Bella powerforce's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Bella slept badly and woke before dawn. The white camera above the north gate blinked once when she stepped onto her porch. She had made her decision in the dark. Without the scanner, the stone circle was useless. Thirty years of waiting meant nothing if a candidate arrived and she could not read them. She would go to Cyndi's house and take it back. She drove the ridge road to Maplecrest and parked below Cyndi's gate. Sierra was in the front garden, kneeling by a row of pale flowers, a small pocket watch on a cord at her neck. The girl looked up and did not seem surprised. "She isn't home," Sierra said. "Thursday. She calls Heather on Thursdays." "I know what day it is." Bella stepped through the gate. "I need something she took from me. It's small. Silver case. It reads worth." Sierra stood and wiped dirt from her hands. "Goldie has it." Bella found Goldie on the back step, the scanner flat on her knee. The girl's yellow hair caught the early light. She did not stand. She held the scanner out on her open palm before Bella asked. "She left it on the kitchen table," Goldie said. "She was scanning herself again. Every hour. The number never moves." She looked at the screen, then at Bella. "I don't want her to have it anymore." Bella took the scanner. The case was warm. She pressed her thumb to the lock and the screen woke clean. "She'll know it was you." "She'll know it was me and Sierra." Goldie's voice stayed level. "I paused the hallway clock for five counts when I lifted it. Sierra slowed the door. That's all we have. It was enough this once." Sierra had come up behind Bella without sound. "We're not asking to be tested," she said. "Goldie already said no for both of us. We just wanted it out of the house." Bella looked at the two girls. Goldie's hand had not shaken. Sierra stood close to her sister the way a person stands close to something they have chosen to guard. Bella slid the scanner into her coat pocket and felt the weight settle where it belonged. "Lock the gate behind me," she said. "Say I forced it if she asks. Say I threatened you." "No," Goldie said. "We'll say we gave it back." Bella drove home with the scanner against her ribs. The stone circle was empty when she climbed the hill, the flat stones wet with dew. She set the scanner at the center and stood on the outer ring. She could test a candidate now. She also knew, before she reached the house again, that Cyndi would come down the road by nightfall, and this time not alone.