Barnaby woke up rather refreshed. Lura and Parker's bare bodies were draped over him. It took him a few seconds to fully remember what had happened the night before. Wanting to break free of the net of limbs surrounding him, he carefully removed Lura's arm, then Parker's leg, and then Lura's leg, until he managed to slip out from under them without disturbing either one. He found a pair of underwear on the floor but quickly realized they were Parker's. Once he spotted his own he put them on and left the room quietly, and then tiptoed back to his office to get ready for the day.

As he straightened his tie he glanced over at his bookshelf. He didn't know what exactly caused him to do that, but he did. Half of those books hadn't been touched in almost a decade. Charles Barnaby was a very busy man. He didn't have time to read. Hell, Diego probably read at least ten of them to Barnaby. The ringmaster skimmed through the titles until he came across Dante Alighieri's Inferno. "Oh my, I used to love reading this as a young boy." He flipped to the first canto and without taking his eyes off the page, sat down on the bed and started to read. His fingers caressed the yellowing pages and traced along the drawings that accompanied the passages. Then he got to his favorite part, as three animals approach Dante in the woods. Barnaby couldn't help but smile. That triumvirate always intrigued him, now even more so.

"What are you doing?" asked Cassandra as she settled into her basin full of water. Julius was frantically running around the room, collecting all sorts of things.

"I'm packing up. I can't stand to see you like this, Cassandra. You're clearly not enjoying yourself at all. And I won't let you be treated like another animal in this circus. You're human, and that means you deserved to at least be treated like one."

Cassandra got a bit concerned and rushed over to the edge of the tub, wrapping her fingers tensely around the rim. "So then why are you packing?"

"To run away, with you, of course. I'm taking you out of here." Cassandra's face lit up, elated to hear him say that.

"Julius, I… I don't know what to say. Yes, obviously, I'd love to run away with you. Live happily ever after." He grinned and then resumed picking apart the room to find his belongings that were absolutely necessary. "But what about the circus? What about Barnaby? Are you going to tell him?"

He stopped in his tracks, realizing he didn't fully think this through. He loved working at this circus, and he loved having Barnaby as his boss. Not only as a boss, but as a friend, a true companion, the only person who ever saw Julius for what he was capable of. "It doesn't matter anymore, Cassandra. I love you. And I won't stand by if the best Barnaby can provide for you is a cheap plastic bin filled with scummy water."

"It's scummy because I've been laying in it for days, silly. You have to change it. Haven't you ever owned a goldfish before?"

"Can't say I have," he chuckled. "Fish were never really my thing." He crouched down to be at her side, pressing his lips to her soft hands. "But you've certainly piqued my interest in them." She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Okay," she said, breaking away. "I'll go with you. As long as you're sure this is what you want. Don't let me get in the way of your dream job."

Suddenly Barnaby barged in, and Julius quickly stood up to address his boss. "I have a favor to ask you," the ringmaster said.

"Be right back," said Julius to Cassandra before following Barnaby out the door. "What do you need?"

"I've been struck with a sudden burst of inspiration this morning. I want to create another hybrid."

Julius looked dumbfounded. "What do you mean, another?"

"You know, like your little friend in there. An amalgamation of various creatures."

"She's not a creature. She's still human. She was somebody before we did that to her. You made me aware of that, remember?" Barnaby sighed as he heard Julius go on. "You know she's starting to remember that Marcus fellow? How do you think that makes me feel?"

"Julius, enough! I'm sorry I called her a creature. But the only way we can get people coming back to this circus is if we absolutely stun them. No doubt the press will be all over our ass after that stunt last night. So we need to boost our image. Make something no one has ever seen before. A mermaid is one thing, but that's been faked over so many times in the past. And everyone knows they're not real. What we need is a unique beast. Something no one has ever even imagined."

"Okay, so what are we making?" asked Julius.

