Craft

by Lynnie Purcell

  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.

  Also, she was embarrassed for him to find her playing with the television as if she was a child. Around her awkwardness, figuring she could not change the way he already looked down at her by asking, she pointed at the television.

  “How’d they get people in there? I've never heard of such crafting where a whole person could fit in a box like that,” Ellie said.

  “Don’t say crafting,’” Thane warned her. “Someone will hear you…And it’s a show. They record it in a studio then broadcast it out to people’s televisions across the country. People aren’t really in there.”

  Ellie was confused. “So…they do something without touching it, but it ain’t craft?” she asked.

  Thane shook his head at her ignorance and figured there was no way to explain without talking in circles. The only way she would understand is if she saw it for herself. He was not patient enough to explain the science behind it.

  “It’s sort of like magic, I guess, just science magic,” Thane said.

  “I’ve tried to read books on science,” Ellie said with a nod. “Never made much sense to me. Seems like they could do the same things, only better, with craft.”

  “Yeah, I don’t get science, either. Do you want food, or not?” Thane asked.

  “I could eat,” Ellie said, rubbing at her growling belly.

  “Don’t say anything stupid that could give you away,” Thane warned. “Rachel has a way of making people feel at ease, but she will kill you in a heartbeat if she finds out who are you. It’s dangerous, even just standing here, so don’t be dumb…”

  “You keep warning me to be careful, Thane. You better take care, or I’ll start thinking you care what happens to me,” Ellie teased.

  An expression of mocking disdain appeared on Thane’s face at her words. He led the way upstairs without another word. Ellie did not take the expression as seriously as he was trying to make it seem. She knew he did not mean it, even if he was not aware of it. He was playing a part. It was a part she was willing to let him play if it meant keeping the peace between them.

  The upstairs of the shop was decorated in the same bright pastels as the back room. Dresses and papers were stacked along the counters and furniture. Despite the brightness of the greens and pinks, everything felt warm and inviting. There was an old feeling to the upstairs that somehow reminded Ellie of her house. It was in the sense of history, the feeling that the room had been lived in for generations and had been loved for that same length of time.

  The woman from last night, Rachel, was at a table directly across from the front door. She was already eating her food. She smiled when she saw Ellie. “Thane said you passed right out last night. Those men must have scared you to sleep,” Rachel said. “I ain’t seen nothing like it.”

  “I’ve had a busy couple of days,” Ellie admitted. “Thanks for keeping me.”

  “Ain’t nothing, darling,” Rachel said. “Come on, sit and eat before I get lonely.”

  Thane obediently moved forward at Rachel’s words. Ellie hesitated in the doorway. She took Thane’s warnings seriously, even if she teased him about them. Ellie wondered if she could keep her family history a secret. She wondered if she could hide her past. A part of her doubted it. Another part of her was willing to overlook the truth. Ellie was eager for a friend, however brief that friendship lasted, and Rachel was friendlier than anyone she had ever met. Ellie decided to take the risk and deal with the lie.

  She joined Thane at the table and they started helping themselves to the food. Thane repeated his gorging of food from Ellie’s first breakfast with him. Rachel noticed and took him to task for his lack of manners even as he continued to pile food into his mouth. She was rough with her words, but Ellie sensed she really cared for Thane. It was the sort of maternal compassion Ellie had only experienced in brief spurts whenever her momma visited and sometimes not even then.

  When Rachel was done scolding Thane, she turned to the reason Thane had been hiding out at her place when Ellie had arrived. Rachel brought up Thane’s father. It was immediately obvious from the tone of the conversation that Thane and his father did not get along. Ellie listened to the conversation with growing curiosity. Though Rachel was careful to leave out the feud and things she thought a stranger should not hear, Ellie was able to read between the lines.

  From what Ellie was able to gather from Rachel, Thane had done something wrong during the attack on Ellie’s house. His father, the patriarch of the Cooper family, was not happy about whatever Thane had done. They had fought about it when Thane had gotten back to his house. Thane’s father had not even acted happy to see his son alive after such a dangerous separation. Rachel did her best to convince Thane to make up with his father and to go home. She cautioned against irrational decisions made in anger. Her eyes were full of hurt as she spoke.

  “Life’s too short to be carrying ill-feelings around,” Rachel said. “Take it from me. You think I said everything I needed to say to Sally before she was taken from me in that fire? Hardly…The way things are around here, it would do well for Coopers not to be hating Coopers. We got enough to worry about. Just apologize and take his punishment. You’ll be happier for it in the end.”

  Thane mumbled something into his food, but he did not talk back. It was obvious he did not agree with her advice. It was obvious he would not be apologizing any time soon. Ellie understood the feeling. She hated apologizing to Neveah just to keep the peace. It made her ill to apologize for something she had not done wrong. It was the story of her life.

