{"id":4388,"date":"2020-08-12T08:24:51","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T12:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4388"},"modified":"2020-08-12T08:24:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T12:24:51","slug":"ten-02-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4388","title":{"rendered":"Ten – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cDid we make a mistake?\u201d Carolyn asked in a low voice, glancing at the both of them. Matt grimaced, keeping his gaze trained straight ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just saying that we didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trusting Lin\u2019s gut and whatever\u2014whatever voices he\u2019s hearing. Who knows. Maybe it was hers.\u201d He wasn\u2019t entirely sure which hers<\/em> he meant when he said it\u2014whether it was the same voice his sister had heard that warned her the end was coming or someone or something else\u2019s. It had been so long, he wasn\u2019t sure it even mattered anymore. \u201cBesides, you said that Longfellow\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m talking about,\u201d Carolyn said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she stared at them both, her lips thinning to white. \u201cI\u2019m asking if we made a mistake then<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cold shot through Matt and his jaw tightened. On the other side of him, Phelan sighed, staring off into the distance, seeing but not seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t give us much of a choice,\u201d Phelan said quietly. \u201cWe went with the path of least resistance. Can\u2019t say it was right, but it was probably less wrong. Probably not a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think so?\u201d Carolyn swallowed, her gaze focusing on Matt. \u201cMatt?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPhelan\u2019s right,\u201d he ground out. \u201cThey didn\u2019t give us a choice. They\u2019d already decided and we just\u2014we had to go along with it. Like always when they weren\u2019t going to budge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you ever wonder?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly every damn day,\u201d he said quietly, then shook his head. \u201cBut I can\u2019t dwell on that. I\u2019ve got a job to do. We\u2019ve got a job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut is it fair?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all three of us know it\u2019s not,\u201d Matt said, looking away from her as a flicker of motion caught his eye. The riders were just coming into view through the gap. \u201cEnough of that for now. It\u2019s showtime.\u201d<\/p>\n

He unslung his warhammer and rested its head in the grass in front of him, casually folding both hands over the cap at the end of its handle, and schooled his expression into a stern sort of blankness.<\/p>\n

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

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u201cDid we make a mistake?\u201d Carolyn asked in a low voice, glancing at the both of them. Matt grimaced, keeping his gaze trained straight ahead. \u201cWe were just saying that we didn\u2019t,\u201d … 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":[336,337,353,14],"tags":[340,150,163,171,170,181,149,173,148,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-10-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-18M","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388","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=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4389,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions\/4389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}