"A chimaera, but not the typical lion-goat-snake hybrid. Instead it will be made up of a lion, a leopard, and a wolf." Barnaby looked extremely optimistic, hoping Julius would jump right on board with his idea. But Julius laughed at him instead.

"How the fuck did you come up with that idea, dumbass?"

"Does it matter?" Barnaby grunted, nudging Julius in the stomach to make him stop mocking him. "Now, here's where I need your help."

"I'm listening," Julius replied, calming down from his burst of laughter.

"We already have a lion, yes? What we don't have are the leopard and the wolf." Julius wasn't catching on like Barnaby hoped. "Where are we going to get these beasts on such short notice in New York?" He still wasn't catching on. "The Bronx Zoo, Julius." The lion tamer's face dropped immediately upon hearing the name of his former place of employment.

"You're not going to ask me to do what I'm thinking, are you?" He almost sounded fearful.

"It's for the good of the circus, Julius. Take this," Barnaby said, handing him a twenty-dollar bill. "I've arranged for a taxi to take you to the nearest station. Buy a ticket, head to the Bronx. You should know what to do after that. I've arranged for a friend to meet you at midnight. When you've done it, meet him with the animals and he'll take you to us. We should be in the city at that point. Are we clear?" Julius almost felt like crying. Returning there, after all this time. "Are we clear?"

Athena hated her old wrinkled hands. She thought back to when she met the mermaid—oh fiddlesticks, what on earth did they name her?—Cassandra. She had such soft hands, just like Athena did when she was her age. Now her hands were wrinkled. Eroded. The veins popped up like blue rivers running over a rugged canvas. Her right pinky twitched every now and then. She never knew why. It stared around her fiftieth birthday. And every day since, it twitched unexpectedly, almost all the time.

"Dwyer!" hollered a man from down the hall. His voice echoed and boomed as it traveled down through the barred cells. She hopped up and ran over to stick her head out.

"Yes, that's me. What's wrong?" The man approached her and glared at her. "Is it time for my trial, officer?"

"On the contrary, ma'am." He grabbed onto his key ring, flipped to the correct one, and unlocked her cell. "You made bail. Your son is here to pick you up."

"Charles?" Athena was stunned that Barnaby came all this way to make bail for her, to free her from what could have been the remainder of her life in prison for crimes she didn't commit.

Except Barnaby wasn't standing there at the end of the hallway, but rather Victor Carson. "Hello, Athena," he greeted, followed by a warm smile. "Ready to go home?" Athena didn't really know what was going on, but she knew one thing: Victor was fully aware that she was not the killer.

"Yes," she uttered quietly. "Take me home."

"So, are you going to talk?" Victor asked, moments later when they were in the car and leaving the police station.

"About what, Mr. Carson?" Athena kept a level head and stared right on the road ahead of them, not even peeking at the man behind the wheel.

"I know you're psychic, Athena. And I know someone of your age and physique could not have committed all of those murders. No offense."

"None taken."

"But I'm right, right? You're not the Birdman. But you know who it is, and you were just covering for them. Now tell me: who is the Birdman? Who took my son?"

At that moment she turned her head to look directly at him. "Oh, how foolish you sound right now, Mr. Carson." He looked at her briefly, not keeping his eyes off the road for too long. "You're asking two completely different questions."

Julius arrived in the city a few hours later. He stopped to grab a bite to eat at a local deli, and at five o'clock he made his way to the zoo. It was just about to close, and he needed to move while no one was there, especially any of his former co-workers.

He snuck around to the employee entrance, a neat little alcove that hardly anyone knew about. The surrounding bushes made for perfect camouflage as he waited for the right moment to strike. It was nearing six, which meant most of the zookeepers were going to start leaving. They began to file out of the door, and he watched and waited from just a few feet away. Most of them left in packs, either in groups of two or three. That wouldn't work; otherwise he would have to take them all down. When it was about 6:15, the last of the employees made his exit. Ugh. Melvin, Julius thought, disgusting himself at the sight of his old colleague. I wonder if he still sniffs his fingers after feeding the elephants.

