He's real. Not like these mirrors, these voices who've been whispering behind Cole the whole time he's here (they don't trust you, they don't like you, weird, odd, demon.) Victor feels solid and feels real. So as Victor waves at him, Cole takes a few steps forward, trying to get close to Victor and trying to get closer to what's real.

"It's my first as well," Cole admits, "so I thought I should know."

He works at the carnival so logically, he should explore the carnival and see what's what, right? Well, he's explored this part and guess what, he hates it!