The Prophecy of Arcadia

by M. H. Soars

  “I know,” she replied as she gazed at the mansion, deep in thought. “We can just say that we were on the edge of it when we heard the scream.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” I squeezed her hand, and she looked at me again, but I knew her thoughts were still far away. A spike of jealousy twisted my stomach. Somehow I knew that Julian was on her mind.

  Samantha

  It took hours until the police was done taking our statements and we could go home. The paramedics had already removed the body, and Julian was locked in this father’s office with the family lawyer and the police investigator.

  I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The way he’d reacted when he saw the body of the bartender had been heart-breaking, and it made me re-evaluate my suspicions about him. Maybe the guy was just a friend of his and Julian knew nothing about the drug dealing. I felt so wretched and confused, I just wanted to go home.

  We had taken two cars to the party, and when we were getting ready to leave Melanie decided to make a big deal about Alexia not riding with us. She was right of course; considering what had happened, we should be extra protective. But Alexia wouldn’t relent. She wanted to go with Ethan, and there was nothing we could say that would dissuade her. In the end Sean rode with them, and that was better than nothing. The strangest thing was how Alexia had addressed Melanie, with barely contained annoyance.

  We were already on our way home when I decided to find out what Melanie had done to tick Alexia off. “It seems that Alexia and Ethan are as tight as ever.”

  Melanie grunted. “I’m beginning to think that we have been deceived.”

  I exchanged a look with Matthew, who was driving, before I turned in my seat to face Melanie.

  “How so?” Matthew asked as he watched his sister closely through the rearview mirror.

  “Henry kissed Alexia tonight,” Melanie replied as she gazed out the window.

  “What?” I heard Matthew shout next to me. “When?”

  “He asked Alexia to dance, and when she was distracted he kissed her. I mean, he tried to kiss her. She pushed him away.”

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” I mumbled, unable to comprehend the implications of it.

  “Well, it did. She seemed completely repulsed by him.” Melanie squirmed in her seat as her hands twisted the fabric of her dress. “Either the Prophecy is inaccurate, or Henry is not the Promised boy.”

  We all fell silent and took in the repercussions of such a statement. If Henry was not the Promised boy would the Council believe us, or would they simply insist on pairing Alexia with him to see what would happen? Should we tell our suspicions to Gary, or wait until we had more proof? He seemed so convinced that Henry was our guy.

  “Let’s keep our doubts to ourselves. Gary hasn’t been the same since Alexia moved in. I'm not sure if he’s under pressure from the Council, or if it’s something else.”

  “What are you saying, Matthew?” I asked.

  “I’m saying that I don’t trust anybody who isn’t us.”

  Melanie didn’t make any comment. We rode the rest of the way in silence.

  As agreed, when we reported the party’s events to Gary, we stuck to the facts and didn’t give voice to our suspicions. Gary didn’t react to the death of the party-goer, but I wasn’t surprised. He was more distraught about the fact that Alexia and Henry hadn’t connected. Melanie kept their kiss a secret from Gary, too, just to be safe.

  We were all shocked and pissed when Gary announced that our new mission was to break up Alexia and Ethan for good. We didn’t voice the revulsion we were all feeling but instead pretended to accept his order happily. Later on, when we met in secret, we agreed to ignore his command and investigate Henry, instead.

  Matthew and I also revealed that we suspected Lucas was Durgin’s operative sent to investigate the new drug problem. Melanie was reluctant to accept that, and I was afraid she would reveal our suspicions to him. Melanie had always been a firecracker, but her recent extreme mood swings had everyone walking on eggshells. It was hard to operate in secret when there was such an unpredictable person in the group. Matthew managed to get a promise from her to leave Lucas alone, but who knew how long she would be able to keep it.

  CHAPTER 23

  Alexia

  On Monday, the school was buzzing about the horrible death at Julian’s. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that there had been a murderer among us at the party. Was it someone I knew? Someone I had spoken to? Those thoughts were scary and depressing, and I was trying really hard not to dwell on them.

