Bella powerforce's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Bella drove Sierra home with the case wedged between her feet. Goldie sat in the back with the scanner. Nobody spoke until they pulled into the yard. Silver was on the porch waiting. Heather had called her. Bella carried the case inside and set it on the kitchen table beside the scanner. She checked the seal. A hairline crack ran along the lid where Cyndi's fingers had pried it. A thin pull of magic had already leaked out before Bella caught the cord back. She had not seen it in the slow. She saw it now. She put her palm over the crack and felt the shortage under her skin. Cyndi had taken enough. Not much. Enough to matter. The phone rang. Bella picked it up. It was Heather. "She's at the stone circle," Heather said. "The board wrote it two minutes ago. She's calling people in." Bella asked who. "Names I don't know," Heather said. "A lot of them." Bella thanked her and hung up. She looked at her three daughters at the table. Silver was already standing. "She's using what she took," Bella said. "She can't hold the role, but she can start a fight over it. If she pulls a crowd to the circle before I get there, the peace between the realms breaks tonight." Silver reached for her coat. Bella put a hand on her arm. "Not you. You stay here and hold the house. If I don't come back by morning, you rule from this table." Silver's jaw set, but she sat down. Goldie looked at Sierra. Sierra nodded once. "We're going," Goldie said. "You need us in the slow." Bella did not argue. They drove to the ridge above the stone circle and walked the last stretch. Bella counted the figures below. Nine, then twelve, then more coming up the far path. Cyndi stood at the center stone with her hand open, the stolen pull threaded between her fingers like wire. She was speaking to the crowd. Bella could not hear the words, but she saw heads turn toward her sister and stay turned. Cyndi lifted her hand and the air above the circle bent. The battle was already starting. Not with weapons. With allegiance. Bella took the scanner from Goldie and stepped down onto the path. "Pause the front row when I raise my hand," she told her daughters. "Sierra, slow the back half. I only need thirty seconds." She walked into the circle with the scanner held out where every face could see it. Cyndi saw her and smiled. Bella raised her hand. The girls linked. The front row froze mid-breath. Bella walked to her sister through the thick air and set the scanner against Cyndi's chest. It read out loud, the way it was built to. The crowd heard the number. The number was low. Heads began to turn back.