Craft (23 page)

She was incredulous. She had never
heard of such a strange thing. Practicing craft had always been her
refuge from the fighting and the bullying. The idea that it could
make someone sick was startling and more than a little disturbing.
She could not believe it. Thane’s face said otherwise. He was not
lying. The pain in his expression was too real. Thane stared at a
ride in the distance, his eyes sad. He took a moment to answer her
question.

“Yeah. She was experimenting with
powerful magic, searching for a way to end the feud…she thought if
she was more powerful than your side, she would be able to end the
fight by simple intimidation. Your family would be too scared to
fight any more. Fear would keep you in check. Her experimenting
went bad, she couldn’t control her crafting, and she went…crazy.
She just sits there at the hospital my dad put her in. She doesn’t
speak, doesn’t move. She just sits.”

“That’s so sad,” Ellie said. “I’m
sorry.”

Thane waved her apology away. His eyes
cleared and he realized what he was saying. The admission was
something he had never shared with anyone outside of his family. He
wanted to downplay its importance. “I went to see her today. It
always puts me in a weird mood.”

“Why?” Ellie asked.

“She used to be so happy,” Thane
admitted. “Now, she’s just a shell of a person. She’s the only
reason I could never get up the nerve to run away…I can’t leave her
for good. It’s not fair to her. It just makes my dad angry to see
her…Dad blames your family for her state. He thinks that it’s the
Bumbalows’ fault she was driven to practice her magic the way she
did.”

“It’s easy to blame others for what
happened,” Ellie said. “Neveah blames the Coopers for her
unhappiness.”

“Why?” Thane asked.

“Your lot killed my daddy,” Ellie
admitted. “My momma couldn’t handle the pain, so she took to
traveling the world. She only comes around now and then...once or
twice a year, if I’m lucky. Even then, it’s like she’s not really
here. She always thinking about leaving, even before she gets here.
When the Coopers killed my daddy…it was the day our world fell
apart. Neveah has trouble letting that go.”

Ellie looked up at the Ferris Wheel.
It was even taller than the buildings at the shipping dock. She saw
seats spaced at regular intervals and wondered if a person was
really supposed to sit in such a flimsy seat while so high
up.

Ellie turned to Thane, who looked
shocked at her admission. He seemed to be looking for a way to
apologize or comfort her. He did not know how. He felt as if her
dad’s blood and her mother’s abandonment were on his hands. Ellie
ignored the look in his eyes. Focusing on the ride was easier than
dredging up the past. It hurt less, and she was not eager to make
Thane feel guilty for something he had not personally done. It had
not been his hands that had crafted her dad’s life away.

“How do you work it?” Ellie asked,
pointing up.

The words Thane had been fighting with
were lost with the question. He went over to a set of controls in
front of the Ferris Wheel and pushed a button. The engine roared to
life and lights on the ride kicked on. Thane grabbed Ellie’s hand
and pulled her over to the seat. He pulled a small bar across their
lap, then raised his hand. He flicked his wrist and a switch on the
control panel moved up. The Ferris Wheel started moving in a
circle. Ellie grabbed the seat in reflex. She was afraid to fall
out, not trusting the small bar to keep her from certain death.
Thane noticed her fear.

“We’re not going to fall,” he assured
her.

“Feels like it,” Ellie said nervously
as the bucket swayed a little with the wind and the upward
movement.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Thane
asked. He had not considered that before deciding on their
adventure.

“I dunno, this the highest I’ve ever
been,” she said.

“You look pretty afraid to me,” Thane
said.

“Well, I am a bit,” she
admitted.

“Don’t look down,” Thane said. “Look
straight ahead. Maybe if you look hard enough, you can see your
house from here.”

“You think so?” Ellie asked, looking
out over the flat horizon of trees.

“Maybe,” Thane lied.

Ellie searched the landscape, but one
light in the distance looked like all the other lights. She gave up
her search after a while, but her search had done its job. By the
time the Ferris Wheel made another circuit around, she had relaxed.
She was not going to fall out. She enjoyed the view from the top
and ignored her fear, realizing she could make herself stop falling
before she hit the ground. The craft was simple enough.

As they came back around to the top
for a third time, Thane flicked his wrist again and they stopped
moving. The buckets rocked with the stop, causing Ellie to grip the
seat again. She looked to Thane for an answer to the stop. He did
not explain. He was eager for more stories. He started asking her
more questions about her childhood, avoiding mention of her parents
or the painful memories. Ellie answered him easily, finding a
desire to talk that went beyond any she had ever known. Their
talking erased the time.

After her initial doubt was erased by
Thane’s sincere interest, Ellie found herself talking more than she
had ever talked in her whole life. She wanted to share her ideas,
get them out of her head and have someone tell her their opinion on
them. Thane did not agree with all of her ideas, but he never said
she was stupid. He let her keep her opinions, just as she let him
keep his. They were able to talk without judgment, without malice.
Though he teased her often when her naivety seeped into the
conversation, he also listened to what she had to say and seemed to
respect her words. He did not try to make her stop
talking.

Around the exchange of ideas and
stories, both were extremely aware of the feud. It breathed through
every moment. Thane even brought it up again at one point. He was
not able to drop the realization that the feud was not natural. He
could not let it go. Living away from it for so long made him
realize how unnatural it really was. Most people in the world did
not feud the way their families did, not to the point of murder.
Ellie did not have the same perspective, but she had come to the
same conclusion. The conclusion did not change anything. The
violence was a threat that hung around every laugh and every story
told. It could not be stopped. Ellie was not eager to dwell on the
reality for long.

