When Kate mentioned how Claire deserved her hangover, she wanted to tell her how fun people sometimes had to suffer consequences for being sociable and fun, but that Kate could of course not understand this.

“Thank you.” Claire mumbled to Kate when she left, but doubted she could hear it if she was still around.

She attempted to return to sleep. Her headache mixed with the sounds of a circus that was waking up and the light of the sun made it difficult though. After remaining motionless for what felt like another hour without a minute of sleep, Claire had to accept the fact that she would not get better by lying here.

Maybe if she got something to help with her hangover or moved to her own wagon it would be easier. She crawled out of the hay, passed Solomon who was enjoying the sunlight and exited his cage. She made a note to herself to never sleep outside when hangover. It wasn’t the first time she had claimed she wouldn’t do that. Claire locked the cage after herself.

She headed in the direction of her wagon, but once she arrived she heard a woman screaming as if terrified from another wagon. She had to put her hands over her ears to prevent the headache from getting worse. She went inside her wagon to get some rest.

“Screaming as if she was all alone, no consideration for the rest of us...” Claire muttered as she lay down on her bed.

Unfortunately, the screaming woman had attracted more people and soon the area was crowded. Claire heard them chatting through the walls of her wagon, but she was unable to make out any words. She didn’t bother trying to sleep for long after that. Claire rose again, probably looking as horrible as she was beginning to feel.

She grabbed her lady’s umbrella on the way out of the wagon, to have cover against the light of the sun, and stumbled towards the commons area. She hoped they could give her something to eat that may stop the beating of her forehead.

Claire spotted Kate and Elijah when she arrived, waved meekly at them, and then went to ask the kitchen staff for anything they may be willing to give her for her hangover. She was given a couple of eggs and a glass of water.

“Hey guys, Kate, Elijah.”

She placed her food next to Kate and sat down. Claire folded her umbrella together, and leaned it against their table. She was about to start eating, but instead threw her arms around Kate in a hug and pulled her towards her.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” She whispered, hoping that no one else would hear, but for all she knew she was screaming. Claire’s hangover still made noises louder than they had any right to be. “I hope you don’t tell anyone I taught him that, Kate, or I may have to teach one of them a murder command to keep the secret from getting out.”

She laughed weakly after that. It was only a joke. She wouldn’t want anyone else to murder Kate if she betrayed her. She could do it herself in that case.

“It is freaking impossible to get any sleep around here today.” Claire grumbled. “Sun is shining like if we were in the southern hemisphere, not Britain and people are screaming blood murder in the morning.” She turned to Kate with a faked smile. “At my wagon, not when you woke me up earlier.”

Kate waved at Claire in between sips of coffee, and continued chatting with Elijah and the others at the table while Claire fetched her breakfast. When she came to sit down, Kate halfway smiled at her, knowing that she still was probably feeling the effects of the previous night's binge.

It shocked her a bit when Claire flung her arms around her, so she stiffened under her embrace until Claire whispered her apology to her. A sigh escaped her and Kate patted her friend on the arm with the one arm that wasn't binded by Claire's hug. "It's alright Claire, I'm sorry as well."

"Amen to that," Elijah chimed in, raising his cup in approval of her comment about not getting any sleep. He was feeling better though, the caffeine seemed to have helped actually calm his nerves while also waking him up a bit, which very well may be the opposite effect of intention.

Soon after Claire's mentioning of the crying woman, people around the commons tent began to grow more noisy. It seemed as if a rumor was spreading around throughout the tent, making its way from table to table. People began to get up and walk out with a brisk step, and Elijah looked around as the area was beginning to thin out rather quickly.

"What in the..."

Soon, the others who were sitting at their table began exchanging words about a woman, blood, screaming, and other frightening sounding phrases. They rose as well and followed the crowd out of the tent, and the three were left there with only the company of each other and the chefs.

"Claire, dear, would you hurry up and eat your eggs?" Kate said as she glanced out of the entrance to the tent. "I've a feeling that there's something we are missing out on."

Elijah cleared the table of his and Kate's dishes, placing them in the bin that was reserved for dirty wear. He returned to the table but did not sit down, "You watch tipsy here, I'll be right back." He exited the tent and followed the stream of people towards the wagons that housed the performers and workers.

He pushed through the crowd further into the camp and saw that the collection of people were surrounding one wagon in particular. Screams could be heard, and Eli could swear that blood was covering the one window that was visible from his angle. Men were struggling to get the door to the wagon open, pushing and pulling it to no avail.

Turning around, he headed back to the commons tent and found Kate and Claire again.

"Something's happened. There was blood covering the window, they couldn't get the door open, I... I don't know."

Kate straightened up where she sat, her eyes growing wider at the news. "What? No wonder all the jitters among the crowd... I wonder what happened."

She looked at Claire, who was still finishing her hangover meal. "I suggest you finish those before you lose your appetite. We should go see what's happening out there now." She stood and waited for her less than 100% friend to join her, and then headed towards the camp.

It was not long after that Claire had sat down and started eating that people began to run off, and murmur about some woman. Kate urged her to hurry up, and she sighed, not particularly interested in whatever new illusion was happening. Elijah ran off as well to check it out.

Claire focused her attention on her meal, eating slowly as her headache was still a pain. She ate in silence, pretending like the rest of the world and the people didn’t exist. It calmed her down quite a bit, but then Elijah came back to tell them more about the event, how there was blood and how they were unable to enter her wagon.

“Maybe it’s just her time of the month.” Claire muttered, and finished her glass of water. “There’s nothing wrong with my appetite, Kate. It would be better if you all stopped freaking out over whatever though.”

Claire stood up after Kate, grabbed her umbrella and opened it up to protect her from the light of the sun. She followed her impatient friend to the camp and back to her own wagon. The wagon everyone was interested in was one of Claire’s neighbours, she hadn’t noticed how close it was to hers before, but there was just one other wagon in between the two.

“Oooh, spooky, they almost chose me for this prank.” Claire said snarkily, her headache making her quite irritated and not in the mood for another of Elena’s illusions. There wasn’t even an audience or a show located among their wagons.

