\u201cSo what now?\u201d Orion asked. \u201cWhat\u2019s the plan going forward?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to learn how to control this,\u201d Athena said. \u201cReally control it, not just stumble through it hoping for the best. The power, the little girl, she\u2019s part of me now. We\u2019re working together instead of fighting each other. But I need to understand her better, need to practice using this in a way that\u2019s safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to take time,\u201d Derek said. \u201cAnd careful practice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have time,\u201d I said, looking at Athena. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll all help you figure it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah came out with a tray loaded with sandwiches and chips and fruit. She\u2019d made enough food for twice as many people, probably because she needed something to do with her hands, needed to feel useful after feeling helpless for so long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We ate and talked about what came next. Derek wanted to run some tests, nothing invasive, just basic stuff to see how Athena\u2019s body was handling the power now that she\u2019d made peace with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion wanted to make sure we had a contingency plan in case anything went wrong, because that\u2019s what Orion did. He planned for\u00a0<\/p>\n
every possible disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But mostly we just sat together and appreciated the fact that we were all still here, all still alive and breathing and whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched Athena as she talked with her brother, saw the way some of the tension had left her shoulders, saw the way she smiled\u00a0<\/p>\n
more easily now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was still scared, I could tell, but it was different. Before, she\u2019d been scared of herself, of what she might do. Now she was just scared of the unknown, of learning something new, and that was a fear we could work with.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After we finished eating, I noticed her eyes starting to droop. She was fighting to stay awake but losing the battle, her head nodding forward every few minutes before she\u2019d jerk it back up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should sleep,\u201d I told her. \u201cYou\u2019ve been through a lot today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo have you,\u201d she pointed out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, but I got to take a nap while I was dying,\u201d I said, trying to make her laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It worked. She smiled and shook her head at me. \u201cThat\u2019s not funny.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little funny,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really not,\u201d Orion said, but there was no heat in his voice. \u201cBut he\u2019s right, you need rest. You both do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:01 Wed, Jan 14 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 225\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:4\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena was barely keeping her eyes open as we climbed the stairs, leaning against me for support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
694\u00a0<\/p>\n
She fell asleep almost the second her head hit the pillow, still holding my hand. I watched her breathe, slow and steady and peaceful, and felt something settle in my chest that had been restless for days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was going to be okay. We were both going to be okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stayed with her until I was sure she was deep asleep, then carefully extracted my hand from hers and headed back downstairs. I needed to move, needed to process everything that had happened, and I couldn\u2019t do that lying still.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion was still in the dinning, he looked up when he heard my footsteps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe asleep?\u201d he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOut cold,\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t think she\u2019s really slept in days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither have you,\u201d he pointed out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m too wired to sleep right now,\u201d I admitted. \u201cEverything that just happened, it\u2019s still processing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were quiet for a minute, both of us lost in our own thoughts. Then Orion spoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was your idea, wasn\u2019t it? The whole plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded. \u201cYeah. I knew she needed to face whatever was inside her, and I knew she\u2019d never risk it as long as she thought she might hurt someone. So I gave her a reason, gave her a situation where facing it was the only option.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 225 \u201cSo what now?\u201d Orion asked. \u201cWhat\u2019s the plan going forward?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}