Chapter 47: Unwelcomed Guests

  "Big Brother Na, what's wrong?" The boy asked curiously with a nervous glance to his mother probably thinking she'd scold him for interacting with the man, "Is the medicine too bitter? The aftertaste is better after you drink it. Mom said that big boys have to be able to drink herbal medicine down in one gulp. So, it shouldn't be much of a problem for you, right?"

  Hearing the little boy's Chinese, Belen turned to Willow who gave him the full translation. Belen raised a brow, "This child doesn't find it bitter?"

  Apathetic towards the whole thing, Willow shrugged as she began sorting out the vegetables she brought with her to make the mother something more nourishing for her recuperation, "In China, if western medicine doesn't work, we'd go for herbal medicine. The same goes for children. So, you better drink it or the children will laugh at you. Also, don't you dare throw it all back up. I don't have time to whip up another batch just for you. If you don't drink it, forget about lunch."

  "Doesn't that mean I have no option to begin with?" Belen clarified in bewilderment the moment he heard her threat.

  Willow sighed and downed her bowl of the bitter medicine, "I can't just let someone who hasn't had the treatment stay with us. Also, with your current situation, I bet you can't even move about on your own well enough yet. Take this time to recuperate before those guys come back for you. Don't think they won't be able to find you. It'll only be a matter of time. Don't think everything will be fine just because I checked your health already. So, just hold your breath and down it."

  Belen hesitated for a while before he gnashed his teeth in frustration, "Dang it!"

  Belen scowled before downing the medicine down as if it was his first time having a shot at a bar with a brave look. She'd say about a minute passed before he brought the bowl back down completely empty. The sister looked at Belen in awe while the mother could barely hold back her laughter knowing it was impolite to do so for someone taking this medication for the first time. With that done, Yang Wei had a wide grin on his face as he said boldly with a thumbs up, "Not bad, right?"

  What a naughty child...

  Smirking, Willow raised a brow as she watched Belen return it with a thumbs up of his own, encouraging the boy's outspoken behaviour. She didn't know what happened between the two yesterday, but it seemed the two had gotten along rather well after ripping up the curtain of their room yesterday. For the boy's sake, she decided against reporting this matter to his mother. Not since Belen stated that it was his fault yesterday. With a nod, Willow escorted the man out the door, taking the bowl out of his hands, and secretly shoving a piece of strawberry candy into his empty palm before pushing him out.

.....

  Thinking back, it was the first time she had heard the family give a laughter to anything, so Willow supposed that Belen did pretty well cheering up the family.

  After having finished the food, Willow left Akira with the children in the mother's room before taking the bowls to be washed. When she finished and returned to the room, she took a seat next to the children who were drawing on the blank pieces of printing paper she had found in the lobby. There, she returned to her study as the mother returned to her slumber after Willow's check up on her health which had stabilized.

  Since everything was well now, she only has to keep an eye on her health and watch out for any changes in the mother. Occassionally, the mother would awaken and speak with Willow or the children would ask her to play with them making Aki think that it was his chance to humiliate her for a change only to discover that she had little problems interacting with them as she taught them to draw certain animals as per their requests. In truth, they weren't too different from her younger siblings who constantly wants her to play with them when they were younger. Willow made lunch and returned to her studies once more before returning to her room when she heard a couple of knocks on the window startling the children. Willow left them with Aki and went to her window in her room before letting the pigeon in.

  "Well?" Willow said to the pigeon as she sat on the foot of her bed and folded her arms together with a firm expression.

  "He said, since you've gotten this far, it shouldn't be difficult for you to imagine the rest." Harper responded as he turned his piegon head to sort out his wing feathers.

  Willow nodded with a sigh, "I figured that would happen. All right. I need you to run another errand."

  "Another one?" Harper said in bewilderment, "But, I just got back."

  "I know that." Willow responded, "This time it's an emergency, so I can only allow you to rest till midnight today."

  "I won't be able to see in the dark." Harper responded in discontent.

  Willow sighed, "Says the one who left at night."

  "That's..." Harper was confused as to what to say next when he realized his error proving he could fly just well during the night unlike other birds who can't see in the dark unless they were nocturnal like owls.

  With that, she went on to give the bird his next set of instructions before letting him rest in her room for the rest of his break time. She had placed a peach on the table and walked back to the mother's room.

  The rest of the day was simple. Study magic circles, look through the piles of herbs and medicine Akira brought back that day and prepare food. She then went on to study many herbs and magic combination wondering if it'll make something big to her advantage in the future and present. With this in mind, she took a deep breath and turned away from her studies to Aki who had climbed next to the mother hoping to hide away from the wave of children's hands. The kids, knowing better than to jump on their mother who was recuperating, could only watch in pity as the cat curled up next to the mother's side under the light as the evening skies shined on the closed curtains.

