The Seeds of Doubt.

27. Help.

I grab an apple as I sit down at a table with Oliver and the twins who are eating sandwiches. "Do you know anyone who could help us find out somethings about curses and stuff?" Oliver asks.

"Why?" Nathan asks around a mouth full of sandwich.

"Greb." Kyle mutters and Nathan shoots him a dirty look.

"We just need to find some stuff out. " Oliver says trying to hide it's importance.

"Oh ... well we don't know anyone personally but I'm sure Troy will." Nathan smiles.

"Who's Troy?" I ask before taking a bite of my apple.

"He's the guy you beat up." Nathan beams and I choke as a piece of apple becomes logged in my throat. Oliver pats my back and my lungs receive the oxygen they crave; I groan.

"Are you sure there is no one else?" I ask.

"Possibly but Troy is your best bet." Kyle says and I rest my head against the rough wooden table.

"Come on then." Oliver sighs helping me up and I wish I could die as we slowly trudge up to Troy. Troy glares as he sees me and I bite the inside of my cheek trying to hold back a smirk as I see his split lip and black eye. "What do you want?" he growls.

"We need your help." Oliver says calmly.

"And why would I help you?" Troy questions.

"Because you're a good person ...?" Oliver offers and I hold back a laugh.

"No." Troy says.

"Please?" I ask finally speaking up, "We really need your help and I thought knights were suppose to help people."

"I wont help you until you get down on your knees and apologise." he smirks. My blood boils and bile burns in the back of my throat as I think about apologising to this jerk, my hands clench into fists and I want to beat the information out of him but I know we do need any leads to figure out what if going on. I sigh in defeat. "Nah, we'll find someone else thanks." Oliver says dragging me off.

"But we need his help." I say confused by his actions.

"I'm not having you humiliate yourself when you where in the right and he was in the wrong!" Oliver fumes and I smile.

"Thank you." I say quietly and he smiles.

"Any time." he says.

"Hey!" someone shouts from behind us and we whirl around to see Matt.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Visiting family. I heard you two had joined the training program so I figured I'd say hello and see how your doing." he smiles, "So how are you doing?"

"Well we're doing okay ... I guess." I mumble.

"She beat up a guy and now we need his help but he wont give it to us." Oliver explains.

"Who?" Matt asks shocked.

"Troy something." Oliver says.

"He's a jerk. I can get the information, if you want?" Matt says and we nod, "So what do you need to know?"

"Where to find someone who knows about curses." Oliver says and Matt nods before wandering towards Troy. He returns a few minutes later with a huge smile on his face, "You need to find Sebastian. He lives in a small shop called Andromida it isn't too far away from here so if you set off now you should be back in time. I think it is on Maybanks road."

"Thank you!" me and Oliver shout in unison as we dash off to find the shop and Sebastian.

"He could have warned us it would be this creepy." Oliver mumbles as we stop outside an old crumbling shop with a purple sign which read Andromida in gold swirling letters that's handing on the wall about the shop by two screws. The windows are boarded  up so we cant see inside and if I didn't know better I would have though it had been closed down for decades. It looks so out of place in this elegant city. "I think it is lovely." a voice sounds from behind us making us jump backwards and we land on the cold stone floor.  I stare up at tall man with long black hair which hides most of his face apart from a creepy smile, he's dressed in all back and he seems to belong with the shop. "Sebastian?" I ask standing up.

"The one and only." he smiles back.

"Can you help us?" I ask.

"Of course. Would you like to come inside?" Sebastian smiles opening the door which creaks.

"Do you think it safe?" Oliver whispers.

"I have no idea but what's the worst that can happen?" I shrug stepping inside.

"Death ..." Oliver mumbles as he follows me inside. Sebastian claps his hands and candles quickly burn in every corner off the room lighting up the dark building.  There are a few cobwebs about; old leather bound books are everywhere and disturbingly a row of coffins lines a wall. "Do you like them?" Sebastian asks as he sees me staring at them.

"They're ... lovely." I say politely but now I'm terrified we might actually die.

"You can have one, if you like?" Sebastian smiles.

"No thank you. I'm fine." I smile while chills run down my spine.

"No you're not." Sebastian says.

"What?" I ask as fear creeps into my body and my hand grips Oliver tightly as if it is an instinct.

"You're not fine. If you were fine you wouldn't have come looking for help." Sebastian explains and I let out a breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. "Sit down and tell me what the problem is."