Now You See Me

Three: Lorien

I stared at the man sitting on my bed for a long time before anything happened.

"Do I...know you?" I asked him, when the silence grew uncomfortable. He didn't respond immediately; he climbed off my bed without a sound and came over, his long sheet of perfectly straight, silver-blonde hair billowing behind him. His eyes weren't quite as pale as Thea's, but they were still pretty unsettling, and I broke our gaze when he showed no signs of doing so.

"Not that I know of," he finally replied, once he was standing so close you couldn't fit a hair between us; then he grinned, startling me. "But you should, because otherwise you are going to be very miserable."

He danced backwards and jumped back on my bed, giggling delightedly.

I had absolutely nothing to say.

"Well? What is your name?" the man prompted, looking miffed to find that I hadn't moved. He patted the space on the bed beside him as if this was his room and I was tempted to think Courtney had mixed up by accident.

But by this point I had a strong sinking feeling that she hadn't.

"D-Damien," I replied, moving to take the space since he didn't look like he was offering an alternative.

"Lorien," the man replied, looking ecstatic as I sat down beside him. "I am an elf."

I remembered Courtney telling me about Lorien that morning, and I was sure she'd said he was a little unstable. He stared at me as if he expected something in return, his eyes much wider than I'd ever thought was possible, and I found myself silently agreeing with her.

"I'm a Syren," I replied, assuming that that was what he was after.

"Ah." He sighed. "That explains the size of your bath. That is okay, then. I was getting jealous."

He giggled like I'd said something insensitive and skipped to a door in the corner of the room. I joined him there after a few moments - since he showed no sign of opening it without me - and he let us in; he spread his arm wide as if trying to make a sale. He was right; the bath was massive. It made the room around it look shrunken in comparison, and there was only just enough space for a toilet and miniature sink.

"You have met Courtney already, yes?" Lorien asked. I paused in gawking to look back at him and give the impression that I was somewhat polite.

"Yes."

"Thea?"

"Yes..."

"Anybody else?"

"Not yet."

Lorien grinned. "Bronze goes to me, then."

It took me a while to work out what he meant, and by the time I had he was already gone. I blinked, and turned to scan the room in time to see the door swing back into the frame. I scoffed. If he was going to treat it like a race, then I'd try not to take offence.

I picked up my rucksack and threw it on the bed, before undoing the top and tipping out all my belongings. There wasn't much. I hadn't wanted to bring most of my stuff with me, since I couldn't remember when I'd been engaged with such things anyway. But there had been a few interesting artefacts in my bedroom which I was hoping to regain some memory from, primarily a large photo album and an odd rubbery object I'd found in my underwear drawer.

I didn't fancy unpacking just then, so I sat on the edge of the bed with the photo album. The first page had a picture of me and another boy. He was handsome, I thought. Had nice eyes. My gaze shifted to our linked hands, and to the rubber thing tangled in one of my shirts, and something started to click together in my head.