Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1)

by Dzintra Sullivan

  Violet mouthed, “Sorry,” and placed her hands outside the cage as Ivy tied them together. Arkadia heard Ivy give a soft evil laugh that made her blood ice up instantly.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “It has to be Violet,” said Cheyanne. She had come over when Raven called her to tell her that Arkadia was missing.

  “I would have agreed with you, Chey,” said Eloise from across the table, “But something is screaming ‘close but no cigar’ at me.” Murmurs of both agreement and disagreement sounded around the table. Raven and Chey agreed something was fishy, whereas Emerson and Zahmali just wanted to go and ‘rip her a new one’, as Emerson had put it. Bohdan still wasn’t back from his flight this morning. No one knew where he was, but assumed he would just keep going until he found her.

  “What I don’t understand is why Violet hid her para side from us?” Raven asked. Chey was quick to nod in agreement.

  “Don’t quote me on this; however, when something is so ingrained in a family, it starts to appear normal. The spell of cloaking was performed over one thousand years ago. To hide would be normal for Violet, heck, she possibly doesn’t even think of herself as a para. My bones are telling me she is with Arkadia, but not in charge, which is confusing in itself as being a Mesmer is a highly-powerful dark fae, and there isn’t much that can control her.” A frown of worry seemed permanently attached to Eloise’s face.

  The front door opened and in glided Ms. Rumor Winslow, bringing a cold gust of air with her. Raven wasn’t sure if her feet actually touched the ground. To watch her walk, you would think she was floating. Raven was hypnotized as she watched Ms. Winslow take a seat at the table. Eloise made the introductions, although Ms. Winslow had already spoken to the other kids in the house, she hadn’t met Cheyanne yet. “Call me Rumor, please,” she said in a more human tone than Eloise expected. “I have alerted the council to Mesmers alive in this town; they were most surprised and excited that they weren’t extinct.” Rumor was speaking primarily to Eloise as she continued, “However, which quickly turned into fear and anger as I explained the apparent kidnapping and cloaking.”

  “Does this mean Arkadia is innocent?” asked Zahmali. “I mean, if she is the one kidnapped, surely you believe her that she didn’t kill that girl at school, right?”

  “Zahmali,” Eloise growled, “you can debate that aspect after we find Arkadia. Don’t bother Rumor with it now.” Zahmali sat back in her chair, clearly upset at being chastised for caring.

  Rumor reached out to touch Zahmali’s hand lightly on the fingertips. “I can’t say one way or the other right now; however, what I can say is it is going in the right direction for her.” Rumor winked and almost hinted at a smile … almost.

  Meanwhile, Bohdan sat at the top of his cave having changed back to human form. His frustration level was at an all-time high at not being able to find Arkadia. He sat there with his head zooming a million miles an hour with all possibilities, the one that ended up with Arkadia not making it was quickly dismissed as inconceivable. He picked up rock after rock and crushed them, grinding them into nothing but fine dust. With each one Bohdan crushed, he imagined the head of Arkadia’s captor being crushed with his great talons.

  Bohdan had thought he had felt her again, but the feeling was so fleeting, it was virtually impossible to pinpoint it. His dragon had been extremely perceptive in those few seconds. Bohdan, with the help of dragon, was able to feel Violet with Arkadia, but there was another, an unknown stranger. This is what he had been discussing with Eloise telepathically for the last few hours. Eloise had agreed with him that Violet wasn’t the puppet master, and that there was a third person involved.

  Eloise had told Bohdan to keep his dragon sense open. Cheyanne was using her earth magic to see if she could break through whatever had Arkadia trapped. Being the daughter of a shaman gave Cheyanne some amazing twists on her elemental magic that they planned to use, and Bohdan had agreed to wait for a couple of hours. While he waited in dragon form, he had paced back and forth, he had ripped apart a few trees in frustration, and he had even set a small fire going when dragon had howled with the pain of not knowing where his mate was. Bohdan had to change to human form then to put the fire out before the human authorities came out to investigate.

