Doormaker: Rock Heaven (Book 1) by Jamie Thornton

Author:Jamie Thornton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Igneous Books
Published: 2017-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The darkness made it difficult for Maella to see the outline of her own hands. People slept all around her. Some snored, some cried out from terrible dreams, others lay as if dead.

“Daniel.”

Maella whispered into his ear so softly she wasn’t sure he could hear her at all. She couldn’t risk anyone else waking up, especially Sethlo or Claritsa.

Sethlo’s words echoed inside her mind.

You already know who you are.

A recklessness had filled her at Sethlo’s words—a rebellion. She didn’t know who she was, no matter what Sethlo thought. No one had ever trusted her enough to tell her anything to help with the kinds of dangers she now faced. They had wanted to protect her. Instead, they had left her defenseless.

Claritsa wanted to protect her too. For three weeks, Maella had let Claritsa talk her out of doing the one thing that might actually make a difference. She allowed that reckless feeling to rise up and take over. It battled against the hum of the door in the sky until she couldn’t tell them apart.

She needed to get them out of Rock Heaven before Daniel got her killed. She needed answers Rock Heaven didn’t have.

Daniel groaned as he shifted onto his shoulder. During the daylight he often held that shoulder close to his body. He said it never stopped hurting. Maella brushed her hand across his cheek. Rough facial hair scratched her fingers. Everyone looked rough now. She could only imagine how matted and crazy her hair looked. Better not to imagine.

He smelled like licatherin dust with a layer of boy underneath—licorice, musk, stone. He needed to wake up. She squeezed his hand. “Daniel.” She risked whispering it a little louder. His breathing changed. His hand tensed and she felt his entire body go still.

“It’s Maella. Come on.”

She let go of his hand and stepped away from the shadow of the boulder. The four of them slept in a nest of blankets. Cold wrapped her in an icy hug. The moon glowed brightly enough away from the shadows to illuminate the shapes of bodies and boulders that formed camp.

She stepped lightly across the stones, clasping her hands behind her back. No one would notice how she walked in the dark, even if they were awake. Her footing was more sure than ever. She knew how to walk across the stones with confidence. They’d been in Rock Heaven for three weeks after all. If she hadn’t accidentally opened a door by now, she wasn’t going to.

But that needed to change.

Claritsa wanted them to wait. They hadn’t seen the ladder come through the door yet. Maybe it never would. But after Daniel’s breakdown earlier that evening and the way Sethlo’s words had cut deep into her, she had to try something—the one something Rock Heaven, in all their failed escape attempts, had never tried.

Opening a door.

But if the door was going to be big enough for people to escape through, she needed help opening it.

That’s where Daniel came in.

Part of her

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