Craft (25 page)

“It’s just like a Cooper to be so
cruel,” she said in a cold voice.

“It’s just like a Bumbalow to blame
everyone else for your problems,” he said.

Ellie raised her hand in a warning.
The impulse to craft was stronger. “Leave,” she said.

Thane looked at her hand, his eyes
wide with the idea that she would actually use her craft on him.
His expression hardened. He backed away from her, the look in his
eyes similar to the first time they had met. They were enemies
again. They were no longer compatriots on an adventure. They were
no longer friends. The secret they were keeping was not enough to
keep them together. Thane backed away until he was nothing more
than shade and shadow, another whisper of wind through the
forest.

When she was certain he was gone,
Ellie started crying. She had not meant to get in a fight with him,
but she realized it had accomplished what she wanted. He was not
going to come back. He was safe. Careen’s threat no longer held any
meaning for her. No one would hurt him on her account. She had lost
a friend, but she had saved a life. The cost of that truth was
steep.

Ellie sat down on the forest floor and
cried out her sadness. Her body shook with her sobs. Caw landed
next to her, trying to offer her what comfort he could. Ellie was
touched by his affection and his concern. She picked him up and set
him on her lap. She stroked his soft feathers, wishing on his tiny
body that she had been born in to a different set of circumstances,
circumstances that were not so difficult to live with. She wished
she had never met Thane or had gone on her journey to town. She
wished to be ignorant again. She did not want to know what she was
missing.

For a brief time she had a friend, a
real friend that liked her despite overwhelming reasons not to. He
let her talk. He had listened to her. He had also understood where
she came from and the abuse and the intolerance she faced in her
family. The connection was more than she had from any living person
on the planet. She could not even relate to her momma the way she
could relate to Thane.

Ellie buried her face in Caw’s
feathers and felt different tears slide down her face. They were
the tears of a subtler regret. Having the bird close made her feel
better. She still had one friend in the world.

Or was it two?

Ellie’s tears dried up at the sound of
a branch snapping in the forest. She wondered if Thane had been
angry enough to send her family after her. Or was he coming back to
make her pay for her words? She did not want to face either
truth.

The leaves rustled and a
figure stepped into their clearing. The person flicked their hand
and a soft blue light lit the area. Thane
had
come back. Ellie could not tell
for what reason. She could not tell if it was for vengeance or for
something else. The light reflected on his face and she saw that
his expression shifted from hard to understanding.

Thane looked at her on the forest
floor, the tears staining her face, with acknowledgement of what
she had done. In that moment, he knew she had pushed him away on
purpose. She had not sincerely meant the things she had said in the
middle of their argument.

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.