{"id":851,"date":"2011-11-18T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T05:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=851"},"modified":"2011-11-20T19:55:59","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T00:55:59","slug":"day-21-chapter-12-marin-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=851","title":{"rendered":"Day 21 – Chapter 12 – Marin – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIf we can figure out who was fucking up the wards in the first place, we\u2019ll be able to stop them from doing it again,\u201d Rory said as we headed for the next ward in the ring, this one a little further from \u2018home\u2019 than the first two Carolyn and I had checked.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I glanced at him over my shoulder.\u00a0 Carolyn had found a granola bar in her pocket, and eating it had helped restore some of the strength and steadiness to my limbs.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t going back to camp proper until we\u2019d finished with these wards, even if I passed out at the end.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn\u2019s nose wrinkled.\u00a0 \u201cYou really think that someone deliberately screwed them up to leave us open to that?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cKellin suspected that someone was doing that,\u201d I said, mostly to Carolyn.\u00a0 \u201cBut she didn\u2019t know who, and neither did I.\u00a0 She talked to me about it but didn\u2019t want to worry anyone else, so she didn\u2019t really say anything.\u00a0 We figured it was someone who didn\u2019t know what they were doing.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWell, she was right,\u201d Rory said.\u00a0 \u201cSomeone was deliberately screwing with the wards, but I don\u2019t think that it was someone just doing it to do it.\u00a0 It was malicious.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I blinked at him.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got enough people around here that didn\u2019t believe in all of\u2026well, this\u2026that could\u2019ve been doing it because they thought that we were devil-worshipping or some crap like that, Rory.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s got to be what it was, right?\u00a0 Just someone kicking them over because they thought we were trying to spawn Satan or something right here on top of ourselves.\u00a0 Probably the same ones that up and left.<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cHopefully we won\u2019t have to worry about it anymore.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He shook his head, tone edging on insistent.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m telling you, Mar, it was deliberate and I don\u2019t think it was someone who just didn\u2019t understand what they were for and getting scared.\u00a0 They tried to cover it up, right?\u00a0 The fact that the wards were being damaged?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWell, yeah,\u201d I said slowly, brows knitting.\u00a0 \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean anything.\u00a0 It just means that they didn\u2019t realize that we\u2019d be able to sense, up close, that they weren\u2019t working quite right anymore.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t mean they had any idea how any of it works.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m telling you, Mar, someone working for the Shadow Man and his little friends disrupted those wards.\u201d\u00a0 Rory stared hard at me for a moment, then looked away.\u00a0 There was a touch of fear lurking in his eyes.\u00a0 What did he have to be afraid of, though?\u00a0 Of the creatures coming back?
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We were out here to make sure that they couldn\u2019t<\/em>.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat makes you think so?\u201d\u00a0 Carolyn asked, walking on the other side of me with her hands shoved into her pockets.\u00a0 She was frowning, thoughtful, head canted to one side as if she was listening to someone riding on her shoulder.\u00a0 I caught a glimmer of blue and green and realized that she was\u2014probably her little friend Longfellow.\u00a0 \u201cThis kind of \"\"<\/a>paranoia isn\u2019t exactly like you.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For a moment, he seemed incredibly indecisive, staring at the trees off to one side, looking ahead to the rubble, then back to the trees.\u00a0 The leaves were starting to turn, far too early, and he pretended to be fascinated by them for a moment before he looked back to us.\u00a0 \u201cIt told me.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I blinked.\u00a0 \u201cWhat told you?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAngie\u2019s Shadow Man.\u00a0 He told me.\u00a0 He was taunting me while he went after you, Mar.\u00a0 They wanted me to join them.\u201d\u00a0 His lips thinned.\u00a0 \u201cHe said that one of us already belonged to him.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut he didn\u2019t say who<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIf we can figure out who was fucking up the wards in the first place, we\u2019ll be able to stop them from doing it again,\u201d Rory said as we headed for the next ward in the ring, this one … 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-851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chapter-12","category-day-21"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-dJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851","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=851"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}