Willow shrugged, "I lived here. I was caught here."
Realizing what she meant, Belen frowned, "So, where did you end up at?"
"Outside of Beijing." I responded vaguely.
Belen frowned, but I shook her head and pressed a finger to my lips mouthing a couple of words. Hearing this, Belen's narrowed his eyes in confusion before I continued with a steady stare, "Speaking of which, I heard that the soldiers are kidnapping sick civilians regardless of gender or age. I hope the mother wakes up soon or, if those soldiers find this place in the rain and sees her, they'd take the mother away from the children or all of them."
Belen' raised brow lowered as his face became stiff and I continued with a quick glance to the window and back, "I've heard that we're running out of water soon and the illness is getting worse. The government have quarantined the place, but they're just taking people away from here and nobody knows that the virus had spread outside. Those who got the virus catches a fever and has a hard time breathing without help. Yet, everyone here only knows about the plague that had pains in the organs or something like that. I've stumbled across some bodies and came across some trash money and all that for supplies."
It was then that Belen's eyes began to narrow and stare at her and the locked window before silently nodding his head. Willow got up from her seat and went to the table. She took her tweezers and pulled aside the rag. Belen frowned but walked over to her with a frown when he saw her faced up palm of warning. Under the light, Willow showed him the worm with her tweezer.
"There were a lot of zombies outside." Willow added after seeing Belen look to her in confusion, "So, there's no use for the money and it's not like I can make a living selling wig off their bodies. There were no earrings or anything else too."
She took the notebook as she saw the guy raise a brow and freeze under her strangely specific words that seem to spook him. As she continued writing, she spoke, "I'm hoping to leave this place soon and find a way to save the children here."
After writing, she handed the notebook to him. He took it and began to read the sentences she wrote on a black page.
His face turned pale as he slowly looked up at her in shock, "You're kidding me..."
Willow shook her head, "Nah. It's hard, but I'm not going to give up."
As she said this, she glanced over to the window, "But, you know what they say. Nobody can make a dream come true without money."
Belen took a deep breath before he slowly said, "That's... difficult."
Willow nodded back, "Yup."
With that, she covered up the insects and sat back down with a deep breath of relief. Seeing this, Belen pointed towards to worms and asked, "What about your previous job?"
"I can't go back being in the medical field." She responded vaguely, "I didn't even pass my first year here in college. My intern won't even take me back as a doctor now that the place is gone."
Belen raised a brow once he heard her words.
For better or worse, he has a clearer mind than the other three demigods she's met. She looked to the window when she noticed the rain was finally starting to die down and the sunlight coming back.
With a deep sigh, Willow shook her head in response to which Belen probably took it well before she walked to the door and walked out with Belen behind her. When she walked out, Willow continued with a smile, "You'll probably have to apologize to the mother, though she'll continue to keep an eye on you. She's taking care of two children by herself for a few months."
Hearing her speak honestly as they saw the two children sleeping with the black cat, Belen breathed a sigh of relief, "The father?"
Willow turned around and said, "Had crossed the Yellow spring."
"Crossed the yellow spring?" Belen raised a brow.
"There's always a long river under the earth." Willow explained, "Here it's said that our Yellow Springs is the capital over a bridge in that sense. Some says that there were a river around that place and a bridge at the entrance to the capital and some claim that the Yellow Springs is the Yellow River. It's never confirmed."
"I get it..." Belen stated in understanding and glanced at the children pitifully, "When did you start doing this?"
"I only just got here." Willow replied as she took the bowls and washed the dishes, "You should just focus on how you'll talk things out with the mother. She's already paranoid enough since she's gotten ill."
Belen's eyes widen as realization dawned upon him and turned to the children.
"I'll need your help later, but try talk things out with the mother." Willow clarified again, "Her concerns should be more important to you right now or it'll be difficult to move about or even stay here for her with you around."
"That's..."
Belen looked to her in bewilderment as he sat on a bench adjacent away from the children.
"Hah! Harsh."
Belen nearly jumped out of his seat as he spun around and saw the cat curled up between the children with a wide yawn.
"Boy," The cat turned to him, "you better be careful or she'll treat you like a slave too."
Willow put away the clean bowl with a raised brow, "Weren't you sleeping with the kids instead of keeping an eye on them like I told you?"
"It wasn't my choice to begin with." The cat scowled across his black kitty face, "This girl had never let me go. I'd have suffocated if the brother hadn't stopped her!"
Willow shrugged and turned to Belen as she wiped her hands to put on her medical gloves, "That's my familiar. Just call him Aki. Despite his age, his appearance doesn't fool anyone."
The cat stared at his mistress with great disbelief as he heard her words. He was eight hundred years old, goddammit! Is he trying to say that he's just a child?!
