4
‘So, how do we do this?’ I asked.
‘Oh, you want to do it now?’ Ophelia seemed surprised.
‘I don’t see why not. It’ll give me a little time to get used to everything before we go.’
She nodded, and without another word she advanced on me with, apparently, serious intent.
I experienced a flicker of nerves, and an odd impulse to back away. She was giving me what I’d asked for, so what was I worried about? I suppose I’d expected more argument, more discussion, more delay. But no, here she came, it was about to happen, what if I really wasn’t ready—
‘Oh,’ I said, stupidly, because she’d bent slightly to press her lips to my forehead, and that really hadn’t been what I was expecting. At all.
And that seemed to be it, for she withdrew, leaving me to process a burgeoning feeling of — disor
