“They let you go?” Neveah asked incredulously.
Ellie hesitated at the question. She figured that if she told the truth, Neveah would hurt her, would punish her beyond anything she had ever known. Running away from home was not the sort of honesty Neveah cared to hear about. Agreeing with the lie was an easier answer. It was the healthier answer. Neveah had provided her with a lie that meant her secret stayed her own.
“Yeah, they did. You can let her go now,” Ellie said.
Neveah started laughing. The others laughed with her. In their laughter was pity for Ellie’s ignorance. She was too simple to understand; letting a Copper go was worse than killing one. Things like that were just not done in their world. It would be seen as an act of weakness. The Coopers would think they had grown soft.
“Let her go? You’re kidding, right?” Neveah asked.
“No…You said if they released me, you would release her,” Ellie pointed out.
“We all say things we don’t mean sometimes,” Neveah said. “I’m shocked the Coopers thought letting you go would change anything. They must be getting soft.”
The woman started saying things through her gag, insults and denial that the Coopers would ever ‘get soft.’ Her eyes were full of fear, but she was brave. Her eyes reminded Ellie of Thane when they had faced off in her shack. They were the same dark color. The resemblance was easy to see. It was easy to feel connected to the woman.
Ellie bit her lip. Her encounter was not going well. She had hoped her appearance would be enough to stop the bloodshed and free Thane’s aunt. In her heart, she had known better. She was used to the feud being messy. She was even used to the idea that sometimes Neveah and the rest of her family stirred up fights that got bloody, but she was not used to the idea that a woman was going to die in her living room. And it was all Ellie’s fault. It was her fault for dreaming of a world outside her house.
Angry at the thought, Ellie decided she was not going to let Neveah get away with what she had planned. She was not going to do nothing, not when she had the power to change things; and especially not when she could craft her way out of the situation in front of her.
It was not as if Neveah had to know about Ellie’s role in freeing the woman. Ellie could hide her help. She could disguise it. Neveah would never dream that Ellie was capable of craft without a gesture. She would never expect her to practice such a strange thing. Ellie knew that Neveah was expecting the Coopers to attack. Their craft was what she had planned against, not Ellie’s. It was all the advantage Ellie needed.
Ellie ignored their laughter and focused on the first thing that came into her mind: fire. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she searched for her craft without the gesture. Her hands clenched at her sides as she resisted the impulse to raise her hand. It was difficult without the immediate threat of Thane killing her but it was not impossible. The terror in the woman’s eyes and Neveah’s mocking laughter was enough.
BOOM!
Everyone except for Ellie moved at the sound. Careen, Neveah, Cousin and Eugenia hit the floor at the explosion, their reflexes geared toward violence. Ellie turned at the sight of a massive fireball boiling upwards in the sky. It was just as she imagined it. The craft was perfect.
Neveah and the others rolled back to their feet and moved to the windows, to peer out of the blinds. The family stationed outside had also hit the ground with the explosion. Their casualness was gone in a moment. They stumbled to their feet and moved toward the road, to search out the owner of the powerful craft. They held their hands at the ready, prepared to fight the good fight.
No one looked at Ellie. Her diversion was working. She focused again. Another fireball surged after the first. It was massive and overdone. It was close enough to the family to scare them but far enough away that they could escape it. A patch of green grass blackened as the fire hit the earth. Neveah had seen enough.
“Coopers!” Neveah yelled through the open window. “Get 'em!”
Neveah, Careen, Cousin and Eugenia ran out of the front door to face the imaginary Cooper threat. Their appearance in the yard brought order to the chaos of the family. Neveah sent craft across the road, to the same field the Coopers had first attacked their house in, assuming the Coopers were hiding there. Her taunts and cackles were loud over the sounds of the fire roaring to the heavens. Dark craft bound the space between the field and her house.
As soon as Neveah and the others were outside, Ellie hurried over to the woman and lowered her gag.
“My family will kill the lot of you!” the woman yelled as soon as the gag was gone. “They’re going to rip your heads off and feed you to the crows! They’re going to make you pay for this! You’re all dea-”
Ellie put the gag back over the woman’s mouth. She put her hands on either side of the woman’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Ellie’s gaze was stern. She wanted the woman to understand that her life depended on what she was going to say.
“Thane is outside waiting for you. If you don’t run away now, you’re gonna die by my sister’s hand,” Ellie said. “I reckon no one wants that.”
The woman looked at Ellie with daggers in her eyes. Ellie was not offended by the look. She did not need the woman’s appreciation, just her cooperation.
“Will you behave long enough for me to free you?” Ellie asked.
The woman’s glare faded. She thought about what Ellie was suggesting. Ellie was her only chance at escape. She nodded curtly.
Ellie undid the rope from the woman’s hands and legs and helped her stand. She took the woman’s hand without thinking and pulled her over to the door. The woman gave up on looking tough in front of the enemy and quietly followed Ellie out of the house. She had experience going unnoticed, almost as much as Ellie had.
