Craft (30 page)

“Don’t talk about Momma like that!”
Ellie said.

“I’ll talk about her any damn way I
please,” Neveah said.

Ellie glared at her sister. Her
happiness from her birthday party with Thane was gone, replaced by
anger and resentment. She wanted nothing more than to raise her
hand and craft at her sister. She was angry enough to do so. She
wanted to teach Neveah a lesson. She wanted to prove to Neveah that
she was not always right. Her hands clenched into a ball as she
fought the urge to do the unthinkable. The craft fought to win
against the restraints of her body. Her mind was visualizing the
pain she could inflict on Neveah. It was easy to imagine. It was
the pain she had endured under Neveah’s hand. Neveah did not miss
the struggle. Even drunk, she knew when someone was on the verge of
craft.

“You gonna test me?” Neveah asked.
“You think you got craft I ain’t got? You think I haven’t spent the
past ten years fighting Coopers? You think you can best
me?”

Ellie let her hands relax and took a
deep breath to calm her trembling anger. She was not going to fall
into Neveah’s trap. Neveah was just looking for a fight as an
outlet against her anger. Something had set her off, and she wanted
something else to help take away the pain. Ellie knew better than
to test those waters. If Ellie did escape from the punishment
alive, she knew Neveah would just take her anger to the
Coopers.

Neveah smirked when she saw the shift
in Ellie’s body language. It was the shift of Ellie giving in.
Neveah raised her hand and flicked her wrist. Ellie dropped to the
floor as white-hot pain moved through her body. The pain only
lasted a second, but it was long enough for Neveah to get her point
across. Ellie looked up at Neveah as the pain left her body. Her
anger had returned, but it was repressed by fear.

“There’s a good little girl,” Neveah
said. “Help me and your sister up the stairs. Then, I want you to
start getting ready for the party. We got lots to do around here
before this place is party ready. You know how important the
solstice is.”

Ellie stood without replying. She was
afraid that speaking would make her lose her temper
again.

“We've got a special surprise this
year, too,” Neveah said, her smirk changing with the
words.

It was an expression of evil
anticipation Ellie found chilling. The surprise would not be a cake
in the woods. It would be violent. Ellie knew the truth. She dared
to speak up again. For the first time in her life, she did not want
the truth out of curiosity. She would tell Thane. She would protect
his family from Neveah. Neveah’s punishment had made her feel
vindictive.

“What?” Ellie asked.

“Oh, you’ll be seeing soon enough,”
Neveah said with a hint of a threat in her voice. “Now, help us to
bed before I get cross.”

Ellie draped Neveah’s arm around her
shoulders and helped her sister up the stairs. They were silent as
Ellie helped Neveah to her bed. There was nothing left to say.
After she had put Careen to bed, Ellie went outside to calm down
before starting her chores.

The night air was wet and humid. It
did little to refresh Ellie. Beads of sweat trickled down her spine
as she paced in front of the kitchen stairs. The pain from Neveah’s
craft still circled her body. Ellie had never hated her sister
more. Not only had Neveah pulled her away from her birthday party
with Thane, but she had also given her one of the worst presents
ever. She had brought pain to Ellie’s birthday.

As Ellie paced, she seriously
contemplated running away for the first time in her life. She
contemplated a life without the feud and without Neveah’s meanness.
She did not fear the outside world as much as she used to. Her
trips with Thane had changed her perspective. Thane was the only
person that kept her from walking away from the house. She could
not leave him. Not yet.

Ellie sighed at the realization and
went to do her chores. She would make a decision when she was not
so wrapped up in her anger. As she turned back to the house, she
realized she had never had a stranger beginning to a birthday in
her life.

She did not know how strange it could
truly get.

The first of the extended family
arrived at Ellie’s house at dawn. They were all business and had
come prepared for work. They crafted decorations, food, and saw to
it that the solstice would be an even better celebration than the
previous year. Her house transformed from a serviceable place into
a place of beauty, a place that only craft could make.

