{"id":2832,"date":"2016-04-18T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2016-04-15T13:42:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T17:42:58","slug":"thirty-01-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2832","title":{"rendered":"Thirty – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom shook his head as he swung down from the saddle. \u201cNot a damned thing. It\u2019s like they vanished into thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always was<\/em> good at hiding,\u201d Phelan muttered, crossing his arms. My lips thinned.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo weeks and we\u2019re no closer to finding him now than we were when he disappeared.\u201d Every day that went by without any sign of my brother, I felt even sicker to my stomach. Where had she taken him? Why<\/em> had she taken him?<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t have any answers and damnation, I needed <\/em>some.<\/p>\n

Thom stared at me for a long moment before he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight against his chest. I sucked in a ragged breath and pressed my forehead against his shoulder. I couldn\u2019t even cry anymore\u2014I didn\u2019t have the tears left.<\/p>\n

Where <\/em>is he?<\/em><\/p>\n

My fingers tangled in the flannel of Thom\u2019s shirt and he rested his cheek against my hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s said that every day for two weeks, ever since we\u2019d discovered Matt was gone.<\/p>\n

There had been nothing\u2014no word, no sign. It really was<\/em> like they\u2019d vanished into thin air or stepped across the boundaries between this world and another.<\/p>\n

I was starting to realize that the answers I needed weren\u2019t going to come.<\/p>\n

I sucked in a ragged breath and straightened, pushing away from my husband. I looked at him and Phelan, the words I was about to say sticking in my throat, threatening to choke me even though I knew they needed to be said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s time to stop looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

They looked at me like I\u2019d finally gone over the edge.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019d been them, maybe I\u2019d have done the same, all things considered.<\/p>\n

My husband was the first to recover his voice. And his brow furrowed as he stared at me hard. \u201cWhat did you see?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing,\u201d I said quietly, and it was the truth. Tying up as many resources as we were trying to find Matt was dangerous, though\u2014especially considering that there was still another threat somewhere nearby, one that had nearly killed Cariocecus and manipulated Phelan\u2019s mental and emotional state when he\u2019d stepped beyond the strongest of our wards with me.<\/p>\n

Even though Matt was my brother and I loved him more than anyone save Thom and our baby, I couldn\u2019t justify what we were doing. It didn\u2019t feel right, feel fair.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll make it back somehow. I know he will.<\/em><\/p>\n

I closed my eyes and exhaled. \u201cBut we have so many other things that we should be worrying about right now. I love Matt\u2014he\u2019s my brother\u2014but this isn\u2019t fair to everyone else. There\u2019s too much to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should have killed her a long time ago,\u201d Aoife\u2019s voice said from behind me. I winced, glancing back toward her. I hadn\u2019t heard her approach.<\/p>\n

You need to pay more attention.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phelan sighed. \u201cI\u2019m not having this argument again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an argument, it\u2019s a statement of fact,\u201d Aoife said, then looked at me. \u201cJ.T. wants to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I frowned, but nodded, wondering why he hadn\u2019t come himself. \u201cAll right. Where is he?\u201d<\/p>\n

She jerked her chin toward the ravine and the bridge. Strange how that spot over the ravine had become the place where we\u2019d go to talk when we didn\u2019t want someone to inconveniently interrupt.<\/p>\n

At some point, we\u2019ll need to ward that, too.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come with you,\u201d Thom said. Aoife shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cJ.T. wanted to talk to her alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I squeezed Thom\u2019s hand. \u201cIt\u2019s okay. Go get cleaned up. I\u2019ll fill you in later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom hesitated. I looked at him and he smiled weakly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d He kissed my temple. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll talk to the others about…about what you said. This should be up to all of us, though. It\u2019s not just about you and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded. He was right, at least in part. Matt had a larger role in this community beyond being my little brother.<\/p>\n

It was just that his being my brother was the most important role to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u201cAnything?\u201d Thom shook his head as he swung down from the saddle. \u201cNot a damned thing. It\u2019s like they vanished into thin air.\u201d \u201cShe always was good at hiding,\u201d Phelan muttered, crossing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,204,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,173,148,168,147,165,158,146],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-30-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-JG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2833,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/2833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}