Greta opened one eye at the sound of the caravan door opening.

Elsa glanced over her shoulder to check she wasn't being observed before stepping over the threshold and pulling the door closed behind her. Seeing that the unmade bed was empty, she frowned and took a step forward. Movement behind her was closely followed by someone pressing against her back and the bite of a knife at her side.

"Always prepared."

At the sound of her mother's voice, Greta relaxed and lowered her knife. "Habit; preparing for the worst means you are never caught off guard."

"Seems sensible, my darling." Elsa agreed nodding, apparently unperturbed by the attack. She took a seat on the recently vacated bunk and looked up at the younger woman. "Have you told Eve about…?"

"Yes. She was shocked, but I think she is alright."

"I am glad. Now, I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"I want you to keep an eye on Chester… there is something about him that I do not trust. I cannot put my finger on what it is, but there is something… odd… about him…"

"You do not have to tell me that." Her daughter replied, shaking her head in disgust. "Do not worry, I will definitely keep my eyes on that one."

"And… there is something else. Something that I must tell you… something horrible." Elsa moved to sit down, crossing her legs daintily. "We haven't got long; I have just seen Eve heading to the bathroom.

"You had better hurry, then."

"You know my agent, Richard Spencer?"

Greta's face clouded over and she frowned. "Yes."

"He is not who he says he is. He has been working with Maggie to supply freaks to some museum. They pay him for…" Elsa broke off and reached into her pocket, pulling out her cigarette case and lighter. She lit a cigarette with shaky hands, before starting again. "He was paid three thousand dollars for Ma Petite… I saw her with my own eyes… in a jar…"

"No…" The younger blonde gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth in horror. "You are not serious?"

"I am afraid so, liebling. They took Salty's head and Jimmy's hands, too. He killed Ethel." She took a long drag of her cigarette and watched her daughter clenching and unclenching her hands with fury. "It was Dell who killed Ma Petite… he suffocated her."

Greta leapt to her feet, her eyes blazing. "I will kill him."

"It is too late for that." Her mother said bluntly. "It is done. I shot him. In the head."

"Good."

"Now we need to deal with Spencer." Elsa told her darkly. "We will call a meeting in the morning and plan our revenge. We will make it good; in their honour."

"Yes…" Greta agreed quietly. "We will."

The weather was atrocious; thunder and lightening and lashing rain. It did, however, seem to match Greta's mood perfectly. She clutched her goblet tightly in her hand. If she had the strength of her lover, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have snapped the neck and bent the vessel completely out of shape by now.

It was supposed to be a good-bye party for Elsa, to send her on her way to Hollywood in true carnie style. The younger blonde, however, couldn't get what her mother had told her about Spencer and Dell and all the others out of her mind. She couldn't even bring herself to pretend that she was in a party mood and everyone around her enjoying themselves was just making her angrier.

The storm had knocked the electricity out, so only flickering candles lit their gathering. The lighting seemed to accentuate the mood of the occasion, casting eerie shadows away to the edges of the tent. Greta drained her cup, gratefully accepting a refill from Toulouse as he walked the length of the table with a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"Slow down," Eve advised in a low voice, "or you'll miss all the fun."

Greta was prevented from replying by a sharp tinkling sound as Elsa knocked her knife against her glass, calling for their attention. As the blonde looked towards her mother her eyes fell on Spencer, the apparent guest of honour, who was seated on her left, between Elsa and Eve. Greta's blood boiled as he grinned around stupidly.

"Ladies and gentlemen… the time has come for us to bid farewell." She announced. "But not before we toast the new owner of the show, Chester."

"To Chester." They all clapped, some more enthusiastically than others. Greta only clapped twice, when nudged in the ribs by Eve.

"Play nice…" The Amazon muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

Elsa smiled around at her family. "I hope he will cherish these magnificent monsters as much as I have over these many years. Cheers."

"Cheers."

Chester stood, lifting his ever-present dummy with him. "Miss Elsa, you have given me the dream of a lifetime. I promise to uphold the standards of this extravaganza and do you proud. Safe travels to the land of make-believe." He made his dummy talk for the next part of the speech. "Good riddance. I can't wait for the sour Kraut to leave, so we can take over." Looking at the dummy, apparently shocked, he shook his head. "Marjorie, that's not…"

"Thank you, Chester." Elsa said, clearly unimpressed by his attempt at humour. "And now, if you don't mind, it's time for the original family… our troupe of monsters and curiosities… to spend these last few moments alone together."

"Oh… oh, sure… all right. Bye. Bye."

