The City of Ember

Doon willingly goes to Lina’s apartment to see the important item. Lina is briefly embarrassed by Doon’s attention to her imagined city, but as soon as she reveals the document, Doon is riveted. He is intrigued by the timer lock on the box and so shocked by the Instructions that he barely breathes, prompting Lina to misunderstand and reassure him that the bits of paper cannot be puffed away since she glued them down. Doon is mesmerized: “He kept reading, moving a finger along the lines of words. ‘Open,’ he whispered. ‘Follow’” (125). They discuss the potential importance of the document; Doon recalls the locked door in Tunnel 351. They plan to try the door together.

The next day, Doon takes Lina down the long stairs. She is amazed and scared by the rushing river. Finding the door locked, they hear noise close by and hide. Someone gets in the locked door; when they peek, a lurching man disappears up the tunnel. Doon is irritated that someone else might have found a secret way out of Ember and will be the first to tell, though he grudgingly says “it doesn’t matter who finds it, as long as it helps the city” (130).