"This here, is the manticore! Man's head, lion's body, tail of a scorpion," he said, though his voice didn't hold the frightening menace it did outside of the dream. "Creatures of night, brought to light!" he finished with as much flourish as his small, gnarled body could muster.

They moved to the next cage, and the small man spoke again.

"Here is the dragon. Breathes fire, now and then, mostly at people who poke it, little boy…" he said lecherously to the small blonde boy who reached out to touch the scaly creature. "It's inside is an inferno, but it's skin is so cold it burns!" he laughed wickedly, "it speaks seventeen languages readily and is subject to doubt! Creatures of night brought to light!"

And they moved to the next cage.

"The satyr, ladies, keep back!" Alex tried to listen to the small man's words, but his attention was stolen when he heard another voice. His voice, to be exact.

He tapped Isabel's arm and they both moved to hear the tall, thin man speak.

"I shouldn't be here," he said in a hushed tone to the unicorn in the cage, Alex could see that she had two horns, while Isabel could only see the false one Mommy Fortuna had placed on the white mare's forehead. But quickly, tell me what you see. Don't be afraid. Look at your fellow legends and tell me what you see."

The unicorn looked around, taking in the wonderful, terrifying creatures around her.

"What he calls a manticore looks to be no more than a shabby, toothless lion," she scoffed, her gaze moving. Alex was shocked to hear Maria's voice, but slowly a sort of realization struck him. "And she has them believing that poor old ape with a twisted foot is a satyr!" she laughed bitterly. "Illusions! Deceptions! Mirages! Your Mommy Fortuna cannot truly change things!"

"That's true; she can only disguise. And only for those eager to believe whatever comes easiest," the tall man said, leaning in conspiratorially.

From the distance they heard the small man say, "the Midgard Serpent. It's got the whole world in its coils."

"No, she can't turn cream into butter," the tall man said, looking back from the curling snake. "But she can make a lion look like a manticore to eyes that want to see a manticore. Just as she'd put a false horn on a real unicorn to make them see the unicorn," his eyes fell on the false horn, and finally Isabel saw both horns and a tear escaped her eye.

"I know you," the tall man said, a look of adoration in his eyes. "If I were blind I would know who you are."

The unicorn nodded, and Alex fancied she smiled a bit. It made him glad.

"Who are you?" she asked, and for a spilt second the two intruders thought she was talking to them, but then the tall man replied.

"I an Schmendrick, the magician," when she didn't seem to recognize the name he smiled, "you wouldn't have heard of me."

The harpy in the next cage began to shriek, and both the unicorn and the magician shrunk back.

"That one is real," the unicorn said softly, "That is the harpy Celaeno," she shuddered.

"Yes," he said, shaking his head, "the old woman caught her by chance, asleep, just as she took you." He sighed sadly, disappointedly. "Oh! She should never have meddled with a real harpy, or a real unicorn for that matter, because the truth melts her magic, always." He shook his head and looked away again. "She's going to free herself very soon now, and she must not catch you still caged," he said, and his voice was serious.

The small guide with Valenti's voice croaked at Schmendrick, "Go on, get away from there!" he snapped, "You know what she told you!"

The magician looked at the unicorn fleetingly as he turned to leave, "don't be afraid!" he called, "Schmendrick is with you! Do nothing till you hear from me!"

The unicorn nodded as the troupe of sightseers were brought to ogle her.

"The unicorn," the small man grinned, letting the people stare.

Somewhere, deep within Maria's mind, she thought, 'This is what they're afraid of,' and she sobbed within herself, 'Oh god! How could they live with this fear!'

Alex heard the screaming thought and tried to reach out to wherever it came from, to tell Maria everything that had happened, that it was a dream, but he couldn't get a hold of it. And so they spent the day sitting and watching the unicorn as the small crooked man (Rhuk by name, as they learned soon enough) led sightseers through the maze of false creatures.

Later, that night, a small crooked woman came by and looked at the harpy. Rhuk came up beside her.