"Bye-bye." Bette cooed soppily, earning herself a scowl across the table from Greta.

Once he had gone, attention turned back to Elsa at the head of the table. She nodded around, meeting her daughter's eyes and sending her a fleeting smile, which was not returned. The younger woman simply drained her cup and reached across the table for the whiskey bottle to fill it up once more.

"We have another man to thank… my manager, Mr. Richard Spencer." Elsa announced. "He has transformed the course of all our lives. Cheers!"

There was a much more enthusiastic response this time. "Cheers! Hear, hear!"

"Hey, thank you, thank you."

"Mm! Because of him... you will all be on television very soon, on The Elsa Mars Hour. But first… tonight we feast and later, for entertainment, we will watch a movie from my own collection."

"Not The Sign of the Cross again!" Suzi groaned.

"No." Elsa chuckled. "We will enjoy Freaks. Do you know that picture, Richard?"

"Uh... I can't say that I do."

"Oh! It's a wonderful picture." Penny told him enthusiastically.

"Explain the plot to him, Eve, Paul…"

"Well, the film is set in a traveling circus… a freak show." Eve started seriously.

"Ah."

"Cleopatra, a 'normal' trapeze artist, marries the sideshow midget. But actually, she's trying to poison him for his inheritance." Paul continued. "She plays all the freaks for fools until, one day, she gets drunk and reveals her true intentions."

"Then the freaks turn on her. They take their revenge out at night with knives and guns." The woman beside Greta told him darkly. Under the table, Greta squeezed her thigh, a little concerned at how much she seemed to be enjoyed telling him the plot.

"Eve! Eve, darling… don't spoil the ending for him." Elsa cautioned.

"Well, it sounds like a hit!" The man announced, making everyone else around the table laugh. If only he knew, Greta thought, that he was the real cause of their amusement. "Ah… actually, I have to go… so many things to do before we head out west."

Elsa smiled brightly at him. "Nonsense. Oh, no… you can't leave before your present."

"No, I couldn't."

"Shut up and sit down." Maggie snapped at him. "You deserve this."

"What's gotten into you?"

Desiree and Paul lifted the large glittery gold box onto the table as Eve moved his plate out of the way to accommodate it. Suddenly the tension in the tent was palpable and the man at the centre of the situation looked around uneasily as though suddenly realising that maybe not everything was as it had initially seemed.

"Come on, Richard… open it." Elsa prompted.

He stood, turning to look at Eve and Greta who were standing behind him. They both sent him bright, innocent smiles, moving to block any chance he had of making a break for the exits.

"I thought about you long and hard when I made this." Desiree informed him lightly.

Once he untied the pale pink ribbon holding it together, the box fell apart to reveal a large glass jar. Inside the jar was a clear liquid – which Greta had been informed was formaldehyde – and the severed head of the proprietor of the American Morbidity Museum. The lifeless dead eyes stared out at them, a disgusting sight; especially when the lightening outside flashed through the tent.

"Now it's your turn." Desiree told him angrily.

"Jesus Christ! Oh. I'm innocent!" He stuttered, holding his hands up. "I– I– I... I don't even know who this is."

Maggie shook her head at his feeble attempt to save himself. "I already told them everything… Stanley."

He pulled a face at the young woman, before looking around the rest of the troupe. "Elsa… Come on… Talk to them. What about… what about uh… your… the dream? Hollywood!"

She stared back at him, hard-faced. "I'm afraid that's all it is… just a dream."

Taking that as their cue, Eve and Greta jumped into action. The brunette pushed Stanley's chair out of the way before wrapping her arms firmly around him, while the blonde moved past them and dragged Elsa's target wheel out into plain sight. As Eve pinned him against the wood, Greta quickly did up the belts around his wrists, ankles and abdomen.

He pleaded with them as they worked, but they took no notice. Greta pulled the buckles tighter than was necessary, feeling a sick satisfaction at the sound of his whimpers as the leather cut into his flesh.

"Go ahead…" Elsa called once they were all set up. "Spin him!"

"Argh!" Stanley whimpered as the first knife embedded itself in the wood beside his head. "Jesus… No! Please… I may not have been completely truthful, but…" Elsa nodded at Eve and she stopped the wheel and allowed him a slight respite to speak. "I do know people in Los Angeles; my cousin works at the Garden of Allah. Please, please, please, please…"

"You tried to kill my dreams," The older blonde told him with a wounded smile, "but they cannot be murdered. But what you did… you brought death into this place… and for that you must pay." She spat furiously. "Take him down. Hurry, hurry!"

