{"id":2936,"date":"2016-07-29T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T04:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2016-07-28T22:14:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T02:14:41","slug":"thirty-seven-02-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2936","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-seven – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Thunder grumbled in the distance as I knelt near the edge of the ravine, my palm pressed against the bare earth around the base of one of the holly bushes we\u2019d planted months ago. The bushes were coming in full and thick, already crowding out some of the old brush that rimmed the ravine. I could feel Phelan\u2019s magic laced through those hedges, but I could also feel Greg Doyle\u2019s touch there, too, fainter but just as potent\u2014just in a different way from Phelan\u2019s magic.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I wondered if he wouldn\u2019t turn out to be the strongest of us all.<\/p>\n

In the distance, something felt wrong.<\/p>\n

I pulled back from strengthening the wards when I sensed it, sitting back against my heels. \u201cWhat the hell is that?\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n

Thunder growled again. My lips thinned.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re finally losing it,<\/em> I decided. Probably just over-tired. Time to take a break.<\/em><\/p>\n

I swallowed bile, looking around as I stood slowly, dusting grass and dirt from my knees and the butt of my capris.<\/p>\n

Just paranoid.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMarin?\u201d<\/p>\n

I must have jumped three feet in the air, my heart going at twice its normal speed. \u201cGod damn<\/em> it, Phelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brow furrowed and he tilted his head slightly, staring at me. \u201cWhat the hell was that about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou startled me half to death,\u201d I said, resting one hand against my belly. My son was reacting to my own state, moving and kicking inside me. I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, trying to calm down.<\/p>\n

Everything\u2019s okay. Everything\u2019s fine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phelan put his hand on my arm, his frown deepening. \u201cSorry. I didn\u2019t mean to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d I said, then swallowed hard. My heart started to slow down, but my son wasn\u2019t getting any less active. \u201cI know, it\u2019s fine. What did you need?\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked like he was about to say something, but instead he shook his head. \u201cNothing,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing. Never mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just stared at him as he turned to walk away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Thunder grumbled in the distance as I knelt near the edge of the ravine, my palm pressed against the bare earth around the base of one of the holly bushes we\u2019d planted … 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":[124,214,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,173,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-37-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-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Lm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","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=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2937,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions\/2937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}