Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1)

by Dzintra Sullivan

  “Humph,” Seb grunted back, taking lots of little sips of air.

  Arkadia got out of the car and sat on the hood, not wanting to be in the car with Sebastian any longer then she had to. All she really wanted was for someone to “see” her. Arkadia wanted someone whose eyes lit up when they saw her, someone who loved her, cared for her, protected her, and would never ever EVER let her go. She wanted her Prince Charming. Arkadia thought maybe she could hurry this along a little bit. Glancing back at Seb, she saw he was slowly beginning to breathe a little deeper, and not listening to her inner warning bells, Arkadia began to cast a spell.

  “Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty,

  Bring to me the full of heart,

  Find the love of my Prince Charming,

  So, that we shall never part.”

  Feeling a sudden gust of air, Arkadia wrapped her arms around herself, feeling very uncomfortable in her own skin. She got up, wandered back to the car, and slid down into her seat, glancing over at Sebastian to see how much longer it was going to be before they left. Her eyes widened as she looked around, Sebastian wasn’t there. “Now where did he go? If he is strong enough to walk, he can drive and I’m outta here.” She looked through the windshield to see where he had gone.

  “CROOOOOAAKK.” Arkadia cast her eyes down to the frog sitting on the driver’s chair, her blood running instantly ice cold.

  “Ooohhhhhhh, fooook me!”

  Chapter Five

  “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” Arkadia was in full panic mode. She glanced over again at this slimy green frog sitting on the driver’s seat, her blood icy cold running through her veins, and whispered, “Seb … bas … tian?”

  “Crooooak,” was his only reply.

  “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” Arkadia went back to chanting to herself.

  “What have I done? Oh shit, oh bugger, ooohhhhhhhh what have I done? The Mayor’s son! He was a slimy beast, granted, but a frog? People are going to notice.” Arkadia was talking to herself, very quickly, as the panic button was repeatedly being slammed in her brain. She briefly contemplated relocating the frog, eeerrrr Sebastian, into a local swamp and leaving town on the next train to nowhere, but as he was the Mayor’s son, she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a viable option, and she wasn’t fond of prison orange as her daily color choice.

  “Crooooak.” Arkadia looked again at Sebastian.

  “I am soooo sorry, Seb, I really didn’t mean to turn you into a frog.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. What’s done is done, now how to fix it, or perhaps a case of who?”

  Arkadia knew there was only one person she could turn to, one person who knew about her abilities and would be able to help her. It was the last person on earth she wanted to ask for help from, well, maybe not the LAST, the last maybe would have been Sebastian’s father, can you imagine it? “Good evening, Mr. Coulter, I am sorry but it appears I have turned your son into a frog. Can you help me turn him back?” A soft chuckle escaped Arkadia’s lips as she imagined Mr. Coulter’s head turning red and exploding right in front of her. Shaking her head, she stopped day dreaming and regained her focus on the problem at hand. There was only one person, one solitary person who could help …ELOISE.

  The drive home was rough to say the least, as Arkadia didn’t have her license yet. She basically knew how to drive, but knowing and doing are two different things. So four stalls, eight bunny hops, and a couple of screeched tires later, she ended up, by the grace of goddess, at her driveway. Glancing over at the green frog happily sitting on the dashboard, she whispered with her mind, “Eloise, I need your help.”

  The immediate reply was, “Bring him inside, Arkadia, we can sort this out. Remember Rule Five; there is no problem too big that I won’t help you with. If you need me, I will ALWAYS be there. No exceptions.”

  Scooping the croaking slime ball into her bag, she left the car and made her way quickly into the house. Eloise was at the bottom of the stairs. Arkadia expected to see her full of rage at being woken late at night by the very person who had been treating her so badly, but instead, Eloise was calm. A soft, warm light seemed to be radiating from her very soul, her eyes showing a kindness that Arkadia had never seen before. “Tell me what happened,” Eloise said softly as she scooped Sebastian out of Arkadia’s bag.

  Arkadia told her the whole story from not really wanting to go in the first place to Mr. Unwanted Octopus Hands, and her knee that answered none of his horny teenage dreams. Arkadia wasn’t sure why she opened up, but with the feeling of security Eloise was giving, it was hard to resist. She finished with the spell she cast. “And you can see what happened. I didn’t mean it in relevance to Sebastian. I was just speaking to the universe,” she whispered.

