Weeks ago, John Trent was hired by the major publishing house, Arcane, to find their biggest client, one of the most famous authors in the world, Sutter Cane who had gone missing. Trent was sure the whole thing was a sham. It read like a dime novel blurb: eccentric horror writer goes missing and the only way to find him was by piecing together breadcrumbs hidden in paperback covers to cobble together a map to a town that didn't exist outside the pages of Cane's books. Styles was obviously in on the whole thing, she worked for Arcane after all. But Trent played along for now, driving with her through the New England countryside to arrive in the supposedly fictional town of Hobb's End, as the sign told them while they pulled past it in their rental car. Styles seemed genuinely unnerved as they pulled onto the stereotypically eerily deserted mainstreet, which of course matched the descriptions from Cane's books to a T. Trent wondered if she even was really a publisher, and not an actress. He kicked himself for not thoroughly investigating her background before setting off on this trip with her. At the far end of the town stood an old stone church that appeared in almost all of Cane's novels. One thing all his stories had in common was that they all took place in this fictitious rural town, with its Gothic master of evil churches, satanic farmers, and townsfolk all hiding their own dark secrets while flashing friendly smiles. It sounded like laughable Sci-fi/Fantasy nonsense and Trent was more than a little disappointed that his detective work had lead him to...