I know, but it''s safer here than back home.¡± Oliver asks, ¡°But will you be fine here? In a few months, it will be freezing here.¡± Sierra looks down and says, ¡°Well, find a way.¡± Oliver says, ¡°Maybe, but if you need help, all you have to do is ask.¡± She nods and says, ¡°Thank you, and I will keep your offer in mind.¡± Oliver holds the warm cup of tea in his hands and thinks, his family has taken in several anomalous beings as one rule everyone in the family agrees on the if its living or sentient we protect it while this rule was once only meant for the mundane population olivers ancestors never liked the idea of selling living beings so they extended the rule over all living anomalous or mundane we will try to keep it safe. Some of the family took it a step further and became fully vegan, but Oliver liked his steak too much to become vegan. As Oliver thinks back, he remembers he once took lessons from a butcher on how to butcher at home and in the wild. Oliverr thinks, ¡°How many years was that ago? I wonder how the butchers dog is doing what was he called again¡­ scraps that was it; he alway ate the butchers scraps.¡± as he thinks back to his butchery teachers pat dog he gets a gnawing feeling. He tries to remember what is causing the gnawing feeling. Oliver shoots up as he remembers, ¡°Ho, no, I locked the dog in the basement. As he ran to the door, he turned to the two birdkin. ¡°It was great meeting you, but I have to go. Thank you for the tea; it was lovely,¡± he says before running to his truck. He drives up the road to his house, stops the car in front of the garag,e and jogs up the steps to open the front doorThe moment he opens the door the spectral dog is waiting for him. he is confused for a moment before remembering ¡°your a ghost that door couldn¡¯t keep you in even if i wanted to.¡± he says to himself a small smile creeping on his face as he gives the dog some scratches behind the ear and his guilt about locking the dog in the basement fades. He stands up after giving a couple more scratches before going to the basement to put the doghouse onto the transfer formation. After opening the basement door, Oliver takes the rifle and the wildlife-hatting amulet and puts them on the table before moving the dog house onto the formation along with an amulet, before locking the door again and climbing into his sleeping bag in the walk-in closet. And after laying in bed thinking about the day he remembers ¡°oh dammit i forgot to call the roofers.¡± chapter 10: Water You Thinking? Oliver gets woken up by his doorbell. he looks at the time and finds it''s nine a.m. He quickly gets out of his sleeping bag and puts on a fresh pair of clothes before leaving the room and going downstairs to open the door. When he does, he finds the owner of the junkyard standing there with six more unloading a large dumpster. Oliver tries to remember the owner''s name before remembering the sign that read Greg¡¯s Salvage Yard and goes to greet the people who will be clearing out the estate. As he approaches, he sees the spectral dog running past him towards Greg. When Greg sees the blue, slightly transparent dog, he smiles and says, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, buddy,¡± while giving the dog scratches. As Oliver walks up to Greg, he says, ¡°he¡¯s a bit bluer than your sign, so you might have to repaint it.¡± Greg laughs while still playing with the dog. ¡°A bit, but I would rather have him like this than not at all.¡± Greg gives the dog a last pet before standing up and asking, ¡°So what are we doing?¡± Oliver nods and says, ¡°Everything that isn¡¯t nailed down has to go. The only thing that I want to keep is the kitchen and what''s in the walk-in closet on the first floor.¡± Greg nods and turns to his workers. ¡°You heard the man; everything has to go except the kitchen and the walk-in closet. Let''s get to work.¡± Oliver asks Greg, ¡°How long do you think this will take to empty? I still have some things I need to do in town.¡± Greg shrugs. ¡°It might take the day; depends on how much furniture there is.¡± Oliver nods, ¡°I¡¯ll give you my phone number for if you¡¯re finished and I''m not back yet.¡± After giving Greg his phone number, Oliver gets into his pickup and drives to the church in Ely. While driving to town, Oliver calls the roofing company. As the company picks up, he can hear the sound of hammers and nail guns in the background as the man answers. ¡°Hello, white iron roofing, Nathan here. What can I do for ya?¡± ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Oliver Moreau. You gave a quote on replacing the roof of the estate by Lake Vermilion.¡± Nathan covers the microphone, and Oliver can hear the muffled sound of him yelling something. The moment Nathan takes his hand off the microphone, the sounds of work have stoped. ¡°And, sir, have you been able to make a decision?