  “But when one deals with matters of the heart, Arkadia,” Eloise put her hand on Arkadia’s shoulder. “It will never work, even for an experienced witch. The heart has a magic of its own and can never be swayed, even with the help of our goddess.”

  “So it wasn’t my screwed up magic that did this?” Arkadia asked, hoping she was right.

  “No, this was you, well, partly anyway.” Arkadia slumped into her chair as tears began to well up in her eyes at Eloise confirming she was yet again a screw-up. “No, no, no, honey,” Eloise said as she read Arkadia’s mind “Don’t ever think that I think you’re a screw-up; you need guidance, and that’s why I am here. I can help you, Arkadia, if you want me to.” Eloise smiled softly as she took a seat at the table and looked at Sebastian the green frog as he let out another, “crooooak.”

  “This spell wouldn’t have worked for any witch,” Eloise continued to explain, “but for an experienced witch, it simply wouldn’t have worked. The fact it bounced back and turned poor Sebastian into a frog, that my darling was all you.” She softly chuckled. Arkadia smiled feeling some of her ice chip away toward Eloise. Perhaps she wasn’t as bad as she thought. Eloise just smiled as Arkadia’s thoughts travelled to her.

  “Okay. To fix this problem, you will need a reversing spell. Do you know of any?” Eloise asked, and a simple shake of Arkadia’s head confirmed to Eloise she did not. “Let’s class this as lesson number one, shall we?” Eloise raised an eyebrow and looked at Arkadia, waiting for confirmation that she was ready to learn, ready to grow as a witch, and ready to let Eloise in. Arkadia paused for a second then nodded yes. Her choices were limited as she was the one with a frog date to fix, but despite that fact, she was beginning to think Eloise might just be what, or in this case, whom she needed.

  Eloise smiled brightly as she said, “Repeat the spell after me.”

  “Take the clock, Turn it back,

  Wrap my mistake in white light,

  I’ve made an error, it should not be,

  Please, Goddess make it right.”

  As Arkadia repeated the spell, a soft white glow began to radiate from the chest of the frog. Getting up from the table, Arkadia stood back against the wall in awe of the power she felt in the room. She looked over to Eloise who was… Omg … Eloise was glowing, her arms extended as the power bounced around the room. Arkadia shielded her eyes as a bright flash climaxed in the room, and suddenly, Sebastian was sitting naked on the table.

  Arkadia breathed a deep sigh of relief that it worked until she realized he was naked, and by the look of shock on his face, it was just crossing his mind too. Eloise, once again, came to the rescue. She bundled Sebastian into the other room and helped him get dressed. Arkadia could hear calming words being said to Sebastian, but they were too soft for her to hear. The front door closed and she heard Sebastian’s car start and drive slowly off. Eloise came back into the kitchen.

  “Won’t he tell his dad?” Arkadia felt a stab of panic return.

  “I placed some hazing over the night’s activities. As far as Sebastian is concerned, you started to feel a little unwell, he cut the evening short, brought you home, and then went home himself, feeling content he was a perfect gentleman the entire time and nothing was in the slightest bit strange,
” Eloise replied as she sat heavily in the chair, “but alas, that sort of hazing really zaps my energy, so I will take myself off to bed, and we can discuss this more in the morning.” Eloise smiled gently at Arkadia. “I am always here. Arkadia, ALWAYS; no matter what, no matter when.” She winked and vanished up the stairs.

  Wow, Arkadia thought, maybe there was hope for her after all, and maybe her hope was named Eloise.

  Chapter Six

  As Arkadia rolled over in bed mulling over last night’s events, her stomach began to tighten, her pulse raced a little faster, and tiny beads of panic-induced sweat appeared on her brow; she knew it was only a matter of months and the PSEs would need to be taken, and if she didn’t pass? A shudder of ice-cold fear crept up her spine at the thought of what might happen or where she might end up.