"Not to mention that you didn't tell me that my appearance had returned to normal..." Willow telepathed to the cat with a glare as he looked to have just realized it himself. Could it be that this fox isn't as skilled as he said he was? Show off.
As Belen looked between the cat and the children, he was mixed in a whirlwind of thoughts before turning to the woman putting away the dishes then turned to him and said, "Oh, I placed twenty-four sutures on your chest injury, so don't move around too much."
"R-right." He muttered in confusion before petting his injury and looking back at her back in deep confusion. Just who is this woman? She sounds... a little like her.
After surprising Belen when Willow forced Akira to turn her back to the previous appearance, Willow got ready for her trip as she left Belen to talk things out with the mother in the kitchen where Willow was busy packing away materials and bags for the medicines and equipment.
Translating his words as she packed, Willow began to notice that the mother seemed to have built a mutual understanding for the moment but continues to keep a distance. When they were down talking, Belen looked drained as the mother returned to her room hoping to distance herself from her children after she found herself sick.
During their talk, Aki kept the children busy around the time as she watched her children from the distance with a soft smile before she had returned to her room. After the long talk that seemed to have circled round and round, Willow took a deep breath and swung her bag on her back and turned to Belen who was watching YangWei show him how to make origami with the line paper Willow had given the kid.
Though, Belen didn't seem to be focusing on the child. Once Willow walked up to leave instruction, the guy noticed her and the brother looked up in bewilderment.
"You're going somewhere?" He noted with a raised brow.
Willow nodded, "I need to get supplies."
"And, the kids?"
"I need the kids to stay here." Willow responded, "It's too dangerous to let the children out right now."
Belen raised a brow, "If something happens while we're gone."
"I'll be setting up a barrier." Willow replied, "The mother won't understand. I'll be giving them some guidelines to follow."
"You can make a barrier?" Belen raised a brow before hesitantly asking, "Who is your father or mother?"
"They aren't known for this ability. Don't know if they can." Willow responded vaguely furthering Belen' confusion.
"We don't know everything about our godly parents." Belen pointed out.
"Really?" Willow responded bluntly.
"You..." He raised a brow, "Don't care?"
"I don't really." Willow responded with a frown, "I was raised by my human parent and step-parent. Moreover, I still can't use my ability out in the open either."
"So, you don't care." Belen confirmed with a frown.
Willow nodded, "We had our agreements."
Hearing this, Belen thought twice about prying but stepped back when he saw that she had already left. He didn't say anything. Minutes after returning, Willow did a once over again and turned to the brother and the little girl. Holding each tightly by the shoulders, she said firmly to them in Chinese, "You need to listen to me carefully, okay?"
As they nodded, she continued, "I'll be gone from the place for a long while, probably around six hours or so. So, a long time. While I'm gone, do not open the door, do not listen to what others outside said, and, if you ever feel that your mother is acting weird or collapse, do not stay around here. Go to the room behind the kitchen. There's a cold room with four corners. in the corner has four different items and a large drawing in chalk. You can not brush against anything on the ground. You can not move anything there. Just get each other and close the door."
"Would it be anything dark?" The little girl asked.
Surprised, Willow raised a brow but responded, "No. No, no. I don't do anything dark."
As the little girl smiled nervously, Willow frowned and stopped in place. Yang Wei looked back between me and his sister nervously. He looked extremely nervous from his eyes. Willow stood back up and thought for a bit before turning to Akira.
"You feel anything?" She asked him telepathically.
"No." Akira looked up at her curiously, "Why?"
Willow thought long and hard before asking her aloud, "Li Yan, how old are you this year?"
"I'm turning eight this year." She stated obediently without being apprehensive.
Willow thought for a bit in silence. Thoughts rotated in her mind and thought long and hard. The thoughts moving along curiously before Willow returned to the mother's room. Belen turned to the direction Willow had gone and stared at the children in confusion and noticed the brother held the sister's hand in his. He frowned.
.....
When she opened the door, she was met with the bedridden mother to which Willow walked in nervously in Chinese, "Miss Li Yun?"
The mother opened her eyes and looked to her with a raised brow, "Yes?"
"I have some questions to ask."
The mother raised a brow with a frown, "You want to ask questions?"
Willow nodded carefully, "Regarding the children, if I may."
Li Yun sat up on the bed with a frown as her hand began to rest on her head. Willow frowned and reached out urging her, "Don't get up."
Hearing this, Li Yun seemed to listen and rest back down. Since Willow came across the mother and found that the mother was struck with the same poison, she had told the mother the most believable thing that she had caught the virus and it had been dormant for a while. Moreover, the only way to remove it was surgery to the skull.