Once more, Greta and Eve moved as soon as she gave the order. They undid the buckles and let him drop from the wheel, keeping hold of him tightly.

"Elsa, come on now… you and me must have a private conversation. We can come to some kind of understanding."

Elsa threw the final knife in her hand. It embedded itself into the top of his thigh. No longer needing to keep hold of him, Greta and Eve let go and he crumpled to the ground, groaning and clutching his thigh.

"So you think you can run?" Elsa asked.

Stanley yanked the knife out of his leg and brandished it wildly at the group gathered around him. "She… killed… Ethel." He gasped out as they picked up knives of their own. Desiree pulled one from the target board while Greta pulled a large penknife out of her pocket and flicked it open. "I'm telling the truth. She killed her. I helped her cover it up. She's… She's not who you think she is! She killed Ethel!"

"Stop talking and start running. Run! Run! Run!" Elsa advised him, shrieking loudly as he disappeared out of the tent.

And then the chase began.

They followed him out of the tent, not bothering to hurry. He wouldn't get far and they all knew the camp like the backs of their hands. Armed and ready, determined to get justice for their fallen family members, the troupe headed out into the storm.

Grim determination and ferocious scowls on their faces, they hunted him through the rain. He hobbled, limping on his injured leg, attempting to twist and turn and find some avenue to take where he could evade discovery. But everywhere he turned one of the troupe was always waiting.

He crawled under a nearby caravan, only to find his way forward blocked by Penny, Suzi coming at him from the side and Toulouse preventing him from retreating the way he had come. Instead he took the only available escape route, which led him straight into a dead end.

Screaming as they dragged him out from underneath the trailer, he kicked out and flailed his arms. Completely ignoring his struggling, they carried him back into the big tent and laid him out on the ground. They circled him, watching as he attempted to escape several times. Each time he moved there were at least two to stop him getting very far.

"Pass me your cleaver, Evie." Desiree requested at last, holding out her hand for the implement. "I have an idea. We're gonna make ourselves Meep mark two."

They looked at each other in surprise, before laughter broke out amongst them. They laughed, almost hysterically at the idea of making the man look like their friend. They continued to circle him, narrowing their eyes as they considered the best way to proceed. The laughter stooped suddenly when Desiree stepped forward.

"Hold him down." She ordered darkly. "Toulouse, go and find a needle and thread."

They surged forward, holding his arms and legs outwards so that he made a star shape. Suzi moved to sit on his chest, stopping him struggling as much. He looked up at her in terror and received a smug smile in return.

Greta did not think she would ever forget his screams as Desiree made short work of amputating his arms and legs with the meat cleaver. The implement was so sharp that it only took her a couple of chops to sever through flesh and bone and leave the bloody stumps behind. Stanley passed out somewhere between the fourth and fifth time the clever hacked through his body.

When Toulouse returned with the items the woman had requested, she motioned towards Greta and ordered her to sew the flesh together to close the wounds. As the blonde took the needle and thread, she mentioned a need for some form of disinfectant. Desiree simply shot her a look and said that Stanley didn't deserve it.

"You're a perfectionist." Paul told Greta as she concentrated on binding the flesh of the stump that used to be his right leg together. "Just close him up quick."

"I am doing my best!" She growled.

Finally, she pulled the needle through for the final time and tied off the thread, using a knife to snip the end off. Sitting back on her heels, she surveyed her work, nodding with approval. Then she called the others over from where they had been sitting on the benches, talking quietly and waiting for her to finish.

"Damn, girl… you shoulda been a doctor, not a singer." Desiree commented as she appraised the work. Then she nodded to Eve, who brought over the items they had collected to complete his look.

They dressed him up and then Eve hoisted his unconscious body into her arms. Paul and Penny had been working on creating a sort of chicken coop round the back of the stage and they deposited him inside. Standing together, they stared down at their handiwork proudly.

"Mein Gott…" Elsa breathed quietly, appearing in their midst and looking down into the cage. "You have avenged them well…"

"He deserved it." Greta muttered angrily, thinking about the friends she had lost because of the man.

"Come on, let's go and have a drink." Paul suggested, wrapping his arm around Penny.

They all turned slowly and started making their way out of the tent in dribs and drabs. Elsa laid a hand on her daughter's arm as Greta made to follow the others, holding her back and looking at her seriously. She smiled sadly and allowed her arm to drop to her side, before wrapping both around herself comfortingly.

"I suppose I had better go and unpack." She said sadly. "I am not to go to Hollywood after all."