  Arkadia thought about how her date, Sebastian, as slimy as he was in person, really didn’t need it proven in the animal kingdom as well. Shaking her head, she wandered to the bathroom. “You need to get your gear sorted,” she mumbled to herself and padded across the hallway in her bright lime-green monster slippers. Hearing a freight train coming up the hallway, Arkadia turned just in time to catch Emerson as he launched himself in her arms. “Holy smokes, Em, go on a diet, I nearly dropped you.” She dropped him to the floor with a chuckle. “Try some vegetables with your steak.” Arkadia winked as she continued walking. Emerson wasn’t giving up his attention seeking yet; he bounced right along beside her and watched as Arkadia got to the bathroom door, turned, and with a quirky grin to match her raised eyebrow, she shut the door in his face.

  Leaning against the door, Emerson pondered loudly, “If you marry Sebastian, and one day he becomes Mayor like his daddy, does that make you automatically a Mrs. Lady Mayor?”

  “Not going to happen, wolf boy,” Arkadia playfully yelled back through the closed door. Emerson smiled to himself. He knew he would always bite since he was the wolf, but if you laid the right bait, Arkadia would always bite.

  “After you become Mrs. Coulter the third, can you work on getting extra tartar sauce in the school cafeteria?” Emerson asked as he still leaned on the bathroom door, waiting for Arkadia to return fire. The door suddenly opened and out popped what looked like the abominable snowman. “Aaaarrrhhhhh! I’ve seen a ghost!” Feigned panic spread across Emerson’s face as he clutched at his heart.

  “Very funny, fur face. Now go chase traffic, will you? I’ve got to get ready for school.” Again, she closed the bathroom door in Emerson’s face. Emerson’s chuckling could be heard as he wandered off.

  Arkadia descended the stairs forty-five minutes later, looking amazing in her tight, dark blue jeans, crisp, white, collared shirt, opened halfway with the contrasting lime green cami underneath it, and her hair down to let her long blonde curls cascade down her shoulders. The image was completed with some gorgeous knee high black boots.

  “Do you have time to talk, Arkadia?” Eloise had a slight pleading tone to her voice.

  “Oh geeeeze, Eloise, I am sorry I don’t.” Arkadia made a grand gesture of checking her watch. “I am in a hurry, maybe later.” Arkadia had no intention of talking, or anything else with Eloise; yes, she helped her out last night, but a mother that did not make her.

  Walking past the kitchen table, she heard “croooooak” and stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned her head, having a mini nightmare that she was going to lay her eyes upon Sebastian’s green slimy frog body again this morning. Her blood ran cold as she was already thinking up excuses as to why the Mayor’s son was on an all fly diet.

  Raven and Zahmali laughed to themselves, and Arkadia realized it was Raven that had made the noise. “Oh sure, that would be right, Raven,” she said. She grabbed her bag by the door and looked back at Raven with a death stare that may have in fact caused some singeing on Raven’s long black hair. “Can’t find your voice when you need to tell me it’s washing day? Or to tell me what assignment is due tomorrow? But when it comes to pointing out my mistake, you turn into a right royal Jerry Springer, huh?” Arkadia stormed back over to the table, leaned right over and grabbed the butter knife off the table. She could see Raven’s smile quickly disappearing. “Let’s see how tough you are now, Vamp Girl.” Arkadia cut the tip of her finger and shoved it over at Raven.

  As the tiny orb of red blood appeared at the top of Arkadia’s finger, her eyes met Raven’s. She watched Raven’s face turn white, and her eyes glaze over and rollback into her skull. Arkadia turned away as she heard the thump of Raven’s unconscious body falling to the floor in a dead faint. Arkadia licked the top of her finger and strutted out the door, feeling justified in her revenge.

  Arkadia walked up the stairs to the school, and the girls were right where they always are, waiting at the top, sitting on the brick wall on the left-handside. Standing to exchange a hug with each of the girls, they seemed eager to know about the date.

  “What was it?” Cheyanne asked.

  “Was he as gross as we thought he might be?” questioned Cat. Arkadia really didn’t want to say much about the date, and certainly didn’t want any of the details getting to be public knowledge.

  “I bet Sebastian was the slimiest date you have ever had, am I right, Ark?” Vi asked as she came to stand over beside Arkadia.

  She froze. Slimiest? What the? Vi couldn’t know, there was no way in hell that Vi could know anything. They were in a car, at the drive-in, but still, a shot of fear struck up her spine. Vi did say the word slimiest, not boring, or crappy. Arkadia tried to breathe normally so she wouldn’t give away the fact every cell in her body was screaming, “I don’t wear prison orange.” She slowly looked over at Vi, seeking answers, but only saw genuine interest and concern in her eyes. Arkadia relaxed a little and answered, “Let me put it this way, Vi,” Arkadia looped her arm through Vi’s and smiled, “he isn’t no Prince Charming.”