Eugenia, her old face narrowed in
constant thought, directed the family around like her own personal
troops. Ellie’s main task was to fetch things. She accepted her
task without complaint. It distracted her from her morning of pain.
Cousin was smart enough to stay out of the way. Ellie saw him
around the back of the house, chewing his tobacco and drinking from
an old mason jar. He would stay hidden there until the party
officially started.

By noon, most of the family was at
Ellie’s house and Ellie was exhausted. She went to her shack to
rest, figuring no one would notice her absence. When she let
herself inside, Caw was waiting for her. He was sitting on her
table as if he had been waiting on her for hours. He clicked his
beak in greeting when he saw her. Next to him, looking as if Caw
had dropped it a couple of times, was a small roll of paper. Ellie
collapsed on the sofa and picked up the note.

It had one word written on it:
‘Abracadabra.’

The note shifted in Ellie’s hands and
formed into a bracelet. It was silver, with delicate etchings along
the length of the silver. The etchings looked like ivy, the same
kind that protected her front door. Ellie smiled a tired smile,
then put the bracelet on her arm. She hid the bracelet with a
bandana she crafted out of nothing. She knew if Neveah saw it, she
would take it. It was one reason Ellie never crafted nice things
for herself. She pulled out the book Thane had given her and
started reading. She did not get very far into the story before her
exhaustion won out. Ellie fell asleep with a smile on her face. She
dreamed of Thane and a world without feuding. It was a much
different dream than the one of town, but its purpose was the same.
It kept her hoping.

BANG!

Ellie awoke with a start. Her eyes
were heavy with sleep and her brain weighted down by the dream she
had been having. She could not understand what had woken her up.
Everything was out of focus, surreal.

BANG! BANG!

“Open this stupid door right now or
I’ll set fire to the whole lot!” Neveah called through the
door.

Ellie’s confusion disappeared. Neveah
was angry she had left party. She was coming to punish her. She
jumped up and did a quick sweep of her shack. Caw was gone. He was
out searching the skies for freedom and easy prey. Ellie put
Thane’s book into her pocket and made sure there was nothing that
would give her craft or her meetings with Thane away. There was
nothing beyond her books.

Neveah was standing just outside the
door. Ellie took a step back from the unexpected closeness. The sun
had not moved very far. Her nap had not been a long one. Neveah did
not cross the threshold of the shack. She did not even give
disparaging comments on the interior of the shack. She just
stared.

Ellie wondered why Neveah looked so
serious. Neveah had never visited her shack before. She barely even
mentioned it. Was it anger for leaving the party or something more
serious that had Neveah staring so hard? Had she found out about
Thane? Had Careen mentioned Ellie meeting a boy and Neveah had put
the pieces together? Was she about to be beaten? Ellie’s heart beat
wildly as she tried to keep the panic off her face.

Careen, Cousin and many members of her
extended family stood behind Neveah. They had curious expressions
on their faces as they looked at Ellie. More than one had
skepticism in their eyes. They doubted whatever reason Neveah had
come searching for Ellie.

It was the first time so many people
had noticed her at once. Ellie had never felt so awkward in her
entire life. She did not know what to do with the unexpected
attention. Her hands moved to her pockets, where the book Thane had
given her was safely tucked away. It gave her comfort. It reminded
her she was not alone.

“What’s the matter?” Ellie
asked.

“We got an errand to run,” Neveah
said.

“Okay?” Ellie said.

“You’re coming with us,” Neveah
said.

“Me?” Ellie asked. “Why?”

“Because it’s about time you started
to earn your stay in this family,” Neveah said. “It’s about time
you start acting like a Bumbalow…You’re growing up, and, like the
others, you need to earn your place.”

“Earn how?” Ellie asked.