The backstage crew had appeared with tools to get the door open. They had some of the stronger members of the circus gathered as well to assist them. As they began to pull at the door, the woman screamed and cried out. They kept pulling though, inserting a crowbar between the door and the wall of the wagon.

There was a resounding crack as the door broke open, mixed with the last faint scream of the woman and the sound of blood hitting the steps up to the wagon. The sight that met them all was gruesome. The woman wore a bloody nightgown, but her body had ropes fastened to it with hooks that extended inside the wagon and likely caused her great pain whenever she had tried to move.

The worst part was how she had been spiked to the door of her wagon, so that when they had managed to open it parts of her back had stuck to the door, been ripped away and finally killed her. She had a hole in her back where the parts of her that was now on the door had once been. The woman’s spine and ribs were visible in the hole. Blood was trickling down the remains of her back and her legs.

Claire threw up almost immediately, not even caring that there were people standing close to her. She wasn’t the only one either. There were those who even fainted. As she stood looking down at her vomit on the ground, she prayed that this was indeed another illusion. Unfortunately, it didn’t go away, turn into another scene or disappear when the doctor stepped forward to make a closer inspection. He didn’t need to declare her dead, as it was obvious she was, but he did it anyway so everyone could hear.

Claire made herself throw up a second time, appreciating the chance to clear her system of any remaining alcohol. It was the most emotionless
thought she’d had in a long time.

The police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. They’d likely been called when the blood on the window was detected. They sealed off the scene, told everyone to back up and stay away while they worked.

Claire was visibly shaken now. It wasn’t something to mock or make light of anymore. Indeed, it had happened too close to her own wagon for her to feel anything less than frightened and worried about what may have happened if she had spent the night in her own bed.

When they arrived at the large group forming around the wagon, Kate got on her tip toes to peek over the heads of the taller folk and get a look at the wagon. There seemed to be quite a fuss to getting the door open, and indeed blood was splattered across the window.

Staying on her toes, Kate watched as the men arrived with a crowbar to pry open the door. Screaming intensified as they did so, but the pulled on with determination. What they witnessed as the door finally broke open would be burned into their memory surely, as it was far too horrendous not to be.

A gasp escaped Kate and she turned away from the scene, her hand covering her mouth as she did so. Elijah quickly looked down at his shoes, his jaw clenching beneath the surface of his cheeks while he tried not to egg on a worse reaction from those around him.

Claire doubled over as she heaved up the contents of her stomach. Kate tried to focus on Claire instead of the bone-chilling scene laid out before them, so she held Claire's hair with one hand and gently rubbed her back with the other while she retched.

The thought that this event had occurred so close to Claire's wagon sent a chill down Kate's spine. What if Claire had actually slept in her wagon that night? Would the same fate have met her? It made Kate sick to think about, so she pushed the thoughts away and comforted Claire as best she could in the condition she was in herself.

When the police showed, the scene was blocked off and bystanders were told to make themselves scarce, save for a few they questioned as witnesses. Elijah turned to Kate and Claire and then motioned for them to move.

"Let's get out of here, ladies. This is certainly something that need not be witnessed any further." He put a hand on each of their shoulders and pushed them forward gently, herding them away from the bloody backdrop.

Kate took Claire's hand and squeezed tightly while they walked, now not wanting either of her friends to be out of her sight. Who knew if the maniac who committed the crime was still running around the tents, waiting for his next victim. She swallowed hard and kept a firm grip on Claire.

Elijah had pushed them in the opposite direction of the wagon camp, and they now stood just on the edge of the circus grounds. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face and around his neck. Thoughts were tumbling through his mind. As gruesome as it was, he could not help but come back to the image burned into his mind and wonder.

The woman had been bound and staked to the door... then whomever did such a task would have to be inside the wagon during, literally barricading themselves in with the woman on the door. Then how did they escape? To fit out the window, they would have to be a person of small stature, but they were strong enough to tie the woman up? None of it made any sense, and he shook his head.

"Do you girls need anything? Water, or perhaps maybe some heavy liquor?" His face was flush but he was trying to prevent them from freaking out further.

Kate shook her head, her hands were shaking and she was pale. Elijah went to fetch water anyways, figuring it might come in handy regardless. Kate turned to Claire and threw her arms around her, squeezing tightly.

"What if that had been you? Thank bloody God that you're so attuned to sleeping with Solomon now... That secret command you let slip may prove useful."

Claire had felt Kate’s hands on her back and in her hair when she threw up. It would normally have made her feel a bit better, but she doubted anything could improve the situation. She had drunk too much and now witnessed the horrible murder scene of a neighbour.

“I can walk myself.” Claire muttered when Elijah touched and pushed her.
She began to walk faster, but felt someone grasping her hand tightly. Claire thought it was Elijah again and was about to chew him out, then she noticed it was Kate holding her. She raised an eyebrow, surprised that Kate would hold her hand, but she realized she didn’t mind it as much as she would have if it had been anyone else. She let Kate squeeze her hand in hers, but didn’t return the gesture.

“Water would be nice.” Claire answered Elijah, feeling her stomach begin to turn again at the thought of drinking any more liquor. “Thank you.”
Kate threw her arms around Claire when Elijah had left them alone, and she couldn’t help but think that she was being very handsy all of a sudden. She supposed it was natural as her friend was genuinely scared for Claire’s well-being.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about me.” Claire said, trying to laugh it off and act like she wasn’t affected by what had happened. She failed at it though, fear showing itself in her voice. “Let’s sit down, I feel so tired.”

She waited for Kate to sit down on the grass nearby, then placed herself in her lap. This way she would hopefully calm Kate down and assure her that she was not going anywhere. At least that was what she told herself when she decided where to sit.

“I’m not going anywhere, sis.” Claire said, and leaned her head against Kate’s shoulder, breathing against her neck. She finally felt like she could get some rest, despite having seen that shocking scene her body was not able to catch up fully to the events. “I promise.”