  Ethan had a free first period, so he used that time to go see his doctor. They were still running tests, trying to discover the reason for his miraculous recovery. He was a hundred percent sure that the reason was me. I, on the other hand, didn’t share his faith. Even after I healed Sam, it all felt like a dream. If indeed there were people in the world with special abilities, why did one of them have to be me? I was just an ordinary human being. If I had the healing touch I could help so many people. That was a lot of pressure. How did one decide who to help? It wasn’t like I could heal the entire world. And what if my secret got out? Would I end up locked up in some governmental facility, or be forced to work for someone with nefarious reasons?

  There were so many conflicting emotions running through me it was no surprise that I hadn’t tried to heal anyone else after Sam. However, I could feel the urge to use my “gift” below my skin, like a sort of humming. That need got stronger if I was in the proximity of a person who was sick or injured. It took a Herculean effort to stop myself from reaching out and taking the pain away. That should have been proof enough for me that my ability was real, but I was still in denial.

  I was so consumed by my errant thoughts that I only noticed Julian’s presence when he greeted me without his usual enthusiasm.

  “Julian, what are you doing here?” I said without disguising my surprise. He had dark circles under his eyes, and I was appalled that he had showed up at school after facing such an ordeal.

  He started to pick at the edge of a picture in my locker that was coming off, his movements half-hearted. “I had to face the wolves eventually. The longer I stayed home, the crazier the rumor mill would get. Better for me to be here to help control what's being said.”

  “What did your parents say?” I asked, afraid of the answer. If someone had died at La Maison Falafel, Gary and Dad would freak out. But Julian’s parents were never around. It was like they didn’t even realize they had a kid. I wondered why they had wanted to adopt Julian if they couldn’t be bothered to actually raise him.

  “They're somewhere in Asia. They figured that a murder on their property didn’t rate high enough on their list of catastrophes to justify interrupting their trip. Besides, I’m eighteen. It’s not like they need to be around, anyway.”

  Julian looked depressed, but for some reason I didn’t think his parents’ absenteeism was the sole cause.

  “Was the, uh, victim, a friend of yours?”

  “Sort of. We weren’t close or anything, but it still sucks, you know? One moment he was alive, enjoying himself, and the next he was gone. I still can’t believe someone would do that to him.” Julian stopped messing with my locker décor and stared into the distance, like he was reliving the nightmare again.

  “Do the police have any leads?”

  Julian shook his head and looked at me again. “I don’t know. The family lawyer took over. I’m just glad I'm not a suspect.”

  I nodded, not knowing what to say. Julian remained quiet, his gaze downwards. When he looked up again, I saw a new glint in his eyes that had been missing before. He leaned his shoulder against the locker next to mine, casually folded his arms, and gave me a cocky grin. His sudden change in disposition made me uncomfortable.

  “So, Alexia. Tell me about Henry.” I felt the blood rush to my face.

  “You know about that?” I practically squeaked. Of course he knew about it. The only reason people weren’t talking
about me and Henry was because murder trumps love drama every time.

  “Oh, yeah. I was told it was quite the spectacle,” he replied, amused.

  I averted my gaze and feigned interest in the contents of my locker. “It wasn’t that bad. It was just a misunderstanding. Henry was confused.”

  “I don’t know about that. I heard he was quite smitten with you,” Julian answered slyly.

  “Well, that's too bad for him. Ethan and I are solid,” I replied in annoyance. Why was Julian being so callous about it? He knew how I felt about Ethan.

  “Are you sure?” I turned to glare at him and noticed that his grin was gone.

  “What are you talking about, Julian? Of course I'm sure.” Especially after Ethan told me he loved me. I was more than sure.

  Julian changed his posture. He became more serious as he glanced around, making sure people weren’t eavesdropping. He leaned closer to me and whispered, “I hate to be the one to tell you this, Alexia, but I heard rumors that Ethan and Chloe were pretty chummy with each other at my party. Like they were one step from making out in front of everyone.”

