{"id":2904,"date":"2016-06-29T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T04:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2904"},"modified":"2016-06-28T17:02:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T21:02:00","slug":"thirty-five-02-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2904","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-five – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cRumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,\u201d a man\u2019s voice said softly, smoothly, a low rumble like waves against the shore. \u201cBesides, I\u2019d not be so surprised if I were you, my dear. After all, Thordin Odinson was once dead and now he\u2019s somehow come back to life\u2014however long that lasts, in any case.\u00a0\u00a0 May I come in?\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed to Matt like the man wasn\u2019t given Hecate much choice as the door\u2019s hinges squeaked with the sound of it swinging wider, followed by Hecate\u2019s murmured voice. \u201cOf course. Come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man must have been wearing sandals based on how his footsteps sounded against the wooden floor. The couch creaked as he seated himself even as Matt heard the door click shut. \u201cYou don\u2019t seem happy to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The voice was familiar\u2014Matt knew he\u2019d heard it before. He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment and fought to control his breathing, forced himself to stay silent. Stay calm and think. Keep our head. She can handle this. She\u2019s kept herself a live this long without you\u2014trust her now.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even as he started to settle down by inches and fractions, he still couldn\u2019t shake that bad feeling growing in his gut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just surprised,\u201d Hecate said. Her voice hadn\u2019t come closer, so Matt assumed she\u2019d lingered near the door. \u201cLike I said, I thought you were dead. Yaweh\u2019s power and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many of our brothers and sisters,\u201d the man said without a trace of irony. \u201cIt heartens me to see you well, though, dear sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not your sister,\u201d Hecate said. \u201cDon\u2019t you forget that for a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNear enough to, but if you insist. Cousin, then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYam, cut your shit,\u201d she snapped. \u201cWhat the hell do you want? Why are you here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat and why indeed,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n

It was Leviathan out there, the same man who\u2019d shown up on their doorstep back on campus with his army of drowned souls, the one who tried to sound neutral and threatening all at once. Matt was half certain he\u2019d angered the man when he\u2019d suggested sending part of that army to its rest and the fact that he was here now<\/em>\u2014<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let paranoia get the better of you, Astoris. Take a deep breath.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI had simply hoped to see you well,\u201d Leviathan said, his tone light. \u201cI\u2019d heard some nasty rumors of late and I\u2019d begun to grow worried is all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally,\u201d she said softly, sounding like she suspected he was full of shit. \u201cPray, tell me all about who\u2019s telling tales about the witch-bitch of Olympium. Please, enlighten me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mask was back in place, Matt could hear it in her voice. He nearly groaned aloud, thinking of the work it would take to bring her back again once this encounter was over. He could have strangled Leviathan with his bare hands.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not a sign I care, nothing is. Knowing I can\u2019t leave her like that because it\u2019s not the real her…<\/em><\/p>\n

A raw ache opened inside of him, guilt that wasn\u2019t his, guilt that was nearly as old as time\u2014C\u00edar\u2019s guilt, the one he never quite got over.<\/p>\n

Matt squeezed his eyes shut again as his hands tightened into fists. Why the hell had fate done this to them?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always some kind of reason, even if we\u2019re not privy to it.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the other room, Leviathan laughed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u201cRumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,\u201d a man\u2019s voice said softly, smoothly, a low rumble like waves against the shore. \u201cBesides, I\u2019d not be so surprised if I were you, … 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":[124,210,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,211,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-35-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-leviathan","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-KQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904","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=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2905,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions\/2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}