Chapter 51: Promise, Got it?

 Speaking of that, she also wanted to know just what kind of dog that girl got with her. Something about what Belen said struck her odd. Could it be a form of hell hound or a hybrid? There was also something she found rather irritating in the back of her mind. Something about what Belen had told her. Something about a gigantic black dog.

 "Where have I heard of that before?" Willow pursed her lips in thought as she washed the dishes, "A black dog..."

 A black dog with red eyes...

 Red eyes. Black dog...

 It was big with black fur and red eyes...

 Willow frowned as she cleared away the dishes and pot, "A black dog with red eyes. Glowing red eyes like a demon?"

 She did recall Belen saying demon back then. At least, she was glad that the only demon they might encounter was the Keres. She recalled that the monsters should have wings with the look of scary women out of a horror movie. Eyes glowing red? Hopefully not. Was the dog from a greek mythology or a Chinese mythology? All she can think about was the two hounds of different symbolism.

 As Willow thought for a while, she noticed a tug on her shirt and looked down to see the brother calling out to her, "Is something wrong Sister Willow? You've been looking at the walls for a while now."

 Willow raised a brow and saw that the mother was staring at her curiously with worry too. After washing the dishes, she made a beeline back to the children's room where Aki was sleeping next to the mother's side finally finding his age zone. Willow shook her head, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just trying to remember some legends my parents once told me."

 "Legends?!" The brother's eyes shined with enthusiasm when he heard her speak, "Can you tell us some good legends?"

 "Yang Wei!" Li Yun scolded her son with a stern frown when she heard his selfish request.

 However, Willow found no fault in his behavior. After all, children have a harder time reigning in their selfish behaviour and would innocently think that it would be all right to make such requests. Also, it wasn't that big of a request.

 Though, Willow knew she'll have to put a curb before she might end up spoiling those children rotten later on. Willow smiled and said to the guilty-looking brother, "The legends I'm thinking about are foreign legends. There are a lot of terms I can't translate into Chinese. If you want to hear about it, then you will have to learn English really well so I can tell you one day."

 "You promise?" Yang wei looked to her with wide eyes when he heard this.

 "Only if you study hard to learn the language." Willow responded, "I'll be waiting for the day. There are many tales out there in the world, after all. Not all can be translated into Chinese."

 "Okay!" The boy nodded confidently, "I'll study hard then you tell me those stories. Promise, got it? We've gotten bored of the Monkey King story."

 "I want to hear it too!" Li Yan called out with a pouting look she had taken on over the hours, "Big brother, you have to teach me too. I can't learn English till I'm in third grade. Even now, I'm still in second grade just because I was born later in the year."

 Willow could hear the silent laughter of the mother who didn't know if she should laugh or cry over the fact that her children now wants to study foreign language harder all for the sake of hearing more stories. Willow wore a wide smile seeing the two talk so closely like blood-related siblings. In the end, there are just some children that doesn't require blood to treat another as siblings.

.....

 Having been left in her room to rest, Hannah could still feel the slight pain on her stomach and thought of what the woman said just now. All she could make of the woman was that she was a vicious and selfish girl, but what confused her was that there was some truth to what she said even though she didn't want to admit it. No matter the words the woman used, a lot of it was true. She wasn't certain about the history about the pact between gods, but, when she thought about it, she realized that with so many heavens of different regions in contact with each other, how could it have been easy for them to form a good bond?

 Thinking back on the other demigods she had met, only one of them became good friends with her and that was because they had the same goals and were demigods during their first meeting. There was also the fact that they were both the only girls in the team of five and the four of them had saved her.

 Thinking of her friend, she looked around and saw the large room. There was no one else with her and her clothes were gone, she wanted to leave to find Rain in the room next to her but she felt that it might become a problem with only her bath robe on in the room. Thinking back, she didn't even scold the crazy woman for stripping her down.

 Wait!

 Did Rain go through the same thing?

 However, she noticed that the room was well heated inside. Yet, she didn't hear the sound of the heater being turned on. Not even a hum. She raised a brow and glanced around. It was weird how a mad woman would care for them, but she did mention an acquaintance. Just who is this person that saved them? Hannah was thoroughly confused as they were in China and Hannah didn't know anyone in China and she wasn't sure about Rain and their companions. With some thought, she glanced around the room again. The place looked decent. There was blue tiles on the floor and a counter with a pretty old television. In the corner was the table and stools where Willow had sat in earlier.

 A closet and the door to the restroom was near the room's door and the sheets were uncomfortably puffy and white. She didn't know where the laundry was so she couldn't go and retrieve her clothes. Just why were they doing this again?

 She recalled being in the plane when the engine and turbulence suddenly burst. How could that have happened?

 She didn't want to believe that it had all been the work of demigods. However, what Willow told her just wouldn't leave her mind. Even though she didn't want to believe her completely, some parts of her argued back saying that what she said can't be wrong. Was this girl really another chosen one like her?

 Can there be more than one chosen ones? Well, she knew that it wasn't impossible for have only one, but why didn't they brought her out sooner than later? Why didn't they tell Hannah about it? Willow said that she only got chosen a few months ago...

 "Months?!" Hannah's eyes widen in shock upon her sudden revelation by her own thoughts.

 She snatched the cellular smartphone from her blanket and swiped the screen on. It was now in the middle of May?! She racked her head around as she thought aloud, "But, it was just before Janurary when we left... Meaning, it's been four months!"

 Now it felt as though what the mad woman said were true. She and her friends were caught by the demigods around here and was unlucky that they weren't allies or nice ones!

 "Oh my god..." Hannah breathed in shock when some thoughts came across her mind, "Mom must be worried about me!"

 She quickly tapped the call app, but realized that there was no connection to the phone lines.

 "That's right." Hannah breathed to calm herself down, "This place has become a zombie apocalypse and that Serah girl can track our calls. I need to get out of Beijing!"

 She grimaced when she realized she got too ahead of herself. She clenched on her blanket with frustration as she muttered, "I have to save our comrades first. Since we're barricaded in Beijing, we have to get out of here before we can make calls."

 She thought carefully about what Willow said. In her mind, the woman was a mad woman who have lost her sanity in these hard times, but, sadly, Hannah felt that the mad woman had it all together more than she did. She thought of what she could do in this situation. After all, it was just her and Rain left now according to that woman. But, more importantly, was she really an ally or a foe? Didn't she say that she was going to be neutral? Then, why save them?

...

 That night, Willow tucked the Li Yan into bed before cracking open the books again. After giving back Hannah's dried clothes, she had told her to go back to sleep for the night with a few warnings to follow. Then, she took the children for bed. Belen had also returned to his room shortly after helping her hand him back his clothes. She sighed as she continued reading her book.

 "Big Sister Willow, what are you reading?"