{"id":846,"date":"2011-11-16T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2012-02-13T08:57:42","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T13:57:42","slug":"day-21-chapter-12-marin-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=846","title":{"rendered":"Day 21 – Chapter 12 – Marin – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory joined us after I\u2019d had a look at the second ward.\u00a0 The first had been in better shape than the second, and I was still on my knees in the grass when Rory walked up.\u00a0 The damp had soaked through my pants at the knees, leaving me a little chillier than I\u2019d have liked, but it wasn\u2019t going to be enough to send me back to shelter to change before our job was done.
\n\u201cMatt told me you were up,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cHaving a look at the mess?\u201d\u00a0 He glanced between Carolyn and I, then smiled a little.\u00a0 \u201cPlease tell me we didn\u2019t screw up too badly.\u201d
\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t do anything to screw them up.\u00a0 Whoever dicked around with them in the first place did that more<\/em> than well enough without your intervention.\u201d\u00a0 I sat back against my heels and pushed my hair back and out of my face.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re a mess, though.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t quite know how to fix them without wiping them out and starting again.\u201d
\nRory nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cThought that might be the case, but we weren\u2019t going to do it without you or Kel to put them together.\u201d\u00a0 From his jacket pockets he produced a few baggies of herbs and a bit of chalk.\u00a0 He thrust it all at me, smiling almost sheepishly.\u00a0 \u201cHere.\u00a0 Thought you could use these.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I wasn\u2019t out here earlier.\u00a0 Had to find them.\u201d
\n\u201cThanks.\u201d\u00a0 I smiled gratefully up at him and I took the baggies and the chalk.\u00a0 It still wouldn\u2019t be easy\u2014not if I was remaking them\u2014but getting wards rigged back up seemed more possible now.\u00a0 I exhaled and started to erase the ring around the stack of rocks, trying to concentrate.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kellin and I stood next to the inner wall, built of concrete and large cobbles cemented together with concrete and mortar.\u00a0 A few quick strokes of chalk and she\u2019d added a new ward.\u00a0 We each touched it, dumping energy into it.\u00a0 Her lips moved silently and I could feel the energy flowing from her into the marks and through them into the stones of the wall itself.\u00a0 I pulsed energy in, too, different from hers but with the same intent.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we finished, she looked at me sidelong and grinned tiredly.\u00a0 \u201cOn to the next one.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I nodded in agreement, smiling back, and we turned to walk down the wall to the next site.<\/em>
\nI pulled back from the ward, blinking.\u00a0 My limbs felt rubbery, but I could feel the power rolling off the newly constructed ward in front of me.\u00a0 I sat back, taking a few deep breaths.
\n\u201cYou okay, Mar?\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn touched my shoulder lightly.
\nI swallowed twice before I nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Yeah, I think I am.\u201d
\nThe ward was restacked, rechalked, ringed in a deep circle cut into muddy clay.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t remember doing any of it, but the energy was mine, mingling with hers and Rory\u2019s, though theirs were fainter, less prominent.
\n\u201cYou sure?\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn pressed.\u00a0 \u201cYou look a little pale.\u201d
\n\u201cJust tired,\u201d I assured her, mind reeling.\u00a0 What just happened?\u00a0 Did I somehow black out and still\u2026function?<\/em>\u00a0 That had never happened before, not that I could ever recall.\u00a0 The idea that I could<\/em> do that frightened me a little.
\n\u201cDid you see something?\u201d\u00a0 Rory asked abruptly, towering over us both.
\nI just blinked up at him.\u00a0 How the hell can he tell?\u00a0 How the hell does he know?<\/em>
\nMy silence was apparently all the confirmation he needed.\u00a0 He nodded curtly.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever happened, you just set that ward without thinking about it.\u00a0 Told us when to energy dump and everything.\u201d\u00a0 He shivered slightly, staring at the ward.\u00a0 \u201cThat one\u2019s going to keep something really<\/em> nasty out.\u00a0 Already giving me a little bit of the crawlies, and I helped make it.\u201d
\nI stared at the ward for a moment, took a deep breath, then exhaled it slowly.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d I said, \u201cthen let\u2019s get on to the next one and hope it happens again.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want anything like that ever making it to our home ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

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Rory joined us after I\u2019d had a look at the second ward.\u00a0 The first had been in better shape than the second, and I was still on my knees in the grass when Rory walked up.\u00a0 The damp had soaked … 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":[31,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-12","category-day-21"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-dE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","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=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}