{"id":3110,"date":"2017-01-18T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3110"},"modified":"2017-01-17T19:16:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T00:16:51","slug":"one-02-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3110","title":{"rendered":"One – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The rain had shifted more and more into mist while we\u2019d been up at the forge. It was only the occasional fat drop that fell on Matt and I as we walked down the hill toward the tents. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked and I smiled at him, more comforted by that single act than I think he realized\u2014perhaps more than he could ever fathom.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d thought that I\u2019d lost him, that I might never see him again, and the idea of it had begun to eat me up inside. Even this\u2014even if he was only here for a little while and then had to go\u2014was better than having him gone and not being able to say good-bye.<\/p>\n

Abruptly, he paused, staring out into the mists. I stopped, my brow furrowing as I looked at him sidelong.<\/p>\n

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

He shook his head and changed direction, tugging me along, not toward the tents and the fire but toward the bridge and the arboretum beyond it, toward the limits of the wardings I\u2019d worked so hard to set and maintain. \u201cCome on,\u201d he murmured, something darkening in his eyes. My heart started to beat a little faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trust me,\u201d he said, looking at me squarely for a moment. \u201cPlease, sis. Just trust me on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do trust you,\u201d I said. \u201cYou know I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded almost convulsively and started to move faster. \u201cThere\u2019s something I have to see for myself. Something that\u2014\u201d he broke off again, exhaling an agitated breath. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to my world,\u201d I said, irony lacing through my tone. At least we weren\u2019t quite <\/em>running. I was too damned sore for that right now.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s so important out there?<\/em><\/p>\n

Somehow I knew we were crossing the bridge, somehow I knew that something was pulling at him, driving him to move in that direction. I just hoped against hope it wasn\u2019t something sinister affecting him. We\u2019d been through that before with other people and I\u2019d had enough of it already for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry I made it so hard on you,\u201d he said as we got closer to the edge of the wardings. \u201cI\u2019m sorry that I pretended that I didn\u2019t believe when we were kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

I caught his hand and squeezed. \u201cI understood it then and I understand it now. It\u2019s not like I always made it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy crazy older sister,\u201d he said, a trace of fondness in his voice, though it was laced with bitterness, too. \u201cI was a fucking tool and I\u2019m still sorry. And I\u2019m sorry I looked at you guys funny about the whole past lives thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

We crossed the ward lines, a faint crackle of energy making my hair stand on end for a second as we passed through them. A second later, my personal wards snapped up and into place, stronger than they were when we were behind the village\u2019s walls. I had been unconsciously strengthening them in the months since the end of everything, though it was still a little jarring for me to be so hyperaware of their existence now.<\/p>\n

I looked at Matt, my fingers flexing around his again. \u201cIt\u2019s okay. It was weird even for me.\u201d Terrifying, sometimes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry I lied,\u201d he said as we hit the bridge.<\/p>\n

Cold shot through me. \u201cLied about what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout remembering. About knowing<\/em>.\u201d His fingers clamped down around my hand. \u201cI always knew. I remembered. I just didn\u2019t want to. I didn\u2019t want to think about everything it meant. It was somehow easier, and I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] The rain had shifted more and more into mist while we\u2019d been up at the forge. It was only the occasional fat drop that fell on Matt and I as we walked … 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":[240,241,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-01-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Oa","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110","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=3110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3111,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions\/3111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}