Sam decided something was wrong when the smell showed up.
Not a dramatic smell. No sulfur. No ozone. Just… old water and metal, like a basement that had secrets and didn't feel bad about keeping them.
He sniffed his sleeve.
"Nope. That's not me," he announced.
Alex looked up from his phone. "That's your opening line every time."
They were back near the fence again, technically not allowed to be there, but also not _not allowed. The orange barriers had multiplied overnight, creating a confusing maze of temporary walkways that somehow led exactly where you weren't supposed to go.
Jordan was crouched near a storm drain, shining his phone flashlight inside.
"I'm telling you," he said, "this wasn't here yesterday."
Lena peered over his shoulder. "That drain looks older than the town."
Riley, standing a little apart, tilted his head. "It's active."
Sam frowned. "The drain?"
Riley nodded. "The space."
Sam stared at him. "I miss when pipes were just pipes."
Maya hugged her jacket tighter. The hum was back—but wrong. Not quieter. Fragmented. Like static between radio stations.
"It's not the building," she said. "It's something underneath."
Alex's stomach sank. "Underneath what?"
Maya didn't answer.
Jordan reached in with a stick and nudged something metallic.
Clink.
He froze.
"Guys," he said slowly. "There's a ladder."
Sam blinked. "Like… a sewer ladder?"
"No," Jordan said. "Like a facility ladder."
Lena straightened. "You're saying there's a door under the fake road work."
Jordan nodded. "And judging by the rust patterns, it's been sealed for a long time."
Riley stepped closer. "Not sealed."
Everyone looked at him.
"Hidden," he corrected.
---
They found the symbol by accident.
Sam was the one who noticed it, mostly because he tripped.
"WHY is the ground grabby here—ow."
Alex hauled him up. "You good?"
"Physically? Yes. Emotionally? No."
Sam pointed at the concrete. "Also, that scratch wasn't there before."
Etched faintly into the ground was a symbol—so shallow it almost vanished when the light hit it wrong.
Three overlapping rectangles.
Jordan's face went pale.
"That's not a construction mark," he said. "That's a locator."
Lena crossed her arms. "For what?"
Jordan swallowed. "For something that moves."
Maya's breath hitched.
"It's awake," she whispered.
Alex turned sharply. "The building?"
Maya shook her head. "No. Whatever they built before it."
The hum spiked—then cut out completely.
Silence crashed down, heavy and wrong.
Sam snapped his fingers. "Okay, I officially hate this chapter."
---
Across town, Agent Harris stared at an old file that was never supposed to be opened again.
**PROJECT : PALIMPSEST **
Status: Archived
Reason for Archive: Unstable Causal Feedback
Harris rubbed his temples.
"So they didn't shut you down," he muttered. "They buried you."
A knock on the door.
"Agent Harris," a voice said. "Director Kade wants an update."
Harris closed the file.
"Tell her," he said evenly, "that the town is asking questions."
A pause.
"She anticipated that."
Harris's jaw tightened. "Then she knows what happens next."
---
Back at the fence, the group stood in uneasy silence.
The smell was stronger now.
Metal and damp air.
Lena broke it first. "So. Underground mystery lab?"
Sam nodded. "Classic."
Alex stared at the symbol. "Why hide this now?"
Jordan shook his head. "They didn't hide it now. They hid it then."
Maya's voice was small. "The building wasn't the experiment."
Everyone looked at her.
"It was the solution," she said.
Riley felt the air shift.
"Then what was the problem?"
Maya closed her eyes.
"Something that didn't want to stay put."
A distant clang echoed from beneath the street.
Not loud.
Not close.
But real.
Sam whispered, "Please tell me that was a pipe."
No one answered.
The fence rattled once, gently, as if something brushed against it from the other side.
And for the first time since the government had called it a sinkhole, the mystery wasn't about what the building was.
It was about what it was built to contain.
And whether it still could.