Ella wasn't looking up when the door flew open. In fact, the loud sound the wood made when it connected with the wall behind it just made her bury her face deeper against her knees, made her rock quicker, made her mind race to a place where he had come back again with his blindfold and knives and noose.
When Daniel got close, she screamed, only knowing that it was someone new in the space. Vlad's and Vaughn's voices and movements were busy nothings to her, as she had forced herself to tune them out, pretend she wasn't there. Why didn't they understand that she felt trapped?
It was almost as if the vines heard his voice before she did, because they started to slide down the walls almost instantly, and they actually let him get near her, which they wouldn't have done for Vlad or Vaughn. She looked up at him, her face covered in blood and knife marks, mouth and cheeks red from duct tape, her throat still bleeding and raw from the rope, but she didn't move.