The second episode continues with Morpheus (which is the greek name for "Dream") returning to his kingdom, only to find it in ruins. He tries restoring it, but to no avail; his powers are diminished. Without his tools - a helm, a pouch of sand, and a ruby, - he becomes more or less powerless. So he decides to get all the stolen property back, which means visiting a couple of old friends.
First, Morpheus visits Cain and Abel, the pair of dreams that represents “a first murderer and a first victim”. He must absorb something of his creation and in an attempt to do so, he sacrifices Gregory, their pet gargoyle.
Once Gregory is reduced to sand, Morpheus finally has all the power needed for entering another aspect of Dreaming where he has to collect offerings for The Three, the trio of goddesses, so they can help him track the vestments down. Their hints are quite oblique, however, Dream still discovers something useful; the occultist Johanna Constantine used to be in possession of Dream’s pouch of sand.
All the while in the waking world, the scene shifts to a former lover of Roderick Burgess, Ethel Cripps. She is an art dealer who is living in New York with the pseudonym Madame Daudet. Cripps looks too well for her age, considering she’s more than 100 years old. That’s thanks to the magical amulet of protection, which is useful when a Corinthian comes calling.
He is also looking for Dream’s tools that Ethel took from Burgess. She reveals she does not have them anymore and that Jack, her son, took a ruby. Once he tries to threaten Ethel, she uses the amulet and sends him screaming back to a Dreaming. Then she goes to pay a visit to John in a maximum security psychiatric ward.
