Another few days passed and Halloween was upon them. When Greta finally dragged herself out of bed and made her way to the dining tent for something to eat, she found herself being presented with a handmade birthday card from Salty and Pepper. They bounced around her excitedly as she thanked them for it and put it up on display on the table in front of her.

"Happy birthday, honey." Desiree gave her a one-armed hug as she passed, placing a package on the table in front of her. "Venetian Romance… I hear it's real popular with girls your age."

Smiling at her, Greta ripped the paper off her present. Her smile widened as she revealed the bottle of perfume the woman had bought her. Spraying it on her wrist, she sniffed it, deciding that she liked the scent. Pepper leant closer, so the young woman raised her wrist for the pinhead to smell too. Clapping her hands excitedly, she signed that she wanted some of the perfume, so Greta spritzed it on her neck. Pepper giggled and rushed off to find her husband who had wandered off somewhere.

"Happy birthday!" Jimmy exclaimed, dropping down beside her on the bench. He nudged her with his shoulder. "I didn't get you anything, kid, sorry."

She grinned. "That is OK. I did not expect you to."

"Ma's baking you a cake, though." He said, reaching past her to pick up an apple and biting into it.

"A birthday cake?" Greta asked, as though she couldn't quite believe it. "For me?"

"Of course for you, kid! It's your birthday!"

"But still…"

Jimmy raised an eyebrow at her and pushed her leg with his hand. "You're not seriously telling me that you've never had a birthday cake before?"

"I have only had one… for my thirteenth birthday." She said with a shrug. "Birthdays were usually ignored in the Orphanage and the Schäfers believed that it was an indulgence that would cause me to become spoilt and conceited. I only had one birthday with the Harpers and since then I have not been in a position to have a birthday cake."

"You're kidding?" He gaped at her. "Please tell me you got presents."

"Oh, yes. At the orphanage we were given a brand new outfit on our birthdays. The Schäfers would always throw a dinner party to celebrate my birthday and invite all of their friends and important acquaintances, so I suppose that is like a present?"

Jimmy shook his head at her. "That's not a present."

"Herr Hitler came one year." She announced with a scowl. "I think it was my tenth birthday."

"That's insane…" He shook his head. "Well this year you're going to have a proper party and cake and presents." He promised firmly. "We always have a party on Halloween; it's our favourite holiday. This year it will be a joint birthday and Halloween party."

"You do not have to do that… especially after Meep…"

"We don't," Ethel agreed, appearing beside her son as though from thin air, "but we're gonna. We need to celebrate the good things in life." She placed a birthday card on the table. "You'll get your cake later."

"Thank you."

"Glücklich geburtstag, mein liebling." Elsa called, breezing into the tent and seemingly gliding towards them. She cupped Greta's cheek gently and smiled. "Du bist jetzt einundzwanzig. Sie sind kein kind mehr."

"Ich habe noch nie ein kind gewesen. Ich durfte nicht."

Elsa paused, her eyes roving over her daughter's face as the truth of what she had just said sunk in. Closing her eyes and looking older and more tired than Greta had ever seen her look before, Elsa shook her head.

"Sie haben recht. Es tut mir leid."

Raising her hand, Greta nervously laid it on Elsa's arm, causing the older woman to look at her. "Es ist nicht zu spät für uns, Mutter, ist es?"

"Nein, mein schatz. Ich hoffe nicht."

Ethel cleared her throat. "For those of us who ain't fluent in German?"

"I was wishing her a happy birthday and reminding her that she is twenty-one now; a child no longer." Elsa told her with a sniff. "Greta said she has never been a child, that she was not allowed to be. She is right and for that I am sorry."

"But it is not too late for us to work out our relationship." Greta added with a hopeful smile.

"Of course it ain't." Ethel agreed, clapping her on the back. "It ain't never too late for that." She patted the birthday girl on the shoulder. "You gonna come help set up for the party?"

Nodding, Greta climbed to her feet and followed Ethel towards the big tent, sending Elsa a warm smile over her shoulder. The older woman returned the look, before patting Jimmy gently on the cheek and returning to her own tent. He looked sadly after her, before pushing his hands deep into his pockets and trudging away.

Greta helped Ethel, Pepper, Salty and Paul decorate the big tent ready for that afternoon and evening's festivities. They carved pumpkins, something the young woman had never done before, hung streamers and filled a large metal tub with water and apples. Paul explained apple bobbing to her and her eyes widened with astonishment. He laughed, sending her to help Ethel with a banner proclaiming 'Happy Birthday' in large crimson letters. She beamed as she pointed at each letter in turn and identified it, proud of herself for the achievement.

"Well done." Ethel praised her. "I know reading ain't easy, but it'll be worth the effort."

Nodding at her, Greta wandered over to where Eve was helping Suzi lay out the food they had been preparing. She sidled up beside her and grinned as the brunette handed her a biscuit from the closest plate.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"Thanks." Greta smiled, stuffing the biscuit into her mouth whole. She laughed, spraying crumbs everywhere at the expression on her friend's face. "Did you get me anything?"

