Craft

by Lynnie Purcell

  As Ellie sat, Thane’s mother looked over at Ellie. It was the first time Ellie had seen her move on her own. She took in Ellie for a long moment. Her eyes showed no emotion, but the gaze was meaningful. Ellie could not repress her shudders at the dead stare. She reached out and touched Ellie on the wrist. Her hand connected with the bracelet Thane had given Ellie. Ellie could tell in the touch that Thane’s mother knew Thane had crafted the bracelet. She was not as lost as Ellie had thought. She knew her son’s craft when she felt it. It made Ellie more determined.

  An hour passed. The party outside grew louder. Ellie heard Cousin and a bunch of the others leave. She heard Neveah send out one of the cousins with a message to Thane’s father. It demanded he come and meet her or she would kill Thane’s mother.

  The message was delivered and news of the Coopers’ impending arrival trickled down through her family. Thane’s father was actually coming. He intended to meet Neveah.

  Ellie’s time was running out. She teetered on the edge of two powerful impulses. She kept reminding herself that Thane would not be so friendly if his father and mother were killed. Their friendship kept her grounded in the truth. No death was ever good. There was always a downside.

  Neveah and Careen finally left the house to meet Thane’s father on the road.

  Ellie kept her eyes on Eugenia. Despite the serious nature of their task, the heat was working its own brand of craft. It made the feeling in the room lazy and warm. There was comfort and familiarity in what they were doing. Eugenia was relaxed. When Ellie was certain Eugenia had let down her guard, she acted. She pulled in the craft that she would need and, without a gesture, released it.

  The smoke was not noticeable at first. It was a vague hint that something was not right. It came from upstairs, in Careen’s room. It took Eugenia a minute to notice the smell of burnt wood and fabric. When she did, she was alert in a moment.

  “What’s that?” Eugenia asked.

  “Hm?” Ellie asked.

  “Do you smell that?” Eugenia asked.

  Ellie sniffed the air. “I don’t know. Is it smoke, maybe?” Ellie said.

  Eugenia pushed off the chair. Her face was concerned. “I should go check. Keep an eye on her. No telling what her craziness will get her up to.”

  Eugenia slowly made her way across the living room and to the stairs. She followed the smell of smoke to the second floor. The slow creak of the stairs were deafening to Ellie. Ellie was moving before Eugenia had reached the last stair.

  She flicked her wrist once. Thane’s mother lifted into the air, her toes dragging against the floor. Ellie flicked her wrist again, and they both moved to the kitchen door. Ellie peered through the kitchen door. Her family was on the yard. They were eager for the coming fight. They were alert for signs that Neveah needed them. There was no avoiding them. Her distraction would have to be larger. She focused and flicked her wrist for a third time. She unleashed the craft upstairs in Neveah’s room.

  “Fire!” Eugenia yelled from upstairs. “Someone help me!”

  People turned at the call. Many of them ran inside. None of them looked at Ellie or Thane’s mother. They were background noise to the more immediate emergency. Ellie flicked her wrist again, to make the fire larger. Her distraction complete, she moved through her family to her side yard.

  Outside, she had a choice to make. She could take Thane’s mother through the woods, a two-day walk with a woman who could not walk, or she could drive. Driving was easier than carrying. It would end the situation faster. It would be a more immediate solution.

  There were plenty of cars on her lawn. Cousin had left in the van with the others; his truck was closest to the road and the most familiar to Ellie. She thought she could manage to drive it best.

  She carefully sat Thane’s mother in the passenger seat. As she did, fire surged out of the windows upstairs. It boiled to the heavens with angry contempt for the structure it was destroying. The others were having trouble crafting away the fire. Ellie’s determination had made the fire too strong. They could not put it out. The fire was stronger than they were. The craft of her family felt increasingly desperate to Ellie. Shouts of fear followed the explosion of fire. The shouts told Ellie they were about to abandon the house as lost. Her distraction would be lost.

