{"id":3820,"date":"2018-12-26T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3820"},"modified":"2018-12-25T22:21:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T03:21:26","slug":"eight-04-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3820","title":{"rendered":"Eight – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Startling awake with a gasp, trying to shake free the last vestiges of her nightmare, Hecate pressed a little closer to Matt, burrowing deeper beneath their shared covers. The freshly healed scar in her side twinged and burned in turns, bile rising hot and sour in the back of her throat, leaving it aching and raw. She felt like she\u2019d been screaming in her sleep but knew she couldn\u2019t have been because Matt was still out like a light, his arms cocooning her in warmth, in safety.<\/p>\n

And yet, the nightmares still came.<\/p>\n

Hecate squeezed her eyes shut against tears that stung, exhaling in a shaky sigh. It\u2019s all right. You\u2019re safe. Nothing can hurt you. You\u2019re safe. You\u2019re <\/em>home. You\u2019re fine. Everything is okay.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt stirred slightly as she pressed closer, fingers tangling in the blankets and the fabric of his shirt. His hand drifted higher under their blankets, palm skating along her spine until his fingers were laced through her hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cShhh,\u201d he breathed without opening his eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her heart missed a beat and she swallowed hard, shivering slightly. \u201cHow\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I know you by now,\u201d he murmured, drawing her tighter even as she wrapped one of her legs around his, toes scraping against the back of his calf. \u201cFelt you startle awake. What\u2019s the matter?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust nightmares,\u201d she whispered. \u201cThat\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

As terrifying as they\u2019d been, that was all they were\u2014nightmares born of the ghosts of memories long buried in her past. All of it was long ago and far away. Her world was different now. She had a family again, people who cared.<\/p>\n

For all that had happened in the last year, for all that she had lost over all the centuries, she\u2019d gained so, so much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing\u2019s going to hurt you,\u201d he murmured into her hair. \u201cNot so long as I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d she whispered back. \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] Startling awake with a gasp, trying to shake free the last vestiges of her nightmare, Hecate pressed a little closer to Matt, burrowing deeper beneath their shared covers. The freshly healed scar … 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":[299,310,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-08-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-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-ZC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820","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=3820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3821,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3820\/revisions\/3821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}