{"id":3104,"date":"2017-01-11T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3104"},"modified":"2017-01-10T09:27:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T14:27:26","slug":"forty-nine-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3104","title":{"rendered":"Forty-nine – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cHow much do<\/em> you actually remember?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question jolted him and Matt\u2019s brows knit, suddenly wary. \u201cWhy are you asking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s expression went slack for a moment. \u201cBecause this gets easier if you\u2019ve got frame of reference, sheanchara<\/em>. How much do you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot,\u201d Matt whispered. \u201cI remember a lot more than I ever dared let on. It just seemed safer to keep quiet.\u201d He squeezed his eyes shut, his stomach flipping over itself. \u201cNo, that\u2019s a lie. Not safer. Easier. It was easier to pretend. It was easier to ignore the dreams and the feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s fingers flexed, digging into his shoulder almost painfully. \u201cWe\u2019ll deal with that later,\u201d he said. \u201cFor now, we\u2019ve got a big problem to solve. Do you remember what we did at Tammas?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt swallowed, nodding. That had been one of the first battles after C\u00edar had been rescued, after he\u2019d begun to recover himself. \u201cAre you serious?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you see another way out of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I did.\u201d Matt exhaled, looking toward Phelan. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we can hold this shield and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I can bolster the shield for you two,\u201d Thordin said, staring at the lightning that crackled off the invisible wall.<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s brows knit. \u201cAre you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014sure?\u201d Thordin smiled weakly. \u201cUsually not anymore.\u201d He slowly reached out for the shield, touching it with fingertips first, then his whole palm, his hand pressed against it as if it was something solid instead of ephemeral. Lightning coruscated across the wards, rippling and growing brighter until it flowed back toward Thordin\u2019s hand and vanished at his touch.<\/p>\n

He smiled faintly and glanced toward Phelan and Matt. \u201cDo what you need to do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll buy you time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt took a deep breath, nodding and feeling abruptly shaky. He squeezed his hands into fists, a sudden pain lancing through the hand he\u2019d slashed, the one that already carried the scar shaped like Interstate 75h across his palm. Phelan squeezed his shoulder again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re up for this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do something,\u201d Matt said, looking back out to the field. He was dimly aware of someone shouting Thom\u2019s name as he concentrated, recalling the skills of a man who had died centuries ago, a man whose soul had been reborn in him.<\/p>\n

Phelan gave him a gentle shake, jarring him from his thoughts. Matt blinked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

The once-druid pointed behind them and Matt twisted to see Thom standing beneath them with Jacqueline at his side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Marin,\u201d Thom said, his face pale. \u201cIt\u2019s time. She\u2019ll want you there, too, Matt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt shook his head slightly. \u201cNo, I need to be here. Tell her Phelan and I are ending this. She\u2019ll understand. Tell her I love her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom hesitated, then nodded. \u201cBe careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt smiled grimly.<\/p>\n

Careful <\/em>wasn\u2019t something on his mind, unless it was being careful not to get anyone he cared about killed when they did this.<\/p>\n

He turned back to Phelan, seeing a flash of relief in the other man\u2019s gaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do this alone, either,\u201d Matt murmured.<\/p>\n

Phelan shook his head. \u201cNo. No, not without dire consequences. There might still be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll deal with them,\u201d Matt said. To his right, he could hear Seamus commanding the forces on the wall in Thom\u2019s absence. He took a deep breath. \u201cReady?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan nodded.<\/p>\n

Matt exhaled slowly and reached deep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u201cHow much do you actually remember?\u201d The question jolted him and Matt\u2019s brows knit, suddenly wary. \u201cWhy are you asking?\u201d Phelan\u2019s expression went slack for a moment. \u201cBecause this gets easier if … 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":[124,239,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,174,181,149,173,229,148,159,168,147,167,165,158,169,146,195],"class_list":["post-3104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-49","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-pluton","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-O4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104","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=3104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3105,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions\/3105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}