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I have, but I''d rather discuss this in person,¡± Oliver said to Nathaniel, who began to look through his notebook to see when he could have a meeting. Nathaniel asks, ¡°I¡¯m available to discuss the quote at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Does that work for you?¡± Oliver answers, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll see you then.¡± With his talk to the roofers complete, he drives to the church to find out what''s going on in there. Once he arrives, he is greeted by yellow police tape, however this does little to stop him from entering the church. He steps into the church and can feel the unmistakable sensation of a nearby anomaly. This one, however, is different from the doghouse; it''s much more powerful, and as his sense is all over the place from this feeling alone, Oliver can deduct it''s a greater anomaly. While weaker anomalies are easier to find as his sense can bring him directly to them, stronger anomalies change the world around them to better suit their origin. As oliver walks around the church, he looks at the half painted mural on the wall and he thinks ¡°a being holding a jug descending from the sky to help a village suffering from a drought.¡± oliver walks to where the mural stops and waits for a minute he isn¡¯t certain but to make sure he places his finger where the mural stops and after waiting a couple more minutes the mural has slowly crept past his finger. ¡°It¡¯s still building its domain then.¡± Oliver thinks to himself. He looks around the church and notices two statues, a man and a woman, both holding large jugs. ¡°These statues are made from marble, not something I would expect in a small town church.¡± Oliver looks around and goes over to the alter, behind it he finds a similar clay jug as is depicted on the mural so he touches it but the feeling remains so it''s not what he is looking for, but he does take a look inside the jug, only to find it full of water. Oliver shines his phone light in there but sees nothing at the bottom. As he looks into the jug, the phone slips out of his hand and into the jug of water. He can only watch helpless as his phone sinks to the bottom ofthe flashlight still burning. ¡°dammit i liked that phone.¡± he waits for his six year old phone to break in the water before taking it out as he doesn¡¯t want to get shocked but after a minute of his flashlight not turning off he gets suspicious ¡°there is no way that thing would survive normally.¡± He puts his finger in the water and feels a slight tingle, nothing painful, so he keeps going until he can pull out his phone. As he pulls out his phone, he notices that the screen is no longer cracked and the see-through case is no longer yellow. The sensation of the anomaly is still there, so the anomaly is not the water but maybe what it produces. he looks around the room and finds several items that might be the anomalie creating this water he starts at the two holy water reservoirs at the entrance of the building while it is the same water from the jug but still not the anomaly he then looks at what he trullie hopes is not the anomaly, a large granite baptismal font. He walks over to the font and touches it and ofcourse the moment he touches it the feeling dissipates, and he lets out a long, annoyed groan. ¡°why does it always have to be the heaviest thing?¡± the granite font isn''t very ornate, but it will still weigh at least three hundred pounds. Oliver takes a step outside to take a breath of fresh air before he begins the struggle of moving the font only to be met by the officer from the previous day. ¡°so it was you we were about to blindfold pete to come and get you.¡± the officer says while gesturing at the guy who is clearly still in training. Oliver gets an idea. ¡°Hey, mind helping me with something?¡± The officer looks suspicious at Oliver, remembering how much of a prankster his uncle was. Oliver, however, goes to his truck and gets three ratchet straps before grabbing the officer''s arm and taking him into the church. Before he can properly comprehend what Oliver is doing, they are in the church, and he says, ¡°Oh, come on, man, I haven¡¯t prayed in years. I''m not starting now.¡± Oliver shrugs and says, ¡°You won''t start praying unless you touch the water, I think.¡± The officer looks unconvinced but lets out a sigh. ¡°Fine, what do you need?¡± I walk over to the front and ask him, ¡°Would you please help me move this thing? It''s heavy.¡± The officer gives Oliver a distrustful look and says, ¡°How am I suppose to help you with that? I can''t touch it.¡± ¡°You can touch it, just not the water.¡± Oliver looks at the trainee and tells him, ¡°Hey, new guy, touch the front.¡± The trainee looks uncertain but does as he is told and touches the font, but nothing happens. Oliver looks back at the officer with a smile. ¡°See nothing.¡± chapter 11: Chalk It Up to Experience As Oliver drives back home, he gets a call from his brother. ¡°Hey, Oliver, how''s it going over there?¡± ¡°Good, I just have to figure out how to get a three-hundred-pound font into the basement. It would be easy if you were here, but I¡¯ll figure something out.