  Rachel finally noticed Ellie’s interest. She smiled at Ellie and shared a secret, her good nature winning out over the seriousness of the conversation. “Do you know that Thane here has tried to run away about ten times?” Rachel asked.

  Ellie shook her head in a negative. She found the information fascinating. Perhaps Thane did not like his family as much as she did not like hers. The idea gave her comfort. No one else ever seemed to mind the family like she did, but then, they were not kicked around half as much.

  “It’s true,” Rachel said. “He always goes back eventually, though. When his common sense kicks in.”

  Ellie glanced at Thane cautiously. The secret of the adventure she was on bound her tongue, but she understood why he had thought she was running away. He was used to running away.

  “Why does he keep trying to run away?” Ellie asked.

  “Oh, different reasons…” Rachel said. “He usually comes to me first, though, instead of doing something stupid and getting caught by the tongue-cutters.”

  Ellie flinched
at ‘tongue-cutters,’ but Rachel didn’t notice. She was busy thinking of Thane’s situation. She did not realize she had given some of the feud away to a stranger. Thane’s irritation at her words was obvious. He was not hiding it well.

  Ellie suddenly felt a sense of kinship with Thane. She knew what he was going through. They were both bound by their loyalty to their family and their fear of disappointing them. Neither one of them wanted to let down their families. They wanted to be part of things, but they also disliked their families. They wanted to be free of them. It was a contradiction that constantly bound Ellie to two very different ways of thinking about her family. It bound her to love and hate equally. It was strange for her to feel so strongly connected to a Cooper, but she could not help the fact that she had spent her whole life feeling trapped by her family.

  Ellie’s opinion of Thane changed with Rachel’s admission. She had gotten more backstory than he had intended for her to have. Ellie gave a small smile of empathy in his direction; a sign to let him know she understood what he was going through. He noticed the smile, but he kept his focus on his food. He was too preoccupied by his problems to focus on the kindness. Her kindness was a different problem he did not feel ready to face.

  Rachel dropped the subject of Thane’s unhappy home life and started talking about her work and her dresses. Ellie easily slipped into the conversation. Dresses were an easier topic to face than Neveah and the feud. Thane did not join in on their discussion. He ate his food and did not seem to hear them at all.

  After breakfast, Rachel went downstairs to tend her shop and Thane and Ellie went outside. Thane set his feet toward the boardwalk and a park built along the water’s edge. Ellie followed him without thinking. She didn’t realize he didn’t want her company. As she walked on his heels, she felt craft flow from the back room of the shop she had slept in and knew Rachel was creating more dresses for the showroom. It was a comforting feeling after a day spent without craft. It was a reminder that her world still existed around the strange world of non-crafters.

  When Thane realized Ellie was following him, he stopped walking. He was grumpy from his conversation with Rachel, and it showed on his face. He had his own problems to worry about without worrying about her as well. He was tired of looking after her. He had done enough.

  “Don’t you think you ought to be thinking about going home?” he asked pointedly.

  She missed his sarcasm. She frowned a little over his suggestion. “You think I should?” she asked back.

  “Don’t you think your sisters are wondering where you are?” he asked, instead of answering her question.

  Thane was not sure it was his place to answer the question. He did not know if it was better to go back. He had not lived her life.

  “Of course,” Ellie said. “I’ve never left the house, so they’ll naturally be wondering what happened. I reckon they’ve turned over every rock and blade of grass looking for me.”

  “Well?” he demanded, hoping she would take the hint and leave him alone.

  “Oh! What’s that!”

  Ellie pointed out to the ocean. A shape had appeared close to the boardwalk. It was round and sleek, and it seemed to blend in with the water perfectly. It was an animal but one she had never seen before.

  “That’s a dolphin. You’d think even a Bumbalow would know one of those when she saw it,” Thane said hatefully.

  Ellie ignored him. She knew his anger for her was not as real as his anger with his father. She was just the closest person to be angry with. The dolphin kicked up water with its tail. It made high-pitched sounds like laughter as it dipped its beak in and out of the water.

  “He’s got a sense of humor!” Ellie exclaimed happily.

  Ellie ran to the edge of the railing and watched the dolphin delight. It started swimming backwards in the water as it laughed. It did not care about its audience, only that it was having fun.

  She smiled at the sight and felt her heart move almost as much as it had when she had first seen the ocean. She loved the laughter of the creature and its playful spirit; it made her feel calm and hopeful. Not all creatures outside her home were scary and dangerous.

