Shadows Over Sleepy Hollow

The car ride to Sleepy Hollow was unusually quiet.

Hannah and Olivia had arranged for an Airbnb for the summer—a cozy house with three sleeping rooms, nestled just outside the historic town. The plan was simple: use the summer to dig deeper into Project Prometheus, find out who Lazarus Vellum really was, and figure out why the experiment had been buried so completely.

But the deeper they got, the heavier the weight of the mystery became.

Jess stared out the window as the miles passed, her thoughts looping back to the conversation in the coffee shop. They’re watching. If I was the proof of concept, that means they know I exist. A slow, creeping paranoia settled in her chest. Had someone followed them? Were there eyes on them even now? She didn’t feel safe being alone anymore. Not truly. And if she had a target on her back, that meant the others did too.

Kevin sat in the front seat, arms crossed, lost in thought. Ryan, driving, had his jaw set in quiet focus. Even Hannah and Olivia, normally full of energy, were subdued. Leanna occasionally checked her phone, skimming through notes and files, but she seemed to be going through the motions. They all felt it—this was bigger than any of them had expected.

The town of Sleepy Hollow greeted them with its usual eerie charm. Cobblestone streets, historical markers, and the ever-present whisper of ghost stories woven into the town’s DNA. It would have felt quaint, even peaceful, if not for the weight of what they were here to uncover.

They reached the Airbnb, a two-story colonial with dark shutters and a wraparound porch. The house felt too normal for what they were about to do, but they needed a home base.

"Alright," Olivia said, stretching as she got out of the car. "Room assignments. Hannah and I share, Jess with Leanna, Kevin and Ryan."

"Sounds fair," Kevin muttered, grabbing his bag. "Not like I snore or anything."

Ryan shot him a sideways glance. "Lies."

Jess should have laughed, but the paranoia still gnawed at her. As they unpacked and settled in, she found herself constantly checking the windows, peering outside, expecting to see someone watching. No one was there. But that didn’t mean no one was watching.

**************************************

By late afternoon, they made their way back to the crypt—the place where they had first found the flash drive and the old research journals. But when they got there, it was… empty. The hidden chamber was gone. No broken bricks. No loose stones. No evidence that anything had ever been there.

Jess’s stomach dropped. "No. No, this isn’t possible. We were here. There was a room."

Leanna ran her fingers along the wall where the hidden entrance had once been. "Someone cleaned this up. Someone knew we found it."

Hannah swallowed. "That means someone is covering their tracks."

Kevin kicked at the dirt. "And that means they know we’re here."

The wind rustled through the trees, and for the first time, Sleepy Hollow felt truly haunted. Jess pulled out her phone instinctively, more out of habit than anything.

Then her screen lit up.

A text message.

> UNKNOWN NUMBER: You were too slow. But if you’re serious about finding the truth, start where the story began.

Jess read it aloud, her voice unsteady. "Start where the story began? What the hell does that mean?"

Leanna’s eyes narrowed. "The original test subject. The first experiment. Before you."

Ryan took a step back, his gaze flicking around them. "If we find them, we might finally get answers."

Jess tightened her grip on her phone, her pulse quickening. Someone was guiding them, but whether they were a friend or an enemy was still unclear. One thing was certain.

The truth wasn’t buried here anymore. It was somewhere else.

And they had to find it before it disappeared again.