¡± You could just use the Chinese formation.¡± i know, but it¡¯s such a hassle Why did they have to make it so large? Half of the sigils are just for show, while the other half barely work the way it should.¡± ¡°You¡¯re still mad at them, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°They¡¯re a bunch of pompeus pricks who can hardly do their job right.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes. Anyways, what does this font you found do?¡± ¡°From what it looks, it makes water that can damage, and the side effect was that when you touch the water, you start praying until you¡¯re moved far enough away.¡± ¡°Does the water keep its properties once you¡¯ve removed it from the font?¡± ¡°There were several jugs of the water that still had the effect. Why?¡± ¡°Just a thought. I would keep the font and just the water it produces. if it can also fix wounds it would be a great asset to have, i think even the rest of our family would happily pay to have healing in a bottle.¡± ¡°If you say so, it is a greater artifact, so I could just sell it for a couple million, but if you say so, I¡¯ll hold onto it. But besides that, how are mom and dad?¡± Mom¡¯s worried but still being stubborn, but dad did convince her to go and visit you in a couple weeks, so for dad''s sake, keep the uncleared anomalies in your formation room.¡± ¡°Hey, do you know what birdkin eat? Is it the same as what humans eat, or is it something special?¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Just the same as humans, but if you want to know more than that, you¡¯ll have to call our mika.¡± ¡°How would he know? Last time I checked, he specialized in growing mystic and anomalous plants.¡± ¡°he should know more as he is dating one. wait, he proposed a week before you came back.¡± ¡°You should have told me. I would have come back sooner to congratulate him.¡± ¡°Look, we all forgot, okay, but it¡¯s Mika. if anyone would understand, it would be him.¡± ¡°Alright, anything else I need to know from what happened while I was gone?¡± ¡°Uhmm¡­ Uncle Mitch lost his foot while chasing a vampire queen. And the question about if we should protect the thinking undead has been brought back up.¡± ¡°I think we should, at least if they aren¡¯t a threat. Why was Uncle chasing the vampire queen?¡± ¡°She was feeding on cattle and the occasional criminal to get what she needs what she can¡¯t get from the cattle.¡± ¡°Simple solution: get her a job in a prison as the new death penalty.¡± ¡°You know we can''t do that. A vampire bite is pure agony, and then there is also the chance to turn the prisoner into a vampire.¡± ¡°Alright then, give her a blood clinic¡­¡± ¡°Please stop. We already offer to send her a bag of human blood every month.¡± ¡°You¡¯re all boring. i still think she should open a blood clinic.¡± Bruno groans. ¡°And your imagination has caused many more problems.¡± ¡°Tell me one¡­¡± Oliver gets cut off by Bruno. ¡°The golem.¡± ¡°The golem was a good idea, he would have been the best gardener.¡± ¡°You gave him flamthrowers for hands.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t change a thing.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, just remember to lock up your anomalies alright dont want flufles nr 2 to happen.¡± ¡°That happened one time, and he was fine after!¡± Bruno laughs before hanging up. Oliver put his phone away and grumbled, ¡°Not my fault Flufles got into the anomalie storage and turned green. What dumb creature would sleep on top of an evil spellbook?¡± He drives onto his property and sees the scrapyard workers standing around something. He gets out of his car and walks up to them to see they are standing around the fallen chandelier. ¡°Is it too heavy to get into the dumpster?¡± Oliver asks. Greg shakes his head. ¡°No, it''s not that heavy. It''s pure silver so we wern¡¯t sure if youd want it gone or not.¡± Oliver shrugs. ¡°I don''t want it Doo watever you want with it. Do you have a dolly by any chance?¡± Greg looks at the large font in the truck bed and says, ¡°Junior, Jenkins, help him get that on the dolly.¡± The two of them nod and begin helping Oliver to get the font onto the dolly and into the library. When Junior asks, ¡°So Greg told us you''re one of those artifact hunters and now im curious what item becomes an anomaly the most?¡± Oliver thinks for a moment before answering, ¡°Doors they turn into anomalies the most.¡± Junior grumbles and hands Jenkins something before going back to moving the furniture. Oliver looks around the now empty library and begins to use a piece of sidewalk chalk to begin drawing the Chinese formation. After two hours of messing up the formation and having to start over again, he finally has it right and puts down the last line to finnish the formation. When complete, the formation begins to light up brighter and brighter until, suddenly, it turns off, and the lines of chalk explode into a cloud of white powder. Oliver looks around the room that now is covered in chalk powder and looks down to find he also is covered in powder.