{"id":4067,"date":"2019-08-26T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4067"},"modified":"2019-08-25T20:03:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T00:03:24","slug":"twenty-one-06-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4067","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-one – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s because of Orcus,\u201d Hecate said, crossing her arms. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because of what he\u2019s doing\u2014or something that whoever he\u2019s drawn to his side is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d Phelan said. He blew across the surface of his tea, then risked a larger sip. It didn\u2019t scald his tongue, but it burned its way all the way down his throat. He just hoped the herbs would kick in soon. It shouldn\u2019t be long. Should kick in pretty quickly. Just\u2014just relax. Breathe. This isn\u2019t anything you haven\u2019t handled before.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, you haven\u2019t handled it before in a situation like this, but you\u2019ve still handled it before.<\/em><\/p>\n

Marin squeezed his knee gently. He shivered again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s grown in power,\u201d Hecate said quietly, bringing Marin a mug of tea before she sat down in front of them, her back to the fire, close enough to Marin and Phelan that her feet were tucked between theirs. Phelan found that he didn\u2019t mind. Somehow, it felt safer with the three of them close together like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean beyond where he was when Seamus managed to take him down?\u201d Marin cradled her mug in one hand, leaving the other on Phelan\u2019s knee. \u201cThat\u2019s…that\u2019s a little terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me about it.\u201d Hecate smiled weakly. \u201cWe\u2019ll just have to be stronger\u2014because we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said it with far more confidence than Phelan felt himself, far more than he expected from her. He stared at her for a few seconds, his brow furrowing. His voice came as a bare, raw whisper. \u201cWhat are you sensing, Hecate? What do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants me for a reason,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cThe only good<\/em> reason I can come up with is that whatever he\u2019s trying to control out there? He doesn\u2019t have full power over it. He\u2019s not strong enough. That\u2019s why he needs me. It\u2019s probably something that I have more experience with, which means a few things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike what?\u201d Marin asked softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably dirae<\/em>,\u201d she said. \u201cProbably the lampades<\/em>. Maybe a few other things. I suspect that he\u2019s tried to raid whatever strongbox of beasties Pluton had and has tried to bend them to his will. He\u2019s strong enough to call them, but not strong enough to control them all. I\u2019m half sure of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly half?\u201d Phelan asked with a slight, weak smile.<\/p>\n

Hecate grinned at him. \u201cWell. I sure as hell can\u2019t be completely sure, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He choked on a laugh. \u201cNo. No, I guess not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there you go.\u201d She took a sip of tea. \u201cNow drink your tea.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because of Orcus,\u201d Hecate said, crossing her arms. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because of what he\u2019s doing\u2014or something that whoever he\u2019s drawn to his side is doing.\u201d \u201cMaybe,\u201d Phelan said. He blew … 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":[299,326,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,152,149,173,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-21-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-13B","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067","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=4067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4068,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions\/4068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}