{"id":4296,"date":"2020-05-04T19:09:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T23:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4296"},"modified":"2020-05-04T19:09:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T23:09:19","slug":"four-05-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4296","title":{"rendered":"Four – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cYou all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He startled at the sound of his wife\u2019s voice, trying to muster a smile as he turned. The look on Hecate\u2019s face as she peered up at him told him that he\u2019d failed and failed miserably. Her brows knit and she reached to stroke his cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d she asked softly, searching his face, his eyes. Matt sighed, bowing his head slightly and resting his forehead against hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLin was attacked in the ravines,\u201d he said softly. \u201cAnd the Hunt\u2019s found slaughtered caravans on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHell,\u201d she breathed, fingers threading through his short-cropped hair and tightening for a moment. \u201cClose?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA few days\u2019 ride,\u201d he said. \u201cCloser to New Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent someone. We\u2019ll know in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate laughed bitterly, fingers tightening for a moment more before she let go and stepped back. \u201cNot soon enough, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never is,\u201d he said quietly, staring at the trees again as his wife began to pace. He watched her for a few seconds, lips thinning. He knew the look in her eye as well as she knew the look in his. \u201cThe others will be here soon, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded. \u201cNo doubt. Have you made up your mind?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I look like I have?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she said with a rueful smile. \u201cNot really, anyway. You look like you\u2019re frustrated.\u201d Her smile grew a little wider. \u201cLike you always do when you feel like you don\u2019t know enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt spread his hands, shrugging helplessly. Hecate shook her head slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d she said. \u201cSo tell me. What dared to attack our Lin out there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA camazotzi<\/em>,\u201d Matt said quietly. \u201cThe monster everything started with back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was the gremlins,\u201d Hecate said, crossing her arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Matt said softly. \u201cThe camazotzi<\/em> were here even before those. Before the end of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eyes widened for a second. \u201cYou never told me that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never seemed important before,\u201d Matt answered. \u201cI\u2019m not even sure it\u2019s important now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t it be?\u201d She came back to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and met his gaze steadily. \u201cYou know better than that, my love. You know much, much better than that. The wisdom of two<\/em> lifetimes should have taught you that<\/em> lesson long ago. If it hasn\u2019t, you weren\u2019t paying attention and I\u2019m pretty sure I know you better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u201cYou all right?\u201d He startled at the sound of his wife\u2019s voice, trying to muster a smile as he turned. The look on Hecate\u2019s face as she peered up at him told … 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":[336,337,346,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-04-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","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-17i","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4296","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=4296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4297,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4296\/revisions\/4297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}