Craft (13 page)

“What happened to it?” Ellie
asked.

“A fire,” the woman said. Her sadness
was palpable. “My sister was caught in it. It’s still hard to
believe she’s gone.”

Ellie lost her smile at the admission.
“I’m sorry,” Ellie said.

Ellie made the connection between what
Thane had said and what this girl was saying. Ellie realized
Neveah’s retribution had involved a fire, and she knew that someone
had died as a result. There was no reason this girl would lie to
her. For all she knew, Ellie was just another customer. Ellie had
walked into the shop of the sister of the person Neveah had
killed.

“I figure those responsible will get
what’s coming to them,” the woman said, her smile a lot less
welcoming.

Ellie backed away from the woman at
her words. She knew hanging around too long was a bad idea. The
woman was a Cooper with a fresh vendetta against Bumbalows burning
in her brain. From what Ellie could tell, it was a justified
feeling of hatred. It was a feeling she did not want to be on the
receiving end of. Ellie figured that with her luck so far the girl
had to be only moments away from figuring out her identity. It was
obvious that Ellie did not belong in a town run by Coopers; she
stuck out. She was too much a Bumbalow. Even the tourists and
families wandering around looked different. Ellie did not know how
to fit in.

The woman watched her back away with
narrowed eyes. Ellie thought she was looking at her because she had
figured out who she was. Ellie’s awareness of the situation made
her paranoid. She put her hand on the door, her mind on escape. The
woman was seconds away from throwing powerful craft at her. No one
would notice inside the shop. Ellie had walked into another trap.
The woman stopped Ellie’s retreat with gentle words.

“Why don’t you let my cousin walk you
to your car...or to your home? I don’t want you to get in any
trouble with those boys. They don’t have half a brain, and the half
they do have is used for hurting people.”

“Oh,” Ellie said.

Warm relief settled in Ellie’s
stomach. The woman was not about to kill her after all. Ellie
hesitated at the door, touched by the girl’s generosity but aware
she could not accept the offer. Home was a longer walk than her
cousin would be willing to go on. She did not want another Cooper
to keep her company on such a dangerous trek. There was no
guarantee she would survive such a walk the second time.

“I’ll be fine,” Ellie said.

“Don’t be silly,” the woman said.
“It’s best to be safe this time of day. Hold on, and I’ll get him.
I think he’s hiding in the break room.” The girl leaned forward in
a conspirator’s whisper. “He made his daddy mad and is lying low
for a little while. You know how that goes…”

“Yeah…” Ellie said.

The woman moved to the back of the
shop and stepped behind a curtain that separated the store from the
back room. As soon as she was out of sight, Ellie left the shop.
She hated to leave without saying goodbye, but it was obvious the
woman was not going to let Ellie go without forcing her cousin to
walk with her.

Ellie started down the street, her
eyes on the shadows of the buildings as she watched for the men who
had chased after her. The streets were full of shadows and people
enjoying the warm, summer night. The peace of the night was
tangible. As far as Ellie could tell, there were no men looking to
do her harm. They had fled back to their area to search for a new
victim dumb enough to wander into their territory.

Ellie had not gotten very far down the
street when the shop door opened again and a tall figure stepped
out into the dark. Ellie heard the door open and noticed the figure
with a brief backward glance. She started walking faster. What
would it take to get away from the woman’s cousin before her secret
was found out?

Ellie heard her name called in a tense
whisper. It floated down the street toward her, preventing her
escape. She turned at the sound, and the tall shape she had thought
was a threat materialized into the form of Thane. He was looking at
her, his eyes narrowed. His expression reflected his worry and
fear. She was not sure if it was fear for her safety or his. Were
they back to being enemies who feared each other? Would there be a
fight? Ellie could not tell. His face was too difficult to
read.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
Thane demanded.

“Seeing town,” Ellie said with a
shrug.

“No, I know that…” Thane said. “I
meant what are you doing by coming into my cousin’s shop? She’s
after blood for what your family did to her sister. You literally
walked into the last place you should have walked into.”

“I couldn’t help it. I was running
away from some fellas who weren’t too friendly and your cousin’s
shop was the first place I saw to hide,” Ellie said. “I didn’t do
it on purpose.”

“You have a knack for doing things you
shouldn’t,” Thane said with a disbelieving shake of his
head.

“I never did before,” Ellie
said.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed from the
impressions town had left in her mind, she sat on a bench near the
road. She had seen town and her expectations had more than been
fulfilled, but she also felt let down. Everything was an adventure,
but it was not all fun. Some of the adventure was deadly.
Everything was more complicated than she had thought when she had
set out on her plan to see town. The world was not as simple and
straightforward as she had thought it.

Not only were things more complicated,
but the one thing she had harbored in her mind to do, to see town,
was done. Ellie wanted to see where her father was murdered, to put
a place to where he had died, but the majority of her task was
over. She had done what she had set out to do, and now she did not
know what to do with her dreams. She had focused on the idea of
town for so long that seeing it made her feel drained. What could
she look forward to now? Could she go back to her life and live
with the chores and the bullying? The thought left her feeling
depressed.

Ellie knew she had to go home, but she
couldn’t think of returning to the house without having a dream to
sustain her. Her dreams had kept the reality of her chores and her
sisters’ bullying from overwhelming her. Her imagination had
provided her with an escape. Now that she knew firsthand what town
was like, what could sustain her hope? She sighed as she sat. Her
confliction showed on her face.

Thane hesitated for a moment. His
natural instinct to avoid her was overwhelming. He repressed his
instinct and joined her on the bench. Though he was reluctant to
sit close, he seemed to understand a bit of her emotions. Her sigh
resonated with him. He thought he understood its source.

