{"id":4379,"date":"2020-08-03T16:18:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T20:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4379"},"modified":"2020-08-03T16:18:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T20:18:43","slug":"nine-04-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4379","title":{"rendered":"Nine – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Her feet hit the hard-packed dirt at the bottom of the ladder and she turned, seeing only her father\u2019s back at first as he headed for Lin. There was tension in her father\u2019s shoulders that she wasn\u2019t used to seeing, a tension that she suspected she knew the reason for.<\/p>\n

Dammit anyway, Lin. What were you thinking? Why couldn\u2019t you have just told me and let me tell them?<\/em><\/p>\n

But would she have listened?<\/p>\n

Probably not. Hell. For all I know he was trying to tell me earlier and I just yelled at him and tried to hustle him to the tunnels.<\/em> She almost\u2014almost\u2014shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re second-guessing,\u201d her mother said softly in her ear, and Kailey jumped, startled at her mother\u2019s sudden nearness, something she hadn\u2019t noticed until her mother spoke. \u201cIs it about anything important?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she mumbled, looking past her father to see Lin standing there, arms hugged against his chest but not hunching, not flinching under her father\u2019s stare\u2014which she knew had to be just about molten.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sure about this?\u201d Matt was asking her cousin.<\/p>\n

Lin nodded, his expression grave. \u201cAll of you guys have always told me to trust the dreams because you trusted what Mom and Dad saw. I know that they\u2019re not here to hurt us. Don\u2019t ask how I know, I just know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt exhaled, nodding. \u201cRight. Anything else you can tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them isn\u2019t in good shape,\u201d he said, then glanced away. \u201cI think we can help him but I don\u2019t know for sure. I feel like we have to try, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father nodded again. \u201cAll right. Sit tight here. We\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stay with them,\u201d Hecate said softly. \u201cGo on. Parley with them. See what they\u2019ve come for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt hesitated a moment, then exhaled, leaning in to kiss Hecate gently. His gaze swept over his daughter and nephew, lingering on each for a few seconds before he turned away.<\/p>\n

The gates opened and he strode out, Phelan and Carolyn falling in with him on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.] Her feet hit the hard-packed dirt at the bottom of the ladder and she turned, seeing only her father\u2019s back at first as he headed for Lin. There was tension in … 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],"tags":[340,150,171,170,194,345,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-4379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-09-book-8","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-kailey-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-18D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379","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=4379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4380,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379\/revisions\/4380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}