Melvin locked the door behind him and started to walk away, until he met his demise by means of a poisoned dart aimed right at the jugular. That was easier than I expected. Julius emerged from the bushes, found Melvin's ID pass and keys, made his way through the employee door, and dragged Melvin's body inside with him.

"Hey, Melvin, did you forget something?" asked a familiar voice from behind. Oh shit, Julius thought, recognizing that tone."Wait a minute… Julius? Is that you?" Shit. Shit. Shit. "What the fuck are you doing back here?"

"Larry, I know, I'm banished, but—" Julius felt extremely inferior to his former boss, even though he had a good foot and a half over Larry and was in way better shape.

"Damn right, you're banished, you animal fucker!" The words cut through Julius like a knife through soft butter. All this time he lived in denial. All this time he told lies about his past. And to hear the truth being told directly to his face made his heart snap in two. "You were caught having sex with nearly every goddamn species in this place. You're lucky I didn't have you arrested, you sick son of a bitch!" Tears were starting to pour down Julius' face. "Thanks to your circus friend who paid me off to keep it all a secret. How's that going by the way, huh? He let you stick your dick in any of the—"

"SHUT UP LARRY!" Julius screamed, startling his ex-boss into submission. Julius was seeing red, and couldn't help but lash out. Holding tightly to the key ring in his hands, he squeezed one key tightly between his middle and ring finger, and then jabbed his fist forward multiple times, stabbing Larry in the gut repeatedly. Larry was too taken aback to even react. He just stood there and let the man do that to him. After about six jabs to the stomach, Larry fell to the floor, while Julius wiped his brow.

Melvin's body was used to lure the leopard, while Larry's body was used to lure the wolf.

At around ten o'clock at night, Lura found herself nestled into Barnaby's bare chest. It was literally the last place she wanted to be at the moment. But she had her reasons. Pretending to be closer to Barnaby once again, as if their little ménage-à-trois miraculously fixed all of their problems, would hopefully aid her in gaining the answers she wanted. All she wanted was her baby back.

"That was great, Charles," she whispered as she pet his cheek.

"I never thought we'd exchange words after sex ever again. Granted I never thought we'd have sex again."

"You've been through so much, baby. Your father almost died, your mother was locked away… I tried to cheat on you to make you jealous."

He held her head closer to his body and started to stroke her luscious golden hair. "I didn't see it that way, Lura. I saw that as you provoking me. Challenging my manhood." Lura couldn't help but roll her eyes. Is he for real? "I just took advantage of the situation and added myself to the equation."

"And I'm glad you did." She kissed him on the lips and returned her head to her original position. Now that she buttered him up, it was time to start her mission. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course, my dear."

"Why didn't you kill David that night?" Barnaby's hand stopped stroking her hair, and he remained still, as if the slightest move would trigger her to attack.

"What do you mean?"

"You told me that you had another baby in David's place the night you killed Raul. You had a decoy baby to make me think it was David. The question is, though, why didn't you just kill David? I mean you had him, didn't you?"

Barnaby started to sweat, literally. Lura could feel his perspiration on her and she sat up to look him straight in the eyes. "Babe, I thought we were going to put this behind us."

"I am putting this behind us. But in order for me to gain some closure on this, I need to know everything that happened." He couldn't stop staring at her. She was so incredibly beautiful. Looking into those eyes reminded him of how foolish he was to have hurt an incredible woman like her. "Why didn't you use David and actually kill him that night?"

"Because, Lura, we didn't have David." He sat up too, sitting next to her and taking her hands in his. She resisted at first, but then she just let it happen. "Someone took David from us before we were about to contact Raul. We were planning on… killing David. But he was taken from us."

"By who?"

Suddenly Barnaby glared at her. He knew what she was up to. Trying to get the information that she wanted. Find out where her son was, so she could leave the circus behind, find him, and raise him herself. "I'm tired, Lura. I want to get some sleep." He let go of her hands and lied down, covering his body with the covers.

