Craft

by Lynnie Purcell

  Ellie stared at him, not understanding the expression on his face. It was too impossible to read in her conflicted state. She knew she would not be able to fight him, not when the tears were so fresh, not when her feelings for him had changed so much.

  Thane ignored her questioning, slightly fearful expression and sat down next to her. There was a moment of silent hesitation between them, tension that permeated the moment, then he put an arm around her shoulders. She resisted his touch for only a second. She was not eager to keep the rift that had formed between them. It hurt too much. Her tears were too strong a marker of her emotions. She sighed and put her head on his shoulder. He put another arm around her as she sniffed into his shirt.

  “I’m sorry,” Thane finally said.

  “I’m sorry more,” Ellie said.

  “You really don’t think we can be friends?” Thane asked. “You really think we can’t keep it secret?”

  Ellie kept her eyes on the ground as she thought about his question. She knew she wanted his friendship, even if it was dangerous. It went against her resolution to protect him, but the pain in her chest hurt too much. She could not push him away. It was a sign of weakness, and she felt guilty for her weakness, but she wanted to keep Thane’s friendship. She would do whatever it took to keep him as a friend, even if it did not make any sense.

  “Anything is possible, I suppose,” Ellie said.

  Thane smiled at her words. He released her from his sideways hug and jumped to his feet. He started pacing in front of her, thinking hard. He focused on the dilemma facing them, instead of the words that had cut deep into both. He focused on Careen and the trouble she had brought their fledgling friendship. He wanted to solve the problem.

  “We’ll just have to be more careful,” Thane said. “We’ll make coded messages and change what times I come over. We’ll make sure there’s no pattern they can figure out. We’ll be careful, and they’ll never know the difference.”

  “I dunno…” Ellie said. “Careen is simple, but she’s good at fretting out secrets. Secrets keep Neveah from punishing Careen like she does me. Now that she’s on to the truth, she’ll keep searching for an answer.”

  Thane frowned. He paused in his pacing. “Just tell her you’ve stopped seeing me. That I’ve run off to the big city or joined the circus or something.”

  “She won’t believe me,” Ellie said. “She only believes what she sees. It runs in our family.”

  Thane started pacing again. His forehead knit with the intensity of his thoughts. Ellie could not see how he could come up with anything that saved them from the truth of their situation. There was no plan that could save their friendship. He stopped pacing as if he had run into a brick wall. His eyes dawned with the beginnings of an idea.

  “You should let her see who you are meeting,” Thane said.

  “She’ll kill you!” Ellie exclaimed.

  “I didn’t mean me. You can craft anything,” Thane said in a voice that did not doubt her ability.

  “Maybe not anything…” Ellie said.

  “So, make up someone for Careen to meet. Someone of your craft. Make them someone she would find…amusing or silly or not worth the threat she’s holding over your head. If she knows that the secret you are keeping is one Neveah won’t think is worth her time, she won’t have anything to hold over you. When she’s safely put off, we can keep meeting without fear of being found out.”

  Ellie thought about what he was suggesting. She realized it was a good plan. Careen’s threat only worked because she had not met Thane. It worked because Ellie had been afraid of Careen finding out the truth. If she gave another version of the truth, Careen would have nothing to take to Neveah.

  “That’s actually sort of clever,” Ellie said.

  “Thanks?”

  “The problem is coming up with someone Careen will feel stupid telling Neveah about,” Ellie added.

  “You know them better than I do,” Thane said. “What do think would work?”

  Ellie stroked Caw’s head, trying to think of something that would make Careen back down from her threat. It would have to be something embarrassing to Ellie but not a threat to the family. It would have to be something that even if Careen spilled the beans, Neveah would never punish Ellie because it was so silly. It had to be something that played on their prejudice of Ellie.

  She stroked Caw’s head again and he gave a low caw of satisfaction at the touch. Ellie looked at him and an idea occurred. She slowly smiled at Thane. She had a plan.