  Suddenly, Aki's ears perked up.

  "He's back." The fox stated to her telepathically.

  Willow raised a brow when she noticed the change in his purposely tone of speech, "What's wrong?"

  "I smell blood."

  Willow frowned and got up before slipping her leather gloves on her hands and turned to the children, "Stay here. Big Sister has some business to take care of. Aki, you stay with them, got it?"

Hearing her words, Aki could barely muffle back a complaint as she cautiously walked out the door. Grabbing a hold of the first aid kit next to her, she walked out the door without the caution that should come with it. When she saw that the hall was clear, she magically locked the door from outside and proceeded down the steps.

  Sure enough, in the lobby was the large figure of the man curled up against the couch with exhaustion and drenched clothing. Willow pursed her lips with narrowed eyes as Belen heard her footsteps approaching his figure and lifted his head up to greet her with a frown, "This..."

  "I figured already." Willow interrupted with a frown when she saw two familiar figures.

  One was a slender man in a blue trench coat and white jeans. His chiseled face with short cerulean hair and a bleached streak of hair running down the side of his face. The other was a woman with straight black hair that reached just below her shoulders. She had a denim jacket on over her with black jeans and orange sweater. Willow wanted to sigh as she wondered if all demigod boys find dying their hair fun. She walked over to the two and checked their condition before she nodded, "They're fine. No major injuries anywhere. However..."

  Willow sighed and called out Aki telepathically before going over to Belen and pulling out his arm. A deep gash ran down from his shoulder to his elbow while blood seeped through his purple jacket. Willow frowned as she took out her tools and medicine getting to work. Belen didn't say anything but stared at her in confusion. He hadn't even said anything and she's treating him and the strangers he's brought.

  No wait, she should know them anyway. Instead, Willow had practically forced him to let her treat the wound on his chest whilst scolding him as she could see that one of the sutures had snapped forcing her to put another on it. As she did so, Belen was touched that she would unhesitantly put another suture on his injury after all of her warnings to him. Only after bandaging it did Aki arrived and checked on the two new guests before turning to Willow and placed a paw on the woman's shoulder, "Touch her hand."

  Willow did as he said and touched the back of her palm with the tips of her fingers.

  "You remember the sensation when you used magic, right?" Aki responded, "Try to get a feel for it from her."

  Willow raised a brow but followed the instruction as she had no trouble doing something as simple as feeling for magic thanks to his teaching. As per usual, she could feel a shift in the still air around them. What had been silence and calm became air of constant turbulence. She frowned as she turned to Aki who said, "You feel anything stifling or dizzy to you?"

  "None."

  "Then, she's fine." Aki responded, "What you're feeling right now is her powers. Because her control over it isn't extremely stable, her current is a little chaotic. Once she gains proper control over it, it'll become more calm. As you continue to get a feel for their energy, you'll eventually be able to piece together what type of heritage or ability they have. Hers is different, but I can guess you know why."

  Willow nodded and turned to do the same to man. Seeing her began to use them as her guinea pigs, Belen didn't have the strength to step in and persuade her to bring them into a room. He was tired, mentally exhausted, and too injured to persuade with the woman. This time, there was a ripple of energy emitting from him as Willow tapped into his energy and found that there was nothing heavy or dizzy coming from them. She turned to him, "Is this water? There's ripples coming from his source of energy. I don't feel any dizziness of strange feeling coming from him."

  Akira only took a glance on the man and nodded with approval and a glint in his eyes, "That's right. He's fine too."

  Willow nodded and looked between the two before turning to Belen, "I'll need your help for a little longer. Aki, you give him a hand too. He's too injured to carry the man all the way up there on his own."

  "Do I have to?" Aki complained, "First, you have me babysit, then you make me do handiwor-"

  "I won't feed you anything but herbal pills for the next week, then." Willow responded telepathically with a smirk as she figured that it might as well be better to test her new inventions on a humanoid figure of Aki than on a demigod or human.

  "You wouldn't dare." Aki hissed a loud.

  Willow shrugged, "Whether or not I dare to, shouldn't you know it?"

  Aki stared at Willow as his aggressive and offended face became one of irritation and depression with folded ears and puffy tail like a normal cat's. Belen' eyes widen as he watched Aki turn into his adult humanoid figure that Willow had seen back in the rural lands of Hebei minus the ears and tails.

  The cat can take on a human form?!