{"id":4432,"date":"2020-09-30T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T14:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4432"},"modified":"2020-09-30T10:19:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T14:19:00","slug":"twelve-02-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4432","title":{"rendered":"Twelve – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The sound of their footsteps fell in behind her, the soft and oddly familiar echo of boots against the ground.\u00a0 It was almost comforting as long as she didn\u2019t look back to see who was following her as she led them out of the main building and toward one of the cottages the Valley\u2019s residents reserved for travelers\u2014usually people from New Hope to the south or caravan traders passing through.\u00a0 A few times, she\u2019d seen their uncle Drew\u2019s brother and his pack come through, but they hadn\u2019t come since she was twelve or thirteen\u2014she couldn\u2019t quite remember anymore when, exactly, it had been.\u00a0 Usually, though, the cottages stayed empty and quiet, clean and ready to accept travelers that only so rarely came.<\/p>\n

Lin was only half a step behind her, but she didn\u2019t dare look at him, either, her stomach roiling and twisting back on itself.\u00a0 How had he known?\u00a0 Why hadn\u2019t he told her?<\/p>\n

If she thought hard enough about it, she could come up with good answers to both questions, but she neither wanted to think too hard about it or have necessarily good answers\u2014sometimes, she\u2019d just rather be mad as her cousin, as close to her as a brother.\u00a0 This was one of those moments, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

They were halfway to the cottage when someone cleared their throat behind her.\u00a0 She still didn\u2019t look back, keeping her eyes trained straight ahead on their destination, but that didn\u2019t stop the rider from speaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry about all of this.\u201d\u00a0 It sounded like the lead rider\u2019s voice.\u00a0 \u201cFrom the look on your face, this is a bit of a shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost strangers are a bit of a shock,\u201d she said, trying to keep her voice level.\u00a0 \u201cYour claim is just one of the more unusual ones, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d he agreed quietly.\u00a0 \u201cStill.\u00a0 I apologize for any kind of trauma we\u2019ve brought along with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kailey frowned at the ground for a second, her jaw tightening.\u00a0 Trauma.\u00a0 He\u2019s apologizing for trauma they may or may not have caused.\u00a0 As if Lin almost getting ripped apart by some monster earlier today didn\u2019t already cause trauma.\u00a0 As if seeing my parents worried as hell didn\u2019t already cause trauma.\u00a0 As if knowing that at any moment, something could decide to just show up and ruin the peace that all of our parents fought so long and hard for.<\/em><\/p>\n

She shook her head, finally glancing back over her shoulder as they drew close to the cottage\u2019s door.\u00a0 \u201cYou didn\u2019t cause any trauma,\u201d she said as her hand fell to the door\u2019s knob.\u00a0 She twisted it, pushed the door open.\u00a0 \u201cNothing that we haven\u2019t already felt before, anyway.\u00a0 Go on in.\u00a0 This is where you\u2019ll be staying for the duration of your time here\u2014however long or short that may be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.] The sound of their footsteps fell in behind her, the soft and oddly familiar echo of boots against the ground.\u00a0 It was almost comforting as long as she didn\u2019t look back … 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":[336,337,356,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,345,350,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-4432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-12-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-kailey-astoris","tag-knights-errant","tag-original-fiction","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-19u","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432","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=4432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4434,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions\/4434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}