  They would have to be careful with their scheme. A hard life with Neveah and years of dealing with the feud had made Careen paranoid. If discovering Ellie with her ‘friend’ was too easy, Careen would know it was not real. She would suspect craft and really get Ellie in trouble. Ellie’s craft was something neither sister let her do easily. It would have to look as if the fates had aligned to show her the truth. It would have to look as if Ellie had grown weary of the chores Careen was forcing on her.

  Ellie had to wait until the next day to put her plan in action. Thane wanted to help, but Ellie knew it was too risky to have him wandering around when she was trying to convince Careen he did not exist. It put their plan at risk. It also would have made Ellie more nervous to face her sister. Careen would have been able to read between the lines.

  Ellie waited for Careen to leave the house on her evening walk. It was the only time during the day the Neveah and Careen were not together, plotting and figuring out ways to kill more Coopers. Neveah thought walking for pleasure was a waste of time. She saw walking as a necessity, not a pleasure sport. Ellie would have no better time to face down Careen.

  Careen came out of the kitchen, holding a snack in one hand and a hat in the other. As the screen-door slammed shut behind her, Ellie stepped out of the woods where she had been hiding in wait. Next to her was a young boy. He was ten at the most. He was pale white, unnaturally so, with white hair and a milky film over his eyes. He was rail thin, with twisted leg bones and an unnatural gait. He had a large hump on his back that made him look even smaller than he already was. Scaly lesions were everywhere on his pale skin. Ellie had to help the boy walk. His gait was more of a hop than anything.

  Careen stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ellie with the boy. She looked over her shoulder for signs of Neveah stirring in the house and crossed over the grassy backyard to meet Ellie before Ellie could get any closer. Careen’s face was full of questions. “What’s this?”

  “This is the boy I’ve been meeting,” Ellie said. “I ran into him in the woods awhile back. He doesn’t really talk, but I’ve been bringing him food. After you finding about it the other night, I realized it was wrong to keep him from you and Neveah. You’re my sisters, you should know everything. I’m gonna introduce him to Neveah, so they’ll be no secrets between us.”

  Careen’s face turned white then red. Finally, she started laughing.

  “He’s almost as pathetic as you are!” Careen said around her chortles. “You’re a perfect pair.”

  Ellie waited for her sister to stop laughing. When she finally did, Ellie continued on the same vein as before. She knew she would have to press Careen to get her where she wanted her. Her manipulation had to come with a threat.

  “Is Neveah still home, do you know? I want them to meet,” Ellie said. “She should know what you know.”

  Ellie wanted Careen to know that she planned to tell Neveah about Careen keeping the boy a secret from her. Careen took the threat seriously. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about what Ellie was saying. She was no more eager to get caught in keeping a secret from Neveah than Ellie was.

  “She won’t want to see this…‘boy.’ She’ll lose her lunch and then die of laughing,” Careen said. “No sense in disturbing her for that.”

  “But…” Ellie started to protest.

  Careen put a finger in front of Ellie’s face and held it an inch from her nose. Ellie had to lean back to keep the finger from touching her. It was a warning to obey
her. It was a warning not to argue or she would come up with a harsher pain than chores.

  “Take him back into the woods and forget about it,” Careen said.

  “But…” Ellie tried to protest again.

  “Do as I say before I really get Neveah involved…or the grandparents,” Careen warned.

  Ellie did her best to look upset at Careen’s threat. Her face twisted with irritation and regret. She tried to look as if she wanted nothing more than to show Neveah her new friend.

  “Alright, fine,” Ellie said. “I’m going…”

  Careen watched carefully as Ellie walked into the woods, the boy at her side. Ellie maintained the craft around the boy until she was certain her sister could not see them anymore. When Careen stopped watching them to go on her walk, Ellie waved her hand. The small boy shifted and changed shapes. The change took a minute. When the skin stopped shifting, the boy had turned back into Caw.