  Even though I knew that wasn’t true, my blood ran cold. I felt a big lump in my throat. “Let me assure you, Julian,” I said through clenched teeth, “that didn’t happen. I saw them talking and Ethan looked nothing like he wanted to jump her bones.” I closed my locker door with more force than necessary, probably drawing unwanted attention to us, but couldn’t help but continue. “Why are you telling me this? You of all people should know that Ethan would never go back to Chloe. He loathes her.”

  “Yeah, but I also know how intense their relationship was. And you know that there's a fine line between hate and love. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t jump head-first into a relationship with Ethan. Maybe you should give Henry a chance.”

  “What?” I practically shouted. I was making a spectacle out of myself. “That's a mean thing to say. I, I love Ethan.” I toned down my voice a bit. I hadn’t meant to blurt out the truth like that, but it seemed to bring some sense back into Julian. He straightened up and raised his hands as if to say he was backing off.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be mean. Forget I said anything, okay?” He smiled apologetically.

  “Whatever, Julian. I’ll see you later.” I was extremely annoyed, and left him standing there.

  I managed to get to the second floor, where I had my first period class, without bumping into anyone. But I was still reeling over Julian’s crazy insinuations, so I didn’t notice when Henry stepped right into my path. I stopped abruptly and even took a few steps back to put as much distance between us as possible. I was already in a foul mood, thanks to Julian. I didn’t feel like I had to be nice to Henry.

  “What do you want?” I asked impatiently.

  With his hands eternally shoved deep inside his pants pockets – he seemed to prefer that posture – he looked at me like he was suffering from cramps. Was that his I’m sorry expression?

  “I, I just wanted to apologize for Saturday night. I guess I read the signs wrong.”

  I wanted to shout at him, what signs? but thought better of it, since I didn’t want to cause another scene. Instead I told him bluntly, “Fine. Apology accepted. Just stay away from me from now on.”

  “Wait, why?” He raised his arm halfway, as if he was trying to reach out to me, and I flinched, thinking that Henry was absolutely not normal.

  “I thought that we could at least be friends. Is it because of your boyfriend? Did he forbid you to talk to me?” Henry took an offended stance, like he thought Ethan was a Neanderthal and I needed saving.

  “Of course not,” I replied, exasperated. What was wrong with this guy?

  When he still looked unconvinced, I continued, “I don’t want to hang out with you. My decision. Got it?” I decided not to wait for his reply. I side stepped him and entered the classroom before he spilled more idiocies. Luckily he wasn’t in any of my classes.

  Maybe it was mean of me to be so brutal, but I couldn’t get over the fact that he had kissed me. And he thought I had been giving him signs? When I had barely acknowledged him until that moment? I had to be curt with him. He was a psycho stalker in the making.

  Sean and Zach were in my first period class, and I could use them as a distraction from my uneasy feelings. However, they waited until the last minute to enter the classroom, so I had to deal with my angst on my own and during class. I didn’t dare bring more attention to myself by approaching them when the other students were still getting settled.

  My second period I had with Rachel and Brianna, and I was glad for that. I could use some girl-input, and even though I didn’t trust them as much as I trusted Sam, they knew the inner workings of school gossip better than anyone else. I wanted to discuss Henry’s weird behavior with them, so when Rachel told me she had to talk to me about Ethan, I immediately felt my heart fold in on itself. Rachel and Brianna looked grim. I was almost certain they too had heard the rumors about Ethan and Chloe. Maybe murder didn’t trump love drama, after all.

  “If this is about the rumors about Ethan and Chloe getting together at Julian’s party, let me assure you, it’s not true.”

  Rachel and Brianna exchanged a glance before looking at me with matching sorrowful expressions.

  “Lex, we heard Chloe telling her minions that she was meeting Ethan behind the football field bleachers after practice,” Rachel said in the most careful way, like she expected me to break down and cry right then and there.

