[I apologize; this update is shorter than I wanted it to be.\u00a0 It’s 11:20 on Christmas Eve and I’m stealing a few minutes of hanging with the fam to schedule this post.\u00a0 Happy Christmas to everyone who celebrates and the spirit of the season to those who do not.]<\/p>\n
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The hours felt like days as we sat there, waiting for word.\u00a0 I\u2019d have gotten up twice if Thom hadn\u2019t been asleep on my shoulder, then asleep with his head in my lap as we waited by the fire.\u00a0 Afternoon wore away into evening.\u00a0 Tala cooked and the others were quiet as they drifted through for their meals, as if they could sense the pall that hung over the four of us by the fire, as if it extended to the whole settlement.<\/p>\n
Who knows?\u00a0 Maybe it really did.\u00a0 Maybe he was really that important to more than just a bare handful of us.\u00a0 I liked to think he was.\u00a0 Carolyn squeezed my shoulder gently as she came past during dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cJac and Jay aren\u2019t going to let him die,\u201d she whispered.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re having a hard time of it, but it\u2019ll be okay.\u00a0 It has to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
I glanced up at her and smiled grimly.\u00a0 \u201cSomeone\u2019s watching, aren\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n
She gave a weak smile and a little shrug.\u00a0 \u201cLongfellow likes Phelan.\u00a0 He\u2019s keeping watch right now and reporting back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes, I envied her that connection she had with the fair folk, the small ones that rode on gossamer wings, the ones that most of us couldn\u2019t see.\u00a0 Other times, I wondered what that connection did to her, since we all seemed to pay a price for what we could do.<\/p>\n
But she\u2019s got J.T. to help her through whatever it is, and I can\u2019t think of anyone better to help her than him.<\/i>\u00a0 They were well-matched, Carolyn and J.T., more than anyone would have ever thought back before the end of everything we\u2019d ever known.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me know if something changes?\u201d I asked her.<\/p>\n
She nodded and squeezed my shoulder again.\u00a0 \u201cOf course.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing you\u2019ll be right here, too, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBingo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She drifted away, then, back to whatever she\u2019d been doing before dinner, leaving me by the fire with Thom, Neve, and Cameron.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she okay?\u201d Neve asked quietly, her eyes following Carolyn as she walked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs good as we are, I guess,\u201d I murmured, and left it at that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[I apologize; this update is shorter than I wanted it to be.\u00a0 It’s 11:20 on Christmas Eve and I’m stealing a few minutes of hanging with the fam to schedule this post.\u00a0 Happy Christmas to everyone who celebrates and the … Continue reading