{"id":4094,"date":"2019-09-23T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T04:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2019-09-22T19:52:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T23:52:36","slug":"twenty-three-04-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4094","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Carolyn blinked, staring at Hecate for a few seconds. \u201cI probably already know the answer to this question, but I\u2019m going to ask anyway. Why, exactly, won\u2019t they have much reason to come if we fail?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Hecate did<\/em> glance in Matt\u2019s direction and he found himself swallowing hard against a lump that climbed higher and higher in his throat. She looked away after only a few seconds, her voice quiet and tone matter-of-fact. \u201cHe offered our lives in exchange for my joining him. If we fail, then I imagine that he\u2019ll be doing everything he can to take me alive. If it means keeping anyone left behind here alive\u2014or at the very least buying you all time to evacuate\u2014then I\u2019ll play him for as long as I have to. One way or another, I\u2019m pretty sure that I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty sure,\u201d Carolyn echoed softly. She sat back, nodding, though her brow was still furrowed, either in concern or thought or both.<\/p>\n

Matt took a slow breath, trying to calm his churning guts.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t come to that. It won\u2019t. It\u2019ll be all right. You\u2019re going to be able to stop him in his tracks where he\u2019s at and then extract your peace\u2014or deal with him once and for all. One or the other. Everything\u2019s going to be okay.<\/em><\/p>\n

For a second, his gaze slid toward Thom, then toward Marin. There wasn\u2019t any indication from either of them that he was right\u2014or wrong. He hadn\u2019t expected it, anyway, nor was he entirely sure that he wanted it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s a plan,\u201d Rory said from where he stood, staring into the fire. \u201cHow many of us does it need?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs many volunteers as I can get,\u201d Matt said. \u201cWe have to be smarter than he is but force of numbers probably won\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll depend on what we\u2019re looking at,\u201d Cameron said, chewing at his lower lip. Artorius was cradled in one arm, sucking on Cameron\u2019s knuckle, eyelids slowly drooping. \u201cBut we won\u2019t know that until the Hunt\u2019s scouts come back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d Matt said quietly. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re in?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see how I could decide otherwise,\u201d Cameron said. Matt saw Neve wince, but couldn\u2019t tell if Cameron had seen it. If he did, he didn\u2019t give any indication. \u201cYou said you need everyone willing to volunteer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we should figure out exactly how this is going to go down,\u201d Leinth said. \u201cThen we can get to the volunteering. We\u2019re not going to be able to overwhelm Orcus with force of arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Matt agreed. \u201cWe have to outsmart him and take the advantage away\u2014and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Carolyn blinked, staring at Hecate for a few seconds. \u201cI probably already know the answer to this question, but I\u2019m going to ask anyway. Why, exactly, won\u2019t they have much reason to … 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":[299,328,14],"tags":[275,271,150,161,163,171,170,228,194,160,174,19,227,166,152,181,151,149,173,148,218,168,147,167,165,215,158,200,169,146],"class_list":["post-4094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-23-book-7","category-story","tag-anne-mackenzie","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-hecate","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-kellin","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-leinth","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-rory-ohara","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-142","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094","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=4094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4095,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions\/4095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}