Byron won't see her, speak to her or even answer her email now: Serena's only connection to him is through Alison, who is essentially in charge of his movie while he's busy writing some new screenplay with 'Odessa'. Alison calls her after a failed attempt to re-engage his interest in his Sandman movie.

"I've never seen him like this & I've seen him with everyone of his famous girlfriends. He treated them all like shit, all the time. This thing with Odessa is not like him. He's pathetic, and it's just wrong," Alison says. Serena can't help it, feeling a little happy he treated his lovers poorly, she's been so jealous of them for all these years, the petty triumph makes her feel better than it should. But none of that helps the current situation. Explaining to Alison that Odessa is in fact a defunct love goddess would be without purpose; she wouldn't be believed, though Alison has seen for herself the effect Odessa has on Byron.

Serena tells Alison she was Byron's first love & that before Odessa showed up he was trying to get back together with her. And she tells her she's made friends with a former lover of Odessa's, who wishes to be reunited with her. "If you could arrange something so we could get in to see them..." Alison rolls her eyes & laughs, and says it sounds like a weak movie plot, "But that's what I do, I'll figure out something for you," Alison promises.

Serena returns home to find Larna Lock sitting on her balcony, reading. She sighs sadly: she's going to have to get him some more contemporary clothes if he's going to be visible all the time.

That night, Serena goes to the market on the edge of dreams, a kind of twilight realm between reality & the world of dreams, populated by strange beings not quite real, visited by psychic travelers & dreamers lost on the way to their own dreams. Serena has come because she needs more than just the power of her love god to win Byron back from Odessa's arms.

Mara is a supplier of magical spell ingredients for many realms, but she is, as is the norm here, very bizarre & requires some bargaining.

Why a four leaf clover? Serena doesn't know. And when they start asking for something sweet & sticky, you start getting into blood sacrifice, which is a kind of magic Serena has stayed away from. It only leads to trouble...

Serena thanks the crazy fairy & tells her she'll think about it.

NEXT