{"id":3661,"date":"2018-07-16T00:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3661"},"modified":"2018-07-15T18:22:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T22:22:40","slug":"forty-two-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3661","title":{"rendered":"Forty-two – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

It began as a series of pops, soft and seemingly distant.\u00a0 The hairs on Phelan\u2019s arms and the back of his neck stirred and he swallowed the bile that suddenly rose in his throat, starting not out over the field as he perhaps should have been, but at Matt as the other man held Hecate tightly against his chest, his nose buried in her hair.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I want to know.\u00a0 I just want it to <\/em>work.<\/em><\/p>\n

He could sense them now, the lampades<\/em> skittering across the upper arc of the wards, waiting for a crack to open so the underworld nymphs could slip in and seek their former mistress physically.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t wraiths, weren\u2019t truly ghosts\u2014they were something else, something that was enough to send ice sluicing down his spine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d Marin asked in a bare whisper, glancing between the field and her brother and Hecate.\u00a0 \u201cI can feel him doing something but I don\u2019t know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Phelan said, the words coming a bit more sharply than he intended.\u00a0 \u201cKeep your eyes on the field.\u00a0 Those bastards are still coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed.\u201d\u00a0 She grimaced, tearing her gaze away and training it on the field.\u00a0 Seamus had taken over directing the archers.\u00a0 Above them, the clouds twisted and the rain kept coming down in sheets; Thordin\u2019s control of the storm was nearly absolute, but Phelan knew it had to be coming at some sort of price.<\/p>\n

A rumble started to build, like the beginnings of rolling thunder that never quite reached its apex.\u00a0 A chill swept through Phelan and his throat constricted.\u00a0 He groped for the edge of the wall and the fingers of his other hand tightened around the haft of his staff, seeking comfort in the solidity and strength of both.\u00a0 He stared at Matt, not quite able to sense what was going on but knowing his friend was up to something\u2014something big, as seemed to be the norm.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing by half measures,\u201d he breathed, the words lost to the wind and rain.<\/p>\n

The pops grew closer, sounding like explosions underwater.\u00a0 The ground shivered.<\/p>\n

Phelan held his breath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] It began as a series of pops, soft and seemingly distant.\u00a0 The hairs on Phelan\u2019s arms and the back of his neck stirred and he swallowed the bile that suddenly rose in … 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":[240,294,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,152,181,149,173,148,159,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-42-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","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-X3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661","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=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3662,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions\/3662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}