{"id":3757,"date":"2018-10-24T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T04:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3757"},"modified":"2018-10-23T19:26:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T23:26:38","slug":"four-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3757","title":{"rendered":"Four – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Hecate put pencil to paper a few moments later. I watched for the span of a few heartbeats, then my gaze drifted back toward the sky. Lin shifted in my arms, then quieted, settling down, eyelids drooping more. It wouldn\u2019t be long before he was asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s Thom doing?\u201d Hecate asked softly, glancing up for a second. \u201cHe didn\u2019t seem that great the other day but he definitely knew what he was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

I sighed, tilting my head back. \u201cThat\u2019s a complicated question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it?\u201d She looked up, smiling slightly. \u201cThat sounds familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n

A laugh escaped me and she grinned, nudging me gently. \u201cRight,\u201d I said. \u201cRight. Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right. What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

I shook my head, rolling my neck before my gaze returned to the clouds. \u201cHe\u2019s just pushing himself too hard, I think. I know why. He doesn\u2019t think I do, but I always know, just like he always knows even though I don\u2019t tell him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stopped in mid-sketch, pencil momentarily frozen. \u201cThat…that wasn\u2019t convoluted at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

I snorted, turning the words over in my mind. \u201cYeah. Yeah, I guess it is. He doesn\u2019t like feeling useless or helpless. None of us do, but especially him. He fights it harder than anyone I\u2019ve ever met. It almost broke us\u2014it did<\/em> break us for a while. He was ready to walk away because he thought it was the only way to save me. It broke my heart and his.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate was quiet. Her pencil scraped softly against the pad for a few strokes before she asked, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world ended,\u201d I whispered. \u201cAnd we both realized that not everything is set in stone, but some things are and those things are worth anything and everything<\/em>.\u201d I swallowed hard against the emotion that welled up, tried to fight the tears that threatened, the ones that already stung in my eyes, ready to well up. \u201cI thought I\u2019d lost him when it all came down. It was the lowest I\u2019d ever been, then someone told me he hadn\u2019t gone, that he\u2019d stayed and he had to be somewhere<\/em> here and my heart soared and then crashed again because we didn\u2019t know where he was, we hadn\u2019t found him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you did,\u201d she said. \u201cYou did find him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded, swallowing hard. \u201cI did. We did. He wasn\u2019t good, but he was still here and we had another chance. I will never stop being grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded. \u201cMore than anything. Almost anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She glanced at Lin. I nodded slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, it\u2019s kind,\u201d she whispered to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes,\u201d I agreed, knowing what she meant. \u201cBut it\u2019s usually a mixed bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate nodded in agreement, glancing down to her sketch again. She squeezed my knee before she resumed drawing.<\/p>\n

I leaned my shoulder into hers and watched the rain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Hecate put pencil to paper a few moments later. I watched for the span of a few heartbeats, then my gaze drifted back toward the sky. Lin shifted in my arms, then … 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":[150,171,170,194,152,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-3757","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-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-YB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757","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=3757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3758,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}