The Diamond Of Darkhold

After a day spent sorting and piling building materials, 13-year-old Doon Harrow is grateful for quitting time. It is almost dark, and a storm is nearing. He calls for his father, who is working on the same assigned task. They live in the Pioneer Hotel just outside of Sparks, where the village leaders placed most people from Ember when they first arrived from their underground city. The people of Sparks have mostly accepted the Emberites, though for a time, sharing food caused tension. Winter, however, has made life difficult: A hole in the roof of their storage facility, the Ark, led to the spoilage of grain and other supplies, and many have been hungry or ill.

In the dimming light, Doon’s father Loris trips and slashes his hand on broken glass. The bleeding is significant; Doon helps his father to Doctor Hesper’s cottage. On the way, they share the news with Mary Waters, one of the three village leaders, that a roamer will arrive in the morning. 

Doctor Hesper is not home, but Doon’s friend Lina Mayfleet, who is also 13 years old, is there. Lina, her little sister Poppy, and their guardian Mrs. Murdo live with Doctor Hesper and her nephew, Torren. When Doctor Hesper arrives, she and Mrs. Murdo try to pick the glass from Loris’s hand. Doon and Torren hold candles for light and Lina must pump water from the well. All are startled by the fierce lightning and thunder. Doon and Loris sleep at the cottage because of the storm.

Lina understands that Ember’s generator was failing and that the people needed to leave when they did. Nevertheless, she misses electricity, and she finds many things about life on the surface—like storms and predator animals—just as hard as the fear of Ember going dark.

A bright morning improves Lina’s mood. She and Doon go ahead of the others to the village plaza, where everyone from Sparks and Ember will see if the roamer has anything valuable to trade. Roamers scavenge the ruined countryside for pre-Disaster objects; they travel long distances between settlements. Lina watches the people of Sparks and Ember gather, recalling that two adults and a baby died over the winter of fever. When the roamer arrives with a horse-drawn wagon, she wants food for her scavenged goods: A cooking pot and a walking stick. No one wants the roamer’s sickly-looking sheep or other impractical “treasures.”

The roamer reveals that wolves are in the area, and that a new star is viewable, a greenish one that moves, which disturbs some. As the crowd disperses, Doon sees a ragged book, missing many pages. Lina trades a match for the book, knowing Doon thinks it is important. The roamer will not reveal how she obtained it. 

A horse pulls the roamer’s wagon; Lina loves the horse and asks to pet it. She is shocked to hear that the horse used to run and carry the roamer as a rider. After the roamer leaves, Doon shows Lina the words on the cover (Directions for Use) and a smudged note indicating the booklet is for Emberites.

Doon visits Lina the next morning to tell her the book has only the last eight pages; these have numbers, diagrams, and words he cannot figure out, though he thinks “current” must have to do with electricity. Doon wants to return to Ember to solve this mystery, and he wants Lina to go with him. They plan to meet at the Ark the next morning. That evening, Lina wonders if returning to Ember is possible.

The next morning, Doon tells Lina that they could likely hike to Ember in one day. He suggests she and Maddy, a former roamer, switch homes for a few days so Mrs. Murdo does not know about Lina’s absence. Doon will tell his father he is staying at Doctor Hesper’s to help with the many ongoing sicknesses. Lina agrees to go with Doon back to Ember.

Doon shares his plan. They will take food and blankets and camp inside the cave where they exited Ember. Over one long day, they will try to find the mystery device, find a way down into Ember, and gather useful things that remain. They will return to Sparks on the third day. 

Lina is doubtful about the potential for success, but Doon insists that something has to change—people in Sparks, including Emberites, are sick, hurting, and close to starving, and the device to which the Directions refer may help. Lina agrees to meet him in three days at sunrise. She insists on leaving a note for Mrs. Murdo, stashed where Mrs. Murdo will not find it right away. Before leaving the Ark, Edward Pocket, the librarian, shows Lina a book of fairy tales. Lina is taken with the idea of a happily-ever-after ending.

Lina goes to Maddy, who agrees to exchange homes for a few days. Lina gathers the items Doon listed, including candles and matches. She leaves the note inside the bean storage so Mrs. Murdo will find it several days later.

Doon and Lina set out before dawn. As they walk, they notice the beautiful scenery around them and wonder how their day-to-day existence can be so hard. To Lina, many parts of this world are a mystery; for example, Doctor Hester told her the Earth’s shadow makes the moon change size, but the logistics of this baffles Lina. 

Doon reveals that the book he took from the roamer begins with Page 47, where “Technical Information” starts, and that he has not made much sense of it. Lina worries about this, but she is still eager to ease the hardship in Sparks. They discuss the massive size of the world and how books suggest that other places once existed where different languages were used. They also discuss how Ember might hide the corpses of any citizens who did not leave.

As dusk falls, they see landmarks they recall from their egress from Ember; soon they find the wide cave that served as their exit. Back outside, they next locate the narrow crevice above the cavern. They creep through the dark crevice to the cliff edge where, last summer, they threw their rock-weighted note down into the city, telling everyone how to leave by boat before it darkened for good. Sure enough, they see that no buildings are lit now in Ember. Then, after a minute, Doon and Lina see a glow far below.

Lina and Doon decide to wait until the next day to try to get down to Ember. Outside the crevice, they see many stars, including the moving star the roamer mentioned. They return to the cave; it leads to the rushing river they rode to leave Ember, but they know its torrents cannot be navigated back to the city. Doon gives Lina a small lamp he built, powered by hand cranking and outfitted with an ancient bulb. She fetches some kindling, coming back to the cave. She sees shiny eyes in a grove of trees. They think they hear wolves singing, as Kenny Parton, a boy from Sparks, told Lina about. Doon shows Lina how to blow through a blade of grass; Kenny told Doon the noise would ward off wolves. Doon tells Lina words and phrases in the Directions, including, “More than ninety million miles” (67), “joule” (which Lina thinks is “jewel” spelled incorrectly), and “a number of cells […] connected” (68). Frustrated by the lack of helpfulness, they sleep.

The next morning, back inside the crevice, the two determine the cliff is far too steep to climb down. Lina discovers that a narrow path leads off the side of the ledge. They carefully follow the zigzagging path to the bottom.

Now they are in the Outer Regions, as they called the dark, unknown landscape surrounding Ember when they lived there. By the glow of Lina’s candle and Doon’s handheld generator, they see occasional pieces of trash; Doon theorizes that rats must have carried litter from Ember. 

Eventually, they come to a deep chasm that appears to be endless—a ring that surrounds Ember like a moat. Lina suggests it was constructed to keep people in and realizes those who wandered from Ember might have died in the chasm. They spy two planks that serve as a bridge. Doon crosses without incident, but Lina glances down and sees bones, which makes her stumble and fall to her knees. Doon helps her stand and complete the crossing. They hurry toward Ember, smelling smoke.

Lina sees the sign for Deeple Street and knows where they are. She recalls her enjoyable days as a running messenger. Doon gets ahead of Lina; suddenly, he is accosted by two men. He yells that he is alone, giving Lina a chance to hide. She hears Doon shout again; she thinks his words are a message for her to return to Sparks and get help. Doon is taken by the men to Harken Square. There, a fire burns; it is the light they saw from a distance. The people who took Doon are burning books.