  The change complete, the crow cawed once in a way that sounded like a laugh. He was pleased their plan had worked. Ellie smiled at the bird, agreeing with him. She had never thought her plan would actually work. She had been certain Careen would see through the craft. Then, as promised, she crafted a piece of paper and a pen and wrote a short note to Thane explaining how the meeting had gone. She attached the note to Caw’s leg and told him what to do. Caw clicked his beak in understanding and took to the sky.

  Ellie watched her friend fly out of sight, her happiness warming her stomach. When Caw was gone, she turned back to the house and her chores. Her secret friendship was safe for now. She could keep seeing Thane. Her adventure could continue. She could keep up her quiet rebellion without anyone knowing the difference. She would have to be infinitely more careful, but she could keep Thane’s friendship.

  That evening Thane made a surprise appearance. It was not with a note strapped to Caw’s leg. Ellie heard a sharp ‘tap, tap, tap!’ on the outside of her shack. Surprised at the sound, she looked up from the book she was reading. No one beyond Momma visited her in her shack. Her first thought was that her imagination was playing tricks on her. It was something that happened often in the solitude of her home. She had been reading Edgar Allen Poe after all, but the sound came again. ‘Tap, tap, tap!’

  “Hello?” she called.

  Ellie was not going to part the vines until she knew who was outside. Caw took off from the perch she had crafted for him and flew through the trap door she had forged out of the ceiling. She did not call to the bird to come back. She trusted that he would tell her if the person was an enemy.

  “Open up!” she heard Thane call through the panels.

  Ellie’s eyes widened in shock at the call. His voice was the last thing she had expected. “What are you doing coming here?!” she demanded.

  “You want to talk about it in there or out here?” he whispered.

  “Alright, alright,” Ellie said. “Hold on.”

  Ellie waved her hand and felt the vines part. She adjusted her sweaty, dirty clothes awkwardly as she waited. She had not crafted a shower – she had not thought one was necessary. Now, she was aware of her dirt.

  The door opened and Thane walked through with Caw on his shoulder. When he opened the door, Ellie saw that it was raining. She had had been too engrossed in her book to notice before. Thane was soaked from the rain. He stepped inside and shut the door quickly. Ellie moved the vines back in place, her heart pounding with fear they would be caught.

  She put her hands on her hips and looked at him with daggers in her eyes. The water from the rain dripped on to her floor. Thane’s hair was plastered to his forehead. Ellie could not tell how long he had been in the rain, but it was long enough to be dangerous. He knew better than to hang around her house after the close call with Careen. She couldn’t understand why he would take such a risk.

  “Are you stupid?!” she asked in a low whisper.

  “I’ve heard I am,” Thane admitted.

  “I thought we were gonna give it some time before you came 'round again,” she said.

  “I wanted to be sure it was you sending the note,” Thane said.

  Thane picked up one of Ellie’s books and looked at the spine. He set it down and looked around the room with the eye of someone seeing a place for the first time. He had been preoccupied by his seeming abduction last time to notice the details of the room. His eyes were bright as he took in Ellie’s collection of books and memories. He noticed her boots next to the sofa. He smiled at the sight of them.

  Ellie made a face at him. She could tell he would not risk his safety for so little. He had come for another reason, a reason that went beyond her note.

  “Really?” Ellie demanded.

  “Of course,” he replied. “Why would I lie?”

  “I’m simple, not stupid,” Ellie said. “Why are you here?”

  Thane sighed and bypassed her to sit on her sofa. He sat, dripping more water on to her sofa. Ellie waved a hand and dried him and the sofa off. Thane did not even seem to notice the craft. An aura of agitation and irritation surrounded him as he sat. He could not hide his emotions from her.

  “I got in a fight with my brother, Connor. You met him…”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Ellie said. “What did you get in a fight about?”

