'You probably know them. Or you've heard of them, anyhow. Kiera and Kieran Kaiser.'

Rhodajane let out a high-pitched squeal. 'The Kaiser Twins? You're kidding me! The Kaiser Twins are Night Warriors? I don't believe it! I love the Kaiser Twins!'

'Their late mother was Azurina, the Sky Dancer. It was a very great loss to us when she was abducted.'

'She was abducted?' said Rhodajane.

'Kidnapped, yes. Taken away. Not her waking body, but her dream personality, so she never woke up. In the end they turned off her life support.'

'I thought she died of a stroke, just after giving birth. That's what it said in OK! magazine, anyhow.'

'That was what everybody thought, Xyrena, including her doctors. But she was abducted in her sleep by a Dread called the Gray Memory. The Gray Memory took her out of revenge, because she had seriously injured the Gray Memory's sister, the Pale Confusion, during a battle in the dreaming world. The Pale Confusion could never walk or speak, ever again, either in the dreaming world or the waking world.'

'The Gray Memory and the Pale Confusion,' said Rhodajane. 'Jesus! They sound spooky.'

'Well, they were, yes - although I don't think "spooky" quite sums up how dangerous they were, and how scary. We're pretty sure that the Gray Memory is still hiding in somebody's nightmare someplace, although we haven't sensed her presence in more than seven years. It's possible that she was injured at the same time as her sister was hurt. She could be dead, but I don't think so. My feeling is that she's biding her time, so that she can get her revenge on the rest of the Night Warriors who were fighting with Azurina.'

'When she abducted the Kaiser Twin's mother - what did she do with her?'

'She gave her to Brother Albrecht, by way of a gift. Evil people are always doing favors for other evil people; just like good people do favors for good people.

Springer paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about times gone by and all of those people whom time had carried away.

Then he said, 'The Gray Memory and the Pale Confusion were part of a nightmare army of over a hundred Dreads. They were trying to destroy the human race by erasing our memories - rubbing them out and blurring them. If they had won, none of us would be able clearly to remember our childhood, or one single word of what we were taught when we were growing up. We wouldn't recognize our own parents, or even remember where we lived. We wouldn't know what we had done an hour ago, or even five minutes ago. We would have been like orphans, who can never find their way home.'

'That sounds too much like me to be funny,' said John. 'Like, ask me what I ate for breakfast, and I couldn't tell you.'

'I wouldn't want to know,' Rhodajane retorted. 'Besides, it would probably take too long for you to recite the entire order. Let me guess, though: you had pancakes.'

'I always have pancakes. How can you seriously call it "breakfast" unless you have pancakes? That's like having a funeral service without a stiff.'

'Come on, you two,' said Springer. 'Let's introduce ourselves to Jekkalon and Jemexxa.'

They left Rhodajane's room and walked along the corridor together with all the grim-faced determination of a posse in a cowboy movie. Two pa.s.sing guests turned around to stare at the three of them in bemus.e.m.e.nt - a fat man with a pompadour in a bursting sport coat, a big-breasted woman in very tight jeans, and a curly-headed young man in a billowing raincoat.

They went down in the elevator to the floor below. Rooms 237 and 239 were on the north-east side of the Griffin House Hotel, the only two rooms at the end of a short private corridor, which was cordoned off with a thick night-club-style rope. It was guarded by two huge black men with shaved heads and mirror sungla.s.ses and black suits that rivaled the size of Brother Albrecht's circus tents.

John and Rhodajane approached them cautiously, expecting to be stopped. But as they came nearer, the security guards unhooked the rope, and pressed themselves back against the walls on either side, so that their double-chins bulged out. 'Afternoon, Ms Schulz. How's it going?'

'Fine, thanks, Sherwin. How are you, Lamar? I think we're all set for tonight.'

