{"id":3369,"date":"2017-10-04T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T04:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2017-10-03T18:54:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T22:54:28","slug":"twenty-three-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3369","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

There was a strange sort of silence blanketing the world as dawn broke. Phelan watched the sun come up through the ravine\u2019s trees, its rays painting green leaves orange and gold, shafts of light falling here and there in the grass near his feet. He sat on a railing near the edge of the ravine, one that once upon a time would have stopped cyclists and skateboarders from tumbling off the sidewalk into a nasty fall. The metal had warmed beneath his fingers where he gripped the rail, where his bare feet rested against a lower rung. He was tired, but sleep hadn\u2019t come. There was too much rolling around in his skull and Jacqueline hadn\u2019t come to bed besides. Sleeping alone had become strange, especially when he was largely healthy.<\/p>\n

The sound of footsteps made him glance back and he offered his cousin a slight smile. \u201cCouldn\u2019t sleep, either?\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus made a quiet, slightly frustrated sound in his throat. \u201cSomething feels wrong. Off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat statement has described the world for almost a year now,\u201d Phelan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up, Phelan. You know what I meant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan grunted. \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be damned if I can put my finger on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shot Seamus a level look, his brow furrowing as his cousin leaned against the rail next to him. \u201cThat\u2019s incredibly helpful, thank you Seamus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you stop?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think I will.\u201d Phelan looked away, toward the ravine and the trees. \u201cI don\u2019t have a good reason to. I know something\u2019s not right\u2014off more than usual. If that wasn\u2019t the case, Thom would be up and grumping at everyone right now, regardless of how badly he\u2019s been hurt. But he hasn\u2019t woken up since he passed out in the watchtower.\u201d That bothered him more than he wanted to let on. So far as he could tell, there wasn\u2019t a reason for either Thom\u2019s unconsciousness, the sudden fever, or the inflammation around the wounds the camazotzi<\/em> had left in his friend.<\/p>\n

That alone would have been enough to lose sleep over, and he suspected that Marin hadn\u2019t gotten a wink either as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least the twins are healthy,\u201d Seamus said quietly. \u201cAnd Neve\u2019s resting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA bright spot amidst everything else,\u201d Phelan agreed, then started at his cousin again for the span of a few heartbeats. \u201cNow what can you sense that you don\u2019t want to talk about, Seamus?\u201d<\/p>\n

After a long silence, Seamus answered. \u201cI can feel her hunting for me now. She isn\u2019t dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a few seconds for Phelan to realize who he meant. \u201cAlbina?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe won\u2019t stop until she finds me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe can get in line,\u201d Phelan said grimly. \u201cThat\u2019s all there is to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] There was a strange sort of silence blanketing the world as dawn broke. Phelan watched the sun come up through the ravine\u2019s trees, its rays painting green leaves orange and gold, shafts … 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":[240,272,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,173,148,159,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-23-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Sl","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369","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=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3370,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}