  Ellie hurried to the driver’s side of the truck. The keys were in the ignition. She used craft to turn them. Operating on what she had seen Cousin do a million times, she switched the gear to drive. She flicked her wrist and the gas pedal went down. It went down too hard. The truck jerked forward. It barreled toward another car on the side of the road. Ellie grabbed the steering wheel and turned hard to avoid the car. The truck sideswiped the car, but it kept going. The rusted truck was tougher than it looked.

  Ellie turned the wheel again and they swerved onto the road. She fishtailed between the two lanes, but she managed to keep the truck on the pavement. She flicked her wrist again and the gas eased up. She was finally able to get control of the truck.

  In the rearview mirror, she saw that some of the family had noticed her theft and her abduction of Thane’s mother. They stared after in confusion. No one tried to stop her. They did not understand. She was just Ellie. She was just the girl who cleaned the floors. What was her role in the abduction? The fire of the house had grown. The flames had reached the first floor. No one knew what to do. They were helpless. The first part of Ellie’s plan was complete.

  Ellie did not smile at her victory. She was too worried about what it meant. She had just burned down her house. There would be no hiding from the truth. She was going to free Thane’s mother. She was going to do it publicly. Neveah would kill her once she saw the truth. There was no choice for Ellie after she accomplished her task. Her life was never going to be the same. Everything had shifted with the craft she had performed on her house.

  Ellie ignored those thoughts and focused on keeping the truck on the pavement. Her hands were steady on the wheel. She did her best to put her fear to the back of her mind. Her fear was the enemy. It would make her uncertain. She had to be brave to face what was coming.

  Thane’s mother did not move again. She did not touch Ellie. Her face did not hold the same fear Ellie’s did for what she was about to do. She was calm. Her calm steadied some of Ellie’s nerves. Ellie could not help but wonder what nature of craft had made her lose her mind. She wondered how anyone could delve so deeply inside of something and not be able to find their way back. She thought that maybe her obsession had been her undoing. Trying to end the feud was as unhealthy as fighting it without end. Thane’s mother and Neveah were two sides of the same coin. Ellie did not want either side. She wanted to be free from it all. She was finally ready to be free.

  It did not take Ellie long to reach the barricade Cousin had formed on the road. The blue van and two other cars blocked off both lanes of traffic. The Coopers had not yet arrived with an answer to Neveah’s challenge, but Ellie knew they were on their way. They would not let the kidnapping rest for long. They might think that Thane’s mother was already dead, but they would come anyway. They would come to fight.

  Ellie did not think that returning Thane’s mother would stop the fight Neveah had planned. She did not care about that. She cared about Thane and showing him that she had no part in the kidnapping. She cared about saving an innocent woman from a plan that should have never included her in the first place.

  Cousin, Neveah and Careen were near the back of the van. Their eyes were locked on the road, in the direction of town and the coming Coopers. They looked excited at the idea of the fight they were about to face. They did not notice Ellie until it was too late.

  Ellie took a deep breath when she saw them, then she gripped the steering wheel harder. She forced the gas pedal down again with a flick of her wrist. The truck lurched forward, directly at the space between the van and one of the cars. She closed her eyes at the last second. The sound of the truck hitting the van and car was loud. It sounded like an explosion to Ellie. Elli
e opened her eyes again as the truck moved beyond the barricade. The front end was bent inward and one side of the truck was lower than the other side, but she had moved beyond the barricade. She had done it.

  Ellie’s eyes moved to the rearview mirror. Neveah was staring at her. Her expression was not an expression Ellie had seen before. She had seen Neveah angry, bitter and pleased, but she had never seen her sister look quite so insane. Neveah’s eyes were wide and full of inner fire. Something had snapped in her sister’s mind. She was out of control.

  In that look, Ellie knew Neveah had figured out the truth. Ellie was trying to free her prisoner before the fight. She was ruining her leverage. Ellie was betraying her family.

  Neveah raised her hand. Before she could send the craft to stop Ellie, three cars appeared on the road. Ellie did not notice them until it was too late; Neveah had distracted her. She could not stop in time. She hit the first car straight on.

