{"id":3346,"date":"2017-09-11T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3346"},"modified":"2017-09-10T21:25:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T01:25:25","slug":"twenty-one-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3346","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-one – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

<\/em><\/p>\n

Hecate scrambled up the ladder, Lin clutched against her chest and making soft baby sounds. Her heart pounded hard against her breast, her side aching and burning as she stumbled away from the hatch. Matt reached to steady her and she shook her head quickly as she tugged Lin\u2019s swaddle up over his face to shield him from the pouring rain. \u201cHelp Neve and Angie. They\u2019ll need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had taken every ounce of willpower she had to tell him to do that, and some of her reserves to turn away and head away toward the edge of the tent and shelter from the rain. All she wanted was to hold him, to cling to him and not let go until all of the fears subsided and the old pain was forgotten. She stopped at the edge of the tents, just inside and out of the rain, watching the rain and the roiling clouds as she hugged baby Lin close.<\/p>\n

I should find Marin.<\/em> She looked down at the baby in her arms, the one that stared back at her with those too-wise blue eyes. He seemed content enough, and that heartened her a little.<\/p>\n

Maybe there really was hope for her after all.<\/p>\n

Neve slipped past her, out of the rain, shivering slightly. \u201cHell,\u201d she breathed. \u201cThis storm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt was there a minute later, carrying one of the twins\u2014Kurt\u2014in his basket, Angie in his shadow with Gwen in hers. The fact that the small girl could so easily shoulder that burden impressed Hecate, but looking back…<\/p>\n

I was the same, when I was a girl.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThordin\u2019s still got a hold on the storm, we think,\u201d Matt said. \u201cEither that or it\u2019s just tethered to him. Sif was hurt. This is the result.\u201d He waved his free hand toward the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurt by what?\u201d Hecate asked, her gaze meeting his. Her stomach sank.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot what,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cWho. Anhur and Menhit did it.\u201d He swallowed. \u201cThordin told them that if Sif died, their lives were forfeit. Then he told them to run\u2014they left, though I think they\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know they\u2019ll be back,\u201d Hecate corrected, then shivered. \u201cYou know they\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] Hecate scrambled up the ladder, Lin clutched against her chest and making soft baby sounds. Her heart pounded hard against her breast, her side aching and burning as she stumbled away from … 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":[240,269,14],"tags":[150,171,170,228,194,227,181,151,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-21-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-hecate","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","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-RY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346","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=3346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3347,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346\/revisions\/3347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}