Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1)

by Dzintra Sullivan

  “Because you’re special.” Eloise kissed the top of her head and stood up, extending her hand to help Arkadia off the step. “Go have some fun, be safe, make good choices, no magic, and in exchange, you give me two hours tomorrow?” Eloise asked.

  “But tomorrow is Sunday,” Arkadia whined. Eloise simply raised her eyebrow. “Okay, okay, okay. Tomorrow, two hours, I’m all yours, but don’t complain when this time I take out a wall or three.” Giving Eloise a light almost half-hug, she whispered, “Thank you.” Then Arkadia grabbed her sweater and bag and walked out the door.

  Cat pulled up in her father’s red jeep. She had freshly re-dyed the bottom of her hair, and the blue had gone from a washed-out baby blue to a woooah, it’s a hot summer’s day sky blue. She looked at Arkadia with a big cheesy grin on her face. “Ready to go, lover girl?” she teased.

  Jumping in the car and pulling across her seat belt, Arkadia replied, “Ready, let’s go see some touch-downs!” Cat let out a howling laugh.

  “Goals, Arkadia, goals. It’s hockey, not football.” Cat was still laughing as she drove off down the street, and Arkadia hoped she wasn’t going to make a fool out of herself tonight; after all, Bohdan had asked her to come. Letting out a big dreamy sigh, Arkadia relaxed into the seat as Cat drove to the rink.

  Chapter Twelve

  Arkadia walked into the ice hockey rink, and followed Cat down to the player’s bench. She was looking for her brother. This was Arkadia’s first time at a rink. She understood the irony of being a Canadian and not being able to ice skate, but her family was more a ‘hide the freaks’ kind of family, so they always kept very much to themselves. She wasn’t often allowed to mingle with other children for fear that she would make them grow an extra head. Standing still, she closed her eyes and let her senses open up. The sound of the growing crowd was almost deafening, bombarding her with so many conversations all happening at the same time: “Little Joey did this,” and “Did you hear who is sleeping with Mrs. Jones.”

  OMG. It’s so loud, how can anyone think straight? Arkadia opened her eyes. She had never been so happy to have remembered her sweater; even with the jeans, her black bomber jacket, and her thick chocolate shaggy sweater still weren’t enough. She shivered as she rubbed her hands together. Arkadia covered her mouth and nose with her hands, breathing hot air out to warm up her rapidly numbing nose. Looking over at Cat, she parted her hands slightly and yelled over the noise, “Is it always this cold? It’s like a freaking fridge, Cat!!” Cat laughed as she pulled out a spare pair of gloves from her bag.

  “Thought you might need these.” Cat winked as she handed them over, and Arkadia slipped on the softest black gloves, lined with what felt like velvet. Arkadia didn’t care, and she immediately felt her fingers warming up.

  “I could kiss you,” Arkadia said.

  “And here I was thinking I had a chance,” a dark powerful voice said seeming to come from the heavens above. Arkadia looked up and fell deep into Bohdan’s sexy brown eyes.

  “Oh, I didn’t … I mean, you do … I mean, we can, oh shit, I’ll shut up now.” Arkadia blushed brightly as she lowered her eyes. Shit, shit, shit. How stupid can one girl sound? Arkadia scolded herself, wanting the world to open up right now and swallow her whole. Cat nudged her with her arm, and pointed up. Arkadia raised her eyes to look at Cat, pleading with her not to make her look at him as she was embarrassed enough. Cat was having no part of it, and just raised a “suck it up, princess” eyebrow at her. Arkadia slowly looked over toward the player’s bench, and her eyes met Bohdan’s. The corner of his mouth was slightly raised in a half-smile, and winking at her, he mouthed the word “Later?” A simple nod was all Arkadia could manage as Cat grabbed her arm and moved them toward the seats. Her heart felt like it was going to explode, it was beating so fast. Sitting down, Cat pulled her close and whispered, “Don’t think you need to worry about Vi, Arkadia, he seems to only have eyes for you.” They both laughed.

  “Omg, Cat, did you hear his accent? It almost gave me heart failure,” Arkadia said as she ran her hand over her chest, trying to get her heart to slow back to a normal pace.

  “I saw him when we walked in, and his eyes never left you. Lucky bitch. That is one sexy male specimen.” Cat snuggled in closer, trying to make the most of shared body heat. Hearing the Addams family tune start to play, Cat whispered, “Watch your man play; he is positively super human.” Arkadia smiled. Oh yes, I know he isn't human, he has the mark. Arkadia wasn’t sure what he was yet, but he sure was hot.

