{"id":3753,"date":"2018-10-19T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T04:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3753"},"modified":"2018-10-18T20:55:21","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T00:55:21","slug":"four-01-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3753","title":{"rendered":"Four – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The sound of a lilting tune drifted from one end of the tents, half lost under the sound of the rain pounding against the canvas. Lin was half asleep in my arms, lulled toward his morning nap by a clean diaper and a full belly. I followed the sound, canting my head to one side even as my brow furrowed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s familiar, but I can\u2019t quite place it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I came around a set of shelves and saw her sitting cross-legged on a spare dresser, a sketchbook open in her lap and a tin of colored pencils open alongside her. Hecate was humming softly to herself, bundled in a hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, her hair pulled into a thick braid down her back. Even with her back turned, I could tell she was smiling and that made me smile, too.<\/p>\n

The humming stopped as I took another few steps and she turned around, looking over her shoulder at me. One corner of her mouth lifted up in a wider smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning,\u201d she echoed. \u201cEverything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d I said, moving to join her in her perch. She scooted over a little to make room, watching me with an arched brow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded. \u201cYeah, I just thought you were still in bed, that\u2019s all. You weren\u2019t at breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ll admit that I thought about staying in bed,\u201d she said as I settled next to her. \u201cThe rain would\u2019ve made that easy. The drum and the gloom and damp and all that\u2014it was tempting. Then I decided I\u2019d been hiding in bed for long enough and I should get up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou weren\u2019t hiding,\u201d I said, brow furrowing slightly. \u201cYou were recovering from the last attack. You still are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Mar,\u201d she sighed, tucking her pencil above her ear and reaching to brush a fingertip down Lin\u2019s face as his attention turned to her, blue eyes half-lidded as he half-heartedly fought sleep. \u201cI\u2019ve been physically fine for at least three days. Trust me, I\u2019ve been hiding. It\u2019s easier sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shifted Lin slightly to free an arm to wrap around her shoulders. \u201cWell, you do whatever you need to do,\u201d I told her. \u201cNo one\u2019s going to get upset at you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, nodding slightly. \u201cIt\u2019s just hard, that\u2019s all. I\u2019m still getting used to not being alone and<\/em> learning to trust people again. My first instinct sometimes is to just hide because hiding keeps me from getting hurt\u2014at least most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

I squeezed her gently and she smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to say it,\u201d she said. \u201cI know what you\u2019re about to tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean the part where I say that we\u2019re here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d she said, smiling. \u201cThat.\u201d She smoothed a hand over the page in her sketchbook, leaning her head against my shoulder. \u201cI told Matt that sometimes I\u2019ll need reminding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s more than willing to do that,\u201d I murmured, resting my head against hers as I peered down at the drawing on the page. \u201cThat\u2019s a good picture of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate held it up so we could both see it better, her brow furrowing slightly. \u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s missing something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cColor?\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n

She laughed and shook her head a little. \u201cNo, not that. I\u2019m not sure what it is, but I\u2019ll figure it out. Eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHas that been what you\u2019ve been out here doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s another thing the rain somehow makes easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

I squeezed her gently, staring out at the rain. She sighed and set the sketchbook down in her lap again, gaze drifting out to the sodden ground and the trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re okay?\u201d I asked in a whisper.<\/p>\n

Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. \u201cProbably. It feels like it\u2019s been a long time since I was sure of something like that. But probably.\u201d Hecate slid an arm around my waist and smiled faintly, though the expression was fleeting. \u201cAnd if I\u2019m not, you guys are here. That\u2019s all that matters now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] The sound of a lilting tune drifted from one end of the tents, half lost under the sound of the rain pounding against the canvas. Lin was half asleep in my arms, … 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":[299,306,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,152,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-04-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","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-Yx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753","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=3753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}