Ellie looked around the yard and saw that her family was throwing craft around the yard with dangerous disregard to other members of the Bumbalow clan. Their chaotic craft was more dangerous than if the Coopers had really been attacking her house. Everyone was too distracted with the imaginary fight to notice Ellie and the soon-to-be ex-prisoner.
Ellie pushed Thane’s aunt toward the road and allowed the aunt to pass through the ward with a wave of her hand and the words Eugenia had told her to say. The aunt had a brief moment of doubt. Ellie thought she was contemplating using her craft on her family. She wanted to punish the Bumbalows for abducting her. Her common sense finally won out. There was no way she could fight thirty people all by herself and live. Thane’s aunt bested the impulse to fight and ran down the road toward Thane’s waiting car.
When the woman was safely away, Ellie ran to the chaos, figuring Neveah would expect her to act stupid during a fight. It would not take them long to realize the woman had help escaping, that the fireballs were nothing more than a diversion. Ellie was not eager for them to come to the right conclusion. She wanted them to blame the Coopers, as they always did.
Neveah was casting whips of darkness across the yard with wild glee. Her chortles of delight made her craft appear all the more dangerous. Careen was next to her, not quite as happy as Neveah but certainly enjoying herself as she sent darkness toward the imaginary enemy. Careen’s craft was strong though not nearly as dark as Neveah’s craft. Ellie joined them. She was careful to make sure Neveah saw her. She tried to craft her own magic with an obvious flick of the wrist. Neveah caught Ellie’s hand with a fierce grip.
“Go to your shack!” Neveah commanded.
“But-” Ellie said.
“Go!” Neveah said.
Neveah flung Ellie away from the direction of the fight. Ellie stumbled but managed to keep her feet. There was no arguing with Neveah’s command. Ellie did not try. She ran through the tall grass toward her shack, hoping Thane’s aunt made it back to the car. She hoped that Thane would get back to town with enough time to stop the real attack on her house. She had to hope.
Ellie’s shack was unchanged. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her small home. She had worried somet
hing would happen to it during her absence. She feared Neveah had tampered with it when Ellie had not answered her calls. The vines would have kept them out and that would not have set well with Neveah’s temper. The intact walls of her shack made Ellie think that Neveah had not looked too hard for her. She had settled on the truth of Ellie’s supposed abduction easily.
Ellie waved her hand and the vines peeled back to reveal her door. Another wave and the door opened and candles lit up the interior. There was warmth and a feeling of familiarity as she walked inside. It was the first time in days that she felt truly comfortable with her surroundings. There was comfort in the world she had always known.
Ellie collapsed on her sofa with a long exhale of mixed worry and relief. It took her a moment to realize she was still wearing her shoes. It was a small miracle that her sister had not noticed them. They would have been a dead giveaway to the fact that she had not been kidnapped. The Coopers would not have crafted her shoes. Instead of dissolving the shoes back to the chaos she had formed them from, she placed them next to the sofa as a reminder of her adventure. They were her first and last pair. They were proof she had done something brave and had faced down the consequences of that bravery.
Ellie pulled the necklace off her neck and looked at it for a moment. The black diamonds of Caw’s eyes twinkled at her as if saying hello. He was ready to leave his prison. She wondered if freeing him was a good idea. Would he be safe? If Neveah found out about him, she would kill Caw without a second thought. Ellie did not want to face that pain. She knew she could not keep him in a prison, however. The thought was unbearable.
She waved a hand, and the necklace morphed back into Caw. He shook out his feathers and stretched his wings wide. He jumped onto her coffee table and looked at her with his steady gaze. Ellie thought he looked happy to be bird once again. He cawed once and looked toward the door. He wanted to use his wings again; he wanted to fly.
“I’m sorry but you can’t go out right now,” she said. “No telling where my family’s crafting will end up. No sense putting yourself in the line of fire.”
Caw clicked his beak at her in understanding and started preening his feathers in an attempt to smooth the effects of the change. Ellie smiled at him and focused on the feeling of the others’ craft in her yard. They were still tossing craft around, oblivious to the fact that the threat was not real. She paid special attention to the individual feeling of the craft. She thought she would know it if Thane or his aunt were forced to craft in defense. She would know if a real fight started between her family and Thane’s. She was not certain there would be a whole lot she could do under those circumstances but she wanted to know what was happening. She could not turn off her interest. She did not relax despite being in the comfort of her home again.
Finally, she felt the craft of the others die down. A disappointed lull of silence filled the air. No Cooper had paid for the attack with blood; no Cooper had been injured or killed. Ellie could tell the others were not happy with the turn of events.
It was not long after the craft stopped that Ellie heard Neveah call her name with her long-distance shout. Neveah’s voice was full of irritation. Ellie’s heartbeat increased automatically at the call. She could not help the fear that her lie had been discovered with the lack of Cooper response. Her betrayal of the family would not be taken lightly. Ellie hurried to leave the shack, so Neveah would not call a second time. Calling twice would not improve her anger. Caw hopped up on her shoulder to go with her, but Ellie knew it was likely Neveah would take her vengeance out on the bird. She put Caw back on the table.
