Anomaly

Victor and Rupert weren’t entirely sure how to interact with the girl. From both of their perspectives, there was something deeply wrong with her, not in an obvious or easily noticeable way, but quite the opposite.

She was too normal. Every gesture seemed perfectly measured to come across as kind, every smile appeared at exactly the right moment, and even the way she spoke carried a sort of naturalness that felt strangely artificial.

Everything she had said earlier about hope, kindness, and helping others still echoed in Victor’s mind in an oddly convincing way. It was as if every word the girl spoke had been carefully chosen to reach whoever was listening. Even so, Victor wasn’t nearly as suspicious as Rupert.

Sure, he admitted there was something strange about her, something that made his instincts stir ever so slightly, but at the same time... why? Why look for problems in someone who was literally helping people? The girl hadn’t done anything suspicious so far other than being excessively kind. Rupert, on the other hand, clearly didn’t share the same line of thinking.

His eyes remained locked onto every tiny movement the girl made, like an animal sensing danger before the threat had even appeared. In Rupert’s mind, this wasn’t natural. Nobody could maintain that level of calmness and kindness in this world without hiding something underneath it all.

To Rupert, the girl was either bewitched, being controlled... or worse, manipulating everyone around her while pretending to be innocent. Victor simply let out a quiet sigh when he noticed the suspicious look on his partner’s face. Sometimes Rupert’s imagination ran a little too wild.

That said, Victor at least had to admit Arthur was right about one thing: the girl definitely wasn’t as ordinary as she looked. The next step, at least in theory, was simple. Bring the girl to the facility so that the [Angel of Death], or one of her sisters, could properly examine her. If there was anything abnormal about the child, they would find out quickly. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

In practice, however, things were far from simple. Victor couldn’t just grab the girl and drag her away by force. There were two very clear reasons for that. The first was the inevitable chaos that would follow afterward. The girl clearly came from a wealthy, maybe even influential, family, and making a child like that disappear without warning would turn Victor’s life into a bureaucratic nightmare.

Investigations, cameras, police, reporters... just imagining the headache already made Victor want to walk away and forget the girl even existed. The second reason was even more personal. Victor simply didn’t feel comfortable forcing a girl to do something against her will. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

For God’s sake, he dealt with dangerous anomalies on a daily basis, creatures capable of destroying entire city blocks or driving people insane just by existing, not suspicious little girls wearing school uniforms and carrying backpacks. No matter how strange the girl was, she was still just a girl. And Victor didn’t like the idea of forgetting that.

Rupert didn’t seem particularly eager about the idea of outright kidnapping the girl either, though his expression made it clear that, depending on the circumstances, he wouldn’t have many moral reservations about doing it. Even so, there was still a clear hesitation in his eyes.

In the end, Victor decided to contact Emily to figure out how they were supposed to proceed. At first, Emily only sounded surprised while Victor explained the entire situation, listening quietly from the other side of the call. However, the real shift in her tone came when Victor mentioned that the girl didn’t seem abnormal at all.

Naturally, both the [Angel of Death] and her sisters possessed slender, almost beautiful humanoid appearances at first glance, but there was always a fraction of something... wrong about them. A subtle, unsettling presence that clearly separated them from ordinary human beings. It was difficult to explain. This girl, however, had none of that.

In the end, Victor and Rupert were tasked not only with bringing the girl to the facility, but her parents as well. There simply wasn’t any other way to remove her without drawing public attention. The two of them had already realized the parents would do absolutely anything to find her again, even if they had to mobilize the police, the media, or half the city to make it happen.

Years ago, this kind of measure would have been considered unthinkable. Not only because the existence of anomalies was a tightly guarded global secret, but also because the organization once had far more... convenient resources.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

There had been an extremely useful anomaly for situations like this, one capable of erasing, altering, and manipulating human memories with ease, turning entire incidents into forgotten lapses lost to time. Unfortunately, that method became practically useless after the appearance of one of the [Angel of Death]’s sisters, an entity codenamed Nyara.

Since her arrival, any attempt at large-scale mental manipulation began producing unpredictable failures. Erased memories would return in fragmented pieces days later, fabricated memories would blend together with real events, and in more extreme cases, victims began seeing things that should never have existed in the first place.

