BANAAG (Tagalog-English)

Tayabas, 1944. A barefoot girl steals guavas from the wrong side of the creek, and something in the trees laughs.

Every child in Lantayan knows the rules. Never cross the water. Never eat what grows on the other side. Never say your full name under the trees. And when you pass the old balete at the end of the barrio road, you say tabi-tabi po, and you never look.

Gloria Villareal breaks the first rule for her little brother. Then she breaks it again to save her whole family. On the far side of the creek, a boy with no last name is waiting for her. He can't lie, he can't cross, and he's been waiting a very long time for someone who isn't afraid.

But the war is coming up the mountain, and the forest is hungry. On the night the town burns, a fourteen-year-old girl kneels before the balete with smoke in her hair and makes a promise. She doesn't understand all of it. She understands enough.

Some words keep a family alive. Some words cost more than anyone can say.

And some promises take eighty years to keep.

Prequel to Ikalabing-walo.