Between one story and the next, a car
pulled into the parking lot. It circled around Thane’s car once
then pulled into a spot close to the gate. Thane knew it was time
to go. He lowered the Farris Wheel with a flip of his wrist and
raised the bar securing them in place when they reached the bottom.
Ellie was oblivious to the urgency of the danger facing them until
she saw his face.

“What’s the matter?” she
asked.

“Someone is coming. If we’re caught,
they’ll call our families.”

“I don't have a phone at my house,”
Ellie said.

“Fine, they’ll call my dad…and he’ll
punish me. I was supposed to be at a friend’s house. Hurry up!” he
urged her.

They ran through the fair, dodging
equipment and trashcans, and back to the hole in the fence. Ellie
saw a light in the distance as the person in the car got out with a
flashlight. They had not seen them yet, but she figured that was
only luck. They would find them soon if they were stupid enough to
stick around. She ran faster at the thought. Thane’s wellbeing
depended on it.

Thane started his car as soon as Ellie
was inside and they barreled toward the exit. Ellie saw the man
turn his flashlight in their direction, but they were gone before
he could do anything beyond stare in surprise.

As soon as they hit the narrow,
two-lane road that led back to her house, Ellie started laughing.
The rush of the run through the fair and the risk of being found
had caught up with her. The fear and adrenaline lent itself to
amusement at getting away safely.

She bent over as she tried to catch
her breath around her laughing. Thane did not join in right at
first. He was too busy watching his rearview mirror for signs of
the man chasing them. Ellie’s laughter was infectious, though. He
finally relaxed and laughed with her. Ellie was impressed by the
change the laughter brought to his face.

“You’re much better looking when
you're not scowling,” Ellie told him around their
laughter.

Thane gave another chuckle.
“Thanks.”

“Sure,” Ellie said.

Thane drove her back to the access
road. Ellie’s good mood faded with her return to the road. She
realized she was not ready to go home. She was having fun, more
than she had ever had before. Home meant chores and bullying. It
did not mean laughter and comfortable familiarity. She never
thought she would know such things with a stranger.

“I got you home before dawn,” Thane
pointed out. “I kept my word.”

“Guess so,” Ellie agreed.

Thane looked out at the night. There
was reluctance on his face as well. Leaving meant returning to his
father. “I’ll see you next week?” Thane asked.

“Sure,” Ellie said. “Thanks for the
fair. It’s the nicest one I’ve ever been to.”

“The
only
one you’ve ever been to,” Thane
pointed out.

“That don’t mean it wasn’t nice,”
Ellie replied.

“Well, it was also the nicest fair
I’ve ever been to,” Thane admitted.

Ellie smiled, enjoying the idea that
he had as much fun as she had. There was a short beat of silence
between them. Ellie was stalling. She was trying to think of
reasons not to go back. Part of her thought of the road they were
on as a safe place, a place where the feud and the fighting did not
exist. It was a place where someone respected her friendship. It
was a break from reality. She could not think of something to say
that would make sense in the moment. There was no reason to stay in
his car.

“Well…see you later,” she said
awkwardly.

Ellie waved a quick goodbye at Thane
and got out of the car. Thane waited for her to step away, then he
drove down the weed-choked road. In the next moment, he was
gone.

Ellie released Caw from his prison as
soon as Thane was gone. The bird immediately soared into the air
and circled above the trees. Ellie yawned as Caw circled overhead a
third time and let out a long caw of enjoyment at being free.
Without thinking, she set her feet toward her shack and sleep. Her
pace was quick despite her exhaustion. She only had an hour or two
before she had to start on her chores for the day. She would use
the time to catch up on her sleep. She hoped it would be enough
rest to suffer through a long day of being at Careen and Neveah’s
beck-and-call.

Ellie was more than a little startled
when, close to her shack, a figure detached itself from the
shadows. Ellie jumped and stopped herself just in time from using
her craft on her sister. Careen, sleepy-eyed but full of
excitement, stepped in front of Ellie. She blocked the
path.

“You scared the wits out of me!” Ellie
said, putting a hand to her heart. “What are you playing
at?”

Careen smirked at the
question. “I’m catching you is what! You
are
meeting with a boy! I knew it.
Neveah thought it was a joke, but I could tell from the look on
your face. There’s no hiding the truth from me.”

Careen was proud of herself. She had
noticed something no one else had dared to consider. Careen stifled
her pride for the sake of the conversation she had spent the night
preparing. Her face grew stern. It was a poor imitation of Neveah’s
expression. It only made her chubby face look childishly petulant.
True intimidation escaped her.

“You ain’t bringing an outsider in to
our business, are you?” Careen added. “You know you can’t be seeing
anyone not approved by Neveah. It’s forbidden.”

Careen knew that particular truth all
too well. It had taken Neveah half a year to allow Careen to date
her current boyfriend. Ellie outwardly scoffed at her sister’s
suggestion, while her mind worked overtime to figure out how much
she had seen. She was not sure how long Careen had been in the
forest, or if she had tracked her from Thane’s car. It was possible
she knew everything and was trying to string Ellie along just for
the fun of it. Ellie decided to play dumb. It was the best way
until she had more information.

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about,” Ellie said.

“Why were you in the woods all night,
then?” Careen asked.

“I can’t sleep on account of the fact
I was kidnapped and all,” Ellie said. “I’ve been walking to clear
my head, get the bugs outta my system. It’s still pretty scary what
happened. Sitting still makes it worse.”

“I ain’t buying it,” Careen said.
“You’re meeting a boy. I know it.”

“You’re making up stories out of
boredom,” Ellie said, finally eager to walk around Careen. “You
know how Neveah feels about having such a wild
imagination.”

Ellie did not care if Careen told
Neveah some lie to get her beaten for her disrespect. She just
cared about getting away before Careen learned the whole truth:
that Ellie was not just friendly with a boy, but a boy who happened
to be a Cooper.