I shook my head back and forth and saw Aurora standing quietly over my bed, looking at me expectantly. "What is it?" I asked, sitting up and reaching toward the now seven-year-old child.

She scrambled onto my bed and asked, "Malefy, can I stay with you forever?"

"What brought this on?" I asked.

"I had the dream again," she sniffled.

I wrapped my arms around her again and said, "Aurora, Aurora, Aurora. How many times do I have to tell you? It was only a dream and it can't hurt you. I won't let it hurt you." She nodded, trusting me, and I pulled her closer to my chest.

"Everything's gonna be fine, I promise," I promised the trembling child.

She curled up on my lap and said, "Malefy, why is that every time I have the dream, I always get taken from you? Why are they so against you?"

I tilted Aurora's face upward and said, "Aurora, I promise I will explain everything to you on your sixteenth birthday, OK?"

She nodded and said, "But that's nine years away."

I nodded and said, "I'm not changing my mind, so don't ask me to, Aurora."