She didn't want to do this, but it was her last resort. If she was this close to finding out where her baby was, it had to be done. "Yes," she uttered.

"Yes what?" Barnaby mumbled with his face smashed into his pillow.

"Yes. I'll marry you."

It was nearing midnight, so Parker decided it was a good time to head off to bed. The train had departed a few minutes ago and was in transit to New York City. There, Parker was told, they will meet up with Julius, who has some more animals that will be added to the program. Great… MORE animals, he thought to himself. Julius better help out with them, or else I'll have to ask Barnaby for a raise. Ever since Julius was tasked with watching over Cassandra, Parker was forced to tend to all the wildlife aboard the Barnaby Traveling Circus train. And he realized it was very similar to the work he had to do on the farm, maybe a little too similar, being asked to take over most of the work, not getting much respect from the man in charge. Parker regretted the way he lashed out at Barnaby the other day, but he wouldn't mind attacking the man if he laid a hand on him one more time.

Parker was nearing the end of the dark corridor where his room was. Suddenly something stopped him. He couldn't tell who or what at first, but it definitely became clear that it was a "who" rather than a "what". The individual snuck up behind him and wrapped its arms around his neck, and then forcefully dragged him backwards down the corridor. Shit, shit, shit! The person's other arm was wrapped underneath Parker's arm and then behind his head, putting him in a half nelson. Parker tried to worm himself out of the hold, but by the time he did, he was thrown into another room, onto a cold metal floor. The lights turned on and the door was locked behind them. Parker looked up to see Sanguine standing over him.

"Hello, boy." And like that, the old man swung a baseball bat at Parker's head.

Moments later, Parker woke up and found himself in shackles, all four limbs stretched apart, up against a wall. He looked to his left and saw a younger boy in a similar position, although it looked like that boy was near death. He didn't know it, but Parker was looking at Jacob Carson. Suddenly a figure appeared from the dark corner of the room. It was Sanguine.

"I knew it," snapped Parker to the clown. "I knew you were the Birdman. You killed that clown, and the sword swallower, and you framed Athena for the crimes. I will not be one of your victims!" Parker started to squirm, but it was of no use. The shackles were locked on tight, and the chains barely allowed him to budge.

Sanguine, meanwhile, guffawed heavily. "Oh, Parker. I'm getting quite sick of that running little mouth of yours. Let's fix that, shall we?" The elderly clown walked over to the other side of the room, where a small portable vacuum cleaner was propped up against the wall. Sanguine plugged it in, dragged the machine so it was right in front of Parker, removed the hose, and jammed it onto his mouth, forcing the suction to pull his lips inside. At first Parker just shouted, not wanting to be subjected to this. But as time went on it started to really hurt, and the shouts became screams and wails and cries. But even three hours later, Sanguine wouldn't turn it off.

Athena found a bag of chips that she wouldn't mind munching while on the road. She went up to the clerk and paid for their provisions, then met Victor outside at the gas pumps. "Large coffee, black, two sugars," she said, handing him the to-go cup.

"Thanks." He clicked the pump two more times to get an even thirty dollar reading on the meter, and then packed everything away.

"Dorito?" Athena asked, offering him the bag once he got in the car and buckled up.

"No thanks… Doritos and coffee, not that great of a combination."

"Kind of like Marty and I."

"Right, so get back to that story, now." Victor turned his head to the left as he merged back onto the highway and they resumed their road trip to hunt after the circus train.

Athena took a sip from the water bottle she just purchased before clearing her throat. "Marty used to be a clown for hire. You know, your child has a birthday party, and you hire a clown to make balloon animals and perform tricks for the kids and what have you." Daintily she placed her hand in the bag and removed one single chip, and nibbled on it until half of it remained intact. "It was a great gig. He made great pay. In fact he had jobs all over the island, and even a few in the city! We even got his old friend, Anthony, who worked at an ad agency. He helped us make a brand out of it, and it really helped Marty get more notice out there. And the kids loved him too. He just had that way with kids. Some people just have that charm, that patience, that willingness."

