It doesn't take us long to make it through the forest to the healer. At first the forest is the same as all the other ones we've passed through, but as we got closer to the healer it had changed.

It wasn't noticeable at first, it was more of a feeling than anything. The air had felt crisper and smelt cleaner. The trees went from just being normal brown and green to having little colorful plants growing on them. From glowing purples and blues to warm and murky oranges and reds. Then, out of nowhere a house had just appeared in the middle of all of the weird plants.

"This is it," Om says.

I stare at the house with wide eyes and an open mouth.

It's a cottage for a witch. The wood house is covered in plants of different shades of greens. Ivy hangs down from the roof and climbs along the side of it. Hanging from the roof are different herbs. Specks of purple jump out of the design. And the door is a blue black color with white dots on it, and the window in the middle of the door is shaped like a crescent moon.

"This is amazing," I breathe.

Om shrugs. "It's over the top. Who needs to look like they're one with Tace by decorating their house like a cave?"

I shrug. I don't care what they think. But if I could have a house like this, I would snatch it in an instant.

"You guys wait here, well I go and... negotiate for her help."

My eyes widen in shock. "She won't just help out of the goodness of her heart?"

Om chuckles. "It's sweet that you think like that. But everything has a price here." They turn away and walk up to the door.

After the knock it takes a few moments before the door cracks open. A lady with sun bright hair, and blue eyes that seem to sit off her face peeks her head out the door. Her nose is slightly crooked and her thin lips are down in a frown. "What?" She snarls.

Om smiles at her. "Qu! So good to see you."

The healer rolls her eyes before opening the door wider. She places her hip against it to hold it open. She's a good head shorter than Om and a little more plump. "What do you want? I thought our last agreement was over?"

Om nods. "It is. But you see, I need some help for my friend." Om gestures over to me.

The healers gaze follows and lands on me. She sighs before opening the door more. "Come in and we'll talk first."

Om nods and ducks into the cottage. The healer eyes us before closing the door.

"What now?" Cam asks.

"I guess we wait."

The more time that passes the darker the area gets. As the light gets dimmer and dimmer the area we stand in gets darker. But the plants that grow on the tree start to glow brighter, almost as if they're night-lights, and more firelights start to fly up from the grass and hover around us.

"How much longer do you think they'll be?" Cam asks. He leans against the wister as he fiddles with his hands.

The wister is now asleep, still letting me lay on it as it lies on the ground. "I hope that it won't be much longer."

Bang!

I jolt my head up and see the door to the cottage swung open and Om exiting it. Cam sits up and with eagerness asks, "How'd it go?"

Om sighs. "She'll help."

"You don't sound happy about that?" I say it like a question but mean it more as a statement.

"I am. I'm just not happy about what I have to get her in return."

"What's that?" Cam asks.

Om shakes their head. "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

Me and Cam share a look but don't say anything.

Om shakes their head again, but this time they replace their frown with a smile. "Anyways, are you ready to be healed?"

I break out into a grin. "I'm so ready!"

Om and Cam bend down and each grab one of my arms. Om hooks my left arm over their shoulders as they both lift me off the wister. My back screams in pain, but I try to not let it out. Once I'm off the wister they each balance me out and we hobble to the door together. Once we're through Om leads the way down a long hallway to another door that leads into a bedroom. They place me down on the bed as carefully as they can but my back still screams at the pressure.

"I'll go grab Qu and see if she's ready with the ointment."

I nod.

Om leaves the room and once they do Cam sits on the bed down by my legs. He rubs at his face and yawns.

I can't help but feel like I shouldn't have dragged him into this. I've taken him away from his family, from school, all for what? To just end up tired. Sure, we're going to save Peggy but what if we can't? Then I've really taken him away from everything.

I watch as he rests his ankle on his leg and rubs it.

"Are you okay?" I ask. My brows are lowered as I watch him rub at his ankle.

He looks over at me and I swear that his blue eyes seem to war with each other. He sighs. "I'm fine. It's nothing really."

I try to sit up but my back groans in protest.

Cam eyes me.

"You're clearly hurt. What happened?"

He shakes his head.

"Don't worry about it."

I groan. "But Cam. If you're hurt then it's my fault."

His eyes widen. "It wouldn't be your fault even if I was hurt!"

