{"id":2940,"date":"2016-08-03T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2016-08-02T22:54:15","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T02:54:15","slug":"thirty-seven-04-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2940","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-seven – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Phelan touched my cheek and smiled sadly. \u201cI wish I could say you were wrong about that,\u201d he said quietly, then glanced toward the ravine, toward the trees. His hand fell away, dropping back to his side as he stared out there at nothing\u2014at nothing I could see, anyway.<\/p>\n

Who the hell knows what he\u2019s seeing sometimes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHas it ever been like this before?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

He was quiet for a long moment, tilting his head slightly before asking, \u201cLike what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I admitted. \u201cActive, I guess. Dangerous?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh.\u201d Phelan crossed his arms, seeming to huddle in on himself for a few heartbeats before his spine straightened. A slow nod followed a few seconds later. \u201cA couple times, for better or worse. It\u2019s never…\u201d his voice trailed away and he hesitated, taking a deep breath and exhaling it in a sigh before continuing. \u201cI was going to say that the feeling hasn\u2019t ever been this heavy, this ominous, but even that\u2019s not quite right. It\u2019s certainly been as bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the big war,\u201d I said softly. \u201cThe one that Teague and Neve\u2019s father tried to avoid by leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething like that,\u201d Phelan said, then shook his head. \u201cThat was unavoidable and we were here for at least the first half of it. It\u2019s just that it didn\u2019t really end for centuries. Burned hot, went cold, then a spark would catch and it would start all over again. Wasn\u2019t until after Rome fell that it really ended. Maybe not really even then.\u201d He closed his eyes. \u201cAnd now it\u2019s back again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wars?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded. \u201cThe old feuds, the old conflicts. All of it\u2019s come back to haunt us again, to hurt us again. Doesn\u2019t matter who won back then\u2014what happened last August cleared those boards. What happens now is up to us\u2014up to the ones who lived.\u201d He opened his eyes and smiled crookedly at me. \u201cThe ones too stubborn or unlucky to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled back, taking his hand and squeezing. \u201cIt\u2019s not a bad thing. Being too unlucky or stubborn.\u201d<\/p>\n

His smile grew and he nodded. \u201cI couldn\u2019t agree more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The smile faded as he turned back toward the ravine, though. \u201cThere\u2019s something building out there, Marin. I can\u2019t put my finger on what it is or why it is, but there\u2019s something building out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it comes against us, it\u2019ll get more than it\u2019s bargained for\u2014whatever it is.\u201d The words came out with more confidence and conviction than I actually felt. The look on Phelan\u2019s face told me that he knew I was full of shit, but he didn\u2019t call me on it\u2014not directly, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep talking that way and everyone\u2019s going to believe you,\u201d he murmured. His eyes were sad as he looked at me again. \u201cThis world doesn\u2019t deserve people like you, leannan<\/em>. You realize that, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I guess the world is lucky even if I\u2019m not.\u201d I smiled slightly and wrapped my arm around his waist. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason for everything, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded slowly. \u201cEven if we don\u2019t understand what it is or why, there is. There always is. Sometimes we just never see it.\u201d He exhaled noisily. \u201cAnd sometimes, we don\u2019t want<\/em> to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Phelan touched my cheek and smiled sadly. \u201cI wish I could say you were wrong about that,\u201d he said quietly, then glanced toward the ravine, toward the trees. His hand fell away, … 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-2940","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-Lq","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940","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=2940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2941,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions\/2941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}