{"id":2993,"date":"2016-09-26T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T04:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2993"},"modified":"2016-09-25T20:44:02","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T00:44:02","slug":"forty-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2993","title":{"rendered":"Forty – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then it stopped as abruptly as it began, and the absence of the sound was as chilling as the sound of her laughter itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGive him to me and maybe I can turn them away from you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It set my teeth on edge. \u201cPhelan had <\/em>nothing to do with you losing your father, Thesan.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if he did or not,\u201d she said, rising a bit higher above the shadows below. \u201cI don\u2019t care. He\u2019s just the best bargaining chip that I have in this fight\u2014and the best weapon I have against the lot of you. That\u2019s my value to them\u2014that I can <\/em>distract you for long enough for them to strike you and strike hard. Once they win, I get my father. I get what I always wanted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was almost afraid to ask exactly what it was she wanted\u2014even though I somehow knew that Seamus would sacrifice himself if it meant protecting the people he cared about. Maybe that was why I was afraid to ask.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The girl was completely off the deep end and probably didn\u2019t really know what she wanted, just that there was something and it was something about her father\u2014her <\/em>absent father.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Yes. That would end badly either way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThem,\u201d I echoed. \u201cWho are you talking about?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe army I\u2019ve joined, silly,\u201d she said. Her manic grin stretched her mouth wide and even at a distance I could see a strange light in her eyes that was madness and mania mixing with something else, something real. I shuddered to think that it could be pride\u2014or, more heartbreaking, <\/em>hope. \u201cThey\u2019re coming, you know. They\u2019re coming and they\u2019ll wipe you out, and they\u2019ll take your pitiful little village and woe be it to the survivors because you\u2019ll belong to them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou make some very rash assumptions,\u201d I said quietly, forcing myself to stay calm\u2014it was easier than I thought it would be, really, perhaps because I actually believed the words I was about to say, or perhaps it was because there was a part of me that knew my soul\u2014and those around me\u2014had faced such trials before, had faced the enemy she spoke of before and had emerged the ultimate victors in the contest.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or maybe I\u2019d just finally become numb, all these months of fighting and preparation later.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDo I?\u201d Her voice came as a curious little sing-song, the light growing brighter in her eyes. \u201cDo I really, Seer? Marin. His <\/em>le\u00e1nnan. Truly, do I make assumptions? You\u2019re here, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI am,\u201d I admitted. \u201cBut I\u2019m also the only one. You\u2019ve failed, Thesan. Give him back and maybe we\u2019ll spare you one more time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a big maybe, but it was a possibility nonetheless\u2014regardless of how slim a chance it was.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d she said softly.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She vanished and my world went black.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then it stopped as abruptly as it began, and the absence of the sound was as chilling as the sound of her laughter itself. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGive him to me and maybe … 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":[124,219,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,148,168,147,165,220,146],"class_list":["post-2993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-40-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thesan","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Mh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993","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=2993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2994,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions\/2994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}