“I doubt Solomon would be much help though.” She laughed weakly. “You were right with what you said earlier, He is too much of an oversized housecat. It would be better if I taught one of the others the command. Maybe Sheila, she can be quite hostile to humans when she feels like being left alone.” Claire smiled. “Or maybe I should get a gun or something else to protect myself with. Still, I am not the only one at risk. Maybe they will strike again, somewhere else entirely…”

Claire continued talking, but it turned into soft murmurs as she felt her mind and body relaxing for a nap. She moved a bit, to get a more comfortable sleeping position, accidentally pressing her body and chest against Kate.

“Fluffy pillow.” Claire murmured, some of the few words that were understandable among everything that she mumbled.

She just wanted a short nap so her body would get better from the hangover and the tiredness, then they could do what seemed best to deal with all these problems happening around them. She wished things had remained in the same state they used to be in forever, but now the peace had been disturbed at its roots.

Kate nodded to Claire and sat down with her on a soft spot of grass nearby to where they had been standing. It was a pleasant surprise when Claire plopped down in her lap, giving Kate more of a sense of reassurance. However, a different feeling tingled down her spine when she felt Claire's breath against her neck and her head on her shoulder.

Trying her hardest not to let that tingling feeling show outwardly, Kate inhaled and swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn't remember when her feelings towards Claire had taken on a different nature, but she had decided to keep it to herself. After all, this was the girl she ran away with all those years ago, and the last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize their friendship as it was.

But lately, it had become harder to not express her affection a bit more. And now with the occurrence of recent events, Kate felt a pang in her heart that tugged in a different way than it had before. All she could do was hope that Claire took it as friendly affection, not anything more that would drive her away.

A smile appeared on her face at Claire's agreement to her titling Solomon as a big fluffy tomcat. But then the smile faded at the mention that the killer could strike again, which only worried her even more. The police had been at the scene of the bloody murder to investigate, surely they would follow up and pursue the one responsible, right? They wouldn't let some lunatic just roam around waiting for the next kill, would they?

This time, the role was reversed of who was muttering on as Claire sleepily murmured and carried on while she fell asleep. When she moved around to get comfortable, Kate felt the same feeling she had moments ago while goosebumps rose on her arms and her neck. She smiled to herself as Claire muttered her last few words before falling asleep. Kate then put an arm around her and rested her chin on the top of Claire's head.

"Alright, here's the-" Elijah stopped speaking when he walked up and saw Claire and Kate muddled together in a bundle, one of the two who appeared to be napping. He raised an eyebrow, but set the canteen of water that he had retrieved down and also took a seat on the ground. It was far too early in the morning to have already been so eventful. He laid back and placed his arms behind his head, looking up at the sky as he sighed.

Kate kept her chin lightly on Claire, but looked over at Eli. He turned his head towards her and gave her a warm smile, to which she returned one of her own. It was sort of relieving to sit in silence for a moment and allow their minds to be clear, not frantic about what they had just witnessed.

Kate decided to follow in her friend's footsteps and she closed her eyes. Eli was not as quick to settle, and he looked up at the sky again, putting one hand on the spot where he had been stabbed last night. His mind was wandering again while his friends rested, and he tried in his mind to figure out the mysteries that had unfolded the night before and that morning.

Claire got a chance to sleep off the worst of the hangover and her exhaustion. Hours passed sleeping with Kate as her pillow and bed. She felt a tickling sensation traveling slowly up her stomach at some point, and coming to a halt at her bosom. It made her smile and try to move away from it in her sleep, but whatever it was had gotten underneath her shirt.

“Stop it.” Claire mumbled, half-asleep.

However, instead of stopping it began to fiddle with her bra and squeeze her inappropriately. Claire opened her eyes, quite shocked and appalled. Who the hell would do something like that to her when she was asleep!? She found an arm slipped under her shirt, and discovered that the arm belonged to Kate, who had her eyes closed, but still kept fondling Claire.

“Kate! What do you think you’re doing?” Claire asked, not amused in the slightest. She shoved the woman so she would cease pretending to be asleep. She had to pull her hand away from her using force, as if it had a life of its own.

“Do you think this is funny?” She snarled when Kate had opened her eyes. “How many times have you… been touching me while I was asleep?” She sounded a lot more disgusted by the action than she actually was. If anything, Claire was surprised and unsure of how to react to the situation.

“I don’t even know what to say to you! I guess it’s a good thing I sleep with a tiger instead of alone.” Claire grasped her throat when the words came out loud, hostile and revolted. That hadn’t been her intention.

She stood up, stepped away and turned her back on Kate. The sight that met her instead of her perverted friend was something entirely unexpected and horrifying, but at least she could come to the conclusion that this was all a dream and Kate hadn’t been touching her weirdly in real life. At least the real Kate wasn’t a closeted pervert, even if the Kate in this dream was.

Ahead of her laid a barren, dark and volcanic land of ash. There were rivers of burning fire with black smoke filling the air above them. The tents and wagon of the circus that should have been there were gone. No, not gone completely. She did notice burned down remains of what could have once been a number of wagons. Pieces of fabric that had once belonged to tents could be seen floating on the hot winds that swept the area.

Purgatory, was the first word that came to mind to describe the area in this nightmare. Why couldn’t she have gotten another pleasant dream about adventures with her kittens? Claire sighed and pinched herself to try to wake back up. It didn’t work though. It contributed to the creepy feeling that had inserted itself in her mind about how this was all too real. It made her wonder who the Kate in this dream was, but she didn’t dare turning around to check if her friend had changed shape as well.

It had been a while since Kate had fallen asleep with Claire on top of her and Eli to her side. Surprisingly enough, it was a peaceful sleep despite the unrest she had experienced the night before. She was enjoying the rest, pleasant thoughts filled her head until Claire started squirming around. Kate grumbled in her sleep and turned her head, sighing as she slowly started to wake from the disturbance.