I rub my eyes. "It would be my fault because I'm the one who dragged you here. If you hadn't come then you'd be with your family and wouldn't be hurt."

He shakes his head. "You didn't drag me here. I come by my own choice. Plus, if I didn't come with you, you wouldn't be here. And if I were to stay back I would be worried sick about you."

I scoff. "Why?"

His eyes seem to sag at the question. "Because we're friends."

I frown. Somewhere in me I know that, but there's another part of me that still refuses to believe we're back there. I don't deserve his friendship. I look away and stare at the wall. "You really... you want... you forgive me?" I struggle to find the words.

He nods. "I just want us to be friends again. I've missed you more than you think."

When I turn back to him tears flow freely down my face. "I've missed you so much."

Cam smiles softly. There's a twinkle in his eyes that I haven't seen for a long time. "You have to promise me one thing though," he says.

My smile and my hopes drop. No. This is where it'll all go wrong. I won't be able to keep the promise which means we won't be friends anymore or ever again. "What?" I whisper. I almost don't hear myself say it, so I'm surprised when Cam responds.

"You have to promise to make time for me."

I sigh a breath of relief. "I promise," I say with a big grin on my face. "But you have to get that ankle looked at."

Cam rolls his eyes. "Fine."

We grin at one another.

A loud sigh comes from the door. Our heads snap towards the sound to see the healer standing in the doorway. In her hands she holds a bowl with steam flowing out of it. "Great. I now have two patiences."

Cam looks at me and I look at him before we break out into laughter.

The healer walks into the room, grabs a stool that sits beside the bed and places it in front of the bed. She places the bowl on the nightstand and takes a seat. She keeps her gaze on me as she speaks. "I presume you're Mattie? The one with the broken back?"

I nod. "It's not-"

"We'll see about that." She turns and eyes Cam. "You should leave."

"But-"

"Do you want to see her naked?"

I've never seen Cam's face turn so red so fast. He jumps off the bed and scurries to the door. "I'll be outside when you're done! Good luck!" he calls before slamming the door closed.

The healer turns back to me with a chuckle. "He's a little gullible, ain't he?"

I'm too shocked to reply.

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Don't worry. I'm not making you get naked. I just need you to lift your shirt up on your back so I can apply the ointment."

I sigh. "I'm glad to hear that's all you need. I would not have felt comfortable getting naked."

The healer raises a brow. "Would ya have?"

I shrug the best I can. "Probably not? But if it had been what I needed to do? Then... probably."

The healer tsks. "Only do that on your own terms."

I nod instead of saying something. How would I even respond to that?

"Now let's get you rolled over so I can have access to your back."

She carefully helps me up and helps me lie down on my stomach. Although my back groans in protest I've gotten so used to the pain that I'm able to ignore it this time. The healer rolls my shirt up enough for her to have access to the middle of the back where the most pain is.

"This might hurt a little," she says as she pushes down on my back.

I bite my lip as I try to hold in a scream of pain.

Her hands move around my back, almost like she's giving me a massage. After a few more times of her pushing on it she takes her hands off my back. "Well it's not broken. So that's good."

I sigh in relief. I watch out of the corner of my eye as she picks up the bowl that is no longer steaming and stirs it with a wooden spoon.

"This might burn a bit. But this will take away the pain and heal anything that might have been broken that I did not feel."

I nod. There's a moment of waiting for the hot liquid to burn me. I expect it to come and when it does it surprises me.

The liquid is warm, not burning. I sigh as it's spread around my back. Somehow it's sticky and runny at the same time. Its texture is almost like how dish soap feels.

Sooner than I'd like the spoon comes off my back and the healer sets the bowl back on the nightstand.

"It'll take the whole night for the ointment to heal you. So far now just get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning."

I smile. "Thank you so much. How can I repay you?"

She chuckles and smiles at me. "Om is already taking care of my payment."

I frown.

"Sleep well," the healer says before closing the door and leaving me in the dark.

I owe Om so much. I'm sure they're just trying to make up for the bandits but they've been helpful ever since. I only expected them to take us to the healer, not to pay the healer. And then the ride over here with the wister. How did they even manage that? It was like a dream meeting it.

As my eyes flutter shut I make a promise to myself to forgive Om in the morning.