  Ellie raised her hand, thinking she would make him a friend to join in the laughter, but Thane caught it before she could do anything stupid. He warned her with a look not to craft in such an obvious place. People lined the boardwalk and were walking around the park; her craft would be noticed. Ellie lowered her hand slowly, saddened by the fact that he was right. She took comfort only in watching the dolphin’s solitary, playful dance in the water. The dolphin did not need a friend to be happy. It had the ocean. That was enough for Ellie.

  Thane set his back against the railing and stared off at the shops of the downtown, ignoring the familiar sight of the dolphin. He was too lost in his personal problems to recognize the same beauty Ellie saw. Thane’s expression slowly changed from irritation to confusion. He could not hold in his thoughts any longer. His emotions were too strong.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Thane said to Ellie.

  “What?” Ellie asked, turning to face him.

  “My father,” Thane said. “He ships me off to a school out west, so I can grow up without the feud interfering in my life, but the second I get back from school this summer, he wants me to go out and get vengeance for Sally’s death. Like I’ve even dealt with attacking someone, let alone a whole house of ‘someones.’ Don’t get me wrong. I was glad to do it, for my cousin’s sake, but what did he expect? I’m not used to sneaking up on people. I created the light because I couldn’t see my feet. That’s all. How was I supposed to know some sharp-eyed Bumbalow would see me?”

  Thane’s light had been the light Ellie had seen at her house before the attack. He was the reason she had been able to warn her family of the danger. He had given away their location and their attack. It made sense that his father was so angry with him. Neveah would have been furious had Ellie done something like that, not that Ellie would ever have the chance to be part of the feud. Thane’s admission made her feel guilty. She was the reason he was fighting with his father.

  “Oh…” Ellie said.

  Ellie turned away from the water and put her back against the railing. She did not want to admit to him that she was the reason he was in trouble. She did not want the uneasy peace between them to be shattered so soon after Ellie had found a tangible connection to him.

  “I thought you said it was your cousin who did that,” Ellie added sheepishly.

  “I lied,” Thane said.

  “Your papa got mad at you 'cause…someone on my side saw your crafting and your lot couldn’t take vengeance for the kin Neveah killed in town?” Ellie asked, to be sure she understood. “But you’ve never fought the feud before?”

  Thane nodded at the question. Ellie could tell the admission took a lot.

  “Every summer and Christmas on school break I’ve heard about the feud, heard how the Coopers always made sure the Bumbalows knew who was boss in these parts, and the one time I get to go along, I mess things up. This has been the only place my magic has ever made sense, and I can’t seem to fit in here, either.”

  “I reckon you’ve not given it enough time,” Ellie said. “We all make mistakes when we’re just starting to figure things out, and this was your first chance getting involved in the fighting, so just cut yourself a break and realize it’ll get easier.”

  Thane started laughing. It was the first full-out laugh she had heard from him. His whole body rocked with his laughter. She thought it made him look a lot younger and not nearly as sour.

  “You do realize you’re comforting me for messing up an attack on your house, right?” Thane asked around his laughter. “I mean, we were trying to hurt you…”

  Ellie shrugged, though she saw his logic. The complicated nature of their relationship did not mean she could not offer words of comfort. Words were easy.

  “You feel bad about it,” she said simply. “What’s that?”

  Ellie
pointed off in the distance, toward town, at a large building that stretched high above the others. It was the tallest building in the area. She had seen it yesterday but Thane had not been around to answer her questions then. Thane looked at where she was pointing, the smile still on his face.

  “That’s the church,” Thane said.

  “It’s so tall,” Ellie marveled.

  “Churches are always tall,” Thane said.

  “Not my church, though I never really get to go…Not that I would want to. Grandma and Grandpa Bumbalow go there every Sunday. They make everything awful, even praying,” Ellie said.

  Thane looked at her. Despite trying to suppress the feeling, he was curious. “Why weren’t you allowed to leave your house, anyway?” Thane asked. “Is something wrong with you?”

  Ellie dragged her eyes away from the church and looked at him. She was surprised at the personal question, but she answered it quickly. She was afraid if she did not, he would take it back. She liked having someone interested in her past.

  “Neveah said it was too dangerous. The Coopers would get me and kill me,” Ellie admitted. “I’m not allowed to do much of anything.”

  “Oh…” Thane said.

  “What’s that?” Ellie asked.

  Ellie pointed to another building in town. Her eyes were bright and her excitement was barely contained. She looked ready to race off in every direction. Thane shook his head in mock irritation. He was not nearly as upset as his expression suggested. Ellie’s innocence was hard to resist.

  “I’ll show you around...if you stop asking what everything is,” Thane said.

  “Okay!” Ellie agreed eagerly.