Betrothed by Wanda Wiltshire

me.’
    ‘He’s a dream, Marla.’
    I looked up and into his eyes. He looked concerned. ‘Well, my dream told me he wouldn’t see me again.’
    ‘But you haven’t discovered the meaning of the dreams yet.’
    I twirled my bangle on my wrist. ‘Doesn’t matter, I know the dreams are finished.’
    ‘Then we must have missed something. Tell me about the last one.’
    ‘You’ll laugh.’
    ‘I won’t.’
    ‘You will, but whatever. It was just more of the same really, only . . . Leif sprouted wings and flew me through the forest.’
    ‘Hectic.’ Jack’s lip was twitching.
    I sighed. ‘Go ahead, let it out. I know you’re completely without self-control.’
    ‘You know sometimes you can be very hurtful,’ he said, not looking remotely hurt. ‘The place is called Faera, right?’
    I nodded.
    ‘Let’s Google it.’
    ‘Actually that’s not a bad idea.’ I wondered why I’d never thought of it myself, after all, if it hadn’t been for my dreams I wouldn’t know my real name.
    Jack sat down at the computer. I perched on the arm of the chair and leaned on his shoulder. A moment later he pulled me into his lap and held me there with one arm curved around my waist as he typed with his free hand.
    ‘Were they like angel wings, or dragonfly’s, or did he look like a giant bird?’ Jack asked casually.
    I turned my head to look at him. He was staring at the screen, a tiny smile flickering at the corner of his lips. ‘Couldn’t help yourself, could you? Try Telophy,’ I suggested, when Faera yielded nothing of interest. I leaned forward to type it in.
    ‘I’m genuinely curious, Marla.’
    I turned to study him again. He looked at me—blinked. I narrowed my eyes. ‘I’ll bet you are.’
    ‘I am,’ he insisted.
    ‘His wings were not like any of those things.’
    ‘Were they more like little bee’s wings or ladybird’s? Did theymake a big noise like cicada wings?’ he asked, trying to keep his face straight.
    ‘Cicadas make noise with their bums not their wings,’ I said, frowning at him.
    Jack laughed and gave me a squeeze. ‘Tell me.’
    ‘They were kind of like butterfly wings, if you must know. Dazzling white butterfly wings,’ I said, pretending to keep my attention on the screen.
    ‘Of course,’ he said, with a smirk that I ignored. Nothing came up for Telophy. We tried a few spelling variations, but still nothing.
    ‘That’s disappointing,’ Jack said, giving up and typing cicada noise into Google.
    ‘But not surprising, we are searching for Fairyland after all.’
    ‘What about Ruby?’ Jack said, selecting a site and sitting back to wait for it to load. ‘I can’t recall her mentioning where your parents came from that day.’
    ‘Neither can I.’
    We spent a moment reading the information on cicadas then Jack said, ‘Huh, I was sure it was their wings.’
    I grinned. ‘Told you.’
    ‘Well it’s not their bums either!’
    I was about to tell him I was closer to being right than he, but Hilary walked in at that moment.
    ‘Morning,’ she said, as she joined us at the computer. She had a big grin on her face.
    ‘Hilary, look at you,’ Jack said, swivelling in the chair to face her. ‘Don’t you look, um . . . in love.’
    Hilary glanced at me. ‘What have you been telling him?’
    ‘Very little, Hil, the evidence is all over your face really.’
    ‘What is that smell?’ Jack said looking around the room and sniffing the air. ‘It’s been wafting up my nose since I got here. It’s strong, kind of leathery, overpowering.’
    Hilary and I looked at each other.
    ‘What are you on about, Jack?’ Hilary said, looking confused. I pinched Jack’s arm, suddenly and uncomfortably aware of where this was going. Then I frowned at him to remind him of his promise.
    ‘Can you smell it, Hil, it smells like . . . man.’ He lifted me from his lap. I watched as he walked to the dining chair and picked up Kyle’s jacket. ‘Can’t you smell it, Marla?’ he asked, as