“Sure you are, pervert. I totally believe you.” Claire rolled her eyes, not particularly amused by the claim that they were somehow sharing the same nightmare. How would that even happen in the first place? “Maybe you could explain how we are in the same nightmare then.”

It did occur to her that it would not be too strange if that was indeed what was happening, when one considered the bigger picture and the last couple of days’ events. She kind of regretted hitting Kate in that case, because now she was beginning to doubt if she was part of the nightmare 
or real as she claimed.  

Elijah wasn’t much help to anyone. He was acting like a scared animal if anything. Kate did come up with a suggestion for how they could advance 
or escape. Claire thought it was as good an idea as any so they may as well try it to see if worked or not. However, after thinking about it some more the implications of what Kate was saying hit her. 

“I am not even sure which is more offensive, Kate. That you are afraid of touching me or that you are afraid of me finding out that you want to touch me.” She grimaced. “Either I must be the most repulsive being around in your eyes, or the thought of being honest with me about something personal is horrifying.” 

Claire laughed at the thought, but not because it was particularly funny. It was a bizarre fear, and she was curious about how Kate intended to face it. “What type of monster do you take me for then? Any ideas on how to face this fear of yours?”

She had to wonder which fear she was supposed to confront herself though, and how. Claire was surprised at how there were no big cats around whatsoever. There always was in her dreams, but since there weren’t any this time she had to confront the fear of losing the circus then? Maybe that was a shared fear among the three if they all experienced this together. No one would be calm and sensible if they lost their home, especially not by having it replaced with the fires in front of them.

“If this gypsy woman was right, shouldn’t Elijah already be free of this nightmare?” Claire asked and gestured towards the man struggling with all the blood coming from seemingly nowhere. “There are no animals around either, so how am I supposed to face my fears?”

The words had barely left her lips before she heard a weak whimper coming from somewhere nearby. Claire closed her eyes, blaming herself for whatever horror she had now unleashed upon her mind. If she had been quiet there would have been no need to involve any animals. There was a part of her that immediately recognized the whimper as belonging to Solomon, but she kept her eyes closed. 

The sounds of paws against the rocks came closer, and she opened her eyes to find a scarred and beaten Solomon standing a distance away from her. There were ferocity and wildness visible in his eyes that had never been there before. In his mouth, he had a baby white tiger that was the source of the whimpering. As far as she could tell, they were both Solomon, but different ages.

“I shouldn’t have said anything…”