{"id":3085,"date":"2016-12-26T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3085"},"modified":"2016-12-25T16:07:59","modified_gmt":"2016-12-25T21:07:59","slug":"forty-eight-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3085","title":{"rendered":"Forty-eight – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A shiver shot through Phelan and he stiffened, his eyes snapping open. Marin\u2019s hand closed around his wrist as he started to force himself to his feet, still feeling shaky after the ordeal that had begun perhaps an hour\u2014had it only been that long?\u2014before.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhelan\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stay down here,\u201d he murmured, trying to make sense of that he could feel going on above them. \u201cI need to be up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a death wish, Wanderer,\u201d Cariocecus said, his eyes gleaming in the dim, curled on his side now on the stretcher he\u2019d been brought to them on. \u201cIf you go up there, you make yourself a target.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be a target down here, too,\u201d Phelan said. Marin let go of his wrist, shaking her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stop you,\u201d she said simply, then glanced to Neve, who winced, her arms tightening slightly about baby Kurt, cradled against her shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel it, too,\u201d Neve whispered. \u201cThey\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than just them,\u201d Phelan said, wincing as he stretched limbs that were too tight, that were suddenly sore. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just Olympium, Neve. Didn\u2019t you feel her?\u201d<\/p>\n

His cousin bit her lip and bowed her head, silent for a few long moments. Phelan blew out a breath and headed for the ladder. \u201cI\u2019m not going to let them face this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marin came to her feet faster than he expected of her in her current state. He stopped, blinking as she moved toward the ladder herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think I\u2019m going to let you go by yourself, you\u2019re fucking crazy, Phelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarin\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you dare tell me I can\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t you dare<\/em>. Not after what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

His throat got tight and he looked down, swallowing hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n

He turned away and started to climb the ladder. Marin was half a step behind.<\/p>\n

You shouldn\u2019t let her do this, Phelan. Thom\u2019s going to kill you.<\/em><\/p>\n

What would make him think that you\u2019d have a prayer of stopping her, though?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAngie, stay down here with Cariocecus and the little ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan froze, twisting. Neve met his gaze with a steely one of her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got even less chance of stopping me, Phelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He breathed a heartfelt curse and shook his head hard. \u201cNo. No, Neve, I can\u2019t. Not\u2014I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t stop me, you\u2019re right on that,\u201d she said, her voice firm, brooking no argument. Still, he could see the fear in her eyes, not quite hidden by the steel.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t let them do this.<\/em><\/p>\n

What right do I have to stop them? I\u2019m not Seamus or Teague. I\u2019m not their father, not their brother. I\u2019m blood for certain, but\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

The earth around them shuddered and a keening wail began somewhere above them.<\/p>\n

For a heartbeat, Phelan stopped thinking and clung to the ladder, his heart beating fast, too fast.<\/p>\n

Then, dark laughter sounded in his ears and his vision started to dim again. He choked on words. The world was screaming, sobbing, as if it was as tortured as the women about to meet on a field somewhere above them, somewhere beyond them.<\/p>\n

He heard Marin\u2019s boots hit the floor of the tunnel before the sound of laughter and the wail swamped his ability to hear anything at all. His hands felt nerveless, fingers slipping from the ladder\u2019s runners.<\/p>\n

Marin and Neve caught him as he slipped, shaking from head to foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what she\u2019s done,\u201d he managed to whisper. \u201cBut I can feel lit to the marrow of my bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

As both of their arms closed around him, he realized he wasn\u2019t sure if it was Hecate or Thesan he\u2019d spoken about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] A shiver shot through Phelan and he stiffened, his eyes snapping open. Marin\u2019s hand closed around his wrist as he started to force himself to his feet, still feeling shaky after the … 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":[124,238,14],"tags":[225,150,226,171,170,228,227,152,151,149,173,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-48","category-story","tag-angie-van-rijn","tag-awakenings","tag-cariocecus","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-marin-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","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-NL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085","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=3085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3086,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions\/3086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}