The vines had retreated once Luther went down, and they stayed down as Luther caught his breath. In the interim, Ella had wiped the small bit of blood from her lip and chin, and she felt much better about the world than she had a moment earlier. She was just going to ask if they could do it again, or maybe even brave trying to remember some of the other things that had happened, when the door flew open. She moved aside just in time, and she touched Daniel's arm to calm him.
"Ahab was trying to teach me how to step on my attacker's foot," she explained, and she tipped her chin and looked very proud of herself, despite the flush in her cheeks and the presence of the vines indicating she had been frightened. "I knocked him down instead."