  “Like old times,” Brianna completed with a contemptuous snort.

  I shook my head in disbelief. That couldn’t be right. Ethan would never agree with such a thing. “Guys, maybe you misheard her.”

  “We're pretty sure we heard it right. She was gloating about it,” Rachel said.

  “Then maybe she was aware that you were listening to the conversation, and she knew you would tell me. She’s just trying to mess with my head. I know for a fact that Ethan is not interested in her. For real.”

  Rachel and Brianna still looked doubtful. According to them, all guys were pigs and couldn’t be trusted.

  “Well, it wouldn’t hurt if you went there yourself to make sure,” Brianna said. I shook my head again.

  “Absolutely not. I will not fall prey to Chloe’s scheming. I know she's lying. Besides, even if Ethan had agreed to meet up with her, which I’m sure he didn’t, I trust him. I’m not about to spy on my boyfriend.”

  Rachel and Brianna sighed simultaneously in defeat. Then Rachel gave me a sly smile. “You might not want to spy on your boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, let’s say, be in the area when said encounter is supposed to take place.”

  I was about to protest but then the bell rang and they scooted their chairs back to their places.

  I spent the rest of the day obsessing about what my friends had told me. Why were they warning me against Ethan all of a sudden? I texted back and forth with him several times just before lunch break, and all of his messages seemed completely normal to me. But it was really easy to lie in text messages, wasn’t it?

  I refused to keep playing those what-if games in my mind, or trying to figure out if there was any truth behind the rumors. I decided to ask Ethan about it. But I didn’t want him to think that I was jealous, or that I believed the gossip. I would put it out there as a joke, like, Can you believe what people are saying about us?’ Too bad that out of all the days Ethan could have skipped lunch; he’d decided to do so today. Apparently he had gone off-campus with Julian and wouldn’t return until football practice.

  At home, I was still in a sour mood. I went straight to my room and stayed there until someone knocked on my closed door. I was ready to tell whoever was on the other side that I wanted to be left alone when I heard Rachel’s voice calling my name. I jumped out of bed and opened the door to find Rachel and Brianna looking grimmer than ever. I quickly let them in, locking the door behind them.

  My heart squeezed painfully in my chest, an
d I felt a big knot in my stomach. When they just stood there staring at me and not saying a thing, I shouted, “What?”

  “Lex,” Rachel started carefully, “It’s about Ethan.”

  “What about Ethan?” I looked from Rachel to Brianna. Whatever they had come to tell me, I knew I wasn’t going to like it.

  Rachel hesitated, but Brianna carried on. “Just show it to her, Rach.”

  Rachel looked pained but nodded in agreement. I couldn’t help but think that if this was a movie, there would be a foreboding score playing in the background. Rachel reached inside her purse and brought out her smart phone. After a few clicks, she handed it to me.

  “I’m so sorry, Lex.”

  I took the phone from her with trembling hands. The screen was frozen on a picture of Ethan and Chloe kissing, passionately.

  I couldn’t believe it, so I scrolled down to look for more evidence. If it had been just one picture I could have justified it by saying that maybe Chloe had simply kissed Ethan against his will, like Henry had done to me. But it quickly became apparent that Ethan hadn't been ambushed. The pictures showed Ethan looking ecstatic as Chloe approached, him going to her and taking the initiative to kiss her.

  I could barely see anything through the blur of my tears when I returned the phone to Rachel. She seemed on the verge of crying as well. Brianna just looked surly, like she was ready to avenge my honor.

  “Lex, say something,” Rachel said with a strained voice.

  “Thanks, girls. I, I just want to be alone right now.” I was numb, like my brain was still trying to process what my eyes had shown me.

  “Can we do anything, Lex? Just say the word. I will be glad to castrate Ethan Lancaster for you,” Brianna offered in a show of friendship and support.

  I shook my head and sat on the edge of my bed.

  “It’s okay. I just need to recover from the shock, that's all.”