"I don't care how many damned spells you've got on her," he said roughly, "get rid of that harpy." He looked at the crooked little woman, who was staring, almost lovingly, at the vicious creature. "Get rid of her Mommy!" he moaned as the harpy's eyes fell on him.

"Fool, be still! No other witch in the world holds a harpy captive, and none ever will," she gloated, "I choose to keep her! I can turn her into wind if she escapes, or snow! Or into seven notes of music!"

The harpy began to scream, and Isabel recognized the bird's scream as Tess'. The blonde laughed in spite of herself, "such an accurate casting."

Mommy Fortuna was speaking, and Alex knew her voice then, "Ms. Topolsky," he hissed, listening to the woman's words.

"No. Not yet. Not yet. You're mine. If you kill me, you're still mine," she laughed and the harpy reluctantly subsided.

Mommy Fortuna turned to the unicorn and grinned evilly. "The harpy's as real as you are, and just as immortal. And she was just as easy to capture, if you want to know," she smirked, hobbling over to the cage.

"Do not boast, old woman," Maria's voice spoke, and the unicorn shook her head. "Your death sits in that cage and she hears you," she looked beyond Mommy Fortuna to the harpy who glared at the both of them.

"Oh, she'll kill me one day or another, but she will remember forever that I caught her, that I held her prisoner. So there's my immortality, eh?" she laughed and gave a little shrug, having accepted her own fate.

'Oh that I could be so accepting!' Maria's voice slipped through the dream, but only to Alex.

"Now, you were out on the road hunting for your own death, and I know where it awaits you. I know him, that one," Mommy Fortuna said, looking the unicorn over.

"Do you speak of the Red Bull?" she asked, hopeful, "tell me if you do, and where he is, if you know!"

"The Red Bull of King Haggard," the old woman nodded. "So you know of the Bull," she laughed. "Well, he'll not have you. You belong to me."

"You know better," the unicorn said softly. "Keep your poor shadows if you will, but let me go." She looked over at the harpy, "and - let her go," she sighed, "I cannot see her caged. She is real, like me. We are two sides of the same magic. Let her go," she felt a great sorrow at the idea that another creature like herself would feel the same caged horror.

" I'd quit show business first!" the old woman said sharply, "do you think I don't know what the true witchery is, just because I do what I do?" she laughed bitterly and frowned at the unicorn. "There's not a witch in the world hasn't laughed at Mommy Fortuna and her homemade horrors - but there's not one of them who would have dared!" she wore a triumphant smirk on her face.

The unicorn shook her head patiently, "the harpy and me-- we are not for you."

"Who are you for then?" she snapped. "Do you think those fools knew you without any help from me?" she laughed coldly, shaking her head. "No! I had to give you a horn they could see! These days it takes a cheap carnival trick to make folks recognize a real unicorn," her laughter died on her lips. "But the Red Bull will know you when he sees you; so you are safer here. You should thank me for protecting you." She hobbled off, and the unicorn sighed.

Schmendrick returned to her shortly after. "Schmendrick is with you! I'm sorry, but I couldn't get away any sooner," he said and looked at the unicorn in awe.

The unicorn frowned sadly and looked at the magician. "There has never been a spell on me before. There has never been a world in which I was not known," she said sadly.

"Oh, I know exactly how you feel. It's a very rare person who is taken for what he truly is," he nodded, knowingly.

"Will you help me?" she asked, and he nodded again.

"If not you, no one," he said seriously. "You're my last chance."

The unicorn nodded, and watched as the magician tried spell after spell. When the cage began to shrink the unicorn whinnied in terror.

"Stop!" the magician murmured to the cage, before speaking a low, foreign tongue. The cage stopped it shrinking and the unicorn panted.

"Try again," she begged.

"No, I can't, next time I may not be able to stop it," Schmendrick panted, and Alex sighed. Did she see him as a failure? A two-bit magician? Or was there something else in this tall, strange man that she admired about him?

"Try again," she pleaded, "that last spell, it may not have worked, but it did have true magic in it!"

