25

Camille

"Since the crest is real, I've been thinking I could be right about the rest of the dream." I sigh. "The parts where the shadow monsters kill me. Of course, I'm not dead and I know the monsters weren't monsters, but if I had a bad experience, I want to know what happened."

Worry washes over her face. "Do you think you should? I mean maybe that's why your parents didn't want to talk about it when you brought it up."

I nod slowly, feeling a little defeated. "I guess, but I just wanted to know."

"Camille, I think you need to take each day as it comes and one problem at a time." She reaches out and covers my hands with hers. "Things are already intense enough with Alessio. You've been thrust into this new life where you're not with Richard and you can't speak to your father. Don't take on anything that's going to add to that stress."

"You're right." Playing Nancy Drew is not what I should be doing now with everything else going on.

"At the same time, I'm not saying you shouldn't d