  The truck ran over the hood of the car then flipped. Their momentum made the flip impressive. Ellie and Thane’s mother were thrown around the cabin of the truck as they carved out a path on the hard asphalt. When the truck finally came to a stop, Ellie had a large cut on her forehead. Blood covered her face. Thane’s mother had a cut on her arm; she blinked in confusion at the injury. It was the only sign she was okay.

  Ellie took stock of her body. Her head was not the only thing that hurt. Her ankle throbbed and her back ached with fierce pain. The pain was not her biggest problem. An explosion rocked the summer air. It added to the sound of the spinning tires and the shattered glass.

  Ellie peered through the cracked back window. The Coopers had taken Ellie’s crash as an attack. They had come out of their cars fighting. Ellie did not see Thane or Connor. A man with grey at his temples and brown eyes to match Thane’s was at the front of the group. Ellie saw Connor and Thane in the man’s face. It was a face marred by bitterness and heartbreak. It was the way Thane looked sometimes when he was thinking about the feud or his mother. Thane’s father had really come to fight. He had come for his wife.

  Dark craft linked the space between Coopers and Bumbalows. Neveah refocused her anger. She concentrated on killing Thane’s father instead of punishing Ellie for her betrayal. Thane’s father was just as skilled and determined to kill her. Revenge made them both vicious. Their fight was the most intense of the group.

  Feeling a bit dazed from the gash to her head, Ellie crawled out of the open window. The world swam in and out of focus as she stood up. She had to grab on to the truck to keep from falling. Her ankle was hurt worse than she had thought. She did not have time to heal it.

  A dark whip of craft lashed toward her face. She ducked to avoid the darkness. She did not try to craft back. She did not want to get in the middle of the fight. She wanted to return Thane’s mother. She knelt down and crafted away the front window. She moved Thane’s mother out of the truck and put her on the grass. Ellie stood back up and looked at the Coopers.

  “Hey!” she called. “Coopers! Here’s your kin! Come and get her!”

  A couple of the Coopers noticed Ellie and Thane’s mother. They were surprised to see Thane’s mother alive. They had thought her already dead. They did not hesitate to send craft Ellie’s way.

  Ellie ducked under the craft and ran toward the forest. It was safer than trying to fight them all. Her injured ankle slowed her down. She could not make it to the woods fast enough. The craft was catching up to her. She sent her own craft back, but it was not as dark or as deadly. She could not keep up with people who had spent years killing and hurting.

  Craft hit her directly in the back. It was not deadly but it knocked it her off her feet. She hit the ground face first. Blood poured out of her nose. She did not immediately get up. The feeling of craft in the air was the darkest she had ever felt. It circled her senses in a way she could not shake off easily. It stopped her more than her busted nose. The feeling was worse because the craft that had hit her was familiar. It was Neveah’s. Even in the middle of a life and death fight, she had found the time to hit Ellie. The shock kept Ellie in place as much as the craft.

  Before she could lift herself up, more craft circled around her. It moved her out of the range of the darker craft. It pulled her out of the line of fighting. She was set down on a soft bed of pine needles at the edge of the forest. Ellie looked around for her savior and saw Thane’s mother standing by the front of the truck. Her face was still sunken and emotionless, but her eyes held a secret power and knowledge. She had saved Ellie. She had recognized the connection between Thane and Ellie and had used craft to save her son’s friend.

  Thane’s mother turned to protect Ellie from more craft; she turned to protect her against Neveah. It was not necessary. The Coopers were winning the fight. There were too many of them. Neveah had not planned on so many. She had underestimated them. Neveah, Cousin and Careen backed down the road with Ellie’s family at their side. They gave up ground grudgingly.

  Thane’s father was particularly ferocious as he sent craft their way. Seeing his wife alive only seemed to increase his anger. Rescuing her was not what he had planned. He had planned to avenge her, not face her madness again.

  Thane’s mother was ushered away by the others. She was forced into a car and driven out of sight. Ellie’s protection was gone.

  Ellie scrambled to her feet as craft was directed her way again. She limped away from the craft as fast she could go. She did not try to block the craft or get wrapped up in the fight. She ran for her life.

  The trees closed her in. The pine needles deadened the sound from the road. She could hear the others fighting, but it did not sound as close as it had on the other side of the trees. Ellie moved around the trees as fast as she could go. She was not interested in sounds. She was interested in escaping with her life.

