Craft (15 page)

“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.

Thane gave her a tour of the downtown
area, bringing new light to the buildings and sights she had seen
the previous day. He was careful to explain the things he thought
Ellie would not know about and things he thought were interesting
about the town. He knew a lot of history, though most of it had the
slant of his family’s way of looking at things attached to it.
Ellie thought he did a fine job of acting as tour guide and decided
that, when he wasn’t being arrogant about being a Cooper, he was
actually a lot of fun to be around.

The fun of the tour, and Thane’s mood,
made her brave enough to ask a question that had been on her mind
since before she had left her house. They were walking past a small
park, which had bright pink, yellow, orange and red flowers
highlighting the brown trees and green grass.

“Thane…” Ellie said.

“Yeah?” he asked.

Ellie stopped walking. She was nervous
and worried she was asking the wrong person. She was worried to
face the truth. “Do you know if there is a stone bear in town?” she
asked.

“A stone bear?” Thane
repeated.

“Yeah…” Ellie agreed.

“No,” Thane replied.

Ellie sighed. Her family had lied to
her. The story of her father’s death had always gone that he had
died at a stone bear in town. It was the most she ever knew about
his death. It had been a lie.

“Well, not anymore,” Thane corrected.
“My father got the mayor to take that ugly thing down years
ago.”

Ellie perked back up. It was not a lie
after all. “Do you know where it was?” Ellie asked.

“Of course,” Thane said.

Ellie grabbed his arm without thinking
about it. Her eyes were full of steely determination and hope. “Can
you take me?”

“Sure…” Thane said dubiously.
“Why?”

“I just need to see it,” Ellie said.
“It’s important.”

Thane did not press for details. He
took them around the park and away from the water. They moved
toward the houses that surrounded town. It did not take them long
to reach the spot. A large gate marked an area of new construction.
There was no sign of a bear, only the building that was about to be
constructed. The landmark that had marked her father’s death was
gone. All she had left were her memories. Those were not as strong
as the stories that had spread through her family with his death.
She thought seeing where he had died would provide truth. All it
did was make her sad.

Ignoring Thane’s warning to not craft
in town, Ellie lifted her wrist. A single red rose appeared in her
hand. She put it at the gate. It was perfect and lonely, the only
reminder of the fact that a person had died.

Ellie’s sadness transforming her body,
she walked away. Thane followed after her without speaking. He
sensed the change, knew the spot held more meaning than she was
willing to talk about with him. He did not seek out the truth. He
knew she would not have answered, not with the sadness still so
fresh in her body. Thane let her have her moment of sadness, then
he pointed out another building. Ellie listened to his explanation,
allowing his words to erase her sadness. He was different with the
knowledge of Ellie’s pain. His new excitement for their tour
cheered her considerably. His kindness helped her through a moment
she was not certain she could have faced alone.

It was well after lunch – they had
eaten at the boardwalk so that Ellie could watch the dolphin again
– when Ellie and Thane got wind of trouble. They were sitting on a
bench inside an old graveyard, next to the church she had admired
from a distance. They were talking about town and things that were
not so personal. As they talked, a tall man appeared on the road.
His body language was aggressive as he stopped on the corner of the
road to survey the street. His brown hair and bone structure was
familiar, as familiar as Thane was to Ellie. The man spotted them
on the bench and immediately started marching toward them. He
looked agitated and relieved at the same time. His stride was long
and powerful. Thane tensed when he saw the man.

“Don’t say a word, not even hi,” Thane
warned Ellie as the man approached them.

“Who’s that?” Ellie asked.

“My brother, Connor,” Thane
said.

Connor stopped in front of the pair.
He barely glanced at Ellie, though Ellie could not take her eyes
off him. She was fascinated by the similarities between the
brothers. They could have been twins if it weren’t for their age
difference. Ellie had no doubt what Thane would look like in three
or four years. When Connor spoke, Ellie thought their appearance
was the only similarity they shared. His voice was full of
pretension and arrogance – her expectation of how a Cooper should
sound. His eyes crinkled with the same arrogance at his words. It
made him look like a completely different person. Even Thane could
not pretend to look so nasty.

