{"id":4377,"date":"2020-07-31T08:40:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T12:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4377"},"modified":"2020-07-31T08:40:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T12:40:49","slug":"nine-03-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4377","title":{"rendered":"Nine – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The sound of Lin\u2019s voice sent fresh cold flooding through her. Kailey twisted, her hand clamping down on her mother\u2019s even harder\u2014just as Hecate\u2019s grip crushed hers.<\/p>\n

He stumbled toward the wall from the shadows of one of the watch towers, his eyes wide and face pale. \u201cDon\u2019t shoot them,\u201d he said again. \u201cThey\u2019re not here to hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s gaze cut toward her for a second, then went back to his nephew, expression darkening. \u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

From the corner of her eye, Kailey saw Phelan reach over and grasp her father\u2019s arm, fingers flexing. If Matt felt it, he gave no sign. Her father\u2019s attention was wholly on Lin, who stopped a dozen yards from the bottom of the wall and stared up at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just do,\u201d he said. \u201cI can hear it. Feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father opened his mouth to say something. Phelan interrupted. \u201cDid you dream it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Swallowing hard, Lin nodded.<\/p>\n

Matt breathed a curse. \u201cHold the arrow, Sif. Let me know when they\u2019re a hundred yards out.\u201d He started moving toward the ladder. \u201cKailey, stay with Lin. Keep him right there until this is over. Understood?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bile slicking her throat and tongue, Kailey nodded. \u201cOkay, Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

His gaze lingered on her for a few seconds, a flash of pain flickering through his eyes before he nodded slightly, glancing toward Hecate. \u201cAre you staying or coming?\u201d he asked softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stay with them,\u201d she said, squeezing Kailey\u2019s hand again. \u201cYou never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt nodded, then started down the ladder. Phelan was already on the ground.<\/p>\n

Neve and Carolyn watched them from the other side of the gates. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d Neve called.<\/p>\n

\u201cCare, get some of your friends to check them out,\u201d Matt said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carolyn glanced back behind the wall, spotted Lin, then nodded. \u201cGot it. I\u2019m coming with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt didn\u2019t argue, simply nodded and continued down the ladder.<\/p>\n

Kailey followed, heart lodging in her throat.<\/p>\n

I could strangle him.<\/em> He\u2019d said he was going down. When had he seen what he\u2019d seen? Why hadn\u2019t he told her? He could have\u2014<\/p>\n

She shook her head, climbing down the ladder as quickly as she could. There would be time to be angry later.<\/p>\n

Right now, she needed to pray her cousin was right and that this wasn\u2019t a colossal mistake.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, she figured it could go either way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.] The sound of Lin\u2019s voice sent fresh cold flooding through her. Kailey twisted, her hand clamping down on her mother\u2019s even harder\u2014just as Hecate\u2019s grip crushed hers. He stumbled toward the … 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":[336,337,352,14],"tags":[340,150,163,171,170,194,345,181,151,149,148,168,147,167,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-4377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-09-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-kailey-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-18B","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377","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=4377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4378,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions\/4378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}