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He closes his eyes.

"What is it?"

"The house."

I stand immediately.

"What about it?"

He swallows.

"It feels wrong."

The lights dim. Not flicker. Dim. The Wi-Fi symbol on my computer disappears.

Every device disconnects simultaneously. My monitors go black. The silence afterward is absolute.

Sayer opens his eyes.

"It knows."

"Knows what?"

"That you're looking."

I don't hesitate this time. I grab the notebook. Write. Time. 10:17 a.m. Event. Power fluctuation. Wi-Fi interruption. Trigger. Research.

Then I grab my phone. No signal. Of course. I walk to the window. Outside, Sleepy Hollow looks like a postcard. Orange leaves. Black iron fences. Historic homes decorated with carved pumpkins and fake cobwebs.

A family walks past carrying a pumpkin shaped like a cat. A child runs by wearing a tiny Headless Horseman costume. The entire town is preparing for Halloween. Celebrating ghosts. Laughing about monsters.

While something real watches from the edges.

I return to my desk. The data is still there. Mostly. I open the folder containing the map I've been building.

Thirty-one disappearances. Thirty-one locations. I add Sayer's case. Then I overlay everything. The dots appear across the screen. I don't understand what I'm seeing. Then I zoom out. The locations form a pattern. A narrowing spiral. All leading toward one place.

Sleepy Hollow.

More specifically…

My neighborhood.

My hands shake slightly as I print the map. When Rhett walks into the room ten minutes later, he immediately knows something is wrong. He always has.

"What happened?"

I turn the monitor toward him.

"I went looking for stories."

His eyes scan the screen.

"And?"

"I found them."

He studies the map. His expression changes slowly. Not surprise. Confirmation.