Kate felt a jolt as Claire pushed her, waking her up fully now. She furrowed her brow when she opened her eyes and was about to yell at Claire for waking her when she discovered her arm was wrapped around Claire, up her shirt and resting on her chest. Kate's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to say something, but all she could manage was to stutter over her words.

She tried to remove her arm but found that she was unable to. The thumping in her chest grew to an audible tone as her heart beat practically out of her chest with panic. Claire pried her arm away and Kate looked from it to Claire, her eyes were frantic.

"Wait! Claire, no, I didn't...!"

The whole ordeal had woken Elijah, who sat up and felt something trickling down his neck. He subconsciously rubbed the area and looked down to his hand to reveal it was covered in blood. He screamed and scooted back quickly, checking for a wound on his neck but finding only blood that was flowing from some unknown source.

Kate looked at Eli when he cried out and her eyes grew even wider, she scooted over to him and put a hand on his neck but couldn't find a hole either. The words left Claire's mouth with hatred and Kate turned her head towards her, the pain of the words visible on her face. Her head started to spin and she looked down at the blood now on her hands as well. She was mortified at the whole situation, it was as if her worst nightmare was playing out before her.

Elijah started wheezing, but he coughed and pushed Kate away. "I'm fine," He grumbled and stood. Kate did as well and they were left gazing out at a wasteland that swallowed them from every angle. Kate looked around and thought that this must all be a figment of her imagination, so she closed her eyes and then opened them back up, hoping that she would instead be met with tents and grass and her friends napping lazily beside her.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The same scene extended for as far as she could see, and her jaw hung ajar.

"No, no, no. Where the hell are we?" She questioned, fear in her voice.

Elijah had stepped away from Kate, for all he knew she had been the one to cause the bleeding in his neck again, making his experience from the previous night all too real. Kate was left with the backs of her two best friends turned to her, trapped in a barren and bizarre land that seemed to only want to make her fall into insanity.

"Claire, listen to me. I didn't do that!" She turned to Elijah, "Eli, what's with you?" Tears welled up in her eyes and then streamed down her face as she prayed for it all just to end, one way or another.

“As if you don’t know where we are, you’re nothing more than a part of my dream.” Claire snapped at Kate. “We are standing among the ruins of the circus.”

Claire was angered when dream Kate claimed it was not her who had been touching her at all, like she had not caught her in the act of groping her. She clearly thought Claire was a moron, and that was what angered her the most.

She turned around towards Kate who had tears streaming down her face, as much as she hated to see her friend cry she had to remind herself this wasn’t her real friend anyway. Claire raised her hand and held it in front of Kate.

“Look at it! Look at it, Kate!” She shouted, and then slapped Kate across her face. “That wasn’t me! I didn’t do that, Kate, you must believe. I would never hit you. It was someone else.”

She bristled with rage, clenched her teeth and felt tears beginning to form in her eyes as well, but they were not of sadness.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Claire snarled. “I’m probably just some tamed barbarian with no brain, right? Cause clearly no one else than me would be dumb enough to believe you over their own eyes.”

Claire felt her anger subside with every heavy breath that she took. Hitting and screaming at dream Kate had felt good, and it helped her calm down, as she had let out most of the anger by taking it out on someone else.

“I love the real Kate.” She stated simply. It wasn’t news to herself or anyone. “I trust her with my life. She would never lie to my face or hide something from me.” She went on; speaking words she hoped were truth for Kate about Claire in return as well. “If she wanted to touch me like that I would… probably let her.”

Well, it wasn’t something she needed to consider in reality, but she saw no reason for her to lose her childhood friend over something so silly. Though she hoped the real Kate would have the decency to not do it when she was asleep and unaware. That had been creepy and unwelcome.

“I’m not some dumb animal.” Claire muttered to herself. “Animals aren’t dumb either.”

She hated the idea that Kate would think about her like some did. Those who whispered behind her back about how she was uncivilized and had no understanding of how human interaction worked so she spent all her time with animals that were as smart as her, but just because she knew how it worked did not mean she wanted to be a large part of it. She was a member of a traveling circus for fucks sake.

Claire sighed. “Any suggestions for how I get out of this nightmare into something more pleasant?” She turned to look at each of her friends’ dream replicas. “Elijah? Pervert Kate?”

She turned back to the area around them. One of her worst fears come alive, her home destroyed and everyone gone. At least she hadn’t seen any corpses or signs of her kittens demise, so she could pretend like it was fine. It felt like the walls of her mind that had imagined this wanted to crush her psyche though.

It was unknown to Kate why her friends had suddenly turned their back on her. Were they mad? Or was she? This must be some twisted joke, a hallucination caused by some outside influence. There was no way this could be real, yet it felt as real as anything she had ever experienced.

Her eyes held a glossy stare on Claire as she yelled and let out her rage towards Kate. It was when she approached her and put her hand in the air that Kate grew terrified, but before she could react, Claire's hand made contact with Kate's face and sent her reeling to the side, holding her face where a red mark was quickly appearing.

A cry escaped her, more out of shock than pain. This trippy simulation was beginning to overwhelm Kate and her frustration was mounting. It was cruel, the way she was being treated by her friends, which told her it must be fake. The words that left Claire's mouth and were directed at her began to gnaw away at the bit of sanity she was keeping here.

Kate stood there, frozen in shock at the slap to the face and the hurtful words that targeted her very soul. Now her sadness was turning into anger. Why was this happening? If this were a terrible dream, she would not be able to feel the pain radiating on her cheek like she did. It didn't matter anymore, her hope was fleeting and she was sure she would be trapped forever here in this hell hole of a dream, doomed to live in it for eternity.

Elijah had turned when he heard Claire's hand smack across Kate's face. He considered approaching her, but only for a moment before deciding that he was better off keeping to himself. His hand was pressed against his neck, and blood continued to pour down his torso from a phantom wound that could not be found. The sight of the blood made bile gather in the back of his throat and he bent over to heave.

