Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1) (18 page)

“Who are you?” whispered Arkadia to the girl in the other cage. She had obviously been beaten, and her clothes were filthy and ripped. Mud smeared up her cheek, and what looked like a black eye was starting.

“Who the hell do you think it is, Arkadia? The Queen?” Violet grumbled as she tried to stretch in the cage, finding a position that was comfortable was a fruitless endeavor.

Arkadia tilted her head in confusion. “I admit I have taken a hard blow to the head, but last time I checked there was only one of you?” she rubbed her eyes as she continued, “And since I woke up in this hellhole, I have definitely seen two.”

Violet sighed as she spoke softly. “There was only ever ONE Violet; however, this ONE Violet does have an identical twin sister, Ivy, and that’s who is upstairs.”

“Woahhh … ” said Arkadia. “You have a twin? How the hell don’t we know about it? I have known you since we were kids; that has got to be bullshit.”

Violet shook her head. “Ivy is very real, I should know. She has only just recently returned to live with us as Mom and Dad had her boarding in another type of home,” Violet said as she moved slightly. Letting out a pained yelp, she cried, “That bitch has broken a few of my ribs.” Her arm wrapped instinctively around herself, and she panted small breaths to try and cope with the pain.

“Another ‘type’ of home?” asked Arkadia.

Violet’s voice was now raspy and pained, and she spoke quietly. “Yes, another type, for example, the home you’re in is to help you, right? You’re having issues with your abilities, and the den mother wants to help you.” Nodding, Arkadia’s eyes were bulging out of her head at complete disbelief that a friend she had known for years knew a lot more about her than she had ever thought. Violet continued, “Well, the place Ivy has been is for the un-helpable; she is damaged up here.” Violet tapped her head. “There is something very wrong with Ivy. She doesn’t visit often, and I class that as a blessing”.

“You mean she is a Whack-a-Doodle?” Arkadia asked.

Violet replied very quickly with, “A very deadly Whack-a-Doodle, hell bent on vengeance.”

Arkadia asked, “Vengeance? On who? I haven’t done anything, and you’re her TWIN sister for goodness sake … I mean like what the freak!!!!”

The door creaked open, and both Violet and Arkadia turned their heads to look at the new sliver of light that cascaded downward into the basement. Ivy descended, the menace radiating off her was almost palpable, and walking over to Violet’s cage she asked, “You’re awake now, sis?” Ivy spat the last word as she kicked the cage hard. “Hi, Ivy,” Violet whispered back. She lowered her eyes so as not to antagonize the devil inside her sister.

Arkadia decided the direct approach might be the way to get out of here, and she swallowed hard against the fear swelling in her throat, and said, “Ivy, there must be a misunderstanding. I don’t know you, and this has nothing to do with me. Can you let me go?” Ivy’s head spun to look directly at Arkadia, her eyes burning brighter than molten lava. Grabbing a chair and dragging it over to Arkadia’s cage, the scraping on the concrete floor was painful to listen to. She stopped near the cage, but just out of reaching distance.

Straddling the chair, Ivy said, “Only one thing I want from you …” Ivy’s dark, almost black, eyes stared at Arkadia as she continued, “your death.” Arkadia waited for the punch line; however, it was not coming. Ivy’s face remained cold and unfeeling as she had simply stated that only the death of Arkadia would suffice her needs.

“As you may have noticed, you aren’t the only para in this house.” Ivy smiled deviously as she watched Arkadia’s face change with the understanding of what was really happening and who she was truly dealing with. Continuing on, she said, “My stupid sister has been happy to continue living a fake life, letting humans and paras both think she is a simple, silly girl that goes to school and only concentrates on her hair. We come from a very long line of Mesmers, we are dark fae, and should be proud to be dark fae, but goody-two-shoes like my disgusting sister think its okay to be good.” Ivy shot a death stare at her sister in the other cage. “No MORE, this ends now.” Ivy stood, walked over to Violet’s cage, and kicked it again. “SHE HAS TO DIE … TONIGHT!” Ivy screeched. “Finally, our family will have vengeance, justice will be served, and the main course is her head on a platter.”

“Ivy,” Violet pleaded. “I am begging you. This was forgotten decades ago, leave it in the past. It is not our battle to fight.”

Ivy spat as she spoke, venom coating every word she uttered. “It is our battle. You might not want to end it, but I do. It was her great uncle that caused our grandmother of yester-year generations to be eliminated; her family caused the death of one of our family. I say it’s an EYE FOR AN EYE!” Ivy walked over to the bag at the base of the stairs, reached in, and pulled out a long length of white, wax-coated rope. Walking back to Violet, she said, “Hands out of the cage.”

“Ivy. No …” Violet cried.

“HANDS OUT OF THE FUCKING CAGE, NOW!” Ivy screamed at her. Violet locked eyes with Arkadia who had been watching silently from her cage.

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.

“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.”

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 tolerate 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.