"Maybe some table manners would have been an idea." Eve told her, shaking her head slightly. "But I was thinking you might like some driving lessons."

Greta's eyes widened. "You are going to teach me to drive the truck? Really?"

"I thought I'd give it a go."

"Thank you, Evie, thank you!" Beaming, the smile splitting her face from ear to ear, the blonde threw her arms around Eve and hugged her tightly.

"No problem…" Eve assured her, returning the hug. "Now, what else is left to do?"

"I do not know. I think it is almost ready." Greta told her. Then she frowned lightly. "What about the matinee performance? How are we supposed to perform to an audience with all this up?"

"There is no performance today. We don't perform on Halloween."

"Why?"

"Because of Edward Mordrake, obviously." Ethel told her with a frown.

"Who is–?"

"I'll explain later." The bearded lady told her. "But right now, we've got a party to get started."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Salty and Pepper shouted from behind her.

They grabbed Greta by the hands and pulled her towards the apple-bobbing tub. Pointing at it and then at the blonde, they clapped their hands excitedly. Realising that they wanted her to have a go first, she grinned and knelt beside the tin bath, lowering her face towards the water.

It was harder than she had imagined. Every time Greta thought she had trapped an apple between her teeth, it would bob under the water and float away from her. Growling in irritation, she scowled at the apples and looked up at Paul with a pout. He laughed down at her.

"Hey, come on Suzi, you have a go." He suggested.

Suzi lifted herself up onto the rim of the tub, before leaning in. She managed to grasp an apple between her teeth on the first attempt. She winked at Greta as she lowered herself back down, taking a bite out of the apple and chewing with relish.

"How do you do that?" The blonde complained.

Paul laughed and turned to look at the twins. "Hey, come on girls! Between the two of you, you can win this game in one dunk!"

"No thank you." Dot declined his offer sourly.

"We just washed our hair." Bette added.

"Come on then, kid, give it another go." Paul urged Greta, folding his arms over his chest and smirking at her. "I bet you can't do it."

"I bet I can!" She retorted, rising to the challenge at once.

He grinned as she leant forwards once more after the illusive apples. As soon as her head was bowed, he bent and pushed her face into the tub. Shrieking as the cold water soaked her, Greta fell backwards into a heap. She narrowed her eyes at the man who was laughing hard and plunged her hand into the tub, before flicking water at him. It was Paul's turn to gasp and Greta's turn to laugh.

"Right, this is–"

"STOP!" A bellow from the other end of the tent made them both jump and everyone in the canvas building turned to look at the source of the sound. "Stop it! What's wrong with you all?"

"Dot…" Bette almost whispered, apparently alarmed by her sister's outburst.

"Meep is dead! Don't you care? You're being disrespectful." Dot told them angrily. "Look how much pain Jimmy's in. This is wrong. We should remember Meep by working even harder… maybe dedicating the show today to his memory."

"The show?" Paul asked.

"It's Halloween." Eve reminded them.

"No freak performs on Halloween." Ethel said bluntly. "Any idiot knows that."

"That's not fair, they're new. They don't know about that old superstition." Jimmy defended the twins quickly.

"It's not superstition; it's true." His mother argued.

"What is?"

"Why we don't perform on Halloween… on account of Edward Mordrake."

Hearing the name again, Greta moved to perch on the edge of the stage, listening intently. Pepper came to sit beside her, Salty on the other side, reaching out and holding the blonde's hand tightly in her own. Greta shot her a quick smile, before returning her attention to the conversation.

"Who?" Bette asked, her face contorting in confusion.

"Edward Mordrake, aristocrat, who lived in the middle 1800s. He was heir to all kinds of titles; could have been a duke or a lord or some shit if things had been different. Things are never different…" Ethel lectured them, pouring herself a goblet of whiskey. "An Englishman of noble birth, Edward was a young man with fine attainments. He was a scholar, he was a poet, musician of rare ability."

"So what was wrong with him?"

"He had another face, on the back of his head; hideous as the devil. No one else could hear what it said, but it whispered to Edward incessantly of things only spoken of in hell. He tried to kill it, many times in many ways, but it wouldn't die."

"So what happened to him?"

"He went mad." Ethel said bluntly, pouring another cup of whiskey. "His family had him committed to the crazy house; Bedlam. Truth be told, they were only too happy to have the family freak banished from sight. In the crazy house he wrote poetry, worked on an unfinished opera… anything to keep his mind off the demon whisperings, but he never got any relief. It was telling him to do things… commanding him." The woman shivered slightly as she looked around the troupe. "One night, Edward escaped asylum and he ended up where we all do… at the freak show. They billed him as The Two-Faced Prince and he'd show off all the refined skills he'd learned as the scion of one of England's grand families. And then he'd take a bow."

"And he was happy?" Dot asked, as though she already knew the answer. "He'd found a home with others like himself."

