Enter a strange and amazing new world you've never seen before, but you most likely already live inside. Follow Theodore, a lonely kid who has to Travel through the 7 Layers of Space in order to find a brick and probably save the universe. Unfortuna...
Many Magicians and Travelers and vampires and tax collectors and various grumpy folks would love to attack The House of The Magician Detective. There are countless motivations: to prove a point, to settle a score, to get at the really excellent ice cream collection, or maybe to procure some of its many awesome powers.
To date, only five other full-on House attacks had ever occurred in all of the history of recorded time (one of which was mostly an accident, and another of which could loosely be considered an elaborate practical joke). It is very nearly impossible to even think about attacking The House, it actually gives you a whopping headache.
The sixth attack occurred on this day, the day The Bird's newly-minted semi-automatic flying robotic squid boat arrived to retrieve her.
***
Mister Caruthers' irrationally-proportioned way station had been reduced to a pile of debris.
"Dang-nabbit rackety frock frock!" yelled a pile of books and boards. It is likely and possible that this pile of books and boards had an angry ghost monkey buried beneath it. It is equally likely and possible that he yelled a few other things that are inappropriate for a book like this.
Theodore moved some books and boards of his own from on top of his legs and face and, not for the last time, mentally checked his physical well-being. He wiggled all of his toes and all of his fingers and let out a sigh of relief to note that they were all in place and reasonably functional. His glasses lens defiantly popped out again, and he gently tucked it back into his pocket, shaking his head. For all the shock of what had just happened, he felt disproportionately worried about the fate of all of Mister Caruthers' plants.
KA-BOOM!
The Roof shook again and then darkened as an enormous shadow passed over. Theodore looked up to see the half-blurry underside of a boat sailing above him, filling most of the sky. He closed his blurry eye to take it in properly.
"That's...super...big," he whispered. He was not wrong.
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"Hey hey! You okay, kiddo?" Caruthers yelled over the destruction.
"I have toes!" Theodore yelled back.
"Glad to hear it! I suspect that we have been found by The Bird's rescue ship!"
"I figured that out!" Theodore yelled over the ever-growing cacophony. "Your plants! Your house!"
Mister Caruthers looked at Theodore and smiled a little despite the chaos. "My plants and my shack will be back together ina snap, you sweet kid." He shook his head, dusted himself off, and reached his long arms up into the air to stretch. "Now we gotta get that Brick back before she does!" He then dove into the rubble like a swimmer on a quest, searching near where he had lasso'ed The Bird. A giant black cannonball launched from the ship and disrupted his search, sending both the monkey and a small wave of rubble crashing into the air and then back to the surface of the roof.
