{"id":4695,"date":"2021-09-10T17:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T21:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4695"},"modified":"2021-09-10T17:44:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T21:44:53","slug":"twenty-four-05-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4695","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-four – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

He mentally stomped on that line of thought before it could go any further.\u00a0 His nephew stared at him steadily, as if he could somehow sense what Matt had been thinking.\u00a0 The teenager smiled weakly.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you really think they\u2019d keep hiding after all this time?\u00a0 Are they really hiding?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anymore,\u201d Matt sighed, scrubbing a sooty hand over his face.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not sure I ever really did.\u00a0 Your mom and dad were very good at keeping secrets, Lin.\u00a0 Even from me.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled wryly.\u00a0 \u201cEspecially<\/em> from me sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lin grinned a little, spreading his hands.\u00a0 \u201cExcept for the stuff that they decided you needed to know, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething like that.\u201d\u00a0 His gaze drifted back to the embers, toward the metal he\u2019d shoved inside of it.\u00a0 He shuffled the unfinished tool a little in the coals, shaking his head slowly.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, I didn\u2019t like your dad that much at first.\u00a0 When he first started dating your mom?\u00a0 Now I\u2019d give anything to have them both back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a chance, Uncle Matt, you know that I can find them.\u00a0 If anyone\u2019s going to, it\u2019s me, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt smiled weakly and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cGuess so.\u00a0 Of course, we haven\u2019t really looked that hard, either, considering they\u2019re supposed to be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess people are going to freak out when they finally come home, then.\u201d\u00a0 Lin grinnded.\u00a0 \u201cSo you\u2019re not going to stop me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBut I\u2019d appreciate it if you didn\u2019t tell your aunt right away.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already lost the bet but I\u2019d like to delay payment just a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

His nephew laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want to know, do I?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not,\u201d Matt admitted.\u00a0 \u201cGo on.\u00a0 Head down.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be down for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lin nodded, standing slowly.\u00a0 He drifted toward the door, pausing in the frame and glancing back at him.\u00a0 \u201cThanks, Uncle Matt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, kiddo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLove you, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he was gone, headed back down the path toward the village proper, leaving his uncle up at the forge alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt Astoris’s point of view.] He mentally stomped on that line of thought before it could go any further.\u00a0 His nephew stared at him steadily, as if he could somehow sense what Matt had been thinking.\u00a0 … 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-4695","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-1dJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4695","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=4695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4696,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4695\/revisions\/4696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}