The BAU team, minus Garcia who was busy playing dissection with the photo, all sat around the briefing room, trying to think of another lead they could take.

Mr. Orbus, along with half of the Circus preformers, had disapeared that morning. Only the Circus itself and a few caravans littered around it were there standing along with the other half of the Circus suddenely just died. The coroners couldn't decide whether they were strangled or burned the marks on their neck were where hands would have held a stuggling neck, only the skin was burned and blistered.

"No extra witnesses." Rossi stated, rocking softly back and forth in his chair.

"Uh..." Prentiss looked down at the table, staring hard, "Orbus is one of the main people in this right?"

"Right."

"So... Reid's okay?" she squeaked the last word.

JJ bent down and hugged her, "Yep." Everyone else quietly looked away. Emily Prentiss having a breakdown? This must be a horror story.

"So!" Garcia burst into the room and the seriousness and profesionallness of the team returned. "I found creepy Miss Witch, but I also found something else when I ran a search on Julie's little medallion."

The Tech analyst pulled up a photo of another little gold medallion, this one stamped with a bunny clown.

"They're orriginally a trademark of the Circus of Dreams yes, but they stopped handing them out when the factory they bought them from mysteriously burned down. Also, a little fun fact." She clicked a button and three obituaries with their owners pictures sprang up. "Troy Marvin, Alex Lanign, and Micheal Smith. All collected the little medallions when the circus temporarily shut down after a fire that took out half the troupe, and all died at two a.m. October 31st, 1963. They were all found in their beds, strangled or burned. The bruises, you know, where someone would put their hands to strangle you, well they had sever third degree burns their in the shapes of hands."

Prentiss jumped a little, "Just like half the troupe from this morning!"

"Right. Anyway, Smith and Marvin's wives both said their husbands kept getting up to check to see if someone was in the house because they kept hearing thumping noises. Lanigins nurse had to sedate him because at two a.m. Lanign began screaming bloody murder but she mistook the episode for a violent nightmare. She found him dead the next day."

"So the Circus is definently connected then." Morgan nodded.

"Yep." Garcia smiled.

"We need to find Orbus or the Witch." Hotch planned, "then we dry them of all information."

"But where do we start?" Prentiss asked.

"The Caravans are all still at the sight right?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, a few." Rossi said.

"Start there Prentiss. Dave, you go with her."

The two nodded and got up for the car immediatly.

Since the removal of the last few dead bodies the place had begun to smell slightly better. But the whole scene was still eerie and nerve racking. Like Death himself was hiding in the shadows.

Most of the things still standing were game and food tents, the Big Top, and two or three trailers that belonged to dead Circus preformers. The rest had somehow disapeared, leaving only muddy tracks as to some clue as to what direction they started in on their flight.

"You think she'd still be here?" Prentiss asked.

"No. But who knows, we might get lucky." Rossi shrugged.

"There's no such thing as luck." Prentiss shook her head and smiled.

They walked in silence again, letting the dirt path wind here and there up and down the lot. Even without half the trailers, tents, caravans, and no people the place felt busy and crowded. Then finally, they reached the ratty old tent with the faded sign "Witch's tent" painted into the fabric somehow still bathed in shadow.

"See?" Rossi smiled, "Luck."

"Coincidence." Prentiss shot, marching inside.

"Luck!"

Inside the cramped table and chairs and bookshelves seemed more cluttered as books, toys, jewelry, and possibly more pens had migrated from the floor to the table and shelves. It also somehow smelled like old goat and burning wood, the smell of smoke infecting their nostrils.

Nailed to one bookshelf was a traditional, giant cuckoo clock. Except there was no clock face or door for the little yellow bird to fly through. Just dark oak wood with a black space running down the middle.

A space letting Prentiss believe she should probably open the doors.

Inside were tons of little one inch portraits. Some old, some new, but all connected by gold chains.

Some of the portraits were old and cracked like thye'd been painted while others had almost faded completely to white. The rest looked new, crystal clear like the person was just on the other side somehow. At the top, near the roof, was a photo of a family. A little girl being hugged by a father in a clown costume and a mother in a trapeze woman's uniform. The little girl was holding a stuffed rabbit in her lap as she wrapped her arms around her parent's arms.

Underneath her, tied to a gold chain, was a young man with a short, buisness man mustache close to becoming a handlebar mustache. He wore a top hat and a suit.

Orbus, Prentiss guessed.

Next to him was a beautiful woman in a silver leotard and her blonde hair pulled back into a large braid. The area around her face on the photo was faded but the rest was clear as day. Prentiss could atleast tell she was smiling, and very beautiful.

Under them were tons of other people, dressed in costumes, work clothes, or buisness suits. Some, arounf their face, the photo was faded in the extreme. Others looked clearer. Like, even though the picture was old, the face had been placed there just that minute. And at the very bottom were seven little medallions or pins. All had a rabbit as some sort of preformer stamped into the metal. And screwed into the wall of the little box was a plate.

Family Will Always Be Together Forever

Prentiss breathed, taking a medallion into her hand... then thinking about it and slipping them all into her pocket.

"That's interesting." Rossi said over her shoulder, making Prentiss jump slightly.

"What?"

"Well, how's it organized? It looks like to many even for a Circus. So obviously others were added on when they joined. But how can you tell?"

"Maybe she can tell us when she get's back."

"No." Somone croaked behind them.

There, behind them near the back of the cramped little tent, the Witch had somehow snuck in. She had the vulture resting on her shoulder, staring at them hungrily. The Witch's eyes were only filled with anger.

"Get out of my house! He may have left you but you aren't taking her family away!" The Witch snarled.

"Where is he?" Prentiss snarled back, taking an offensive stance next to Rossi who had his hand resting calmly on the holster. A silent threat.

"He's where he should be! He left a few times but I brought him back!" the Witch said triumphantly.

"Tell me where he is!" Prentiss demanded.

"NO!" The Witch took a step back, her hand shaking as she raised a fist into the air, "He's mine now! They're all mine!" Then she cackled and the Vulture took off into the air!

It began to dive down when suddenely there were three sharp cracks and he fell to the earth like a stone!

Rossi breathed deeply, reholstering his gun and taking a step out of Prentiss' way.

"YOU!" The Witch screamed, "Reggi! My baby!"

"What an ugly baby." Rossi shot.

"YOU!" the Witch screamed, pointing a gnawrled finger at the profilers, "You will all pay! HE will pay!"

Prentiss had been slowly walking closer this whole time, now she was infront of the old hag. "No." She grabbed the woman's shoulder and spun her hard, simultaniously kicking her feet out from under her so she landed hard on the dirt. "Your done here. Your coming with us." Prentiss snapped the cuffs on her and picked the old woman up, shoving her out of the tent and towards the car, not bothering to stay on the path this time.