  The game passed in a blur of themed music, hotdogs, and screaming crowds. Arkadia cheered and booed along with the rest of the crowd. It wasn’t hard for Arkadia to pick up the basic concept of the game; there are nets, and pucks, and the aim is to get the puck into the net. Seems simple enough. She watched Cat’s brother race up and down the ice with lightning speed, crisscrossing the opponents, his stick seeming to cradle the puck until he got in a position to slam that poor little puck with enough force to get it past everyone else and find its home in the net. Wow, it was such a fast paced game. It was sometimes hard for her to work out where the puck had gone, only to find that it had already made its way to the other end of the rink, getting up close and personal with the oh so handsome Bohdan. Ahhhh, Bohdan. Arkadia sighed softly, seeing him guard the goal with a look of determination in his eyes, the way he lowered his body, and widened his arms and legs to cover as much space as possible. He hadn’t let a single puck through yet. Bohdan had successfully left the visiting team scoreless, and Cat’s brother had scored two of the three goals himself. Arkadia couldn’t help but get swept up in the emotion of the game, watching the team all skate up and congratulate each other. She really enjoyed the camaraderie the boys showed each other, the brotherhood if you like, a family, something she had lacked in her life for so long. Although since Eloise had turned up at the house, she was beginning to feel like she belonged somewhere.

  Cat looped her arm through Arkadia’s and swept her down the stairway. “Where are we going?” Arkadia asked as she laughed trying not to hit anyone as she was pulled along.

  “The dressing rooms, of course,” replied Cat with a laugh. Stopping dead in mid-step, she yanked Cat back.

  “The what?”

  “The dressing rooms, you know, where the guys get ready?” Cat giggled.

  “I know what a dressing room is.” Arkadia playfully swatted at Cat. “What I want to know is why? Are we allowed? What if Bohdan is there?” she rattled off. Cat stepped closer, and took both of Arkadia’s hands in hers, willing her to calm down and breathe. Both girls took a deep breath together, and Cat smiled.

  “Yes, we are allowed. Daniel is my brother, remember? That means I can go in, and if I can, so can you.” Cat re-linked her arm through Arkadia’s and started off again, though this time much slower as the crowd was all trying to get out at the same time. “As for Bohdan, let’s just hope he’s just coming out of the shower, huh?” Cat winked.

  Walking past security, Cat and Arkadia made their way to the dressing room doors. Arkadia pulled back on Cat's arm. “It’s alright,” Cat said. “We will stay in the warm-up area, no shower scenes, okay?” Cat laughed as she pulled her through the doors. The first thing Arkadia noticed was how much boys smelled. Cat ran off to find Dan as Arkadia wandered over to the side. She wrapped her hands around her waist, leaned against the wall, and watched the hustle and bustle of the room, players and trainers coming and going, congratulations, back patting, and a few comments about what could have been handled better. Listening to Pete talk, Arkadia gathered that the main goal shooter from the other team was a bastard and kept on hitting him in the shins with his stick, and also the ref was blind. Arkadia chuckled. A win is a win. Pete was still walking, so the hits couldn’t have been too hard.

  “Have fun?” Arkadia jumped to the side with a small squeal. Looking over to where the voice had spoken so close to her, she saw Bohdan, a cheeky smirk on his face.

  “Will you stop doing that?
I’m going to have a heart attack!” She playfully smacked his arm. Oh my Gawd, his arm is like concrete. Bohdan looked like a Greek god, having obviously just come from the showers, his wet curls sticking to the back of his neck and water droplets slowly rolling down his bare chest, disappearing into the towel wrapped around his slim hips. Her eyes traveled back up his chest, caressing his well defined six-pack, observing that the cool breeze does in fact make men’s nipples erect. Her eyes jumped back up to his suddenly when he cleared his throat. Having been caught ogling his body, Arkadia smiled sweetly, a little extra flutter to her eye lashes for effect as she softly spoke.

  “Cat has made sure that I am having a very exciting night. Thank you for asking.”

  “Indeed, I must thank Cat for that,” he replied, turned, and disappeared back into the changing rooms.

  Cat bounded out from behind another door, dragging Daniel with her. She is like a red squirrel on crack cocaine.’ She just keeps going and going.