"I am sorry about that." Her daughter told her sincerely. "I know how important it was to you."

"Mmm… just a dream in the end."

"Will you stay here, now?" Greta asked hopefully. "There is no Elsa Mars hour, so…?"

"I suppose I shall have to. I will speak to Mr Creb in the morning about regaining control of the show."

"Will that be possible?"

Elsa laughed. "Yes… if he knows what is good for him."

Greta smiled weakly and shook her head. She glanced over her shoulder towards the entrance to the tent where Eve and Suzi were waiting for her to join them. Seeing where her attention was focused, her mother smiled and laid a hand on her arm. She looked towards the other women once more, before nodding towards them.

"Go and join them… they are waiting for you."

"What about you? Will you come for a drink?"

"No… I have to sort things out in my tent."

Nodding in understanding, Greta squeezed her mother's forearm and smiled at her, before turning and walking across the tent to join the others. They grinned at her as the trio headed out into the night and made their way to Ethel's caravan where the others had gathered.

Penny and Toulouse had found Ethel's memory box from somewhere and opened it curiously. They pulled out photos and mementoes that the woman had saved during her life and passed them around, examining them closely with snorts of amusement and gasps of delight.

Glancing sideways, Greta saw that Eve had put on her glasses, allowing them to slide down her nose as she smiled fondly at the photo that Paul had just slid across the table to her.

"Seeing you in your glasses does funny things to me." Greta murmured in her ear as she leant closer under the pretence of reaching for the whisky bottle on Eve's other side.

The brunette glanced at her quickly, quirking an eyebrow. "Saying things like that will get you into trouble."

Greta grinned. "I do hope so."

"Ethel looks so glamorous in this one with all her chorus girls." Penny said, pulling Greta back to show her the photo in her hand.

Paul grinned. "Oh, that was from her Barnum days. She really was a dame like no other. To Ethel."

"To Ethel." They chorused, clinking their glasses together.

"You think Elsa's gonna stick around now that her big Hollywood dreams have been shot to hell?" Suzi asked, looking around at her friends.

"She's already sold the show to Chester." Eve reminded them with a shrug. "She's definitely not gonna give him his money back."

"Yeah, she'll probably let him think he's running things for a while, but we all know that anyone who gets in the way of Elsa isn't long for this world." Paul said darkly.

Eve frowned, catching Greta's eyes and turning to the man who had just spoken. "What are you saying?"

"Didn't any one hear what that creep Spencer said?" Suzi chipped in, preventing him having to answer. "It finally makes sense; Elsa killed Ethel. The woods… the car crash… it was all a cover-up."

Penny nodded quickly. "I believe it. She put a knife in my Paul… that crazy, vindictive woman. All Elsa cares about is Elsa."

"The whole business never sat right with me. I know Ethel; she wasn't a one to off herself. She wasn't a coward. She wouldn't have done that to her kid and she wouldn't have done it to us… and she would have bloody well left a note. We know what we do when people come after one of our own. There's only one way to secure our future. Make sure Elsa doesn't have one."

Greta sat in silence listening to Paul's speech. As he raised his glass, she stood up and walked out of the caravan. As she had expected, she heard footsteps behind her and a hand closed around her wrist, pulling her backwards. She turned and looked into her lover's face, seeing uncertainty there.

"What are you going to do?" Eve asked softly.

"I do not know." The younger woman admitted, tears building up in her eyes and blurring her vision. "She is my mother. But… if she did kill Ethel…"

"And do you think they're right? Do you think she killed Ethel?"

"I do not want to believe it… but…" Greta inhaled sharply. "Do you believe she did it?"

"Like you, I don't want to think that Elsa is capable of that." Eve said.

"I… I will not say anything to her, I will try not to anyway, but I will not be involved with whatever they are planning." The blonde glanced back towards Ethel's caravan. "You can tell them that I will stay out of the way… that I will not interfere. I do not want to know anything."

Eve nodded and cupped her face with both hands. She leant down and pressed their foreheads together. "I'm so sorry."

"It is not your fault. If my mother has broken the code… her own code… and killed one of us then... then she has brought it on herself."

"But she's your mother."

"I know… and I love her. But… I love you more." Greta whispered. "If it comes down to a choice, then I choose you."

Eve pulled away and looked at the girl for a long moment. Then a bright, gloriously happy smile broke over her face and she kissed Greta with everything she had, pouring all her emotions into it. The younger woman did not need to hear the words to know that her own sentiments had been returned.

"Go and make your plans; do what you have to do." She said when they broke apart. "I am going to bed."