Craft (14 page)

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.