He felt a sharp pain as he vomited, and opened his eyes to see that in a pile of puke and blood lie a double-sided blade. Eli gagged and tasted something metallic in his mouth, which he now could not distinguish between blood or actual forged element. This sent him stumbling backwards, eyes wide and arms frantically splayed at his side.

He glared at Claire and rolled his eyes, standing and backing away from the two women. His hands were still tightly wrapped around his neck as he used every bit of concentration in his body to keep from having a panic attack and falling into an oblivion of madness.

Kate had clenched her jaw and blinked away tears of rage, all the while listening to Claire ramble on.

"I am the real Kate!" She said through locked teeth. It did take her by surprise when Claire stated that she probably would let Kate touch her in a different way than friends really should, but she did not take this statement to be true, but rather a result of an angry outburst.

Kate threw a hand to her face in an annoyed gesture. She had never thought Claire to be barbaric or unintelligent. In fact when she heard other people from the circus talking behind her back, Kate had threatened to pin them up and use them as target practice if they kept it up.

Elijah turned his head towards the pair at the sound of his name, but he scoffed. Kate shook her head and let it hang hopelessly in defeat.

"Nightmare? This is more like worst fears come true..." She remarked. But then, her head jumped up and her brain began working. "Wait!" She started thinking about a time when she had visited a gypsy that traveled with the circus. The woman had once said "If you want to be free of your worst nightmare, you must first face your fears. Only then will you have peace of mind."

Kate recited those very words and looked from Claire to Elijah, unsure of whether they were a part of her nightmare or trapped in this place with their own, but she knew now the answer to how to escape this terrifying world.

"Face your fears."

“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…”

"Do I look like a bloody magician?" Kate directed at Claire, who was being far too sarcastic for her liking at this particular moment in time. "I don't know how the hell we got in here, but I want to get out and your smart ass comments aren't going to help."

It didn't matter how they had gotten there to her, at least not right now. The multitude of things that had been weighing on Kate since they woke up in this hell hole just ten minutes ago was beginning to push her to a point of frustration. She was pretty convinced that they all were in fact trapped together in one nightmare, each with a fear to face. For what reason, God may not even know.

A look of pure vexation spread across Kate's face as Claire had finally seemed to put two and two together. It was offensive to Kate for Claire to even question her reasoning like that, as if it were really that simple. The laughing that resulted from the accusations was equally perturbing, unsettling her even further than she thought was possible.

"Is this funny to you, Claire?" The volume of her voice had raised, and tears threatened to well in her eyes again. "Does slapping me around and ridiculing me make you feel better?!"

This was far from the ideal situation to face this particular fear in. A sunny day, picnic lunch, laughing and smiling from ear to ear. That was how Kate had hoped it would be, should she ever want to bring her feelings to light. Then again, maybe that was the point in all of this. Fears would never be faced unless they were breathing down your neck while you shake like a terror-stricken infant.

Elijah clenched his jaw at the questioning of his fear. The thing that Claire seemed to be neglecting was that this fear was fresh. Never before had he been shy of the blades, confident in both his and Kate's ability so that he trusted her with his life. All of that changed two days ago when his confidence had been shattered and his neck stabbed. Granted, the whole thing turned out to be some sort of insane illusion. However, the fact that it all mysteriously disappeared did not prevent his mind from becoming fearful of a repeated situation.

Both Eli and Kate turned when Claire suddenly quieted. A tiger could be seen approaching a distance away, in its mouth a smaller version of itself. There was something off about it; it seemed to be feral, not tame as the big cats of the circus were. Claire's reaction was proper for coming face to face with something she was not fond of, and Kate felt like commenting on it.

However, she quelled her frustration in light of the situation. It was not fair for her wish Claire such a terrible experience. Hell, it wasn't fair for any of them to be treating each other like they had. She sighed and stepped towards her friends, weary of the wild animal that had just appeared. If it was part of Claire's fear, maybe it would remain focused on her and away from Kate and Eli. Or at least she could hope it would.

Kate looked at Claire and then spoke softly, "It's okay Claire." She refrained from placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "I'm here for you." Then she turned to Elijah, "You too, Eli." An idea formed in her head and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, three blades were lying in her hands. She looked at Eli and pressed her lips together into a thin line.

"Look at me, and relax." She drew her arm back, staring straight at Elijah. His breath grew ragged and his pulse quick. Sweat started to bead on his forehead, but he kept his gaze straight at Kate as she threw her arm forward and released. Not once did he blink, and the blade whirred past his head. He swallowed the lump in his throat and waited for the other two to fly at his being. They too passed without a quiver in their path, and his eyes did not close until the last blade had flown past him, daringly close to his neck.

One fear down, two to go.

“Of course it doesn’t make me feel better. Why would it?” She couldn’t stop a second laugh from escaping her though, and mumbled to herself. “I hope that groping my breasts made you feel better at least.”

Despite what Claire had done to Kate when she was under the assumption that she was part of the nightmare, her friend comforted her when she was faced with her own fear. Claire felt grateful that she had someone like Kate in her life, and she had felt like that more times than she could remember.

“Thanks, Kate, I appreciate it.”

Kate summoned blades out of thin air. She threw them at Elijah and missed him as she had intended to do. Claire wondered if it was truly that easy to defeat his fear. He was afraid of getting hit, not letting Kate throw blades at him, right? It seemed to work and make him more at ease though. Claire would have hit him and healed his wound if she had been in Kate’s shoes, to show him that getting hit wasn’t the end of the world.

Claire had her own fear to deal with. She had to disregard her two friends and focus on the wild Solomon that was coming closer. Why were there two of them? She understood that it made sense for a number of her fears to be symbolized by Solomon, but why not just one white tiger?

Solomon kept circling her, growling and whining at her. He never came up to her though. Claire had to think about which one of her fears she was actually facing here. It occurred to her that it might have something to do with what would have happened to Solomon if they had never met. His life had been made better because she had adopted him, but what if she had never been able to do that or inadvertently hurt him in some way by bringing him up?