"My lady," he sighed, shaking his head. "You deserve the services of a great wizard, but I'm afraid you'll have to be glad of the aid of a second-rate pickpocket," he sighed and produced a ring of keys. He went to the lock, which laughed at him.

"Some magician," it said mockingly, "some magician!"

"Turn blue," he muttered and the locked croaked and opened. "Damn…"

Schmendrick swung the door open and moved aside. "Step down lady," he said with a flourish, "you are free!"

The false horn faded as she leapt down from the cage, and she darted off into the bushes as Rhuk appeared from behind one of the carts. He saw the open cage and ran to the magician.

"The cage. You have taken my keys. Why, you thin thief. She'll string you on barbed wire to make a necklace for the harpy!" he tackled the taller man and they grappled on the ground.

But while the little man was making threats, the unicorn had freed the other false creatures, and was nearing the harpy's cage.

Schmendrick threw the small man off himself and ran to the unicorn. "No, she'll kill you! Run, she'll kill you if you set her free!" he shouted, trying to reach her, to stop her from freeing the bird, but the harpy's voice called to the unicorn.

"Set me free," she called, "we are sisters, you and I."

It was Tess' voice, manipulative, cold, and sweet despite all of it. The unicorn nodded, lowering her head.

"No!" Isabel cried, but no one heard. She tried running at the unicorn, to move her aside, but Alex held her back.

"You have to let it happen, Isabel!" he shouted over the screams of the harpy, "you have to let this play out for Maria's sake, if nothing else!"

"NO!" Isabel cried, struggling, and the unicorn lowered her horn to the lock. "No, no, no, no, no!" and tears began to form on her cheeks. The lock broke the second Maria's horn touched it, and the harpy screeched and began to move it's enormous wings.

The cart began to creak, the wood coming apart at the edges, the bars screaming at the harpy to stop. The unicorn reared, but didn't run.

The harpy broke free of her prison with a violent rush of wings, and circled above the Midnight Carnival. She dove at the unicorn, shrieking wickedly, but the unicorn did not falter. She lunged at the bird with her horn and drove it back.

Twice the harpy dove at her, and twice she held it back.

"Run!" Schmendrick shouted, but Mommy Fortuna's laughter drowned him out.

"Not alone!" she cried, and Ms. Topolsky's voice struck a chord in Alex's memory. "You could never have freed yourselves alone!" she laughed maniacally. "I held you!" she cried, even as the harpy dove at her, murder in the bird's eyes.

The unicorn was walking away slowly, and Isabel watched, horrified.

"Run, damn it!" she cried. "Run, run, Maria!" but the unicorn kept her pace.

"Run!" Schmendrick cried, "run, run away from here!"

"Come with me," she said softly, "come with me!" The magician followed her hesitantly, wincing at the sound of the harpy's ministrations on the two who had held her so long.

"Don't look back," she said as she noticed him wince, "and don't run. You must never run from anything immortal, it attracts their attention."

And so they walked away. As Isabel and Alex were about to follow they heard a bitter laugh.

"Thinks highly of herself, doesn't she?" and the two intruders whirled to see Tess standing bitterly against a tree.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked coldly, "trying to finish what you started?"

"Oh, harsh words little boy," Tess smirked. "Watch your tongue."

"Tess, get out of here," Isabel said sternly, "we have no need of you here."

"What you need can't be found here, and you won't bring it in either," she smirked and walked up to the others. "You can follow her around all you like, but you'll never get her out on your own."

"Tess," Alex said slowly, violently quelling the urge to drive his fist against her still moving jaw. "Get out now," his words were clipped and Tess was taken aback at the harshness of it.

"Well," she laughed, "the bumbling fool got a pair," she smirked, looking him over, "Good for you. Follow her all you want. I won't stop you from it."

She turned and walked away, her voice calling out as she disappeared, "Glad she thinks so well of me."

Isabel frowned and turned to find that they were just behind the unicorn and her companion.

"Come," Isabel said, hurrying to the two dream creatures, "I want to see if anything else happens."