{"id":4680,"date":"2021-08-04T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4680"},"modified":"2021-08-04T11:00:27","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T15:00:27","slug":"twenty-three-08-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4680","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 08"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cBut I don\u2019t understand why\u2014or how<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you talked to Phelan about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I bit my lip, staring at the ground for a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cHe said we\u2019d talk about what happened down there later.\u00a0 But then stuff started to happen and we haven\u2019t gotten to talk about it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm.\u201d\u00a0 Somehow, even the single syllable managed to sound incredibly weighty and concerned.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll nudge him in your direction.\u00a0 It sounds important, anyway.\u00a0 I think you two do need to have that talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you think it\u2019s important?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n

I closed my eyes, chin dipping toward my chest.\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d I whispered.\u00a0 \u201cYes, I think it\u2019s important\u2014but I don\u2019t understand<\/em> why it happened, Aunt Caro.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what it means, just that it happened.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know what<\/em> it was.\u00a0 Was it some kind of dream?\u00a0 An echo?\u00a0 Something else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone here knows what it is, Lin, Phelan will.\u201d\u00a0 She squeezed me gently and I winced.\u00a0 \u201cAnd if you follow through on what you\u2019re intending, then it\u2019s important that you have the conversation sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean going,\u201d I said, swallowing.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean leaving with them when they go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll get the answers about your mom and dad that you\u2019re looking for, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s not the only reason why I\u2019m going to go, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was.\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn looked at me and smiled sadly.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s something you have to do, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cI get it.\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll still worry about you.\u201d\u00a0 She pressed a kiss to my head.\u00a0 \u201cWe love you, Lin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, Aunt Caro.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n

We stepped onto the bridge.\u00a0 She kept her arm around my shoulders as we walked, footsteps echoing hollowly.\u00a0 How the bridge was still standing after all this time, I wasn\u2019t sure.\u00a0 Maybe it had just been built that well.\u00a0 Maybe it was something else.<\/p>\n

It was one of those mysteries of my world that I\u2019d always been content to leave as just that\u2014a mystery.\u00a0 Until now, my world had been far smaller than I realized.<\/p>\n

Realizing that I was about to leave the cocoon of my childhood for something much bigger was a little jarring.\u00a0 Maybe that had been why I\u2019d seen what I\u2019d seen.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t make sense, but it was something.\u00a0 Stranger things had been connected.<\/p>\n

At least, that was what I kept telling myself as we walked back to the village together in silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thomas Merlin Ambrose’s point of view.] \u201cBut I don\u2019t understand why\u2014or how.\u201d \u201cHave you talked to Phelan about it?\u201d I bit my lip, staring at the ground for a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cHe said we\u2019d talk about … 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":[336,337,373,14],"tags":[340,150,163,171,170,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-4680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-23-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","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-1du","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4680","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=4680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4681,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4680\/revisions\/4681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}