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Book 1 - Tin Man

Prologue (PG-13)

Business was slower than usual. To be fair, Agnes didn't really need it. Madame Slazaar had provided her with three clients that day. It was only greed that was keeping Agnes near the dockyards.

She was just about to give it a day when he appeared from out of the shadows. His strange jesters mask grinning at her as it had done earlier that day. Something about him disturbed her but he paid well and was always polite, if a little less vocal than most.

"Alright my handsum. Couldn't get enough of me, eh? Well aat'll be thirty shillings if ye want to do more than just stare at moy baps this time"

A hand, clothed in a black glove, extended. The palm opened to reveal a number of small silver coins. Agnes grinned.

"Well what ye waiting for, my lover?" She led him away from the docks and towards a quiet dark alley.

It was a fisherman who found her. She was lying naked in the alleyway. Her chest had been opened up and her heart had been removed. The most hideous thing of all about her corpse was the way her face had contorted into a mask of utter terror.