Sortilege

Lorelei sat in the frigid hospital room trembling both from the cold and from her nerves. A nurse had done her a huge favor and brought her a blanket to wrap up in, but it wasn’t doing much of a job of keeping her warm, plus it was made of a wool fabric and was slightly itchy. Still, it was better than nothing.

In front of her, the stranger lie in the hospital bed that she knew to be uncomfortable, but he looked peaceful sleeping there. She had ridden in the ambulance despite Sofia’s protests. She had told her to leave it be, ignore his message; it could only lead to trouble.

But Lorelei needed answers and she was going to wait for however long it took for him to wake up to get them.

Of course, there had been a lot of confusion at the hospital when they had arrived. Everybody had expected Lorelei to have all the answers about the man, but she didn’t. ”I don’t know him! He just collapsed in front of me!”

They had had to dig through his belongings to get to his wallet and only then did they get a name. Noah Lecomte. His driver’s license was from Louisiana and according to the birth date, he was twenty-seven. Other than that, she knew absolutely nothing about him.

It was nearing six o’clock in the evening. She had been sitting in the same chair for nearly seven hours, staying even when they took him to get a CAT scan. The doctors kept Lorelei updated as if she was his family. She supposed she was in this case. The front desk couldn’t find any type of emergency contact for him, so it wasn’t as if anyone else was coming.

His tests showed up normal and the doctors chalked up his collapsing to fatigue and dehydration. They told the blonde, however, that if he was to stay asleep for another day, they would have to run more tests. As for now, they were just pumping him with fluids and had inserted a catheter. That was going to be fun for him to wake up to.

Lorelei had shrugged at the nurses and the news that they brought. She didn’t care much about tests, only about him waking up. All she wanted was to question him about her parents.

Lorelei had been keeping in touch with Sofia the whole time, updating her every hour or so on his condition.

Hasn’t moved a muscle. If it wasn’t for all of his monitors beeping steadily, I would think he’s dead.

Tbh, you should leave. It’s not even your place to be there, Lei.

He said he knew my parents. I can’t just forget that.

Except he didn’t actually say that. He told you some cryptic ass message to rile you up. You know it can’t be true. You know it.

Lorelei sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn’t understand why her best friend couldn’t understand why she was so intrigued.

Her parents were dead, yes. Or that’s what she had been told for six years. She hadn’t been there for the fire, though. The cops had told her that there wasn’t anything left of them but teeth. It was probably just a grease fire that gotten out of hand too quickly. They had a lot of flammable objects in the house—tapestries, curtains, all kinds of papers and books that her parents kept. She could see how the house would have gone up in flames so fast.

What she hadn’t understood at the time, though, was how neither of her parents had gotten out fast enough. They were both skilled mages. They could have at least kept the fire at bay, could have controlled it. Hell, her father was known for working with the elements. She was sure he would have been able to turn the flames to sand or something.

But, no—they just… Died.

It had taken her a long time to cope with the loss, a couple of years, but she had managed. Aunt Ivey had moved back to Texas to help her. She had leased an apartment and stayed until Lorelei graduated high school, but after that she was on her own.

Lorelei stood up from her chair. She had to stretch her legs. She had been contemplating running back to her apartment to get a book and her phone charger as it was starting to die, but the girl was scared that as soon as she left the room, the man would wake up. That would be just her luck.

She could at least get a snack, though. There had to be a vending machine around there somewhere. Lorelei walked out of the room, looking both ways to see which one looked more promising, then sauntered down the corridor to her right. It felt good to walk around and after taking a few turns, she finally stumbled upon a couple of the humming machines.

It took her a while to decide, but after a few minutes, Lorelei settled on some cheese crackers. She got herself a soda as well then began her trek back to the room, nearly dropping the snack when she got there.

Noah Lecomte was finally awake. If she had known that all she had to have done was leave for him to come back to the conscious world, she would have done it hours ago. He was fiddling with the cord to his IV, frown lines etched deep into his face.

“Welcome back,” Lorelei said as she walked into the room.