There were times when she had doubted her skills as a lion tamer, and thought about what harm she could have caused to her kittens if she had been careless. She had never wanted to hurt an animal in her life, but were they really better off living in a circus than living in the wild? She doubted they could be returned to the wild once tamed, but still, it was a disconcerting idea.

Claire closed her eyes like Kate had done, and thought about her whip. She could feel it in her hand before she opened her eyes again. If she were to face her fear, she had to deliberately hurt Solomon. The thought alone made her feel to her very soul.

The white tiger dropped his younger self on the ground, bared his teeth and inched closer to her. She used the whip on the ground next to and in front of him, but he didn’t react at all. He grabbed Claire’s clothes in his mouth and growled at her. She couldn’t get herself to do it anyway. Solomon bit her leg and drew blood, but while she screamed and felt the pain she figured she could endure it. It wasn’t until she heard the crunching of her bone that she closed her eyes hard and used the whip on the face of the tiger.

He released his grip on her leg, and Claire opened her eyes. She saw the mark of the whip across his face, but he looked tame, like his usual self and somewhat sad about having hurt his master. He tried to lick her wound clean before he bothered acknowledging his own. She bent down and hugged him, crying against his fur.

“I’m sorry.”

She felt him fade in her arms, and the only proof left that there had been a feral Solomon in the first place was the cub he’d left behind. Although baby Solomon wasn’t whining anymore, he was running around her and playing with her clothes, as energetic as ever.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped the tears from her eyes. The only one who hadn’t faced their fear yet of the three of them was Kate. Claire looked at her, trying to contain her smile and laughter. It actually was funny to her now though, because Elijah and herself had fears she could understand. Kate’s was a bit silly in comparison.

“How do you want to face your fear then, Kate? Do you want to start where you left off?” Claire giggled, but put her hand over her mouth.

Elijah and Kate stepped back as the big cat began circling Claire, growling and appearing rather intimidating. It was unknown to Kate what fear this was, or why there were two tigers instead of just one. However, it made sense to her that it involved a version of Solomon. Claire's life revolved around those beautiful creatures, and without them she wouldn't be the same.

When the big cat grew more aggressive and bit Claire's leg, Kate instinctively took a step forward. Eli grabbed her arm and shook his head, pulling her back towards him.

"She needs to do this."

The pair watched nervously as the whole scene played out. Something as simple as striking the tiger with a tamer's whip ended the gruesome event and Claire fell to comfort the now tamed beast, which soon disappeared. All that was left of the ordeal was the charming baby tiger, as if it were the reward and symbol of a fear overcome.

Claire and Elijah were now fear-free, or at least of one of their fears. It all fell to Kate now, who looked nervously from Claire to Eli as she questioned what she was supposed to do.

"Well, uh..."

It occurred to her that she didn't really know exactly what she was afraid of. Was she afraid of Claire finding out about her feelings? No, not really. She had pondered the idea of telling her before. Was she afraid of herself? Of others finding out? No, and no. Kate wasn't one to entertain the opinions of others, nor was she uncomfortable in her own skin.

Thinking back to the events of when she first woke up in this horror-ridden wasteland, she remembered how her arm had decided to take it upon itself to feel up Claire. Recalling that she was unable to move her arm, she thought that may have something to do with it. Why would a part of her body fall under something else's control?

Kate would never imagine touching Claire while she was asleep or unknowing of it, and she was certain that she wouldn't subconsciously do it. The reaction though... the reaction that Claire had at the discovery was of pure disgust and broken trust. That was what had gotten to Kate so badly, it had shaken her to the core.

Kate realized she wasn't afraid of Claire finding out her feelings, she was afraid of losing Claire over them. That was the reason she had never decided to tell her, because having her as her friend was invaluable compared to driving her away over some silly emotions. That was what scared her the most, not having Claire in her life because she didn't feel the same way.

"Claire..." Kate turned to her and scratched at her neck nervously.

Yet she still didn't know how she was supposed to face this fear. She supposed the only way would be to fess up and face the consequences, no matter what they were.

"First of all, I swear that I had no control over what happened earlier. But, if I'm being honest..." her feet shifted nervously under her, afraid that all Claire will be able to do is giggle at her.

"There is something I've been needing to tell you. I don't remember when I started thinking of you differently, but, I uh... I need you to know that I think of you as more than a friend." She winced at the sound of her words, knowing how silly it must sound. "I fancy you, Claire. There, I said it."

But she didn't feel any different, the words that she spoke were true and yet she still felt afraid. Nervously, she swallowed and looked at Claire.

"Oh, for God's sake. Screw it."

Kate stepped towards Claire and pressed her lips against hers in a gentle kiss, closing her eyes and praying that when she opened them, it would all be over with. Elijah stood off to the side, trying to contain the smile and chuckle that was threatening to burst out.

Claire had to steel herself when Kate spoke her name. She could predict what was coming, and while she thought it was a bit funny she didn’t want to laugh Kate in the face when she confessed what it may be. That would be unspeakably cruel to do to anyone who made such a secret known. Kate was her friend no matter what, and she didn’t want to lose her by pushing her away.

She closed her eyes when Kate told her that she had not touched her willingly, so that her friend couldn’t see her rolling them behind her eyelids. Claire doubted her hands had magically moved by themselves.

Claire opened her eyes to listen to Kate’s confession. She raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly when Kate said she fancied her. What was that supposed to mean? Claire fancied Kate as well. Same thing with how Kate said she thought of her as more than a friend. Yeah, well, duh. Claire thought of Kate as more than any regular friend too.

It didn’t seem to work either. There was no tangible result from Kate’s confession. She opened her mouth to tell Kate to try harder if she ever wanted them to escape this nightmare. Maybe she should try groping her while doing her confession. That brought a smile to her face, but she stopped herself from laughing.

However, Claire got no chance to say anything before Kate made an exclamation of frustration, walked over to her and kissed her. Oh, so that was what she had meant when she said she fancied her, was the only thought running through Claire’s head. She kept her eyes open and looked at Kate.
It reminded Claire of a fear of her own that she had had as a teenager. That no one would be able to love her, and that she would forever remain untouched. She hadn’t been a teenager for years now, but um, this was her first kiss of a romantic nature. She had gotten kissed by her tigers, but they used a lot of tongue all over her face. Kate didn’t. Claire closed her eyes and pursed her lips, not having a clue what she was doing, but following Kate’s lead.

