{"id":3260,"date":"2017-06-19T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2017-06-18T22:29:17","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T02:29:17","slug":"thirteen-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3260","title":{"rendered":"Thirteen – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

J.T. stared at her, his eyes widening slightly and his jaw slack, for a few seconds before he shook himself slightly. \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does everyone always ask that?\u201d Hecate choked on a weak, almost desperate laugh, hugging her arms across her belly as he helped her straighten. \u201cYes, I\u2019m sure. I wouldn\u2019t be out here if I wasn\u2019t sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In truth, she was more than a little terrified, but facing her fear would do her more good than hiding for the rest of her life would.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, all right.\u201d J.T. slowly let go of her arm, studying her as if trying to make sure she was steady enough on her feet to make it. \u201cI just\u2014I wanted to make sure that you were up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs up to it as I\u2019ll get in the near future, I think.\u201d She managed a wan smile and patted his arm. \u201cThank you, though. For caring enough to ask and for helping Matt the way you have been\u2014and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

J.T. smiled crookedly and shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing. In part, figured it was better me than Jac and honestly, I can\u2019t tell you that I wasn\u2019t a little curious. Between talking to \u00c9riu and watching Matt with…well…with anyone of the opposite sex over the years I\u2019ve known him, I figured there had to be something about you on more than a couple levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take that as a compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, because if you didn\u2019t, it\u2019d get really awkward.\u201d J.T. shoved his hands into his pockets. \u201cC\u2019mon. I\u2019ll walk out there with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you, my bodyguard now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething like that, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Matt will appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

J.T. snorted humorlessly. \u201cProbably more than you realize.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shiver shot through her and she tried to ignore it, instead falling into step with J.T. He let her set the pace and together, they made their way out toward the main cookfire, where she could hear voices chattering and laughing. Her stomach flipped over onto itself.<\/p>\n

You can do this.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019re stronger than you know.<\/em><\/p>\n

You have to do this and there\u2019s no time like right now.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] J.T. stared at her, his eyes widening slightly and his jaw slack, for a few seconds before he shook himself slightly. \u201cAre you sure?\u201d \u201cWhy does everyone always ask that?\u201d Hecate choked … 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":[240,255,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,160,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-13-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-j-t-mackenzie","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-QA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260","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=3260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3261,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions\/3261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}