  She only stopped moving when her foot could not take any more. She collapsed on the ground next to a large pine tree and tried to keep from crying out in pain. Her pain was not only for her injuries.

  Betraying her family was not as easy as she had thought it could be. Neveah’s craft had hurt her beyond the physical, though her face was still pounding in pain. In that moment, they had ceased to be sisters. They were enemies. Ellie focused on her foot. It was a more immediate pain. It was pain she could heal – unlike the dull pain of betraying the only people she had ever known. She did not get very far into healing her ankle when the sound of footsteps interrupted her. The footsteps stopped abruptly, not far from Ellie. She had been found.

  “Well, what do we have here?”

  Ellie used the tree behind her to push off the ground. As she did, Neveah stepped into view. Careen was behind her. Cousin and the others were nowhere to be seen. Ellie figured they were in the woods as well, doing their best to hold off the Coopers. Her fear was not for Cousin or the others; it was not even for the Coopers. It was based in the wild look in Neveah’s eyes.

  “Looks to me like we got a traitor,” Neveah answered herself. “Don’t it, Careen?”

  Careen looked at Ellie with fear on her face. It was confliction. It was fear for what Neveah would do to Ellie, and it was certainty that she would do nothing to stop Neveah should she go beyond normal punishment. Careen was not an ally. She would do whatever Neveah wanted. Ellie had expected as much.

  “Yeah,” Careen agreed. “It looks that way.”

  Ellie’s eyes narrowed. She focused on Neveah. Neveah was the problem. She was the one who looked mad enough to kill Ellie. In that moment, Ellie realized that this moment had always been coming. Neveah had always hated her. At long last, she had proof that her hate was justified. It would not have mattered if Ellie had saved a Cooper baby from Neveah. Ellie had crossed that final line. Neveah would punish Ellie for that daringness.

  Ellie was done with being punished. She would never let someone punish her again. She had done what was right and was willing to face the consequences, even if those consequences meant a fight with her sister.

  “It look
s to me like I was doing something you should have done in the first place,” Ellie replied. “It looks to me like I was being brave in a way you couldn’t contemplate 'cause you’re too wrapped up in hurting people.”

  “Brave!” Neveah scoffed.

  “Brave enough to see beyond the feud to what’s right,” Ellie said.

  “Oh, you don’t get to lecture me on ‘what’s right,’” Neveah said. “I’ve protected you from the feud. I’ve kept you from the fighting, just like I promised Momma. I’ve protected this whole family from the Coopers killing us all.”

  Neveah saw the look on Ellie’s face. She knew she had surprised her sister. “Yeah, that’s right. Momma asked me to make sure you stayed out of the fighting. I kept my promise. You were protected. I should have kept you out of the feud longer. It would have protected the family. I was foolish to expect better of you.”

  “You were foolish to think I would be content in being your slave,” Ellie said.

  “You have no idea what you’re saying,” Neveah said. “You’re too stupid to understand…”

  “I understand plenty!” Ellie yelled. “You don’t like protecting the family as you claim. No. What you like is hurting people. Something inside you gets pleasure out of pain. You like escalating things just because you want to feel something at seeing the Coopers bleed. I'm not saying you don’t do your best to lead the family, I just think you’re wrong to lead it that way. And I'm not gonna be a part of it anymore.”

  Neveah looked as if Ellie had slapped her in the face. The crazed look in her eyes had grown stronger. The fighting on the road died down as the last of Ellie’s family escaped into the woods. There was just the feeling of time pressing down on them, the slow tick, tick, tick until Neveah raised her hand to craft against Ellie and to start the fight they both knew was coming.

  Ellie held her body ready. She was ready. For the first time in her life, she knew there would be no choice but to craft against her sister. She would do what it took to fight back. She had already made her stand. Neveah saw the change in Ellie. She saw the determination. Her eyes flickered with a brief moment of fear. Neveah repressed the fear. She took a step forward, so that she loomed over Ellie. Her expression was fierce. It was an expression that reminded Ellie of Momma.