A/N:Update time!

The first thing Rachel did when she returned home was that she gave her mother a hug. Hannah Carpenter was surprised by the surprising action of her daughter, but fully welcomed the show of affection.

"Was there a reason you did that or did you just felt like it," she asked once the hug ended. Rachel just shrugged her shoulders and smiled slightly.

"Just felt like it," she said.

"Ok, then. Did you kids have fun with Cassidy?" her mother asked returning to the task she had been doing before her daughter's return, which was chopping up vegetables in preparation for dinner.

"Yeah, we met her father and found out that a carnival is in town, too," Rachel answered, sitting down at one of the chairs at the island to watch her mother work.

"Ooooh, a carnival?" Her mother smiled. "How exciting."

"Yeah. It's actually the same carnival as the one we went to before, a few months back."

"Really?" Her mother paused in her chopping and turned to look at her. "The one where you got that top hat from the owner?"

"Yep," Rachel smiled back, remembering that night.

"Maybe I should go with you, this time, and meet the owner myself." Rachel's smile vanished at the suggestion.

"Actually, he's not going to be there. He had to go away for a while, so he gave me his top hat to take care of for him in the meantime," she answered with a sad shrug. Her mother pouted a little before returning to her work.

"What a shame, he sounded like a nice man, to give away his top hat to you and everything." Rachel once more shrugged.

"Yeah, but I'm sure the carnival will be fun regardless of his absence."

"Very well, then. Dinner's going to be in a bit. So in the meantime, you can go do whatever you want why I work on it, okay?" Her mother gave her a smile to which Rachel nodded back and left to go to her room and occupy herself while waiting.

Rachel sat down at her desk and pulled out her favorite black marker. With a brief thought of how unusually warm her room was feeling, she began to draw. With thoughts of her father and his carnival in her mind, it came to no surprise that her drawing was that of him standing with the carnival going on behind him. Unlike her earlier drawings of him, there was no malicious air about him, but instead a more welcoming one. Smiling down at her creation, Rachel's thoughts were once more brought back to how uncomfortably warm it was. It was only when she heard the crackle of flames that she realized something was terribly wrong.

Looking away from her drawing, Rachel saw that she was no longer in her room nor in her house. She was once more in the center of the burning wax mannequin maze. She jumped up from her seat in shock and fear at the realization. Behind her, a man laughed.

"Hello, Rachel," the voice hissed. Spinning around, she was greeted by the horrifying sign of Mr. Nobody grinning over at her, standing in the spot where her desk and chair once were. "It's so wonderful to see you again!"

"You're not real. This is only a dream," Rachel whispered back, more to herself than to him. The edges of his smile twitch as Mr. Nobody tried to hurt his anger over her once again refusing to greet him back.

"I assure you, Rachel, I am most definitely real. That mark on her arm proves it," he said back. Rachel's hand flew to her arm, grabbing onto the spot of the aforementioned mark. "But if you don't believe me, I can easily give you another one, just hold still." His voice became more graveled as he said the last part. Rachel let out a scream as he lunged for her. Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto Mr. Nobody's other arm and pulled him away from her, causing his outstretched fingertips to miss her by a few centimeters. Appearing out of nowhere from behind him, an angry-looking Mr. Tophat glared at Mr. Nobody with his own fire in his eyes.

"Get away her!" He cried as he threw Mr. Nobody away from her and to the ground, momentarily stunning him. With the threaten stalled, for the time being, Mr. Tophat looked back at Rachel with concern in his eyes. "Wake up, Rachel! You need to wake up and get my cane. It's the only way for the spell to work." Suddenly, he grabs her arms and pushes her to the ground. As she fell, she could see Mr. Nobody rising once more and letting out a cry of frustration. Then she blinked her eyes.

Rachel's back hit the back of her chair as she sat straight up at her desk. She was once more in her room. Looking down at her desk, she saw that the edges of her drawing of Mr. Tophat were tinted and burnt, obviously effected by the heat of the flames that had been burning in her dreams. Rachel was brought out of her confused trance as her phone began to buzz with an incoming call. Answering it, she put it to her ear.

"Hello?" she hesitantly said.

"Rachel!" Cassidy's voice answered from the other end. "Good news, the spell's almost done. We just need to find something that has a special connection with Marcus."

"Like his cane?" she suggested, remembering her father's words in her dream.

"That would most definitely work. Any idea where we would find it?" Thinking back, Rachel tried to remember the last time she saw it.

"It should still be at the carnival. It was left in the mirror maze after I smashed it and stopped Mr. Tophat," she answered. "We can see if Bartholomew might have retrieved it tonight at the carnival."

"Good idea. I'll see you guys there when the spell's finished," Cassidy said before hanging up. Rachel stared down at the phone before finally putting it down and setting off to find something else to do until it was time to leave.

It was odd to walk into the Carnival of Doom without the feeling of utter dread hanging over them. Arriving at the ticket booth, Horace flashed them a genuinely friendly smile as they handed over their tickets before waving them through. As they moved through the grounds, each worker they passed waved to them as though they were old friends. Now that the threat of the carnival being ruined is over, the workers had no need to view Rachel and her friends as the enemy. Looking around, Rachel caught a brief glance of Mr. Wickham moving among the other patrons. Catching his eye, he gave them a wave, to which both she and Gavin returned.