"Sounds like everything was perfect. What happened?"

"Anthony got promoted, and he recruited Marty to take his old job. Marty quit the party business altogether, and eventually he and Anthony climbed the rungs of the company together. When Anthony left one position, Marty was there to take his place. It was during this time that we had Charles together. I was a stay-at-home mother, and Marty was making more money than ever. Everything was perfect. We were even going to have more kids. And then it happened." Victor could tell he was finally going to hear the nitty-gritty of the story.

"Anthony was involved in a drug ring. Long story short, he ended up using company money to save his own ass, and eventually the entire agency went under. So, Marty was unemployed for a very long time. Eventually I convinced him to get back into the party clown gig. At this point Charles was around five years old. So it really was perfect timing, after all we had friends with kids and Charles served as our own little advertisement, telling all the kids at his school that his daddy could perform at their birthday parties."

"Still not sure when the story's going to get good here," grunted Victor, shoving his hand into the bag and finally deciding to take a chip. He was right: Doritos and coffee, not a good combination.

"Hey, I'm an old lady. We like to tell drawn-out stories. Now where was I?"

"Uh… Marty was doing the clown gig again."

"Oh, right! Well, he started to hate it after that. He was so much happier at the ad agency, working with his friend. There weren't nearly as many people this time around looking to hire a clown. And Marty was a father this time around. He knew what it was like to deal with his own child, and to deal with more only drove him nuts. He lost that way with kids in an instant. There was no more charm, no more patience, no more willingness." Athena wiped her fingers clear of any Dorito dust as she proceeded to finish the story. "One afternoon he was performing at one of Charles' friend's parties. And this kid, she was a real brat. Elizabeth Cartwright. Her mother was a real piece of work too. She would never discipline her daughter. And Marty was at his wit's end with this girl. Every time he made a balloon animal, she popped it. Every time he told a joke, she insisted that it wasn't funny. I even think she tried to pull off his nose at one point, but no one really knows. Well, the party ends around four in the afternoon, and the Cartwrights say goodbye to all their guests, and then they realize little Elizabeth has gone missing. She was found a few days later, abandoned in an alley covered in bruises and marks. I think her right arm was broken, too. Elizabeth never knew who her kidnapper and abuser was, but only because Marty was smart enough to wear a mask."

Victor wasn't entirely sure how to respond. He got goose bumps all over his arms. "What kind of sick person does that to a five year old?"

"Marty was abused as a child as well, by his own father. He always used to tell me, he never understood what joy his father got out of beating him up on a daily basis. But once he did it himself, he knew exactly what it was. Marty told me it was justified. He would only attack the kids who really deserved it. Your son, I presume, was probably heckling him that night. That's what sets him off."

"So this whole circus thing was a means for Marty to get his jollies by abusing young children?"

"Essentially, yes, that's how it all started. Charles idolized his father. He knew well and good all along about what Marty did. But something made him appreciate it. I think it was because Marty never even dared to entertain the thought of harming his own son. Charles knew it, Marty knew it, and I knew it. They had such a great bond those two, and they still do. The circus was Charles' way of accepting his father's vices, and a means of showing him thanks for never letting it happen to him. I, of course, stuck around because I wanted to make sure everything stayed in line."

"Doesn't that make you an accomplice, or something? You knew all along."

"I know lots of things, Victor. I am actually psychic, as you're well aware. I can look at a person and recognize in an instant if they committed a murder." Victor suddenly tensed up. Does she know about the plane? "But is it my responsibility to throw all of them in prison? No."

"Alright, alright. So let me try to fully wrap my head around this… Marty, a.k.a. Sanguine the Clown has my son. But you said that there were two different answers to my questions. If he has my son, who's been killing all of your circus performers?"

Athena stuffed her face with a couple of chips. "Oh, the Birdman, you mean? It was the new boy, Parker. Parker Redford."