Craft (33 page)

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 looks 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.

“I’m gonna give you once last chance
to apologize. You’ll be punished, but I won’t kill you,” Neveah
said.

“Not for anything in this world,”
Ellie defied her.

“If you’re not gonna be part of this
family, then I guess I’ll just treat you like a Cooper. I always
knew you were good for nothing. You’re just like Momma. You’re just
like the Coopers…weak and pathetic...”

“I may be those things,” Ellie said.
“But at least I'm not you.”

Ellie pushed off the tree and did her
best to stay upright against the pain in her ankle, back, and head.
All she wanted was to rest, to sleep away the nightmare she had
found herself in. Sleep was the last of her options.

“I’m gonna go. I suggest you let me,”
Ellie said.

Ellie turned her back on her sisters.
She walked in the same direction she had followed so many weeks
ago. She walked toward town. She doubted Thane would be waiting for
her. She doubted he had found the book or would forgive her if he
had. She would go beyond town. She would find a world where the
feud did not exist and make a new home there. She was no longer
afraid to face that reality.

Ellie did not get three feet away from
Neveah and Careen when she felt the craft in the air. It was
familiar and less than peaceful. It was dangerous. Ellie turned
just as Neveah flicked her wrist. Ellie was thrown into a tree. The
wind was knocked out of her. She gasped for air as pain moved up
and down her back. Neveah smirked happily.

Around struggling to find her wind,
Ellie flicked her wrist. A cut appeared on Neveah’s face. It ran
from her temple to her chin. Neveah’s smirk disappeared as she felt
the cut. She looked flabbergasted that Ellie could craft in such a
way. Ellie’s craft was proof that Ellie was not helpless. It was
proof she could fight back. For Neveah, it was a sign to escalate
the fight.

Neveah raised her hand again and drew
in more craft. She flicked her wrist in a sharp motion. Darkness
came out of her hand like a whip. Ellie rolled away from the whip
of darkness. It landed where she had been, scorching the pine
needles. Neveah pulled her hand back and flicked the whip again.
Ellie raised her hand and caught the darkness around her wrist. She
pulled on it as hard as she could. Neveah fell to her
knees.

Careen moved forward, to help Neveah.
Ellie flicked her wrist and Careen flew backward and out of sight.
Neveah flicked her wrist again and a dark wave of energy circled
Ellie. It locked Ellie’s body in place. Ellie had never seen
anything like it, but she understood it. She knew how to get out of
it. She focused on crafting light. It was the only way
out.

As Neveah triumphantly gained her
feet, Ellie broke the prison. The darkness exploded into tiny bits,
the shards embedding in the trees and in Neveah’s skin. Neveah
could not hide her surprise.

“Looks like baby sister has a few
surprises up her sleeve,” Neveah taunted. “It’s a wonder she didn’t
fight back years ago.”