{"id":3443,"date":"2017-12-18T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3443"},"modified":"2017-12-17T10:33:33","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T15:33:33","slug":"twenty-eight-08-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3443","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-eight – 08"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

J.T. walked slowly to the next torch. Like the first, the wick sputtered for a second, damp, and then caught, the flame blue. Energy skated across his flesh again and he kept moving, toward the third torch. Leinth stepped closer to the edge of the barrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cJameson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d he said, snapping the lighter\u2019s flame to life again so he could light the next torch. \u201cI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a lie, but he hoped it was at least a convincing one.<\/p>\n

For a third time, the wick sputtered for a second before it caught, blue flame dancing in front of his face. At the center of the barrow, the haze began to swirl, slowly, lazily, like a sink just beginning to drain. His breath caught as he stood, staring at it for a few seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps we should stop,\u201d Leinth said, slowly moving along the edge of the barrow, on the opposite side but parallel to him. \u201cThis is\u2014this is very strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you feel it?\u201d he asked, his voice quiet. \u201cCan you feel it stirring?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chill of the grave, yes,\u201d Leinth said, just shy of snapping at him. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a game, Jameson.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started toward the last of the torches. \u201cNo,\u201d he agreed. \u201cNo, it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

They reached the last torch at the same time. Leinth stared at him but didn\u2019t try to stop him as he lit the last of the torches. Once again, the flame flared blue. The vortex beginning at the center of the barrow began to spin faster as both of them watched. Leinth took a step back and J.T. reached out to grasp her arm, gently but firmly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d J.T. said softly, watching. He held still, though he wanted to step forward. Leinth stepped closer to him, wrapping one hand over his, over the one grasping her arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd yet, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He squeezed her arm and then let go, stepping across the barrow\u2019s edge and through the wardings there, walking toward the vortex that had begun to glow brighter and colder in the summer sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.] J.T. walked slowly to the next torch. Like the first, the wick sputtered for a second, damp, and then caught, the flame blue. Energy skated across his flesh again and he kept … 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":[240,278,14],"tags":[150,171,170,160,166,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-28-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-leinth","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-Tx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443","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=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3444,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions\/3444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}