“You can’t go. Neveah will hurt you,” she said. “But here…”
Ellie waved her hand, and a pile of seed appeared on the table next to him. He cawed at her in appreciation and immediately started eating the food. It would keep him occupied long enough to see what Neveah wanted. It would keep him safe from her wrath.
Ellie ran through the grass. Eugenia was making her rounds through the family that was milling around the yard, talking about the woman’s escape and the lack of Cooper response. Many of her family had come to the conclusion that their last fight at the house had scared the Coopers out of a real fight. Ellie did her best not to look guilty.
Neveah, Careen and Cousin were waiting on the steps near the kitchen. Neveah had her arms crossed as she waited. When Ellie saw them looking at her so seriously, she trembled. She tried to keep her expression neutral as she stopped in front of them but she felt as if they saw through every awkward shift.
“You need to tell us the truth,” Neveah demanded.
Careen and Cousin maintained their serious expressions from behind Neveah, and Ellie’s body started to hurt just thinking about the beating she was about to get. They really had figured out the truth. It was a miracle she was still standing. She usually did not get a warning to the beatings. They just came, swift, fast and without mercy. Neveah leaned forward. Surrounding her was a veil of anger and irritation. It made the moment feel darker.
“Did they…touch you?” Neveah asked, still serious.
Ellie stared at Neveah. She was shocked at the question. It had never even occurred to her that they would think such a thing. She found her words around her shock.
“No!” Ellie exclaimed.
Careen lost her serious expression. She laughed at the look on Ellie’s face. She was enjoying the moment, more than she should have.
“You made her blush, Nev!” Careen said around her chortling.
Neveah laughed as well. Some of her anger disappeared as they returned to their normal practice of teasing Ellie. The normalcy of it was a good distraction for their disappointment.
“I think I did!” Neveah agreed. “Good thing, though, that they kept their hands to themselves. Best that you’re not spoiled by a Cooper...then you really would have no purpose.”
Cousin did not laugh. He was contemplating the torture the Coopers were rumored to have done to the Bumbalows over the years. Taking a person’s skin off with craft was not the sort of thing to joke about, and that was just the craft they could see on the surface. Cousin knew that the Coopers could mess with a person’s mind. They could leave scars that went beyond the superficial.
“If they hurt you with craft, you best tell us. We know how to reverse such a thing,” Cousin said.
“They didn’t hurt me,” Ellie said.
“You sure, girly?” Cousin asked.
It was the first time he had ever sounded worried about her. Ellie thought the difference might have been her direct involvement in the fighting. Most of the family measured a person’s worth by their fights with the Coopers, particularly the older members of the family. They were not really a Bumbalow until they had faced down a Cooper.
“I’m sure, Cousin,” Ellie said.
Neveah cut through Cousin’s questions. She was more concerned what Ellie had learned during her stay with the Coopers. She was focused on how the abduction changed the feud, not if Ellie had been tortured.
“Grandpa and Grandma Bumbalow are coming over,” Neveah said. “They wanna ask you a few things about where the Coopers kept you. We could use the information for when we pay 'em back for abducting you.”
“They kept me blindfolded and wrapped up in dark crafting to where I couldn’t see nor hear nothing,” Ellie lied. “I can’t tell the grandparents more than I could tell you and that’s a whole of nothing.”
Neveah was not pleased with Ellie’s answer. For the first time, she doubted Ellie’s story. “You must have seen something,” Neveah said.
“I swear, I didn’t,” Ellie said.
Neveah raised her hand, as if to slap Ellie. Ellie tensed, but she did not take a step back from Neveah. It would only make her sister hit her harder. Neveah did not like fear. Neveah nodded at Ellie and lowered her hand. The gesture had only been a warning to tell the truth.
“Fine,” Neveah said. “Stay away while the grandparents are here…they won’t want to see you on account of your disap
pointing habit of doing nothing to help the family out. When they’re gone, come back and do the chores you got waiting for you. You got more than a couple of days’ worth.”
Ellie nodded at her sister. While she was not happy about the prospect of chores after a long couple of days of fear, adventure and minimal sleep, she was glad she had avoided punishment. The happiness of that erased all of her other worries.
Ellie turned away from her sisters and Cousin without another word. They were staring at her. It was the first time she had ever been stared at for any reason beyond punishment. She knew that the longer she was under their scrutiny, the more chance she had of her lie being discovered. She walked through the tall grass as quickly as she dared. She felt their eyes on her back until the grass swallowed her from view.
Before she was out of earshot she heard Cousin say, “About time that girl gets some proper experience, don’t you think?”
“The girl is about as useful in the fight as a whistle pig,” Neveah said. “Couldn’t craft her way out of a pickle jar…”
“Could be,” Cousin said. “But she managed to survive being kidnapped. No denying she’s growing up. Most her age have already fought and hurt a Cooper. She’s behind the others. You can’t make it seem like you don’t approve of your own sister fighting the feud. Someone else might decide to lead the fight…”
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