  “Hey, Arky,” Cat squealed. “Tell Daniel what you thought of your first game. Tell him you loved it. Tell him you think he is the best scorer EVER. Tell him he is going to be drafted into the NHL. Go on … tell him, tell him TELL HIM!” Cat bounced with excitement, her voice lifting to an unbelievable pitch. Daniel just laughed.

  “Settle, Cat. You know I love ya and all, but settle. I am too tired to watch ya bounce like Tigger tonight.” Turning to Arkadia he asked, “Did you have fun, darlin’?”

  Arkadia was laughing at Cat bouncing as she replied, “Oh yeah, it’s a great game, and I do think all that Cat said. You are really, really good.” Dan smiled proudly.

  “Thanks, sweetheart, I am happy you had fun.” Dan turned and went to talk to the coach, who always seemed to have a scowl on his face, but Arkadia assumed that was his job, to always be wanting more.

  “I didn’t see Bohdan yet, sorry, Ark,” Cat said with a small pout on her mouth.

  “Oh,” Arkadia replied. “That’s fine, he has already been out and scared me half to death.” Cat suddenly stopped bouncing, a serious look upon her face.

  “Say what? He has already been out?” Arkadia nodded and smiled. “See!!! I told you that boy is into you.” Arkadia just laughed.

  “Yahuh, you told me.” Cat commenced bouncing again.

  “We better get out of here if we’re going to make it back to your house and then mine before curfew.” With a quick glance over her shoulder, Arkadia hoped to catch one more glance for the night, but alas, no handsome Czechs to be seen anywhere. Arkadia sighed and followed Cat out to the car.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sunday seemed to pass in a blur of chores and failed spells. Eloise always said Sunday was a day of cleaning. Much to Emerson’s disgust, he had been stuck mowing and cleaning up the backyard. Being the only male in the house, it was his job to do the heavy outside work. “Builds up your muscles and gets you in touch with the earth,” Eloise had told him. Six hours of tidying up, racking, trimming and mowing, all in preparation for the snow that was due later in the week was going to make Emerson the size of Triple H at this rate. Raven, Zahmali, and Arkadia had been left to do the dusting, vacuuming, and washing inside the house. Eloise had encouraged Arkadia to cast some spells to get the jobs done quicker, but after an exploding vacuum cleaner and a flooding washing machine, Eloise had decided that Arkadia might be better off doing it the old-fashioned way, by hand. But now at the end of the day, all assigned jobs having been completed, they felt satisfied in having made the most of a Sunday. They relaxed on the back porch, feeling a chill developing in the afternoon air. Arkadia sipped on a can of Coke, and looked over at Raven sipping out of her Hello Kitty sippy cup, knowing full well what was inside wasn’t juice. Both Emerson and Zahmali stretch-out along the steps and just enjoyed the silence, listening to the afternoon blue jays sing and preen their feathers.

  Sunday unfortunately turned into Monday, and off to school they all went. Raven and Arkadia were walking together. It was unusual, but as Arkadia was feeling more at ease in the house, she was also enjoying the company of her house buddies. She was careful not to become too attached because she had learned very young in life that attachment brought heartache. She was telling Raven about being inside the warm-up room at the ice rink on Saturday night and, of course, the tall dark and oh so sexy Bohdan, when suddenly she heard her name being yelled. They had just reached the bottom of the main stairwell when again Arkadia heard an aggressive scream, “ARKADIA.” Arkadia’s forehead creased in confusion, and she turned to see who would be yelling so aggressively at her. She saw Vi, Cat, and Cheyanne at the top of the stairs, just like always, waiting for her to get there, confusion on their faces as well. Arkadia turned and almost bumped straight into a very red-faced and uber-angry Diane Coulter. Diane was Sebastian’s twin sister, and an apprehensive feeling grew in the pit of Arkadia’s stomach. Knowing what had happened to Sebastian, she was not keen on answering questions from his sister.

  “Uummm … Hi, Diane,” Arkadia said lightly, trying to diffuse whatever bomb was up Diane’s ass from blowing them both sky high.

  “Don’t 'hi’ me like nothing is wrong, you bitch! What did you do to Sebastian?” Diane’s hands were on her hips. She was never one to walk away quietly; being the Mayor’s only daughter, she was spoilt rotten and loud mouthed. Like father like daughter. She flipped her shoulder-length brown hair, popped her hip to the side, and raised a single eyebrow in question. “I’m not going anywhere ‘til I get answers. You did something. Ever since your date, he has been acting weird, and I can feel it. What the hell did you do?”

