There's a thought. Ugh. He shudders, looking around as though he might see them popping up out of nowhere, but he and Tim are alone, as far as he can see.

Don't know, he says again. Can't see them. But they might be omnipotent.

That word takes a stupid long time to spell but it's a necessary point to make. If the cats are the Rift, then... presumably they can see everything that happens, right?

He feels dread wash back over him, blotting out the relief. If this is true, then they let Tim take him out of the dreaming, and if the cat from yesterday had showed up just to nudge him along, they wanted him to succeed at getting back to Tim.

What is the game, here? They'd implied they were keeping him sort-of alive for a reason, but what is that?

Don't know what they want from me. He hesitates before adding, us.