The nightmare faded around them. She could feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness, awaking once more to a reality that had gone as
insane as any nightmare. She woke up on top of Kate though, feeling her breathing underneath her.

Claire wondered if Kate and Elijah had experienced what she had experienced. Had it really been them in the nightmare? If so, did Kate fancy Claire in that way?

She wanted to roll off of her before it got weirder, but if Kate had truly been there she might take it for dismissal of her feelings. Claire didn’t know how she was supposed to react to such a confession. She took a deep breath, then laid her head back down on Kate’s shoulder and pretended like nothing.

As Claire heard the beating of Kate’s heart, she had a passing thought that sleeping in her arms would be as natural as sleeping next to Solomon.

Kate kept her eyes squeezed shut, not wanting to see the look on Claire's face since she had practically just assaulted her face with her own. The blackness of the back of her eyelids was the last thing she saw before falling back into slumber. Her body was relaxed while her mind caught up to the switch in realities.

Slowly, she stirred. Peeking her eyes open, she came to. Met with the same scene that she had originally fallen asleep to, she was pleasantly surprised. It made her question if the nightmare she had just experienced was some crazy lucid dreaming or an unfortunately real event that took over her subconsciousness.

It took her a minute to realize Claire was still sleeping on top of her, her head on her shoulder. Kate's arm was still wrapped around Claire too, but luckily this time it was resting comfortably on her side. She breathed a sigh of relief and figured that the whole experience had just been some terrible dream brought on by the gruesome scenes she had witnessed over the past two days.

Unfortunately, that meant that the warm fuzzy feeling that she felt with Claire in her arms wouldn't be a shared experience, but something she was doomed to keep to herself. Gently, she rested her chin on Claire's head again and closed her eyes, enjoying the moment before the others woke.

Eli groaned and rolled over, his eyes cracking open and squinting while his vision turned from fuzzy to clear. Blinking, he looked over at Kate and Claire, who appeared to be sleeping. He sat up and rubbed his face, a hand passing over his neck at the memory of his nightmare. The water he had fetched earlier was still sitting to the side, and he took a drink.

Kate noticed Eli was awake, and she thought she could see Claire's eyes moving beneath her eyelids. Still, she whispered when she spoke.

"Did you enjoy your nap, Eli?" She asked, knowing that hers was not as well as she could have hoped.

He looked over and greeted her with a smile, but it didn't last long and he shook his head.

"No, I had an awful nightmare."

Kate's eyes narrowed at him and she took on a questioning tone.

"As did I, you and Claire were both in it."

With that news, Eli's face went flush and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You two were in mine as well... It wasn't, I mean, did you-" His eyebrows raised and he motioned towards Claire, who was still lying on top of Kate.

Kate's eyes grew wide and her face grew hot at the realization of what Elijah was insinuating. So it was all real, afterall. Hesitantly, she nodded at him and her face showed the concern she felt.

"What sort of craziness is going on here?" She questioned.

Claire blushed fiercely after she had heard the conversation between Elijah and Kate. She pressed her face against Kate’s shoulder as if to escape and hide from the consequences of the nightmare. It took her a while to realize she was pressing herself against the person who made her want to sink into the earth to begin with.

She didn’t actually want to hide from Kate, but how was she supposed to react to the two of them talking about how they had kissed in some strange shared dream. Elijah probably knew Claire had returned the kiss as well, since he’d been there watching. They probably thought it was funny. Claire had found it funnier when Kate had been so bothered about groping her in her sleep and lied about how she hadn’t done it intentionally.

The thought made her very aware of how their two bodies were touching one another. Claire lay on top of Kate, gravity pressing her body down on the other woman’s body. Their bosoms were pressed together, and their legs were intertwined. It wasn’t the first time she’d slept with Kate, but now it took on a whole other meaning. She’d never slept with Kate like a man would sleep with a woman. Women weren’t supposed to be doing such things with each other, were they?

She wondered when Kate had first realized she wanted to touch and kiss her. Had it been when they were younger? They had had more than a few sleepovers in each other’s wagons, laughing and having fun. Claire had compared her body to Kate’s, because she thought it was more attractive and she seemed to be attracting more attention from boys. She blushed when she remembered asking Kate if she thought she was attractive, as she had been wearing nothing else than her nightgown.

Maybe the rumours about the two of them being involved like that had never been Claire’s fault as she had assumed. People always talked more about her than Kate as far as she could tell, so it had been logical to assume they thought Claire was a pervert. They said she slept with her big cats after all, but maybe they had known something about Kate she had not.

A stranger thought made her feel warm inside, because someone wanted to touch and kiss her. No one had confessed to wanting to do that before. She was scared of what would happen if anyone else found out about it. She shouldn’t be having such thoughts about female friends, but now she knew Kate was and had been thinking about her like that.

Claire kept her eyes shut though, as all these thoughts rushed through her head, so she figured she could continue pretending to be asleep. She soon begun to fake her snoring, as if to make the other two believe she was fast asleep.

Elijah shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground, piddling with a few blades of grass as he pondered. What in the world would cause them all to share the same nightmare? It was a mystery to him, but he was beginning to look at the bigger picture, the strange events that had been occurring around the circus.

First had been the horrific incident with his and Kate's act. That had never happened before, sure she had nicked him before but nothing ever came close to his carotid like that had. It was almost as if the knife had strayed from its path, an invisible breath of air that sent it a few centimeters off course, right into his throat.

The following acts all experienced similar irregularities, though none were quite as violent. Still... there was something off about each of them. Not to mention the ring master, Elena's final act. It almost looked of witchcraft. The thought made Elijah question the possibility that their boss had something to do with what was occurring.