John turned around and accidentally stumbled over one of the security guard's feet. That voice wasn't Deano's. That wasn't even a man's voice. He and Rhodajane were being closely followed by a small Jewish-looking woman with a haircut like a jet-black skullcap and a large complicated nose and pouting crimson lips. She was wearing an electric-bronze suit with padded shoulders and a flared waistline and a skirt that was much too short and tight for her age.

'Come on, John!' she said, pushing him forward. 'Always such a klutz!' She looked up at the security guard and said, 'Sorry, Lamar.'

'No problem, Ms Schulz.'

The Jewish-looking woman took hold of John's sleeve and Rhodajane's sleeve, too, and pulled both of them along the corridor together until they reached Room 237.

'What in h.e.l.l is going on here?' Rhodajane protested. 'Who are you? What the h.e.l.l happened to what's-his-face?'

The woman stared up at her and her eyes were glittering intently. 'I am what's-his-face, Xyrena. How do you think I can gain access to any place I need to? How do you think I can win people's confidence? Whoever people trust, whoever they confide in, that's who I am.'

'And right now?' John asked her.

'Right now, John-boy, I'm a dead ringer for Lois Schulz, the Kaiser Twins' manager. It's an illusion, that's all. I can look like anybody. I could look like you, if I wanted to.'

'What if the real Lois Schulz is here right now?' asked Rhodajane. 'You're going to walk in and there's going to be two Lois Schulzes?'

'No chance of that. Right now the real Lois Schulz is at the State Theater, making last-minute adjustments to the lighting sequences for tonight's show. And she's not very happy, so she's going to be gone for some time.'

'OK. I believe you. I don't know why I believe you. I shouldn't believe you. But I believe you.'

Springer gave a quick knock at Room 237 and called out, 'Hi, there, kids! It's only me!'

She opened the door and walked right in. Rhodajane grabbed John's sleeve and let out a squeaky, hysterical whisper right into his left ear. 'The Kaiser Twins! It's really them! I can't believe it!'

'Come on,' said John. 'They're only human, just like us.'

'But they're so famous! And I love them!'

Kieran and Kiera were both in Room 237. Kieran was sprawled out on the bed in a torn red T-shirt and gray jogging pants, playing Killer Zombies; while Kiera was perched on the rococo stool in front of her dressing table, wearing nothing but a Rams football shirt, polishing her toenails with purple glitter.

'You're back quick, Lois,' said Kieran, without taking his eyes off the TV screen. 'Are you happy with all of those lights now?'

'Actually, I brought a couple of old friends of mine to see you,' said Springer. John was still fascinated by Springer's transformation into 'Lois Schulz.' Enormous gold hoops as big as parrot perches swung from her ear lobes and she wore k.n.o.bbly semi-precious rings on every finger, as well as an ostentatious sapphire brooch in the shape of a death's-head moth. 'This is Rhodajane and this is John. Say hi, twins.'

Kiera looked up from her toenails and said, 'Hi.' Kieran simply lifted his left hand and twiddled his fingers in a wave.

Springer said, 'The reason I brought my friends here is because there's been a change of plan.'

'Change of plan?' frowned Kiera. 'What does that mean?'

'It means you won't be singing tonight. You'll be doing something more important instead.'

Kiera looked up from her toenail-polishing. 'We're not singing? Why?'

Springer patted her shoulder in a motherly way. 'You won't be singing, my darling, because you can't sing when you're asleep, and when you're awake you can't fight. And tonight I need you to sleep, and to fight.'

'Lois... what are you talking about?'

'I know, I know. I sound like a meshuggenah. But how crazy did you feel when you opened up that door right over there and found yourself out in a field, and it was raining cats and dogs?'

Kiera lifted her head and stared at Springer wide-eyed. 'Lois? How did you know about that? Kieran - did you tell her?'

'I never said a word. I swear to G.o.d.'

Springer patted her shoulder again. 'Kieran didn't tell me, my darling. I knew what was going to happen even before it happened. In fact I arranged for it to happen. Why do you think I chose this particular hotel for you to stay in?'

'You knew what was going to happen? How could you have known?'