“We have a situation at the house,”
Connor said.

“I’m talking to someone,” Thane said
pointedly.

Thane ignored the threat in his
brother’s voice. He was not afraid to backtalk, not nearly as
afraid as Ellie would have been had she found herself in his
situation. She admired Thane’s bravery.

“Your girlfriend is not a priority,”
Connor said, finally glancing at Ellie. “We have bigger issues,
family issues you need to be part of.”

“Since when do I get a say in that?”
Thane argued back.

“Since our father said so,” Connor
said quietly, a warning in his voice.

“Oh…well, that changes everything,”
Thane retorted.

“Watch your tone,” Connor said. “Or
I’ll fix it for you.”

Connor’s expression brooked no
argument and fierce retribution if Thane insisted on refusing to
join him. Ellie recognized the look. It was one Neveah had used on
her more times than she could count. It promised action beyond the
threats. She was suddenly afraid for Thane, afraid he would get the
same beatings she had gotten after receiving such a
look.

Thane glared back at Conner. His
expression was proof that he did not appreciate the bullying, but
he did not argue anymore. He was not afraid of his brother, but he
was afraid of his father. Thane did not dare cross his father over
so serious an issue.

“Give me a minute,” Thane told
Connor.

“There’s no time for goodbye,” Connor
said. “We’re leaving…now!”

Thane rolled his eyes at his brother’s
tone. He obviously thought Connor was overreacting. “Fine,” Thane
said.

Thane looked at Ellie, feeling awkward
that his brother was standing over them. The secret of Ellie’s
identity bound his tongue and the warnings he wanted to give her
for her journey home. Instead of words, he gave her a small half
smile and an awkward goodbye wave. Then, with Connor urging them
on, he and his brother walked out of the graveyard.

Ellie watched the pair walk out of
sight. They moved in the opposite direction of the downtown, back
toward the stone bear. From their body language, and the brief
conversation she had witnessed, it was obvious Thane and his
brother did not get along.

Alone again, Ellie looked around the
graveyard and decided from the tone of Connor’s summoning, and
Thane’s goodbye wave, that it was likely Thane was not coming back.
Her tour guide was gone. His descriptions of the buildings and the
background information he had provided had been the only thing to
keep her in town for as long as she had stayed.

She had accomplished everything she
had set out to do. She could not assume it would remain safe in
town, especially after dark, and she knew staying with Rachel a
second night was risky. She had pushed her luck as far as she was
willing to push it; pushing it further just felt like tempting
fate. It was time to go home. It was time to put her adventure to
rest.

Ellie was sad that she could not spend
more time seeing town, seeing a world so different from her own,
but all things eventually ended. The ending was part of any good
adventure. She only wished that her ending could be happier. What
punishment would Neveah dream up for her actions? Would her story
survive the scolding? What would she do next now that she had
actually see town?

There was nothing left but to go and
see.

Chapter 6:
Consequences

Prepared for the journey home, Ellie
stood from her peaceful place in the graveyard. She headed back to
the bridge that spanned over the sparkling water. Her pace was
slow. She was ready to put the adventure behind her, but she felt
as if more had changed with her journey than just placing an image
with town. She had found her father’s last place of life. She had
met a Cooper and had befriended him. Life was infinitely more
complicated than she had thought.

She had just reached the bridge when
she realized her goodbye with Thane was not as permanent as she had
thought. She heard her name called across the space and turned at
the sound. She saw Thane running toward her, to catch up to her
before she crossed the bridge. He slowed when he saw her turn to
face him, but his walk was still brisk. His whole body radiated
with his tension and fear. His face was somber as he approached
her. Ellie could tell that something had happened. His expression
gave him away. She knew as well that he would not seek her out
lightly. His purpose went beyond her.

“What’s the matter?” Ellie
asked.