  In a heartbeat, Bohdan froze, solid as a brick of ice, afraid to move so as not to lose the reception—it was Arkadia; he could feel her, and she was terrified beyond all comprehension. Bohdan had a very tenuous hold on dragon. He wanted to fly, now, rescue, NOW!!! Dragon didn’t understand Bohdan's need to stop and listen. Bohdan could feel metal, chains … no bars … a cage. “She’s in a CAGE?” dragon roared with anger. Bohdan tried to settle dragon and continue. He could feel the dark; he felt her being buried … no underground … a basement. She’s in a basement and she’s close. He could feel her in town somewhere. Then as quick as it started, it was gone, all ten seconds of it. Bohdan took a deep breath. At least she was alive, for now anyway.

  Eloise relayed the messages Bohdan had sent her to the rest of the team around the table. A collective sigh resounded at Arkadia being alive, but the tension had certainly ramped up when a cage was mentioned. “Did he feel anything about where exactly?” Rumor asked Eloise. “I am not used to being unable to locate a para. I can promise you the council is on a high alert as I report back to them, and whoever is found to be in charge of this situation will be dealt with quickly; he or she is far too dangerous to be roaming the human population.”

  Eloise nodded; she was expecting the council to respond swiftly and with force to this as the ability to cloak this thoroughly was indeed a threat to all, human and para alike. “Bohdan could only get that she was close, in a basement, and in a …” Eloise trailed off, unable to finish the last bit, tears running down her face at the thought of Arkadia in a cage.

  Swallowing hard past the lump in her throat, Eloise looked at all around the table, and said, “Let’s find her before it’s too late.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Arkadia had used every element of her magic to throw an energy ball through the roof. She took the opportunity while Ivy was distracted tying up Violet’s hands. It might be my last chance. For lack of a better explanation, she set off a magic flare for Bohdan and Eloise to follow. She crossed her fingers that it worked.

  Ivy spun around and glared pure hatred at Arkadia. “Think you’re clever, do you? I have so many levels of cloaking on this house, your little sparkly thingy? It would have been absorbed before it got anywhere.” She walked over to Arkadia’s cage. “Sorry, princess, there is no knight in shiny armor or in your case, dragon in black scales.” Then she cackled. Arkadia had never truly heard a cackle, and if her life wasn’t in immediate danger, she would have laughed at Ivy’s laugh. Talk about cartoon witch stereotypes.

  “Care to sample tonight’s menu?” Ivy asked.

  “If it’s a chocolate, fudgy, baked cheesecake, then sure.” Arkadia smirked back. If I am going to die, then screw politeness. Arkadia watched Ivy lift her hand, her finger pointed in the air, as she began to move it in small motions. Arkadia felt her body moving without her permission, and her eyes went wide as she began to panic. Ivy looked like she was enjoying the fear she could feel radiating off Arkadia. Arkadia’s left hand wrapped its fingers around the pinky finger on the right, and a grin that could freeze hell itself with terror crossed Ivy’s face as she made a small flick with her finger. With this one little movement, Arkadia bent her finger back until … SNAP, she heard her bone break. Arkadia let out a bloodcurdling scream as excruciating pain shot through her finger that now fell at a very unnatural angle. Ivy released her control on Arkadia. “That’s just a taste, but you’re just going to DIE when you see what the main course has in store for you.”

  “Ivy, stop this now before it goes too far, and I am forced to report you. You think that house for nutty kids was bad? Wait till you see what the island is like,” Violet spat out of the cage at her sister. “Our family would never like this, never t
olerate torture, this is cr—”

  Ivy cut her off with a movement of her finger. “CRAZY???” Ivy laughed maniacally. “You would send me away again? You would protect this traitorous bitch before your own flesh and blood?” Ivy was beyond madness right now, and Arkadia watched helpless as Ivy closed her fist; evidently as she did, she cut off Violet’s airway.

  Mesmers had the ability to control anyone human or fae with only slight hand gestures, and that’s what made them so scary and dangerous on the wrong side.

  Arkadia screamed again and again as she watched one of her best friends struggle for breath. Violet’s eyes bulged from their sockets and a blue hue appeared around her lips as she clawed at her neck to try and remove the obstruction, only to find it was her sister slowly killing her from ten feet away. Ivy laughed again and tightened her fist until the whites of her knuckles showed.

