Thirteen Shadows Beneath the Sink

A chilling whisper echoes through the towering Douglas firs.  Seven-year-old Lily Voss hears it in her nightmares. Her father, Kieran, feels it in the unsettling aura of their dilapidated Victorian rental.  He dismisses it as stress, a byproduct of single parenthood and a fixer-upper that seems determined to fall apart.  But Lily’s bloodcurdling scream on their first night shatters any illusion of normalcy.
Led by a gust of ozone-tinged air, Kieran discovers thirteen writhing shadows nestled beneath the decaying kitchen sink. They whisper — not to his ears, but to something deeper, a resonance within his very being. The house, once merely old, becomes a breathing entity, exhaling secrets of forgotten lives.
Strange occurrences blur the line between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The perpetually broken dishwasher hums cheerful tunes.  Lily's night terrors vanish, replaced by vivid dreams of floating dandelions and whispering willows.  Intricate wooden toys appear on her bedside table, crafted from a wood Kieran doesn't recognize. The shadows offer cryptic advice, revealing hidden rot and faulty wiring. Guardians or something sinister?  Kieran’s desperate hope battles his gnawing skepticism.
While following the shadows' guidance, Kieran uncovers a hidden keyhole, the thirteenth in the house. It has no accompanying door. The shadows writhe, their whispers intensifying, warning him away. This keyhole becomes his obsession, a tangible symbol of the mysteries shrouding his new home.
His search for answers leads him to Elara Stevens, a local historian haunted by her family’s disappearance from the very same house generations ago.  Their shared need for closure draws them into a history steeped in the uncanny, intertwined with Kieran’s own ancestry. The deeper they dig, the tighter the shadows’ grip becomes, their subtle manipulations escalating, drawing both Kieran and Lily further into their world.
Lily's connection to the shadows deepens, manifesting in unsettling ways. She speaks in riddles, echoing their cryptic language, her drawings reflecting increasingly disturbing dreams. Kieran faces a terrifying realization — the shadows might be claiming her. Elara’s research unearths ancient texts hinting at a ritual, a being known as the Weaver that feeds on fear and forgotten memories.  The shadows are not guardians, but its agents, preparing the house for the Weaver’s return.
As the summer solstice approaches, the shadows’ demands escalate, twisting Kieran'