Chapter 1
The digital void was their cathedral. In a world of ones and zeros, four avatars flickered into existence to form The Conclave of the Unknown Worthy. There was Mr. Frog, whose digital feelers could sniff out a trap before it was set; Magpie, whose silent resentment fueled their logistics; The Raven, the moral compass who claimed to see the rot in human souls; and Scarecrow, the engine of their vengeance.
They were a paradox of unity, four masters of lost arts bound by desperation but separated by their own shadows. Each held a piece of the truth, yet they guarded those pieces like hoarders, their very power preventing the collaboration they claimed to seek.
Scarecrow stood in the corner of the dim bedroom, a nightmare rendered in a tattered wool tuxedo stuffed with decaying cornstalks and a burlap mask, a silent scream. Waiting for the “unworthy”, his target, to move. As he pondered what Raven had been chirping about “lines crossed” and “lost ways” at the last meeting. He couldn’t help but wish to go back to those early days. When none of them had any doubt, they were full of rage for the way people with money could throw enough to make anything go away, but now they were wavering.
Regret, Scarecrow thought, his grip tightening on his blade. A waste of time, and a luxury for the weak. In his eyes, there was no line when it came to people like Peter Shaffer, the unworthy in his sights tonight. Once he was eliminated, the world would be a safer, better place.
Shaffer, a man in his fifties and a former governor, sat hunched over his monitor, touching himself. The blue light of the dark web danced across his pale, sweating skin. He was a man protected by powerful friends-men who ensured the law looked the other way while he exploited the innocent. The Conclave’s “Jury of Twelve” had deliberated in the encrypted shadows and rendered a unanimous verdict: Death.
Shaffer grunted, standing up naked, and shuffled toward the bathroom. He didn’t notice the straw rustling in the corner.
The bathroom light flicked on, harsh and clinical. Shaffer relieved himself, oblivious to the shape looming in the doorway. It was only when he reached for the faucet and looked into the mirror that his world ended. Scarrow’s sinister grin sent shivers down Peter’s spine, realizing he had fallen into a trap. With a swift motion, Scarrow cut Peter’s penis and balls off with the surgical precision of a harvester. The struggle was brief, frantic, and wet. As Shaffer collapsed onto the tiles, the copper scent of blood overwhelmed the smell of bleach. He looked up, clutching at the ruin of his body, watching the Scarecrow work with thick, black thread.
The first of the autumn leaves were blowing down the street as Detective Nick Hendrix stepped over the yellow tape, his Oxford shoes polished and new, wearing an Armani suit. He was a man who looked like he’d been carved out of granite and left in the rain-tousled brown hair, a rugged beard, and hazel eyes that had seen too much ugliness in the world. Wished he hadn’t been assigned this high-profile case, the death of a former governor. There would be demands for an arrest to be made fast, and that kind of detective work led to mistakes.
Too often, he had seen other detectives give in to pressure from above, and mistakes led to the case being overturned. Followed by a political fallout that would roll downhill, tarnishing the reputation of a person only doing what they were ordered to do.
“The Governor’s office is already calling,” Hendrix told the officer at the door, his voice a low rumble. “Back the press up another ten feet. I don’t want a single lens catching what’s inside.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer said, handing him blue forensic booties. “Second floor, first door on the left. It’s… It’s a bad one, Nick.”
The smell hit him halfway up the stairs-the iron tang of blood mixed with a sickening, sweet rot. Inside the bedroom, the victim was positioned like a macabre art piece. Peter Shaffer was naked, his body contorted and propped up like a fallen scarecrow. His mouth was sewn shut in a jagged, permanent grin. Where his eyes and genitals should have been, there were only dark, hollowed-out craters.
Pinned to his chest was a black envelope. The silver calligraphy was elegant, almost mocking: The Children Are Safe.
Hendrix carefully scribbled down every detail that caught his attention, his pen moving swiftly across the paper. What did a former governor do to someone to make them do this, he wondered.
“I thought I’d seen it all,” a voice said from the corner.
Hendrix turned to see Mags, the lead medical examiner. She looked paler than usual. “But this… this is a new one for me.”
“Time of death?” Hendrix asked, kneeling to get a better look at the stitching.
“Roughly sixteen hours ago. Could’ve been longer, but we got an anonymous tip.”
“I’m guessing the lack of blood means he was killed somewhere else?”
“The bathroom, it looks like a Jackson Pollock in there. It’s also where his pens and testicles are. As for the eyes, we haven’t found them yet. The first thing you’ll need to see is in here, in the closet.”
Mags led him toward a closet. She pushed aside a false back panel to reveal a room lined with monitors, computers and a digital shrine to the worst impulses of humanity. Hendrix felt his stomach turn. “Call the special task force,” he said to an officer, “and tell them to get here now.”
They returned to the body. Mags donned fresh gloves and opened the black envelope. She read the note aloud.
“Magpie, Raven, Scarecrow, and Frog have judged Peter Shaffer to be guilty of destroying the innocence of children. His punishment is eternal damnation. So say we all.”
“They must’ve read Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” Hendrix muttered.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about him over the years.”
“Looks like it was true. How much of the house have they searched?’
“All of the rooms up here and the attic, they are trying to get into the basement now.”
“Sir!” a uniformed officer shouted from the hallway, her face white. “The basement. You need to see the basement.”
Hendrix followed her down, his hand resting instinctively on his sidearm. They reached a reinforced steel door. When he swung it open, the air was heavy with the sound of rattling chains.
A dozen children, their eyes wide with a glassy terror, were tethered to narrow, creaking beds. The air in the cramped space was thick with the stale odor of dust and neglect, and the dim light cast long, eerie shadows. Each child was emaciated, their skin stretched thin over bone, looking as if they hadn’t felt the warmth of a meal in days, their small frames trembling with a chilling vulnerability.
“Call social services and get an ambulance,” Hendrix roared.