  A contented smile crossed Ivy’s face as she saw the lights go out in Violet’s eyes. Slowly releasing her fist, Violet’s now lifeless body fell like a ragdoll to the floor. “Don’t threaten me, sister dear, I don’t like it.” With that simple and cold statement, she turned to look at Arkadia, who was frozen between shock and fear. Her brain was unable to process what had just happened to her finger, to Violet, and then the possibilities of what was in store for her next.

  “Should we just skip to dessert?” Ivy asked as she began to clench her fist again. Arkadia could feel the tightening around her throat; she was taking smaller and smaller breaths trying to breathe past the obstruction. “This is payback, plain and simple, an eye for an eye, or in this particular case, a death for a death.” Ivy’s smile could shoot terror through the bravest of men. “It’s nothing personal.” Ivy clenched her fist in earnest. Arkadia’s good hand grabbed at her throat, and she arched her back as she tried to escape the strangling feeling around her neck. Beginning to feel that fuzzy darkness encroaching on her vision, Arkadia knew this was it. This was how she was going to die—at the hands of a madwoman hell bent on revenge for something that happened over one thousand years ago. No longer able to hold herself up, Arkadia slumped, her head hitting the side of the cage, and she could no longer feel her body. Arkadia was mere seconds away from death.

  A loud crash sounded as a very large and extremely angry dragon came crashing through the wall. Bohdan had hit the house with such force that he had taken out most of the floorboards of the main part of the house, allowing full access into the basement. Bohdan roared with a mix of anger and pain as his eyes fell upon a lifeless Arkadia slumped in a tiny cage. Turning his head to look at the Fae that had done this, his eyes fell on Ivy, who was now pushed up against the wall and held in place with the crushed bricks and wooden beams that had fallen when Bohdan made his entrance.

  A small pat on his shoulder told him to leave Ivy alone; it was Eloise and Rumor who had come in behind him. “Check on Arkadia. Leave this one to us.” Ivy’s hands were trapped under the rubble so she was as harmless as a children’s toy. Eloise placed her hands on Violet’s neck to check for a pulse as she walked past, her breath catching and tears rolling down her face as she confirmed the death to Rumor. Both their eyes took in the surroundings. Violet’s hands were bound above the cage, and the stench of death in the air was solid enough to place weight on your shoulders.

  Rumor walked up to Ivy who was pinned on the ground and pulled out a set of gloves from her pocket. “These are made just for people with your particular talents. They will trap those pesky hands of yours so I can safely get you to the council. They are eager to meet you,” Rumor said with such a calm voice you couldn’t have blamed Ivy for being hopeful until Rumor followed it up with, “Right before they kill you.”

  Rumor and Eloise looked over to check on dragon, but he was gone, and so was Arkadia.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Dragon could hear her heart beating. It was very soft, but it was regular. He couldn’t stand one more second in that foul place; the stench made him wince with the terror Arkadia must have been feeling. Dragon had done the only thing he could think of. He gently grabbed Arkadia and flew away to the only place he knew she would be safe. Curled up at the back of the cave, dragon waited with Arkadia tucked in under his front leg and his tail wrapped around her for extra comfort. He was at peace knowing she was breathing and safe.

  Dragon dared not sleep. He watched as her finger mended itself. He thought it might have been a residual of the healing spell she had cast when they had the run in with the wolves. For such a big fierce dragon, he must admit seeing the finger straighten, crack, and crunch as the bones mended really made his stomach toss a little. That Fae is super lucky company walked in when it did. If he had had two more minutes alone with Ivy, he quite possibly would have killed her, and enjoyed it. Dragon watched Arkadia’s breathing get stronger and more sustainable.

  Happy that she was out of immediate danger, dragon slid Arkadia off of him and placed her gently on the bed. He then changed back into a human form; it certainly didn’t take any time for Bohdan to be standing at the mouth of the cave in human form, naked as the day he was born.

  “Now that’s a view I could get used to waking up to every morning,” Arkadia whispered, her voice still strained from screaming in the basement. Bohdan spun around and ran back over to her, wrapping his arms around her as he held her so gently and lovingly.

