Free Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1) by Dzintra Sullivan

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