{"id":3063,"date":"2016-12-05T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3063"},"modified":"2016-12-04T11:05:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-04T16:05:29","slug":"forty-six-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3063","title":{"rendered":"Forty-six – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt stood frozen by the back door, feeling like he couldn\u2019t move as he stared blankly out at the storm. It wasn\u2019t until Hecate squeezed his arm and moved away that whatever held him there gave way. In its wake, his heart ached and weariness threatened to overwhelm him. Was this what guilt\u2014real, true guilt\u2014felt like?<\/p>\n

\u201cWas he your friend?\u201d Hecate asked, her voice barely audible over the rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was C\u00edar\u2019s friend,\u201d Matt answered, his voice low and weak. \u201cI\u2019ve barely gotten to know him since they joined us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded, reaching up to cup his cheek with her palm. She lingered for a moment before she turned and closed the door. Matt sucked in a deep breath and turned toward the kitchen island, where Gilad leaned silently, watching them and waiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Gilad said again. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t\u2014I wish I didn\u2019t have to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt nodded, trudging toward the stove. \u201cTake your coat off. You\u2019re soaked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what happens when you get caught in a storm.\u201d Gilad shrugged out of his long coat. Hecate quietly moved toward him to take it and the man flinched, for a second, then winced as she hesitated. \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he said again, this time addressing her. \u201cI didn\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head as she gently took his coat. \u201cI did everything I could a long time ago to make people afraid of me so I wouldn\u2019t have to be afraid anymore. The expression on your face is something of my own making. You don\u2019t owe me an apology for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she walked toward the hooks near the back door to hang up his coat, Gilad cleared his throat and said, \u201cI do owe you an apology, though, for what we did to you after we lost him, when we disobeyed his orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s stomach dropped and he turned away from putting a kettle on for tea in time to see Hecate tense, then relax. She glanced back over her shoulder at Gilad and offered him a weak smile. \u201cWhat you did to me,\u201d she said softly, \u201cwas no worse than what I did to myself.\u201d She held up one arm, letting her sleeve fall back to reveal the old scar there, the one that still made Matt\u2019s heart ache.<\/p>\n

Gilad sucked in a sharp breath. \u201cI\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you apologize again, I might regret putting away my blades,\u201d she said, though the words were tempered by a weak smile that faded with her next words. \u201cSit down. You said something awful\u2019s afoot and we might be able to stop it. Tell us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilad sank into a chair, nodding slowly. \u201cRight. Olympium.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOlympium,\u201d she echoed, drifting toward Matt\u2019s side. He wrapped his arm around her when she reached him as she slid her arms around his waist, her lips thinning away to nothing as she pressed them together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going after my family,\u201d Matt said softly. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking for the two of you,\u201d Gilad said. \u201cThey want you badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate took a deep breath. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t surprise me,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd yet it does. It felt like they were glad to be rid of me then. I wasn\u2019t useful anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess now you are,\u201d Gilad said, swallowing hard. \u201cAt least they think you will be. You\u2019re lucky they haven\u2019t sensed you up here yet; they weren\u2019t that far away when we ran into them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She cursed softly, shaking her head hard. Matt\u2019s arm tightened around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe warned us,\u201d Matt murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck him,\u201d she spat, loathing filling her voice. \u201cFuck Leviathan. I am not <\/em>playing his games. I am not going to turn one master in for another because that\u2019s exactly what he wants. He wants us on a leash, Matt. He doesn\u2019t want allies, he wants soldiers<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeviathan was here?\u201d Gilad asked, his voice curious and wary all at once. \u201cWell. That\u2019s interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Matt stood frozen by the back door, feeling like he couldn\u2019t move as he stared blankly out at the storm. It wasn\u2019t until Hecate squeezed his arm and moved away that whatever … 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":[124,235,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146,195],"class_list":["post-3063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-46","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Np","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063","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=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3064,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions\/3064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}