Elmo helped in what way he could. He was doing his best to keep his own panic in check. He had no idea what was wrong with Kim, only that it was clear that she'd caught something. Which Elmo couldn't help but wonder if it was contagious. As most illnesses were and whatever she had caught was clearly serious. Which meant that he didn't have just to worry about her, but all of them. Especially since he had no idea how the disease was transmitted.
Elmo wasn't sure how long Jonas had been gone to try and find somewhere that they could find to sleep, but when he came back, his expression told Elmo that he'd found something. He just hoped that it would let them get Kim to a place she could rest and recover.
"I found an inn, but we'll need to carry Kim and Sonya there ourselves," Jonas told them as he approached them. If you and Elin help each other carry Sonya, I think you should be able to manage. We need to hurry because I had to leave Heather at the room I booked at the inn, but I don't really trust that innkeeper. There was something about the way he looked at Heather that felt off."
"Take Kim and go ahead of us then," Elin told Jonas as she moved to Sonya's side and indicated Elmo to take her other side. "We'll catch up."
Jonas nodded and picked Kim up and started carrying her ahead. Elmo wanted to ask for directions to the inn, but stopped because Jonas was already moving quickly away. Elmo glanced at Elin and wondered if she realized that neither of them knew where the inn was. Aside from the vague direction that Jonas had left in.
"Ready?" Elin asked, snapping Elmo's attention back to where he was.
"Yeah," Elmo said absently as he took Sonya's arm and put it over his shoulders, Elin mimicking what Elmo was doing.
Then as they started to walk forward, they dropped Sonya after the first several steps, as they were both moving at different paces. So, as they stopped in order to keep from falling or dropping Sonya, Elmo looked at Elin.
We need to move together. Or we'll take forever to get to the inn, if we can even find it," Elmo said.
"Uh," Elin hesitated, looking unsure. "what do you suggest?"
Elmo thought about it, both of them seemed to move at the same basic pace when they walked, so as long as they moved together when they took each step, they should be able to move without much trouble.
"Actually, I think I might have an idea," Elmo said, nodding to himself. "Though, it's more of something my mom told me when I was younger and in a three-legged race."
"You had three legs?" Elin asked, her eyes growing wide.
Elmo sighed. "No, it's a race with two person teams. They just each have one of their legs tied together," he explained.
"Why would anyone do that? It sounds difficult," she said.
Elmo wished she could turn off the part of her that seemed to be easily distracted at the moment. While it was one of her charms, usually, right now it was getting to be a headache. "The difficulty is the point, I think," Elmo answered. "That's why it's a race. Because even the fastest runner might have trouble working in that kind of situation."
"Okay, I get it," Elin replied, smiling.
Elmo shook his head to try to dispell his annoyance without any luck. "Anyway," he continued. "When I say 'one,' you move one of your feet. Then when I say 'two,' you move your other foot. Understand?"
Elin nodded, though Elmo was skeptical about whether she did or not, but he didn't want ot take the time to confirm whether she did or not. "Okay, so, now, one!" Elmo said, and they took a step forward. "Two!"
They continued moving together like that, and Elmo was happy that they were moving so well together, which let Elmo know that Elin likely really had understood what he'd said. He had the word 'likely' in there because he wasn't willing to rule out them not having troubles this time as a fluke.
As they reached the corner where they'd seen Jonas disappear around, they continued their pace, even as they had other people moving around them. There wasn't a lot of people, but it did take a little more coordination to keep from running into anyone while maintaining their pace.
As they continued on down the street, they saw Jonas poke his head out of a two-story building. Elmo assumed that he was looking for them and was sure that he'd seen them when his head disappeared a moment later. Though, if he hadn't, it didn't matter. Elmo had seen where he was, so he steered them in that direction.
As they moved, a realization came to Elmo that he hadn't even thought about when he woke up to the stairway rising up. While he didn't mind not having the pain in his arm, he couldn't explain how that pain just went away like that. Even when they were fighting that giant spider, he didn't feel any pain in his arm.
With how he'd struck the wall when his arm had gotten hurt, he had wondered if it might be broken, but with how it was now, his arm was fully healed, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if there was something that happened that he wasn't aware of.
Yet, thinking about it wasn't going to help him any, so he pushed the issue out of his mind so he could focus on the more immediate issues at hand. Like what was wrong with Kim.
As they reached the inn, Jonas was about to stick his head out again, but seeing them at the door, he quickly helped them get Sonya through the door, Elin and Elmo following close behind.
Jonas helped sit Sonya in a chair at a table that already had Kim in a chair at. "Heather's upstairs. I didn't want to take Kim there until I knew you guys had found this place," Jonas said as they all sat down in a chair around the table.
"Did you just get us one room?" Elin asked.
"No, I got one for you and Kim, once she's better, and one for Elmo and me," Jonas answered.
"Does the innkeeper know what's wrong with Kim?" Elmo asked, hoping that the issue could get fixed in short order.
"No, haven't had a chance to," Jonas said. "I didn't see him when I got back, I'm sure he isn't upstairs. The floorboards up there creak like nothing I've seen before."
"We could always ask around," Elmo suggested. "Maybe someone else might know what it is or knows someone who can."
"I could keep an eye on Sonya and Kim while both of you go looking ofr help for Kim," Elin offered.
"Sound like a plan," Jonas acknowledged. "I'll wait here with Kim to see if the innkeeper comes back so that…" Jonas trailed off as the door to the inn opened and a man walked in.
"I see you got the rest of the people, that you said were coming, here," the man said, as he walked by.
"Hold on a minute," Jonas said, drawing the man's attention. Then indicating Kim, he continued, "My friend here is sick and we're not sure what might be causing it. We were hoping that you might know what's wrong with her."
"I'll see what I can do, but I'm not a chirurgeon. They'd be the ones who would be best to know what it might be," the man answered, walking over to look at Kim. "Hmmm. Yeah, I'll need to get a chirurgeon to confirm, but I think she might be under a spider's curse."
"What do you mean 'a spider's curse?'" Elmo asked.
"Just like the name implies, it's a curse that was put on her by a spider. They come in different ways, but this one looks like a 'death curse.'"
"What can we do to help her?" Elin asked.
"Unless you have a lot of money, there's nothing you can do," the man answered. "She'll be like this until she dies and from the looks of it, it's a pretty strong curse, so she should die from it sometime in the morning."
"How much would it cost to get her healed?" Jonas asked.
The man shook his head. "I really can't say. I only know that it's a lot. This is the first time I've seen someone under the death curse," he answered, sounding a little apologetic. "Her entire life will essentially drain out of her into the curse."
"So, about our agreement," Jonas said to the man.
The man looked at Elin and Elmo. "Yeah, I guess I could use them for some help to reduce how much you owe me from renting the two rooms to you rather than letting you just sleep in the common area here."
"Wait, what did you agree to?" Elin asked before Elmo could.
"I offered to have Elmo help him with cooking and Elin would help with waitressing," Jonas answered.
"What's 'waitressing?'" Elin asked.
Elmo explained the job of being a waitress to Elin and couldn't understand why she seemed do excited about doing that. Although, to be fair, he told himself, she probably has no idea how tiring it will be.
Elmo nodded his agreement when the door opened and they saw Owen's group enter the inn.