Alliance

Chapter Fifty-Four

Walking into the herbalist and healer shop was like walking into a vortex to another world. The shop was dimly lit and smoky from the many candles that were the only source of light. The windows in front of the shop were covered with thick curtains to keep out the sunlight.

Lemon and peppermint teased my senses as we walked toward the back of the shop, navigating around the many tables that displayed herbs, scented candles, and lotions.

"Hello Lydia, Kristin," Gillian said to the two girls who sat at a counter in the corner. The girls were twins, probably Ben's age, with jet black hair. Their faces reminded me of Wong with their slightly turned up brown eyes that were outlined with thick black eyeliner.

The girl with the chin length hair smiled at Gillian. "Hello Gillian, how may we help you?" Her eyes didn't look back at us. Not at Asher whose face was bruised or at Ben who was using my body as a crutch.

"I have some survivors," Gillian pointed a thumb towards us. "Could you work your magic, Kristin?"

The girl, Kristin, smiled. A wide, beautiful smile. "What sort of question is that? Of course." She stood from the stool she sat on and rounded the counter. She first looked over Asher, silently analyzing his face and his needs.

She turned to Ben. The girl's face was smooth, pretty, almost beautiful, but void of any feeling while she looked over Ben. The calculating eyes analyzed his face and stance before looking at me, at the cuts on my face that were slowly healing.

"We have lotion for those cuts," Kristin said to me, her eyes meeting mine. There was a look on her face. A look I couldn't quite place. "Our procedure will last a good two hours. We use old healing therapy. Essential oils, lotions, herbs, massage, acupuncture, along with other therapies."

I stared at her, wondering why she was telling me these things and not Ben or Asher. I nodded, "We will leave them with you."

Kristin waved the two men toward a room in the back. I was skeptical of letting Ben go and leaving him alone with the twins. They didn't look violent, but there was something else. An uneasy feeling I could not shake. And I don't think it wasn't because the twins were attractive. The whole town seemed too good to be true.

"Do you wish to take any lotions or herbs?" asked Lydia, the other twin with long back hair.

I watched Ben walk through the door and I heard Olivia answer for me. "No, we will be back later, maybe then."

The twin nodded and we followed Gillian out of the shop.

"Well ladies," Gillian turned toward us on the sidewalk, "I need to run along. Here is the safe house address; it's on this road just walk that way, house 213. Food is already supplied and everything is clean. You are welcome to visit the shops to get whatever supplies you need to take on the road. Everything is free of charge."

Gillian handed Olivia a small piece of paper before turning down the street. Olivia and I pulled the bikes we uncovered in the hospital up off the ground and pushed them down the street.

"What is your problem?" Olivia asked beside me.

"What?" I turned to her. I had to crane my neck up to look at her and squint one eye with the sun directly in my line of vision.

She shrugged toward the shop. "That look you gave that healer."

"What look?"

"That look!" Olivia distorted her face into a furrowed brow, straight lips, tight jaw, and calculating eyes. Her face relaxed, "That look. That was the look you gave that poor healer back there. I thought you were going to attack her."