  Diane’s voice was loud enough to have drawn quite a crowd. Cat and Chey had come down to stand next to Arkadia, but she noticed Vi was still standing at the top. Surprisingly, Raven was standing very close, almost protectively; either that or she was getting excited by how fast Diane’s blood was pumping through her veins.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Diane,” Arkadia said trying to show enough concern to appease the extremely agitated beauty queen. Diane, like her brother, was used to getting what she wanted when she wanted it. Their father had been mayor for years, and while he was a good mayor, when it came to his kids, he had more of a “whatever will keep you quiet because daddy is working” attitude. Diane had entered and won all of the local beauty pageants, was the star of the school’s theater production every year, and had her own personal assistant for goodness’ sake, who was just there to help her get organized. She even got a brand-new car for Christmas. Arkadia was never going to see a new car; she would be lucky if she got a bike before she was thirty, and a second-hand one at that.

  Diane took a step closer to Arkadia, getting right up in her face. The massive crowd waited with bated breath to start shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight” as soon as one of us took the first swing. “Your family tree is littered with,” Diane whispered, and looked left, then right, “witches, and overnight, Sebastian developed webbed toes and has added flies to his daily diet intake. He tries to hide it, but being his twin, I feel him, and even found myself looking at a fly with far more interest than is right, so I’ll ask you once more,” Diane’s voice was dripping hatred right now, and her brown eyes looked like cauldrons of bubbling brown lava as she started directly into Arkadia’s eyes and asked, “What did you do?”

  Arkadia didn’t know what to say. She could tell the truth about Sebastian’s visit to swampy time central. It seemed that most of the school was now watching her to see her reaction. “Diane, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. I went on a date with Sebastian; we watched a movie, had a hotdog, and went home. That’s it, and as for my family heritage, if I was a witch and you were threatening me, I would simply remove you, PERMANENTLY. But lucky for you and your life, there are no such things as witches.”

  Quick as lightning, Diane launched into Arkadia, screaming as she wailed a fury of flying fists and feet, a few blows landing. Arkadia adopted the tuck-and-protect pose on the ground. She wasn�
�t a fighter with fists. Within seconds, Diane was being ripped off her and held back. She stopped and looked directly at Arkadia, extended her finger, and directed her accusation directly onto Arkadia’s shoulders. “This ain’t over, bitch, I will find out what you did, and I’ll tell my dad; I’ll tell the school; I’ll tell Good morning, Huntsville on the TV; everyone will know your secret. EVERYONE!!!”

  Arkadia's eyes were wide as she watched a now-crazed Diane be carried toward the school nurse. Getting up slowly, she tried a weak smile to the dispersing crowd, some of them murmuring about being robbed of a good chick fight. Others looked at Arkadia, and she could feel them questioning her with their eyes, making their assumptions based on rumors and stories from way back in her family history. Most of which even she didn’t know due to her mother refusing to talk about her craft. Dusting off her jeans, a visibly shaken Arkadia allowed herself to be hugged by her friends, while she wondered what the flip she was going to do about Diane.

  Cheyanne was the first to hug Arkadia, both of them sharing the same secret; they didn’t need to say anything, it was a hug of camaraderie, of the sisterhood of witches, a family of sorts. Cat and Vi both gave a sympathetic hug, both of them asking questions Arkadia simply wasn’t calm enough to answer. “Let’s just go to class, I am sure the bell is about to ring,” Arkadia said, her voice quivering. It wasn’t so much the confrontation from Diane that had Arkadia so upset, it was a combination of things. One part was having hurt Sebastian in some way; she didn’t love the guy, but he certainly didn’t deserve to be eating bugs for the rest of his life because she couldn’t cast a spell correctly. The other part was the fear of her secret getting out. If the humans, her friends, found out she was a witch, the ripples that would cause throughout not just her town, but her country, would be devastating. The most frightening thought was if the PSC, the Paranormal Safety Council, got word of this, and viewed her as a threat to the safe living of both humans and paras, she would be instantly removed. Whether removal by the PSC would be to the island or six feet under, nobody knew, but they didn’t take this kind of thing lightly. Arkadia hoped it wouldn’t come to that, and Diane would just settle down, get on with her business, and leave Arkadia alone, but there was that niggling little voice that didn’t know if hope alone was going to be enough.