The opening show was even stranger, the absence of Mr. Tophat causing a strange pang in Rachel's heart. Afterward, they met once more with Bartholomew, finding them conversing with other workers in the employee area, and told him everything that happened earlier that day. He listened diligently as they told him about meeting Dr. Vink, him telling them the tale of how Mr. Tophat came to be, and finally, the spell that could bring him back. He waited until they were finally done before he spoke.

"So, that's it? Once the spell is complete, Marcus will be back?" he asked.

"Actually," Rachel began, "Cassidy says we need one more thing in order to get him back. We need something of his that he had a strong attachment to. So, do you know where his cane is?"

"The last I saw it, it was in Marcus's cabin, where he left it for you," Bartholomew frowned. The other workers nodded their agreement.

"So, it's still in the mirror maze, where I left it after I..," Rachel trailed off, suddenly unable to finish the sentence in the presence of those who truly knew the man behind the monster.

"It would appear so. Unfortunately, I cannot help you with navigating the maze, only you and your father ever entered it often enough to know your way around," Bartholomew apologized. Before anyone could speak further, the sound of footsteps approached them. Cassidy skidded to a stop before them.

"Did you get the cane yet?" she asked quickly, out of breath.

"No, it's still in the maze," Louise answered.

"We need to get it now," Cassidy urged, causing everyone to frown in confusion.

"Why? What's going on?" Rachel asked.

"It's Mr. Nobody, it seems he's losing his patience. He just tried to grab me from the darkness when I was walking through one of the shop's halls," Cassidy answered. Rachel looked over at the others in fear and concern before nodding.

"Ok, then let's get that cane," Rachel said, then turned to her friends. "You guys stay here with Bartholomew and the others and keep an eye out for Mr. Nobody while Cassidy and I head through the mirror maze and get the cane." At the others' nods, Rachel turned back to Cassidy. "Let's go."

Rachel and Cassidy ran quickly through the grounds, weaving their way through the patrons until they finally returned to Mr. Tophat's cabin one more. Heading inside, they found the cabin empty and the same as it was earlier that day. Moving until they were standing in front of the hidden entrance, it was only then that they realized one fatally flaw in their plan.

"The coin," Rachel whispered. She looked back at Cassidy, who only shook her head. The pair then began to search through the cabin, looking through all the drawers and chests in search of the unique golden object. After searching through the whole place, they found that the coin was nowhere to be found.

"What now?" Cassidy asked in defeat. Rachel shrugged and sat on the chair in front of the vanity. Looking into the mirror to think, she thought back to how she last found the coin. Remembering the moment, Rachel quickly began to search her pockets. It was when she put her hand in the hear coat pocket that she felt the familiar object in it. Pulling it out, Rachel smiled wide as she held the scorpion and skull coin in her hand. Placing it once more in the slot in the wall, the cabin began to rumble once more as the entrance slid down to reveal the hidden area behind it. Smiling back at Cassidy once more, she made her way inside.

Her feet seemed to rely on muscle memory as they made their way through the twisting and winding halls of the mirror maze. Finally, Rachel found herself standing in the familiar hallway once more, where she had once defeated her father and found the hidden room behind the end of the hall. The mirrors in the hall were still shattered, their remains laid scattered on the ground. The door to her childhood room also rested open, the ever-present light of the room shining into the hall and reflecting on the single golden object that hinted at the truth of what had occurred here. Slowly approaching the shattered cane, Rachel carefully picked up the object. Cassidy joined her side and pulled from her bag a small vial filled with a strange orange liquid. She uncorked the vial and held it over the head of the cane before she poured its contents onto it. The liquid seemed to have been caught in some invisible space as Cassidy began to mumble unintelligible words. As the vial emptied, the liquid-filled more and more of the space at the top until finally, it solidified into a new amber top-piece. After a moment, the pair looked around, feeling as though nothing had truly changed outside of the cane now being repaired. Looking back at each other, Cassidy shrugged as Rachel bit her lip, trying to think of what she could do next, an idea popped into her head. Taking a step back, Rachel took hold of the cane with both hands before pounding it to the ground.

The effect was instantaneous as the air rippled around the point of contact. A sound wave echoed from it, moved out from it and into the distance. Around them, the mirror shards began to shake and floated into the air, forming back into whole mirrors that hung upon the walls. Looking down at the amber head, Rachel saw it once more glowed with a faint electric current, showing the spell had worked. Looking back up at each other, Cassidy and Rachel shared relieved smiles before a sudden laugh caused them to vanish. Spinning around to face the end mirror, Rachel's eyes widened in fear as she saw none other than Mr. Nobody grinning back at them.

"Nice trick. My turn," he said. From behind her, Cassidy let out a cut-off scream. Looking back at her, Rachel found Cassidy was now gone, leaving her alone in the hall. Looking back at the mirror, she saw in horror as all the mirrors in the hall now held an image of a grinning Mr. Nobody. Wasting no time, Rachel spun around and fled the hall, the echoes of his laughter followed behind her.

A/N: Yay, cliffhanger! See you all next week!