'You opened the door, Kiera, and there you were. You and Kieran climbed the hill to the carnival. It was raining and thundering and the tents were black and the lights were red and you met some very strange people there, didn't you? A little man who looked more like a rat, and a bald man called Zachary.'

'I don't believe this,' said Kieran. 'I just don't fricking believe this. It was only a dream!'

But Springer carried on. 'Most important of all, you saw your mother. Your poor mother, who you believed was long dead, mutilated and put on show for everybody to stare at. Demi - the Demi-G.o.ddess, the Half-Woman.'

Kieran swung his legs off the bed and stood up. His hair was sticking out sideways, as if he had just stepped inside from a hurricane. 'How do you know about our mom, Lois? Come on, Lois, how the h.e.l.l do you know? We thought it was only a nightmare, but we believed that we were sharing it because we're twins. I mean, we share all kinds of feelings, all the time. But how do you know all about it?'

Springer sat down on the side of the bed. 'I look very much like Lois, Kieran, but I'm not Lois.'

'I don't get it. Is this a joke? If it is, it's in pretty s.h.i.tty taste.'

'Lois is still at Playhouse Square - the real Lois, that is. My name is Springer. I can take on the physical appearance of anybody I want to. Watch me. Who was your best friend at school? Kenny Ballantine? You remember Kenny Ballantine?'

Kieran looked confused. 'Of course I remember Kenny Ballantine. He broke my G.o.dd.a.m.n iPod.'

Right in front of them, Lois Schulz began to alter. She grew taller, and her shoulders grew wider. Her black skullcap hairstyle gradually grew lighter, until it was medium-brown, and scruffy. Her face grew broader, and her eyes changed color from brown to hazel. Within less than thirty seconds, she was no longer a musical agent with dangling earrings and bright red lip gloss, but a sprawling young man of seventeen or eighteen, with holes in the knees of his Levis and a T-shirt with a black-and-white print of Kurt Cobain on the front of it.

Kieran stared at him, stunned. 'Kenny?' he said. 'Kenny - is that really you?'

'No,' said Springer. 'It's not really me. But you asked me what I was capable of, didn't you, and that's one of the many things that I'm capable of. I needed to convince you that your mother is still alive, and that you can rescue her, if you want to.'

'But she was cut in half!' Kiera interrupted. 'Not only that, she doesn't even know that she's our mother! Even if we rescue her, what are we going to do with her? Her mind's gone, her legs have gone.'

Kieran said, 'She's still our mother. We can't leave her like that, in that carnival? By the way, where the h.e.l.l is that carnival?'

'You were right about it the first time,' said Springer. 'It exists only in the world of dreams. For now, anyhow. But that doesn't mean that it's any less real than anything that exists only in the world of reality. You can bring your mother back, if you want to. You would obviously have to arrange for her to receive intensive physical care and psychological rehabilitation. But you're not poor, are you? And who knows, you might even get your original mother back - or a little part of her, anyhow.'

'Oh my G.o.d,' said Kiera. 'You're really frightening me now.'

'Well, just sit and listen,' said Springer. 'When I'm through, you can either tell me to get the h.e.l.l out of here and never come back, or you can agree to help us save your mother, and scores of other people, too.'

'What other people?'

'Your mother isn't the only one who has been taken away by that carnival. Over the years, over the centuries, there may have been hundreds of them. Men, women, children, even babies. Some of them were born freaks, but many of them were deliberately mutilated and deformed so that they were turned into freaks.'

'That's so terrible. But why?'

'Because the man who started the carnival is determined to bring out the worst in human nature. He wants to see an end to love, kindness and charity. He wants to see nothing but cruelty and depravity and wholesale, meaningless war. In other words, he wants his personal revenge on G.o.d.

'If he can bring his carnival back from the world of dreams into the world of reality, it will spread around the world like the worst contagion you can ever imagine. A moral sickness like the Black Death, only a thousand times worse.

'This is why I've come here today. This is the time when we need to act, and fight back, or the whole planet is going to turn into a slaughterhouse.'

