{"id":3920,"date":"2019-04-01T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2019-03-31T18:11:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:11:27","slug":"thirteen-06-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3920","title":{"rendered":"Thirteen – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

They weren\u2019t that far away, so it only took a few seconds and about a dozen steps to reach them. Seamus leaned on Leinth, his complexion ashen, eyes sunken into even darker hollows. I swallowed hard, my throat getting tight. I\u2019d never seen him look quite so bad, certainly not in this life and not in any part of the last one I could recall.<\/p>\n

Still, I regretted the fact that the first words that escaped my mouth were, \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He managed to smile. \u201cGood morning to you, too, Marin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him he didn\u2019t have to,\u201d Leinth said, shaking her head and smiling helplessly at me. \u201cDo you think he listened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly not.\u201d I started to move toward him, to help, but he waved me back. I saw Matt smile weakly behind him and shake his head almost imperceptibly. Phelan and Hecate both just looked worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to help, too,\u201d Seamus said, waving a hand slightly toward my brother, Phelan, and Hecate. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let them, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you blame us?\u201d Phelan asked, casting a sideways look at his cousin. \u201cYou know what you look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus smiled, looking directly at him. \u201cYes, a stubborn bastard second only to the one to my left.\u201d<\/p>\n

He meant Phelan.<\/p>\n

That made me smile. At least his sense of humor was still intact.<\/p>\n

Small consolation, but still consolation.<\/em><\/p>\n

A shiver crept down my spine and I glanced toward Matt. \u201cThe Hunt. What did–?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re coming back to the fire,\u201d Matt said, his gaze drifting toward Seamus for a moment before returning to me. \u201cSeamus knows more about what\u2019s out there, he thinks, than what the Hunt was able to tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was the Hunt able to tell us?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

Seamus shook his head. \u201cEverything all at once,\u201d Seamus said, then gestured toward the fire ahead of us. \u201cLet me sit down and get a mug of something hot in my hands and I\u2019ll spill my guts.\u201d<\/p>\n

I winced at the analogy but nodded. \u201cOkay,\u201d I whispered, feeling sicker by the second. \u201cIf that\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t sure if I believed that it was what he wanted or if it was he needed<\/em>. Then again, I wasn\u2019t sure it mattered.<\/p>\n

It probably didn\u2019t. It never seemed to, anyway. Not anymore.<\/p>\n

Maybe not ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] They weren\u2019t that far away, so it only took a few seconds and about a dozen steps to reach them. Seamus leaned on Leinth, his complexion ashen, eyes sunken into even darker … 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":[299,317,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,166,152,181,149,173,148,159,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-13-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-leinth","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-11e","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920","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=3920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3921,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions\/3921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}