The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf

Author:Lora Senf
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Rage and sorrow and guilt washed through me like a river. If the note meant what I thought it did, not only did Clackity know where my parents were, but it had been the one to take them in the first place. Clackity had destroyed my family and then taken the extra step to burn our house down for no reason other than cruelty.

I was shaking harder than I ever had, harder than any panic attack.

Then I realized it wasn’t me shaking at all.

All around me, the icy heart rumbled. The creaking and cracking of ice sliding against ice was deafening.

Eri wore terror and sorrow on her face in equal parts. “You have to go,” she said. “Take Dolen with you. I have to return to my post or… it will be terrible.”

“No,” I said. “You’re not going back.” Without explaining myself to her, I grabbed at my necklace and said, “I need a door, please. A door to take Eri and Dolen to Eri’s home. Her real home, far away from here.”

I didn’t even have enough time to worry that it wouldn’t work. My door appeared in front of me instantly.

It was then that I remembered the torches. I shoved Clackity’s note in my pocket and took the torch that Eri was holding. I almost put both of them out then thought better of it and threw the torches into the center of the chamber instead. They kept burning, just like they were supposed to. I wished in my heart they’d keep burning until they melted the foundations of the icy prison, and it all came tumbling down, and somehow I knew they would. After all, I told them when to go out.

I pushed Eri (still clutching the now-wild-eyed Cato’s staff) and Dolen through the door and into what I hoped was safety.

It was quieter in the hallway, and much warmer.

“I do not understand,” said Eri.

“You will in a minute,” I said.

I hope, I thought.

A new door had appeared on the righthand side of the hall. As did all the others, this one had a canvas hung next to it. The painting was beiges and greens and a swath of vivid purple at the top. I wasn’t sure what this place would be, but it had to be better than the Winterlands.

“You open that door,” I told Eri and Dolen. “This is yours, not mine.”

“I…” She hesitated.

“Just open it.”

Dolen stepped back behind Eri, clearly wanting her to do the honors. With trembling hands, my beautiful new friend turned the knob and pushed her door open. Warm, fragrant air filled the hallway. It smelled of grass and wildflowers and had a hint of that rose-and-gasoline scent I recognized from all the growing things on the Dark Sun Side.

On the other side of the door was a wide field full of long grasses and tall flowers all shades of peach and orange and yellow. The black sun hung in a brilliant, bright purple sky. Off in the distance over rolling hills I could see what looked like the roofs of buildings—a small village or town wasn’t too far away.

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