{"id":4687,"date":"2021-08-18T09:21:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T13:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4687"},"modified":"2021-08-18T09:21:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T13:21:20","slug":"twenty-four-03-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4687","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-four – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt\u2019s heart missed a beat.\u00a0 He cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cThen you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAunt Caro confirmed it,\u201d Lin said after a momentary hesitation.\u00a0 \u201cWhen she found me out there, I asked.\u00a0 I\u2014Uncle Matt.\u00a0 I know why you didn\u2019t tell me and it\u2019s okay.\u00a0 I get it.\u00a0 I just\u2014they\u2019re out there somewhere, right?\u00a0 They\u2019re out there somewhere and I just feel like part of the reason that I feel this way is because I need to find them, that somehow they need me.\u201d\u00a0 He swallowed hard and looked away.\u00a0 \u201cI just wish I knew why they left.\u00a0 The real reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMar was dying,\u201d Matt whispered.\u00a0 \u201cShe knew there was something out there that could save her\u2014they both did.\u00a0 Something that was drawing on her magic, spooling it away like yarn from a ball.\u00a0 They needed to find it and they couldn\u2019t do that staying here.\u00a0 We\u2019d known for a long time that it would probably come to that but I guess we all just…I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I think we were all in a little bit of denial.\u00a0 But she knew the moment when it was time.\u00a0 I think that she originally meant to go alone but your dad\u2014gods.\u00a0 Thom was never going to let her go out there alone.\u00a0 I knew that.\u00a0 I think deep down, your mom knew it, too.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what their conversation looked like.\u00a0 I never got the chance to ask and honestly, I don\u2019t think I want to know even now.\u00a0 I just know that by the time I was in the room, they\u2019d made the choice and the plan was set.\u00a0 Only a few of us knew what they were doing\u2014a necessary evil, I guess.\u00a0 But then, if everyone else knew that they\u2019d just up and left, well…I don\u2019t know what that would have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe nothing,\u201d Lin whispered. \u00a0\u201cMaybe destroyed what they\u2019d built.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey feared the latter,\u201d Matt said.\u00a0 \u201cMore than that, they feared that if it looked like anything other than them possibly giving their lives to save everyone here that the peace that Marin secured would die even faster than it already was.\u00a0 What they ended up doing bought us at least a few more years.\u201d\u00a0 He scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry we kept it from you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lin shrugged and winced slightly.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s done is done, right?\u00a0 All I can do now is try to find them.\u201d\u00a0 He chewed his lower lip for a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cYou think they\u2019re still out there, right?\u00a0 Still alive?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019d know if they weren\u2019t,\u201d Matt said, shaking his head slightly.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t ask me how, but I think we would.\u00a0 Somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt Astoris’s point of view.] Matt\u2019s heart missed a beat.\u00a0 He cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cThen you know.\u201d \u201cAunt Caro confirmed it,\u201d Lin said after a momentary hesitation.\u00a0 \u201cWhen she found me out there, I asked.\u00a0 I\u2014Uncle … 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":[336,337,374,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,181,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-4687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-24-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","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-1dB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687","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=4687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4688,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687\/revisions\/4688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}