  Taking their seats in the most boring English class on the face of the earth, Arkadia sat beside Cheyanne, in front of the two seats that were taken by Vi and Cat. Arkadia had already begun to tune out. When it came to Mrs. Eckles and her monotone voice reciting Shakespeare, she could cure any insomniac instantly with a simple forty-five minute class.

  Suddenly, for Arkadia the world went silent, and every hair on her body began to rise, like a serpent charged with electricity straight from the heavens above, wound around her ankles and slithered up her calves, twisting and writhing over her thighs. Arkadia’s breathing began to get shallow as she was becoming intoxicated and confused at her body’s response. Arkadia looked out the window, and sure enough, as she expected, the big, black, shiny beast of a truck was parked in the parking lot. Looking to the license plate to check if it was the same, she could just barely make out the ‘DRGN30’, and her heart began to race at a clip that would have impressed the highest paid jockey.

  What is it about that car? Why is it making me feel vibrantly alive and set on fire all at the same time? She didn’t have time to contemplate the answer as the door to the classroom opened and in walked what she could only describe as a god. He was tall, so very tall, must be tipping about six-foot-four, and his dark almost black, soft, curly hair messily kissed the tops of his shoulders. He was wearing dark blue jeans with a plain black T-shirt that looked stretched to its capacity over his broad shoulders and bulging biceps. Oh my Gawd! Arkadia’s eyes roamed back up over his bronzed skin, and she heard Mrs. Eckles say, “Class, we have a new student. This is Bohdan. Please make him feel welcome.” Arkadia looked into his eyes. Soooo brown. He seemed to stare straight into her soul, and Arkadia felt the room closing in on her, her skin aflame with electricity. Her very essence seemed to have been lit on fire. The world was closing in on her fast, and Arkadia desperately tried to reach out to Chey, silently screaming for mercy from the heat of the flames, her skin feeling like it was blistering from the intense pain. The last thing she remembered seeing was Chey's eyes looking at her, full or terror.

  Then, nothing but black.

  �
�Arkadia, sweetheart, Arkadia.”

  “Get her some water.”

  “Should we phone an ambulance?”

  A myriad of voices surrounded her as Arkadia began to surface back into reality Unable to pinpoint any one voice yet, her eyes stayed shut as she tried to focus on her soundings. She didn’t know what had happened and until she had her bearings again, she wasn’t opening her eyes. The voices continued.

  “Phone her mother.”

  “Does she have epilepsy?”

  “Is she on any drugs?”

  Suddenly a voice she knew said, “Don’t phone her mother. She won’t answer. You need to phone her guardian. No to the epilepsy, no to the ambulance, and a big HELL NO to the drugs.” Arkadia opened her eyes, and sure enough, it was Cheyanne. She looked worried, but she knew that if push came to shove, Chey would always have her back.

  Arkadia tried to sit up, and with some help from Chey, she was beginning to refocus and get her surroundings sorted out. Look of ‘what the hell was that all about?’ passed over Chey’s face, and Arkadia returned it with an equally expressive ‘your guess is as good as mine’ look. Mrs. Eckles asked, “Arkadia, are you okay, sweetheart? Do you want to go to the school nurse?”

  “No, thank you,” Arkadia replied as she sat back in her chair trying to regain some dignity. “I’ll just sip on this water and sit quietly here.” Mrs. Eckles didn’t look convinced, but smiled sweetly.

  “Well, if you feel woozy again, let me know straightaway, alright?” Arkadia nodded and took a sip of water.

  Both Vi and Cat had moved their desks so we could all sit in a long line, convincing Mrs. Eckles that if Arkadia fainted again, this way they could catch her. Somehow they got her to agree, and then spent the next forty minutes passing notes to each other about what happened. As the last bell of the day rang for the end of class, Arkadia stole a quick glance over to the new guy in the back corner. She instantly felt the warmth begin, and lowered her eyes quickly to avoid fainting again. Who is this guy? She kept her eyes low and made her way to the locker and got the hell out of school so she could think clearly about what to do next.