Greta found herself squeezing Pepper's hand more tightly. The pinhead, obviously not really understanding what was going on, simply smiled more widely and shuffled a little closer to rest her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"There's no one like Edward." Ethel told them grimly. "He wasn't happy. One Halloween night, Edward snapped. He murdered every freak in the troupe… then he hung himself. Legend has it that even in death the demon face was smiling."

"So… we don't perform on Halloween night out of respect?"

"Out of fear, darling." Paul informed Bette harshly. "If any freak performs on Halloween, they summon the spirit of Edward Mordrake and his demon half-face."

"Once he appears, he never leaves alone. That whispering face will chose one more freak to take with him back to hell."

"What a bunch of bunk!" Jimmy exclaimed, shaking his head and making everyone jump. His raised voice was jarring after the almost hushed storytelling voice of his mother. "What're you trying to scare them for?"

Ethel scowled at him. "It's not bunk… it's true. I can swear to it. In '32 when I was with Barnum, they made us perform on Halloween. Well… something visited the circus grounds that night 'cos next morning, Clyde Hendershot the astounding human cannonball – all three feet, four inches of him – was found hanging in his caravan. Yep… his head twisted clean around… his dead eyes staring backwards… and a smile on his face, just like Edward Mordrake's second face."

Moving quickly, Jimmy ripped the whisky bottle out of his mother's hand and banged it on the table with a furious scowl. "Enough."

Defiantly, she raised her goblet to her lips and drained it. Putting the cup down, she stood and left the table silently. The rest of the troupe slowly began to move and the noise levels gradually rose again. Pepper slid off the stage and pulled Greta with her, keeping a tight grip on her hand.

They went to the head of the table where Eve and Ma Petite had been carving a pumpkin and Greta took a seat beside the Amazon. Pepper laughed at the face carved into the vegetable, but the blonde's attention was focused on trying to eavesdrop on the argument that was taking place between Jimmy and Ethel.

As his mother strode from the tent, Jimmy stayed still, evidently mulling over whatever had been said. Then he glanced over his shoulder and met Greta's worried gaze. Not returning the small smile she sent him, he turned and followed his mother through the entrance and out into the early evening sunshine.

"Evie… do you believe in Edward Mordrake?" Greta asked quietly.

She nodded fervently. "It's no superstition, sweetheart."

"I am going to…" The blonde murmured, nodding her head towards the entrance to the tent. "I do not really feel like celebrating anymore…"

Saying nothing, Eve simply watched her friend leave. Greta made her way to the edge of the camp and sat on an upturned, abandoned bucket, clutching her knees tightly. She stared out at the river that run past the camp thinking over the story that Ethel had told them. Greta was inclined to share Jimmy's view that it was just a stupid superstition that had scared generations of performers; stories passed down through the years until no one was quite sure which parts were fact and which had been embellished for dramatic effect.

It didn't seem to matter, though, as there was to be no performance. The Halloween party would continue late into the night, Greta expected, long after she had retired to bed. She sighed and tilted her head; movement catching her attention and making her stand, shielding her eyes from the sun to look properly.

"What is going on, little one?" She asked Ma Petite, scooping the tiny woman into her arms.

"Jimmy has finished digging the grave for Meep." Ma Petite replied. "They are going to have a service and bury his body."

"Shall we go?"

Receiving a nod from the girl held tightly on her hip, Greta made her way back through the camp and out into the field behind the Ferris Wheel. A small group had gathered a little way off, so they walked over the rough ground to join them. The coffin had already been lowered by the time Greta and Ma Petite reached them, so they quietly stood between Jimmy and Eve. The Amazon offered to take Ma Petite from Greta, who was a little relieved as her arms were starting to ache from carrying her.

"… he loved to dress up… hear the screams of the kids when he'd sneak the occasional chicken head in their bag of candy." Jimmy said quietly, looking down at the coffin in its grave. "It was the one day he felt like he could be one of them."

Greta was suddenly aware that Eve was doing her best not to cry beside her. Without thinking, she ran her hand lightly along the brunette's arm until she reached her hand, linking their fingers and squeezing comfortingly.

"But we know this man… and he wasn't one of them." Jimmy continued as Eve dropped Greta's hand with a weak smile to put it in a paper bag and pull out a severed chick's head. "He was better." Greta also took a head from the paper bag before passing it to Jimmy. "We'll all miss you, Meep."

"Here's to you, Meep… it's a little something to lighten the load as you walk through the valley of shadows."

They each threw their chick's head into the grave before a flask of hooch was passed along the line. Jimmy tipped a little of the liquid onto Meep's coffin, before handing it to Greta. She took a long drink, wincing slightly as the alcohol burnt its way down her throat, before handing the flask on to Eve.

The women stood back and watched as the men began to shovel dirt back into the hole, burying the coffin. Reaching out a hand, the blonde took the flask back from Toulouse and gulped down more of the burning liquid. Frowning, Eve pulled the hooch away from the younger woman.

"Come on." She murmured, turning away from the grave. "Let's go and see if Dot and Bette are free to give you a lesson."

A/N: Massive apologies if my German is a bit wrong! I'm relying on High School German from about 8 years ago to write this!

Thank you for reading/reviewing! :)

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