The Diamond Of Darkhold

A rescue party that includes Mary Waters, Doon’s father, Mrs. Murdo, Lizzie, and others set out to find Lina and Doon, but they soon encounter Lina and Doon coming home.

Town leaders Mary Waters, Ben Barlow, and Wilmer Dent question Lina and Doon the next day. Doon reports that Ember still holds food and supplies. The leaders decide to mount an expedition to salvage what they can. Many volunteer, while others gather the tools, candles, sacks, crates, and wagons the volunteers will need. 

Doon and Lina say nothing about the diamonds, carrying out secret experiments instead. They review the Directions for Use, and Doon puzzles over the last words: “… celestial source, perfectly pure, and for human purposes, infinite” (245). After getting a bulb to light by accident, they seek Ms. Buloware’s help in defining these words, then figure out how the diamond works—the diamonds charge in the sun to power bulbs and electrical devices.

On the morning of the trip, volunteers gather in the plaza with four trucks towed by oxen. Doon is late and arrives carrying a bulky pack. They reach the opening that was the Emberites’ point of egress in the evening on the second day of walking. They camp. Torren notes all the difficulties with outdoor travel and begins to think he may not want to be a roamer. The next morning, as the others wake and prepare to go into the crevice, Lina and Doon sneak away to the vault.

Lina and Doon open the sliding panels in the vault and take a diamond into the sunshine. Once its solar cells inside charge, they screw in a lightbulb from among Torren’s stash, given to Torren by his roamer brother Caleb. Doon had wrapped and brought all the bulbs in his pack. 

The light shines brightly, and they return to the group. Everyone is astounded. Doon says it runs on “electricity from sunlight” (252). Doon and Lina explain the story of their quest to everyone, leaving out the wolves. They reveal Torren’s light bulbs. Torren fusses until Doon says they will be used for an important task: Each salvage crew will have a bulb and a diamond to see by in the dark cavern. Lina and Doon climb atop a truck and, in loud voices, prepare the volunteers for the trek and conditions in Ember. Everyone will spend eight hours—the length a charge lasts—collecting food and useful items and carrying everything up to the trucks.

The volunteers are scared of the cliff, path, and chasm, then fascinated by the dark city. Those from Ember want to see their old homes, and newcomers ask many questions, but soon everyone focuses on the salvage task together. Assigned groups take on various parts of the city: Doon’s crew takes the mayor’s stash in the Pipeworks; Lina’s goes to the storerooms (mostly empty) and the house where someone hoarded supplies. With minutes left, Lina goes to her house for her drawings, but they are gone; she gets a tube of Anti-B, an ointment meant to heal. Then she goes up to the roof of the Gathering Hall to look at the city “dotted with bright, moving lights” (259). From there, she says goodbye to Ember.

Back in Sparks, two diamonds per family are distributed; the rest go to the Ark for saving and trading. Steady light at night means more reading, and Edward Pocket establishes a real library for everyone to use after working hours. 

One day, a family of roamers arrives: It is the Troggs and Maggs. Doon admits he stole the diamond from Washton Trogg, but he offers one in return. He tells Trogg the truth about his origins in Ember and that he suspected the value of the diamond’s real purpose, something Trogg never understood. Trogg scoffs at Doon’s words until it gets dark; then he sees the diamonds’ lights all around the plaza.

After some discussion, the people of Sparks ask the Troggs if they would like to stay as villagers, and the Troggs accept. Scawgo, whose name is Tim, leaves the Troggs to stay with the Noam family. He shows his treasures to Lina and Doon: His mother’s bracelet, a memento from his father, a coin, some pebbles, and Doon’s old book of sketched bugs and Lina’s city drawings from Ember. Lina keeps a few drawings, but lets Tim keep the others. Doon lets him have the bug book. Kenny discovers a den of foxes and enjoys long hours studying them.

The villagers can learn and work more easily with the aid of the diamonds, and Ember’s food supply helps them until spring. They focus on the future. Their tasks are tough, but as Doon’s father says, “I don’t think there’s such a thing as an easy life […] But there is such a thing as a good life” (275). Life in Sparks improves over the years. 

Doon discovers different ways to utilize the diamonds. As interest in the diamonds spreads to other places, he also writes an instruction booklet on their use. Mrs. Murdo asks Mary Waters to trade a diamond for a strong, fast horse for Lina; Lina names him Fleet. She teaches herself to ride and begins delivering messages between villages. Five years after Lina and Doon find the diamonds, Lina asks for Doon’s help repairing a dropped letter—similar to the way they first connected back in Ember—and the two realize they may be more than friends.

The town develops as people work hard and find success. Lina and Doon set up house together, as do Doon’s father and Mrs. Murdo. Settlements near and far parallel Sparks’ growth. Many generations later, the ruined city Lina saw on Caleb’s failed mission begins to grow until it is the lovely, peaceful place Lina saw in her dreams and drew, a city that incorporates the sun’s power and cares for gardens and trees.

The moving, greenish star is an unmanned spacecraft from another planet. 50 years before the Disaster, in the town of Yonwood, local astronomer Hoyt McCoy communicated with these beings, who then sent a spacecraft to learn more about Earth. It lands months before Doon and Lina’s discovery of the diamonds. The spacecraft reports to its home planet that though the great civilization on Earth is gone, light and learning survived and are growing in a “new start” (285).