He looked at her confused. “Who are… Wait,” he paused, staring at her. “I know you. Where do I know you from?” His voice was a little raspy after being asleep for about eight hours.

Lorelei’s heart dropped into her stomach. If he couldn’t even remember her or the message he delivered, he probably wouldn’t remember any of what she needed to know.

He looked away from her, mouthing something like he was trying to sound it out. “L- Lori? Lauren?”

The blonde smiled sadly and sat back down in her chair, pulling the blanket around her again. “Lorelei,” she told him. “Lorelei Hathaway. You found me at the café. Told me my parents needed my help.” She hoped it would jog his memory, but also reminded herself that maybe he just needed time. He fainted, after all, was out cold for a long time. Hopefully he was just groggy for now and it would all come back to him.

“Lorelei, yeah, I remember the name. I found you at a café?” She nodded and he cleared his throat and squeezed his eyes shut, thinking hard. “It was on a river… The Riverwalk…” He opened them again and looked at her. “Am I in San Antonio?”

“Yep.” She tried to keep her face impassive, but she felt impatient and frustrated. She had wanted to interrogate him right off the bat. She wanted to know everything and that obviously wasn’t going to happen. Raising a hand, she motioned to a button on the wall. “You should call the nurse. I’m sure they want to check your vitals and everything now that you’re awake.”

He nodded and did just that. “I’m Noah, by the way.”

“I know. They had to look for your wallet to get your ID here. Louisiana?”

“Just for the last couple of years. I have family there.”

She showed a small smile that grew when a nurse walked in.

“Well, look who’s awake,” she said in a bubbly voice. “You had us worried there for a while, Mr. Lecomte.”

The nurse introduced herself formally to Noah then began her routine—checking his pulse, his blood pressure, temperature, and so on. Before leaving again, she told him that another nurse would be coming in to take some blood and that she would bring him the hospital food menu so that he could eat something.

“How long have I been out?” He asked Lorelei.

The girl shrugged, “About nine hours, I think. They did a CAT scan, but nothing showed up so they figured you just passed out from being unhealthy in general.” He frowned once again and she laughed softly. “Not enough sleep, dehydration, something like that.”

“Oh, okay.” He shifted to sit up in the bed but hissed and lied back immediately, looking at her with huge light eyes. The color was stunning against his dark skin. “What the hell did they do to me?”

“I’m thinking that’s probably the catheter that you’re feeling.”

”Catheter?!”

“Well, they have you hooked up to these IVs with fluids and didn’t want you to pee yourself, so,” she motioned to him, “I think it was necessary that they put one in.”

Noah heaved a deep sigh. “Unbelievable.”

He seemed much more lucid now than he was just a few minutes ago, so maybe there was some chance that he would remember something about Lorelei’s parents.

She leaned forward in her chair, bracing her elbows on her knees. “So, do you remember how you got here, or why you really came, or who sent you?”

Noah stared at her blankly. Maybe three questions at a time were a little much.

“I… No. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“It’s a yes or no question,” she said shortly, only feeling a little bad. “You don’t remember anything?”

Noah grimaced. “Not really. I remember a face. A guy with gold hair and a British accent.”

“How about a name?”

He screwed his eyes shut and thought but shook his head after a few moments. “No, sorry, I can’t remember.”

Lorelei nibbled on her bottom lip while she thought. A man with an accent? That gives me nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Well then,” she stood up and grabbed her purse. “I’m gonna head out. I need to eat something real and maybe sleep some.”

Noah nodded, though he did look a little disappointed.

“I’ll come back tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll discharge you then if nothing else is wrong. Try to remember anything else between now and then, okay?” She started making her way to the door, cracking her knuckles one by one.

“Thank you.”

The blonde turned back to look at him. “For what?”

He shrugged, “Staying with me, I guess. I don’t really have anyone nearby.”

Her lips turned upward lightly. “You’re welcome. It wasn’t just out of the goodness of my heart, though. I wanted some answers.”

“I’ll try to think of some for you. I want to know how I got here just as much as you do.”

She nodded and walked out, praying to whatever god there might be that something, anything, would come back to him that night.