"Something strange is going on here..." He looked at Kate with his brow in a knot. "Do you think it has anything to do with that weird chanting Elena did last night?"

Kate shook her head and pressed her lips together in thought, "I don't know. She's done chanting before, it's all part of the act. But that was some strange stuff she was managing to conjure up."

Kate felt Claire sink into her and she looked down at her. She looked troubled while she slept. Surely she wasn't still trapped in a nightmare, was she? Or perhaps flung into another? No, otherwise the incident with the tiger would not have been resolved so convincingly. Kate wondered what was bothering her friend, but she decided to let her sleep. After all, she was probably still feeling the effects of her hang over.

Her mind wandered to the murder that they had the unfortunate privilege of witnessing earlier. The oddity of it made her wonder, how was such a feat pulled off without leaving a trace? Granted, the police had had little time to investigate much further. Still, she thought that such a bloody ordeal would've definitely resulted in a equally bloody trail to follow.

"What of the woman this morning? Do you believe that to be of the same nature?" Kate questioned.

He looked down in thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. "If I had to take a guess... yes. I don't see another explanation for it. And that nightmare that we were all thrown into? Together, no less? It all has to be related, so many freaky events could hardly be coincidental."

"Well if that's the case, we need to get to the bottom of what's happening. At least to save our own skins. I don't know about you, but I'm not fond of the idea of being thrown into a demented nightmare every time I close my eyes."

Elijah shook his head with widened eyes, "Oh, hell no."

Kate laughed lightly, trying not to disturb Claire who soon started snoring. Something sounded off though... Claire wasn't usually a snorer. At least not like that, to Kate's knowledge. She narrowed her eyes at the woman in her lap and patted her.

"Claire... I know you aren't sleeping anymore. Wake up, would ya?" She gently shook her friend, "We've got some stuff to talk about."

Claire listened to them speak, and thankfully they changed the subject away from what had happened in the dream. Maybe Elijah hadn’t noticed how Claire had returned the kiss after all, or they just didn’t want to talk about it when she was right there. Maybe they’d prefer talking about it behind her back like everyone else.

The topic they talked about concerned Claire as well. If there were truly something sinister and evil going on at the circus, then it concerned all of them. She had to wonder if Elena had ever meant to take it this far. She didn’t particularly like her boss, but she had thought of her as competent and well-meaning up until now. After what had happened, she had to question that though if it turned out that Elena was involved in more ways than one.

Claire was surprised by Kate’s apparent selfishness. Personally, she wanted most of her circus family to survive as well, not just save her own skin and get away with it. If that was all Kate wanted to do she may as well leave and find another circus, no? She doubted this curse, or whatever it was, had struck them all.

She pushed her head against Kate’s shoulder when the woman shook her and told her that she knew she wasn’t asleep anymore. She couldn’t know that for certain, so Claire tried to convince that she was in fact still asleep. Claire kept snoring, even going so far as to make the noises louder.

“I am asleep.” She muttered, but of course that gave the fact that she wasn’t sleeping away. “Oh, bother…”

Claire opened her eyes, rolled off of Kate and raised her knees to her head in a sitting position. She wanted to hide, not talk about whatever had happened between them, assuming that was what Kate wanted to talk about. She blushed and looked down at the ground, keeping her head pressed against her knees.

“What stuff?” She asked after sitting quiet and motionless for a moment. “I thought we had talked enough for today. There’s no need to talk about anything.” Claire coughed and stood up. “I can’t talk at all. My voice is hoarse and you wouldn’t understand what I’m saying. Also, I need to go check on my chores and big cats now.” She nodded determinedly and spun around to walk away. “Yup, no need to talk about anything’s that happened. It’s all a bunch of elaborate illusions.”

She doubted Kate would take her seriously though. If anything, she might take it as dismissive and rude. As she walked away slowly she felt her cheeks turning hot and she had to stare down at the ground so no one else would notice it. She didn’t want Kate to get the wrong idea, but she had to figure out what that was to begin with.

Kate rolled her eyes when Claire tried to convince them further about her sleeping state. Elijah chuckled and shook his head as he watched Claire roll off of Kate and give up on the antics. He tossed a canteen of water towards Claire, since she had been the one to request it earlier when he had left.

Kate sat up after Claire had moved off of her, brushing the grass off of her back and arms. There was a crick in her neck, a result of what she presumed to be sleeping so awkwardly for those hours. Her hand rubbed the base of her neck and she raised an eyebrow at Claire, who seemed to be sitting uncomfortably a few feet away.

She wondered if something was bothering her, perhaps what had gone down in the crazy dreamland. Kate didn't have to ponder on it long though, because Claire's sudden ramblings confirmed that something was up. All she could do was hope that her actions hadn't caused some sort of rift between them. That was exactly why she hadn't acted on her emotions beforehand, but she really didn't have a choice in the nightmare if they all wanted to get out of it without going mad first.

"Well, we need to-"

Kate opened her mouth to respond to Claire but was cut off when the woman decided to talk at an increasingly fast pace. Elijah looked over at her and they exchanged looks of concern and confusion before standing up after Claire. It seemed as though she was just searching for excuses to escape the conversation and get away from the pair, or more particularly, from Kate.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kate said as Claire turned around to leave. Regardless of if she was uncomfortable around her, they were all probably better off sticking together considering recent events. Kate quickly closed the distance Claire had made from them and reached her hand out, grabbing Claire's arm to stop her from leaving.

"Claire, wait. It isn't wise to just run off by yourself." She realized that she was still holding on to Claire's wrist, and she quickly released her grip, fearing it may just make her want to get away even more. Kate took in a deep breath and sighed. "Look, what happened in the 'illusion' as you call it... I understand if you don't want to talk about it." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet and looked at the ground.

"We don't have to talk about that right now. You can pretend like it was all some mind trick, but look at everything that's been happening. Something sinister is going on around here and we need to stick together." Kate looked to Eli for some support, before Claire tried to run off by herself.

He nodded his head, "Kate is right. If you want to check on the animals, that is fine. But we should go with you."