Kieran said, 'I don't know whether to believe you or not, dude. But you sure look like Kenny Ballantine. You're the spit of him. Even got that warty thing by the side of your nose.'

Carefully and quietly, Springer explained who he was and where he had come from. He told them about Ashapola, and how the purity of Ashapola could protect every person on earth, regardless of their religion or their core beliefs. He told them about the Night Warriors, and how their mother had been Azurina, the Sky Dancer, and how, as twins, they had both inherited her powers.

He also told them about Brother Albrecht, and how his arms and legs had been amputated, and how that had led him to set up his carnival and freak show.

When Springer had finished, he sat back to let his words sink in. Kieran and Kiera stared at each other in complete silence, but it was obvious that they were sharing their thoughts about everything that he had told them.

Eventually, Kiera said, 'How could we have been these Night Warriors all of our lives and never known that we were?'

'Because you weren't needed, until now. Some Night Warriors go through their whole lives without finding out, simply because their special abilities were never called for.'

'I never knew I was, not until last year,' John told her.

'And I never knew until about an hour ago,' said Rhodajane.

'So who are you supposed to be?' Kieran asked John.

'Me? I'm Dom Magator the Armorer. I carry every kind of handgun and rifle and bladed weapon that you can possibly think of, and most of which you can't. You want a pistol that can make somebody half a mile away go stone deaf? You want a knife that you can throw through solid concrete? How about an Amnesiac Rifle, that can make your enemy forget who he is and what the h.e.l.l he's supposed to be doing there?'

'This has got to be a joke,' said Kieran. 'Amnesiac Rifle? Who are you trying to kid?'

'It's no joke,' Rhodajane a.s.sured him. 'I'm Xyrena, the Pa.s.sion Warrior. I can turn on anything that has a pulse, and a few things that don't, I wouldn't be surprised.'

Springer said, 'The best way for me to convince you that I'm telling you the truth is to show you what Jekkalon and Jemexxa actually look like.'

'Jekkalon?' Kieran protested. 'What kind of a stupid name is that?'

'Actually, Jekkalon is a highly-respected name amongst the Night Warriors,' said Springer. 'The very first Jekkalon was a servant at the court of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti the First in the year twelve ninety-one BC.'

'Now I'm sure you're kidding me.'

'Not at all. The demon G.o.ddess Nepththys ambushed Seti in his dreams and took him to her palace in the dry desert. She tried to mummify him in his sleep, so that he would be powerless to act out his dreams. We all have to act out our dreams in order to stay fit and sane, but Nepththys was hoping that she would drive Seti mad and that she could turn the entire kingdom of Egypt into a barren wasteland.

'But Jekkalon and Jemexxa followed her, and Jekkalon vaulted over the walls of Nepththys' palace, which had always been believed to be impregnable. He blinded Nepththys and her priests with lightning, which Jemexxa had reflected from a distant electric storm. Seti escaped, and rewarded Jekkalon and Jemexxa with great riches.'

'Well, it's a cool story,' said Kieran. 'Sounds like something out of X-Men.'

'Do you want to see yourself as Jekkalon?' asked Springer. 'All you have to do is stand in front of that mirror.'

'Go on, Kieran,' Kiera urged him. 'You know you love looking at yourself more than anything else in the world.'

Kieran walked across to the large oval cheval mirror in the corner of the bedroom. Springer stood up and joined him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

'Be patient,' said Springer. 'It doesn't take long.'

Kieran shook his head. 'Jesus, man. You look so much like Kenny, I can't believe it. Remember that time you swung on that rope over Mill Creek Falls, pretending to be Tarzan so that Susan Ladenes would be all impressed, and the rope broke and you fell in head first and broke your arm?'

'It was my collar bone, as a matter of fact,' Springer corrected him.

'This is totally crazy,' said Kieran.

He turned away from the mirror for a moment, grinning at Kiera in disbelief, but Kiera suddenly said, 'Look! Just look at yourself!'