“Town not what you expected?” Thane
asked quietly.

“It’s beautiful,” Ellie said, perking
up at the question.

Ellie did not want him to think she
thought town ugly or not worth the trip. She also genuinely felt
there was a magic to town. It was a place of wonder and mystery.
Thane made a low sound of disagreement, but she ignored
him.

“There’s so many pretty things to see
and wonderful buildings I’d never dreamed of before,” she
continued.

“But?” Thane asked.

She shrugged thoughtfully at the
question. “But…what now? I thought coming here would make me feel
more grown, more like I could help my family do what needed to be
done…you know…with the feuding,” she admitted.

“And do you feel that way?” he
asked.

“I just feel tired,” she said with a
yawn.

“Maybe you’ll feel different in the
morning,” Thane suggested.

Ellie yawned again and nodded slowly.
She knew the morning had a way of making people look differently at
things. She knew things would look up when the darkness was not
pressing so heavily against her. She could hope.

“Maybe,” she replied.

They were silent for a long moment,
both thinking over the events of the day. Thane’s expression was
even more bothered than Ellie’s. He did not have shifting dreams
and hopes on his mind, but he was no less bothered by what he had
found in town.

Ellie felt sleep trying to pull her
under. It was an intoxicating call. She knew sleep was bad under
the circumstances, but she could not stop the feeling. She fought
her sleepiness as she tried to come to terms with the completion of
her journey.

Thane was less sleepy and more awkward
with the silence. He felt strange to be so near her and not feel
afraid. He was supposed to feel more intense emotions, not peace.
Town was always the place the feud was the most prominent. It was
where he could not ignore his family history, or the plans his
father had laid down for him. Yet, here he was, sitting calmly,
peacefully, next to the enemy.

“Where’s Caw?” he asked with a low
cough, pulling her back from the brink of sleep.

Ellie pulled her necklace out and
showed it to Thane. The jewel of the bird’s eyes glittered brightly
in a streetlamp, reflecting Caw’s enigmatic personality.

“I didn’t want him to get hurt, so I
made him into a necklace,” she said.

“Oh,” he said, eyeing the
necklace.

The craft was almost as impressive to
him as forming a bird out of nothing.

“I made some shoes, too,” Ellie
informed him. Ellie showed him her black boots. She wiggled her
feet for him as proof she was not barefoot. “I hate them,” she
added with another yawn.

Thane smiled at her, finding her
admission funny. Ellie missed the moment. She had fallen asleep
against the wall. As Thane looked at her, her head rolled and
dropped down onto his shoulder. She did not wake with the movement.
He laughed once as he pushed her off him, then he was serious
again. He was not sure what to do with her. He was not certain what
was right.

Falling asleep on the streets of the
city was different than falling asleep at her house in the country.
There, Ellie could sleep in the middle of the field if she wanted,
which she had done several times. While town was not the most
dangerous place Thane had ever lived in, it certainly was not the
safest. The men Ellie had encountered were proof of the seedy
underbelly that existed in even the smallest of towns. An innocent,
naïve girl like Ellie would not last the night.

Thane thought briefly about leaving
her on the park bench, but he knew he couldn’t. She was a Bumbalow,
but she was also a girl who needed help. She was a girl who had
saved his life. Twice.

Going against his better judgment, and
a lifetime of learned hatred, Thane picked her up and carried her
back to the dress shop.

Chapter 5: A Stone
Bear

When Ellie woke up the next morning,
the first thing she noticed was the lumpy sofa. It poked and
prodded her back, urging her to get up as quickly as possible. The
sofa was not nearly as comfortable as the one in her shack. The
dark shades of candlelight were also gone, replaced by soft pastels
in a large room lit by florescent lights. In the far corner was a
television, complete with knobs and bunny ears to help reception.
In the opposite corner from the television, there was a doorway
with cloth blocking the way and a small table. The table held
fabric and thread. Ellie could not focus on the fabric, despite it
being for a dress. The television was the more interesting
sight.

Ellie surveyed the large, square room
again to make sure she was alone. When it was obvious the room was
not hiding anyone in its corners, she ran over to the television.
She started playing with the knobs, giggling as she did. Cousin had
brought a television to Ellie’s house once, but it had not had all
the knobs still on it. They had been pulled off. Cousin had said
the television was used to entertain people and, seeing one with
all the knobs intact, she knew why. It was definitely entertaining
to twist all the knobs.

Ellie was startled, and even more
pleased, when one twist of a knob turned the television on. The
television clicked on with a slow, blue light, was fuzzy for a
moment, and then a show started playing on the screen.

Ellie stopped messing with the knobs
and frowned at the people on the television as they talked to one
another. Their accent was the closest thing to Thane’s she had
heard so far, but she was perplexed. She could not understand where
the people had come from. She touched the screen tentatively,
trying to figure out how they had forced people inside the tiny
box. She could not feel craft coming from the device, but she was
certain it had to be some form of magic. It was just one she had
never seen before. She started twisting the knobs again, thinking
they held some secret to the craft.

“Rachel made breakfast for you, if you
want it.” Thane said. “She’s upstairs.”

Ellie jumped at his words. She had not
noticed him standing in the doorway. She blushed when she saw him.
She had not given her appearance in the dress shop much thought.
The television had distracted her from her location and the oddity
of waking up in a strange room.

Seeing Thane made her realize what he
had done. She was grateful for the kindness but the fact that he
was a Cooper made his act confusing. The stories she had grown up
around did not associate kindness with the Coopers. She was not
used to people being kind to her at all, and the fact that he was
Cooper just made it that much more confusing.