  Thane did not answer right away. He petted Caw and focused on the books next to him. Ellie kept her arms crossed and waited for him to tell the truth. She wanted to understand why he would come so far over a fight. Was he reckless, stupid or simply in need of a friend? Was it all three?

  “The feud,” Thane finally said.

  “What in particular about the feud?” Ellie asked.

  Thane shifted uncomfortably. The secret was not easy to share. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Thane said.

  “You came over at the worst time possible, and risked Neveah seeing you, not to tell me about it?” Ellie asked.

  Thane shrugged in agreement. “Yeah,” he said.

  Ellie frowned at him, her disapproval written across her face. Her stare was fierce. If she had a mirror in her shack, she would have seen an expression that resembled her momma’s stare when she was being disobeyed. It was a look that carried with it power and determination. He would tell her the truth. There was no other option. Thane fidgeted until he could not take the weight of the stare anymore. He knew better than to fight against that kind of look. He let out a long sigh and gave in.

  “Connor wants to attack your house again, to pay you back for the fight your family won recently,” Thane admitted. “I told him it was a bad idea.”

  “It is a bad idea,” Ellie agreed. “He’ll end up getting people killed.”

  “I know,” Thane said. “I told him as much. I tried to remind him what happened last time.”

  “He didn’t like your commenting?” she asked.

  “No, not really,” Thane admitted.

  “Is he gonna attack my house, then?” Ellie asked.

  “I dunno, and even if he did, I don’t know if I should tell you. I’m caught in the middle, do you see?” Thane asked.

  Thane’s face was bothered; it was as conflicted as his words suggested. He wrestled with the idea of betraying his family against confiding in a friend, particularly when the information could save her life. His confliction was proof that the feud was just as messy as Ellie had determined it to be. It was part of her justification for trying to cut off ties with Thane.

  Despite having proof that cutting off ties would be easier, Ellie understood his confliction. She trusted him and she certainly did not want to see him hurt, but telling him about an attack on the Coopers did not mean the information would stay in his hands. He would tell his family, just as she would tell hers. People would be hurt because of their obligation to protect their blood relatives.

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t be sure about telling you what I hear, either,” Ellie said.

  Thane continued to stroke Caw thoughtfully and looked at a pile of books across the room. His mind was lost in the strange pl
ace he had found himself in with his growing friendship. He had never felt the cost of the feud so personally. It had always been nothing more than reality. Now it was personal; it was deadly.

  Ellie looked at a pile of books on the other side, her mind lost in the same thoughts. She fidgeted and played with the hem of her dress thoughtfully. She realized talking about the feud only brought worry and regret for their situation. It was not what she enjoyed about seeing him. It was not the happiness she wanted to find when he was around. He was a bright spark in the dark, not the source of darkness.

  “I know it’s probably difficult considering things, but, maybe, we need not talk about the feuding as a rule. We let them do their fighting and we stay friendly-like,” Ellie suggested.

  “I don’t know if that’s possible,” Thane said.

  “Why?” Ellie asked.

  “Because part of the fight was also about me. Connor says if I want to earn my right as a Cooper, I have to make up for the mistake I made when I attacked your house the first time. He says I have to help him…or else.”

  “Oh…I see. Well, I suppose you gotta do what you gotta do,” Ellie said.

  Thane threw up his hands and gave her a look that spoke volumes at her reply. He was agitated again, for a different reason.

  “You make no sense!” Thane said. “You keep telling me it’s okay to attack you and your family, as if you’re talking about going on a walk or baking a dinner. Why can’t you get angry?!”

  “It’s not okay with me, but I can’t stop the fighting,” Ellie said. “Your lot and my lot will be fighting until way after we’re dead and gone. Pretending otherwise is just silly…it’s fantasy even I can’t believe in. I can imagine how your papa is about the feud. I got Neveah my own self. A person’s got to do what they can to avoid trouble. You gotta play your part, same as I do.”

  “It’s complicated now, though,” Thane said.