The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

3.3. Escape (Imorah)

Inside the room, Imorah was so stunned by her discovery that she forgot all about the spooky voice she'd heard only minutes earlier.

She squinted, and looked around. Thousands of lights glittered and danced as her pocket light reflected off a room full of amethyst crystals. It was blinding, as her simple pocket light was magnified and reflected back at her from a million angles.

She couldn't believe what she'd found. She turned and took it all in. The entire wall was covered in a carpet of crystals, and every surface was crowded and blinking, flashing, blinding her.

"It's an enormous geode," she marveled. The crystals had formed in this chamber when it had been airtight, but over time, water erosion had compromised the structure, and something had happened to crack the geode open.

She closed her eyes, filled suddenly with joy, and breathed a deep breath of fresh air through her nose. She shivered, still naked and a little cold and wet with the wind blowing through. She sat down on a lump covered in a prickly crystal carpet, and put her simple beige clothes back on.

As she put on her shoes, she wondered what was going to happen next. Everything seemed to be unfolding on its own course and she felt like she was just along for the ride.

When she was dressed, she stood up and shined her pocket light around - there didn't appear to be any obvious passages through the chamber. Is this the exit to the surface? she wondered. It must be, she reasoned, why else would I instinctively come here?

She crouched down low and started looking for the exit - where the wind was coming from - but the light was blinding her from all directions.

She turned the pocket light off and gave her watering eyes a break. After a minute, she turned the light back on and kept searching for the through passage.

It was like this for many, many minutes and Imorah still hadn't found the passage through. Her face was soaked in tears from her overly sensitive eyes.

She groaned in frustration - her knees raw from crawling on the tiny points of the crystals. She returned to the large crystal and sat down, turning off the pocket light to give her eyes a break, and wiped her face with her grandmother's handkerchief.

She was starting to feel worried that she wouldn't find the exit. What if it has caved in since my grandmother was here? She wondered. She had looked everywhere, and the chamber wasn't that large.

She bit her lip. What will I do? It must be very close to the time for convocation. She felt her belly constrict in anxiety at the thought of everyone wondering where she was.

She continued ruminating, biting her nails as she imagined it - they would continue on with Convocation and Brother Thom would probably send some of his men, the Sena, to search the library and her quarters for her. Nita would be in tears.... Eventually, when they couldn't find her, they would set off the alarms, and convocation would probably be ruined anyways....

What am I doing? Imorah groaned. She stood up and asked out loud, "What am I supposed to do now? Huh? I did it - I did what you told me, so now what?"

And then the strange voice returned. You must wait, Imorah. You're almost on your way. Everything has its own time and you have yours as well.

The voice seemed so calm, so sure, that it soothed Imorah immediately. She licked her lips - "Hello?" she said, "Is anyone there?"

Yes, I'm here, the voice answered simply.

Imorah's jaw dropped. Are you talking in my mind? she asked the mysterious voice mentally.