According to internal reports, Nyara was apparently an anomaly capable of controlling chaos itself, distorting causality and logic. Because of that, the old methods could no longer be trusted... and now, forcibly transporting entire families had become the safest alternative. Or at least, the least disastrous one.

Anyway, with everything decided, Victor and Rupert spent most of the day at the community center waiting for the girl to finish her activities. Time seemed to drag on endlessly, especially for Rupert, who spent hours slumped across one of the reception chairs, quietly complaining and drumming his fingers against the armrest while watching people come and go through the building.

By the time night finally settled in and the yellow glow of the streetlights started reflecting off the damp pavement, the trio left the community center behind. The cold night wind drifted between the buildings as they crossed the street toward Victor’s car, parked on the opposite side.

The vehicle was coated in a thin layer of dust, its dark exterior catching fragments of the city lights. As soon as they got inside, Victor started the engine and headed toward the girl’s house, basically a home visit, if you wanted to call it that.

For the first few minutes, silence filled the car, broken only by the low hum of the engine and the barely audible music playing through the radio. Rupert, visibly bored, was the first to speak up: “Honestly, I’m a little surprised you agreed to come with us... You should be a bit more suspicious of people, girl. Your parents probably go through a lot of trouble because of you”

Rupert flashed an ironic grin as he rested his arm against the window, clearly just messing with her to kill time. There was a mocking edge to his voice, but nothing genuinely hostile, the kind of irritating comment that seemed to come naturally to him.

The girl simply rolled her eyes in response, crossing her arms with an impatient sigh before answering in a tone just as sarcastic as his: “I seriously doubt you guys would wait around all day for my shift to end just to kidnap me or something”

Rupert parted his lips, obviously ready to fire back, but before he could say anything, she calmly continued: “Besides... while you two were distracted, I took pictures of both of you and sent them to a few volunteers from the community center. I told them that if I didn’t call within an hour, they could contact the police immediately”

She tilted her head slightly, the innocent smile on her face clashing completely with the words coming out of her mouth: “Oh, and I also hid a few trackers in different parts of the car... while you guys were busy exchanging looks and thinking I wasn’t paying attention”

The silence that followed was almost comedic. Victor and Arthur immediately looked at each other, both wearing tense, disbelieving expressions. For a brief moment, neither of them knew what to say, while the girl simply sat there smiling with absolute calmness, as if she hadn’t just completely turned the situation against them.

Rupert was the first to break the silence, letting out an incredulous laugh as he rubbed a hand over his tired face: “You know that’s, like... seriously freaking creepy, right?”

He shot a sideways glance toward the girl in the back seat. His eyes clearly betrayed his uncertainty, as though he still couldn’t decide whether she was just eccentric... or completely insane.

“And by the way, has anyone ever told you that you look really freaking weird when you smile like that?” he continued, casually pointing at her: “You look like you’re about to knock me out, tie me to a chair, and lock me in some basement at any second”

The girl simply chuckled softly, genuinely amused by the comment. The calm smile on her face somehow made everything even more uncomfortable. And the worst part? She never denied a single thing she’d said earlier. Rupert noticed that immediately. Her silence weighed heavily inside the car. freewebnσvel.cøm

A subtle chill crawled down his spine as he slowly turned toward Victor, who kept driving with a serious expression, his eyes fixed on the road illuminated by the streetlights: “So you’re really just gonna stay quiet while there’s a complete psycho in our car saying she bugged the whole damn thing?”

Victor let out a quiet breath through his nose before answering, clearly irritated by the situation: “And what exactly do you want me to do? Arrest her?” he shot back with an eye roll.

Despite his casual tone, there was hesitation in his voice. He didn’t fully believe the girl... but he also couldn’t confidently say she was lying. And that bothered Victor more than he wanted to admit. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel slightly before adding: “At least they’re not bombs. Then we’d be completely screwed”

Rupert let out an annoyed scoff, crossing his arms as he turned to stare out the window. The city lights flashed rapidly outside, briefly reflecting against the car window: “I said from the start this girl was trouble” he muttered: “There’s seriously something wrong with her. What kind of high school student even knows how to bug an entire car? Is that what schools teach nowadays?” Victor didn’t answer this time. Honestly, he was just as surprised as Rupert.