  “I have never been so happy to hear you speak, Arkadia. My Arkadia. My queen.” Bohdan leaned down to kiss her tender lips softly, and lingered a few seconds, Arkadia’s taste being savored as his own.

  Arkadia went to stand, and grabbed hold of Bohdan as the room spun around her. She quickly sat back down.

  “Stay,” Bohdan said, “Let me put on some pants and I’ll grab you some water.” He got up and slipped on some easy-fit jeans. Arkadia caressed his firm ass with her eyes as he pulled the jeans up, a soft sigh escaping her lips. His body was like the finest dining restaurant, delicious from bottom to top. Arkadia thought as soon as she recovered, she would be visiting his restaurant again to sample everything on the menu. Bohdan jogged over to the small supply he had of bottled water and brought her back a bottle.

  Arkadia said, “If I was better, those pants would be staying off.”

  “If you were feeling better, neither of us would be wearing pants,” Bohdan replied. Arkadia chuckled and took a sip of water.

  “Oh Bohdan,” Arkadia said, “Ivy killed Violet.” Tears began to well up in Arkadia’s eyes, and her breath hitched as she remembered what had happened. “There was nothing I could do, I tried, I really did, but she … she wouldn’t listen … she killed her … she’s … dead.” Arkadia found refuge back in Bohdan’s arms; her head snuggled into his chest, as she listened to the calming beat of his heart.

  “Shhhhh …” Bohdan hushed her. “Heal first. We can talk later, oh and call Eloise and let her know where you are. Dragon kind of just took off with you.” A sheepish grin appeared on Bohdan's face as he handed her a mobile phone.

  “You’re going to be in trouble,” Arkadia teased as she called Eloise. “And here I was thinking you cared about your dragonhood.” She winked at him and began talking to Eloise.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Arkadia sat alone at the kitchen table. She ran her finger lightly over the brand-new tattoo on her hand. She had always been dismissive of the tiny triangle tattoo, the way the lines swirled off each point symbolizing the branches of different paranormals, the eye in the center being ever watchful, but now having successfully passed her PSEs and receiving her tattoo, she wanted to show it off with pride.

  It had been four days since she was rescued, and with thanks to the healing spell already flowing in her body, she had been able to get back to normal quickly. Eloise hadn’t chewed out Bohdan too badly; it was lucky she trusted him, or the mantle above the fireplace would have had some new decorations.

  Thinking about the last few months, Arkadia felt like it was a dream. All charges had been dropped against her as Ivy was found to be the
real murderer. Arkadia still couldn’t believe that Violet had been a para like her, let alone had a secret twin sister locked away in an asylum. Since it all came to a head, Arkadia had learnt that Violet had spent all of her time trying to stop Ivy and thwarting Ivy’s every attempt to kill her. Arkadia didn’t know exactly what had happened in the past, and honestly, she didn’t care. Past was exactly that—past—and the present generations shouldn’t be made to pay the price for mistakes made hundreds of years ago.

  Arkadia didn’t realize that all this time she had felt like she didn’t have a family; it was right under her nose. Raven, Emerson, and Zahmali all had scoured the neighborhood for her. They didn’t know by doing that, they were actually risking their own lives.

  Each of them showed her no matter what, they had her back. It was a feeling that made her want to break out in song, having people to fall back on, people who would love you, support you, and hunt for you if you were kidnapped by some psycho witch with a vengeance. It was a heartwarming feeling. One she never ever wanted to lose.

  Eloise had told her Ivy was taken back to the council by Rumor. Arkadia hadn’t wanted to ever see her again, so she had simply written a letter explaining what Ivy had done to her; what she had seen and heard; and finally, how those events had impacted her life and the way she thought; and her reaction after such a traumatic experience. Apparently, after she got arrested, Ivy had a massive meltdown. Admitting to Diane’s death as well as Violet’s, she had also admitted to framing Arkadia for it all, plus torturing her in the basement. The humans would never be able to get the satisfaction of seeing Ivy on trial. She knew too much and was clearly unstable enough to blab to the world if given the chance. The humans would ‘think’ they had gotten the murderer, but the council would make sure Ivy would meet with a horrible accident.