Naihabi Ridge

Chapter Thirty-One - Breaking Through

Avi

For the longest time I sat, hopeless, crumpled on the ground in front of the locked door. Until Quinn, who had been sitting a safe distance away from me, exhaled shakily and stood, stumbling as he did. I looked at him curiously as he made his way to the sliver of light in the wall.
    
"If we knock on this wall hard enough"—he placed his bandaged hand on the crack—"I think we should be able to break through it, since it's already damaged."
    
Quinn had a small cleft in his chin, barely visible under the dark stubble that had grown during his imprisonment, and the skin on his cheek looked worn and gritty, though part of that was because it was covered in dirt and flecks of dried blood.
    
I scolded myself for staring and instead focused on what he had said and after a second of fruitless thought, I nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."
    
Though I hadn't the least idea what he had said.
    
He took at step away from the wall and looked at me expectantly. I got up and kind of stepped on my own feet and nearly fell over.
    
"Well?" He frowned and raised his eyebrows, "You're going to be doing most of the ramming, since I would imagine I'm not very strong at the moment."
    
Even as he said it, I felt Soha's power pour through to my fingertips and I instinctively made a weird face, somehow wanting my confusion to get across to her. Why would she lend me her power again after so soon? Or maybe it's because I'd used it correctly the first time... I had used it correctly, right?

"You need work," she huffed. "You're definitely not ready for it yet."
    
I furrowed my brows and took a step backward. Then why was the smooth, watery feeling still pooling in my fingers?
    
"Are we going to down this wall or no?" Quinn flung his hands out exasperatedly, interrupting my thoughts and causing the power in my hands to dissipate.
    
"What? Oh, yeah... that." I looked at my sling and wondered again how Soha could blow out a wall of fire like a candle but somehow not heal my collarbone. Then I grumbled to her and prepped my uninjured shoulder to ram into the wall because this was probably going to hurt... a lot.
    
And I couldn't even use Soha's power just a little...
    
I could feel her annoyance and could barely hear her grumbling under her breath, but then she sighed and resigned. "Fine. It's not like I could really stop you anyway."

Instantly, the power was back in my fingers, stronger than ever, yearning to be released. I clenched my teeth, trying to get used to the rejuvenating bliss, and ran forward, bracing myself for impact with the wall.

"What's happening?" I barely heard Quinn ask.

My shoulder hit the crack in the wall and the surface felt like dry paper against my skin. It didn't hurt at all. Instead, I plowed straight through it heard it crumble to the ground as if it were hollow.

I rolled to the ground to slow myself down, stunned at how easily the wall had fallen, and glanced immediately back at the hole I'd created. My mouth fell open as the small plume of dust cleared to reveal the wall was actually close to a foot thick and made of solid stone. Then I made eye contact with Quinn through the gaping hole and his eyes were wide with terror, his mouth forming a wide O. He had stumbled to the ground at the impact.

"What are you?" He whispered, scooting backward into the locked door behind him.

I had no response. Instead, I looked at my hand in astonishment combined with horror and my eye caught again on my sling. Could I heal it? The temptation tugged at the back of my mind. But I had no experience with channeling Soha's energy. What if I hurt myself instead? What if I hurt someone else?

My eyes wandered back up to where Quinn was gaping, breathing heavily, and my gaze followed his to my knife, which must have unfastened itself from my leg. I shot a look at my strap and, coincidentally, the knife's was undone.

I took a step toward Quinn in an attempt to explain myself, but at that same moment, Quinn was shoved aside as the door he was leaning on burst open with a cacophony of new voices.

My step forward became a stumble backward and I recognized the people in the doorway. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead.

"Oriole?"

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