{"id":3115,"date":"2017-01-23T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2017-01-22T20:52:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T01:52:24","slug":"one-04-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3115","title":{"rendered":"One – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Our steps echoed hollowly across the bridge and down the mall that once upon a time would have been filled with campus tours and students rushing to and from summer classes. The ruins of what had been our university stood silent and still, shrouded by the misty rain.<\/p>\n

My heart pounded against my ribs and every inch of my body ached with the exertion of running. The choice to do it had probably been ill-advised, but I didn\u2019t stop. I kept pace with Matt until we slowed at the top of the slope between where the library used to stand and the Shakespeare Garden, now a half-tamed tangle of flowers and weeds. There, Matt stopped and I leaned forward, hands braced against my knees, wheezing as I fought to catch my breath. He touched my shoulder, wincing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

I waved a hand, swallowing hard as I straightened with a cough. \u201cIt\u2019s okay. I was the one who said I was okay to run.\u201d I glanced downhill, toward the barrow, sick at heart and feeling I\u2019d see something out of a horror flick, churned earth and half-risen bodies or worse.<\/p>\n

Next to me, Matt took a deep breath and headed downhill. I followed, my heartbeat calming as I saw the barrow itself was intact, grass growing in thick and green with the coming of late-blooming spring and summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cGods and monsters,\u201d Matt murmured under his breath, his hand finding mine again. \u201cI was so damned afraid of what I\u2019d find.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we got closer, though, our relief became short-lived. While the wardings we\u2019d placed on the barrow itself had protected the graves of our dead, it was clear that something had taken more than a passing interest in the site. Some of the ground was disturbed around the edges, as if someone or something had tested the ground, preparing to do something<\/em>\u2014though what, I couldn\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s hand spasmed around mine and I looked at him, my brows knitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were trying to disrupt the wardings here,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cTo get to the bodies. But why?\u201d<\/p>\n

He let go of my hand, slowly staring to walk around the barrow\u2019s perimeter. I hugged my arms around myself, chewing my lower lip.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think it was Olympium, or someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it just looked like shovels, I\u2019d say Olympium,\u201d he said, staring at the disturbed ground. \u201cBut there are claw marks here, too. I just\u2014\u201d he broke off, shaking his head. \u201cIt could have been them, but I can\u2019t help but feel like it was someone or something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeviathan? One of Vammatar\u2019s sisters?\u201d<\/p>\n

My brother shivered and shook his head. \u201cI don\u2019t know, Mar. I guess we\u2019ll find out, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always do,\u201d I said, staring at the broken ground. \u201cOne way or another, we always do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Our steps echoed hollowly across the bridge and down the mall that once upon a time would have been filled with campus tours and students rushing to and from summer classes. 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":[240,241,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3115","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-Of","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115","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=3115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3116,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions\/3116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}