Bella's Arc

Chapter 4 of 13

Bella waited until Marella left the room. Then she got to work. The clock stood tall and silent in the corner, its little door shut tight. The twins were inside. They had to come out sometime. And when they did, Bella would be ready. She dragged a soft pillow from the couch. Then another. She nosed a pale blue throw down from the chair and tugged it into place. Bit by bit, she built a low wall of pillows around the clock's base door, leaving only one narrow path out. A pillow fort, snug and quiet, with a hidden pocket inside for her. For bait, she needed something they could not resist. She remembered the sparkling thing on the low shelf — a crystal fairy ornament that threw bits of rainbow light across the wall. She batted it down and rolled it across the carpet. She set it right in front of the little door, where it sparkled and spun. Then she crouched. Belly low, tail twitching, butt wiggling, she tucked herself behind the tallest pillow. She could see the door through a gap. She could see the fairy glittering. She did not move. She barely breathed. Minutes passed. Then the little door creaked open. Two dark heads peeked out. The twins stared at the fairy. They stared at the pillows. Then they looked straight at the gap where Bella was hiding — and waved. One of them giggled. The door clicked shut again. Bella sprang anyway. Her paws hit the fairy. The fairy skidded. The pillow fort collapsed around her in a soft heap. From behind the closed door came two small, happy laughs. Bella sat in the ruins of her trap, fur full of fluff, and understood something new. They had seen the fort before she finished building it. They had always seen. The trap would never work. She needed a different plan.