One day, Jago suddenly becomes the impresario of a theatre (the New Regency) from someone he's never heard of in his life. He takes Litefoot to the nearest fair to go scout some performers. The two stumble upon a "Theatre Of Dreams": a travelling wagon that mimicks scenes from people's lives and gives them their wildest dreams. Jago is absolutely enchanted by the theatre, which enacts a scene for him in which even the Queen herself would visit. He promptly books it for his shows, despite Litefoot telling him the whole thing's nothing but piffle.
Soon enough, the New Regency is filled with people, but London becomes the scene of quite a few grisly murders. Litefoot, who gets saddled with the corpses, realises that he and Jago are heading for another Weng-Chiang level fiasco. With the help of Sergeant Quick and Dr. Sacker, they pinpoint the murders to the New Regency (since that's the only corpse-free area in the city) and arrest the Theatre's performers.
The New Regency once again begins to flourish, even without its star performers, and Litefoot is once again free to spend time devising a cure for Ellie's vampirism. She can feel Sanders' influence inside her mind, ever since he found her again at the Red Tavern, and Litefoot steadily works his way through Crow's notes in order to try and help the poor girl. He's doing remarkably well at it, too. Almost improbably well. And the Queen has booked a ticket for the New Regency. And everything seems to be like a very good dream... because it is, as Jago and Litefoot soon realise. They've been trapped in the Theatre Of Dreams all along. Once they escape, life goes back to normal, except that Jago almost goes bankrupt... Ellie's vampirism gets out of control... and Quick and Sacker are gruesomely killed. Once again, Jago and Litefoot realise they're still in the Theatre's dreams, and they break free, for real this time. Once they've sorted out the reality from the fiction, they find that Jago's new job is indeed real — in fact, he promptly inherits the theatre when its owner dies. And Litefoot may, indeed, be one step closer to finding a cure for Ellie.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When the performers are asked where their home country is, they realise they don't know.
- Extra-Strength Masquerade: For the people trapped in the theatre.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In an effort to break the illusion, Jago hams it up so much that he starts proclaiming he and Litefoot are fictional characters. Litefoot, somewhat concerned, tells him "steady on".
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The Theatre of Dreams starts off this way for those trapped under its spell.
- Politically Correct History : A scene by the theatre at the start involves two men confessing their love for each other.
- Although given the audience's laughter, it seems likely that they just think it is a joke the performers have set up.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The two performers aren't real either.
