Free Forgotten by Lauren Barnholdt, Aaron Gorvine

Chapter One

    Natalia
    There are doctors. Lots and lots of doctors. They come into my hospital room, one after another, asking me the same questions. Do you have a headache? No. Are you dizzy? No. Do you think you fell and hit your head? No. Do you remember anything that happened? No. Are you sure? Yes.
    They write on their charts, making notes of the things I tell them. They take my blood pressure and listen to my heart. They do tests and tests and more tests. Scans in big machines that make loud noises and make me feel claustrophobic. Needles that suck my blood into vials, which are then whisked off to the lab. At first, I’m scared. I hate doctors, and I hate hospitals. I didn’t even want to come here, but Cam insisted.
    “Doctors aren’t going to be able to help me,” I told him a few hours ago. We were lying on the bed in his dad’s pool house, after Cam brought me in from the beach.
    “Whatever happened to me obviously isn’t medical.”
    “You don’t know that,” Cam said. He was holding me tightly in his arms, his hands stroking my hair. “Maybe you had some kind of seizure or something.”
    “Right,” I said. “I just happened to have a seizure and now I don’t remember anything about what happened over the weekend, even though you’re telling me we were at some weird witch compound. Nice try, Cam.”
    But he insisted that I see a doctor. And so now here we are, in the emergency wing of St. Joseph’s Hospital. After a couple hours of tests, I stopped being afraid. At least, I stopped being afraid of the tubes and the needles and the hospital smell. Now I’m more afraid that they’re not going to be able to figure out what’s wrong with me, that they’re not going to be able to fix it, that I’ve had some kind of spell put on me that won’t be able to be reversed.
    “Cam,” I say. He’s over by the window of my hospital room, staring outside. His hands are in his pockets, and there’s a pensive look on his face. “What are you thinking about?”
    He doesn’t answer. He’s been mostly quiet this whole time, holding my hand, only talking to ask me if I’m okay, if I have everything I need. He’s gone with me every time they had to wheel me out of the room for a new test, comforting me, telling me it’s going to be okay.
    “Cam?”
    “Yeah?” He turns around to face me, and his eyes are bloodshot, with dark circles underneath. He looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks.
    “Are you – ”
    But before I can finish, there’s a commotion in the hallway, the sound of voices and shoes squeaking on floor, and then, before I can process what’s happening, my mom comes bustling into my room.
    “Natalia!” she says, immediately rushing over to my bed. Her hand reaches out and smooths my hair back from my face. “Oh, thank God! Why haven’t you been answering your cell phone?”
    I almost laugh. According to Cam, my cell phone is gone, probably wrecked along with my mom’s car, or left in the woods somewhere. I’m not sure, since I don’t remember any of it.
    “I lost my cell phone,” I say. “Didn’t Cam tell you?” Cam called my mom as soon as we got here, telling her I woke up not remembering anything, that he’d taken me to the emergency room, and that she should come immediately.
    “You lost it?” She looks confused. “How did you lose it?”
    “I don’t remember.”
    She sits on the edge of my bed. “It’s okay,” she says soothingly. “Don’t worry about it. We can get you another cell phone.” I wonder how she’s going to feel when she realizes that her car is gone, too. A hundred dollar phone is one thing, a ten thousand dollar car is another.
    “Hi, Ms. Moore,” Cam says. “I’m glad you’re here.”
    “I am, too,” she says. But she’s not looking at him. “And now that I am, you can probably go.”
    “Go?” Cam sounds confused. “Why would I go?”
    “Now that I’m here,” my mom repeats. “You can leave. I’ll stay with Natalia.”
    She