Neveah’s smile was wicked. It promised
all the things Ellie hated. Violence and pain were at the top of
the list. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Ellie did not have a good feeling.
Neveah’s surprises were never kind. Whatever she had planned was
big. Neveah would not have interrupted the solstice party for a
small task. The solstice was an unspoken day of truce for the
Coopers and Bumbalows. Did Neveah mean to break that tradition?
Ellie could see no other reason for the happy expression on her
sister’s face.

Neveah did not give Ellie the chance
to ask more questions. She grabbed Ellie’s arm and pulled her
outside. Ellie stumbled after her sister through the tall grass in
front of her shack. Her door remained open, her vines parted to
allow anyone inside. The excitement of her family was obvious.
Their conversation was loud and full of the coming task. Those who
had not gone to her shack were on the front yard. Everyone was
curious to see what was going on. Neveah had told them what she had
planned. A van was behind Cousin’s truck. It was newer than the
truck but still rusted. It was a pale blue color with bright red
taillights. It belonged to one of her cousins, a cousin Ellie
always associated with mischief.

Neveah marched Ellie across the yard,
her grip unrelenting. The force of her hand actually made Ellie’s
arm ache. Neveah pushed Ellie into the back of the van without
bothering to ask her to get in nicely. Careen, Cousin, Neveah and
five of her cousins got in the back with her. Two more of her
cousins got in the front. The van started. Over the sound of the
engine, she heard her family cheering. The bad feeling in Ellie’s
stomach grew worse.

Ellie sat on the hard, metal floor of
the van while the others sat on the benches along the edge of the
van wall. She felt every single bump as the cousins drove toward
town. It was almost as if the cousins were trying to drive as
poorly as they could, just to torture her.

Neveah was peaceful. There
was a contented smile on her face. She was wearing a white dress
and almost seemed to glow in the bright summer light
.
Ellie was not deceived. The only thing that made
Neveah that happy was blood. The cousins talked, smoked and were
loud in the small space. Careen talked with them, happy to join in
with the fun.

Cousin was as silent as Neveah. He
puffed on his pipe and kept an eye on the back window. His eyes
watched for enemies. The closer they got to town, the more aware he
got. He puffed less on his pipe and focused more on the task. Ellie
felt tied to the rhythm of his puffing. It counted down the time
until they arrived at their destination.

Ellie tried to figure out where they
were going and what they were doing, but no one talked about where
they were headed. They had already talked about their plan. They
did not need to talk about it in front of her. She tried to keep an
eye on the same window Cousin was looking out of, but it was
difficult from her place on the floor. It was difficult to look out
without catching a glare from Neveah. Ellie’s role was not to know
where they were going, just to do what needed to be done once they
got there. She was to play her part and nothing more.

The trip took over an hour. They did
not drive through town. They went around it. They were closer to
the beach, but not as close as Ellie and Thane’s visit to the
ocean. Finally, the van stopped moving. Ellie had to brace herself
against the sudden stop. Neveah moved to the back of the van and
peered outside. Her eyes were narrowed and full of eager
determination.

“I don’t see any Coopers, but that
don’t mean they ain’t around,” Neveah said. “Best to be cautious.
We don’t want to let the non-crafters see us crafting.”

Cousin nodded in agreement. He took
his pipe out of his mouth and put it in his shirt pocket. He looked
at the others in the van.

“We’ll be back directly. Give a shout
if you see a Cooper.”

The cousins nodded in unison. Their
grins suggested they would do more than shout if they saw a Cooper.
Neveah gestured for Ellie to get up. Ellie did as Neveah commanded
out of habit, though her mind was racing. She did not feel prepared
for wherever they had ended up. Cousin threw back the door of the
van. Ellie blinked away the bright sunlight and focused on what was
in front of her. Her surroundings were unexpected after such a long
journey.

The van was in a small alley across
from a large parking lot. The parking lot belonged to a square
building, which had ten levels, and uniform windows that suggested
a corporate use. A sign was in front of two large double doors. It
read: Cherry Hospital, Psychiatric Services.