My Arranged Marriage to a Witch: The Arranged Marriage Chronicles, #8

By Heidi K. Smith

When a young girl moves into a house that is rumored to be dangerous she learns that her parents have started planning things that might change her life forever. Her mother has already had magical abilities for the longest time when she is chased out of the neighborhood where they are living. Meeting Jason could not have been more perfect. At least that is what it had seemed like at first. When she learns that Jason's parents were attending the parties that her parents were having and they had started gambling. Trouble starts brewing. Will this marriage be happy or will it end in disaster.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heidi K. Smith
• Release date: May 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224603855

Heidi K. Smith

Heidi K. Smith is a young girl who has been writing several different books over the past few years. She has mainly been writing a series known as The Arranged Marriage Chronicles. When Heidi is not writing she spends her time reading, watching a variety of television shows, and spending time with her family and friends. Her best friend and sister has helped her in many cases by coming up with the cover for each of these books. Heidi currently resides with her dog Treasure in the city of Rome, New York.

Book preview

Prologue: A New Home

Iknow that there are people out there who are going to find it rather hard to believe the things that I am going to be talking about during the time that I am writing this book, but I swear to you that every word of this book is completely true. Long before any of these things had started happening I had seemed like any normal girl that was attending the local elementary school. I had loving parents that were always there for me when I had needed something. I knew that I could turn to them no matter what was happening at different times in my life. I had been attending the local elementary school ever since I had started kindergarten and had quite a few friends that I could turn to and hang out with at different times during the school year and after the school year had officially ended. Most of the time I would find myself hanging out with my closest friends and during a time when we were supposed to be studying, it had seemed that we would end up talking about the different things that we would want to end up doing during the summer when the school year had officially ended and we would have at least two months where we would not have to worry about the different things that would be happening in each of the classes that we were forced to take throughout the school year. We would often find ourselves talking about the different summer camps that had been in the same state where we had been living in the hopes that our parents would agree to let us go to these summer camps if it was something that we were actually interested in throughout that entire time. None of us had ever realized that there just might be a time when we would no longer be able to do these things together, and it was all because of everything that my parents had been doing throughout the entire time that we had all been living in the same neighborhood as the majority of my friends that I had always been spending my time with at different times.

None of my friends had ever realized that there was actually something rather special about my mother that would end up causing more trouble than any of us would have ever been expecting. Even though my mother and father had been working at the same school that I was attending, it had seemed that there had been so many different stories and rumors circulating about my mother that had absolutely nothing to do with the classes that she was always teaching during the time that she was working at the local elementary school. My father had heard these stories and rumors at different times throughout the school year, despite the fact that he was working at the local middle school and high school. These rumors were definitely something that would end up causing problems if my parents weren’t entirely careful. For many years my parents had seemed to be keeping certain things a secret. My mother’s special abilities had seemed to be strong enough to end up causing trouble if any of our neighbors had come close to finding out exactly what the truth was throughout the entire time that we had been living in the same neighborhood as many of our closest friends. It wasn’t until after a few of my closest friends had started asking questions about the stories and rumors that were circulating that my parents had started to realize that they would have absolutely no choice except to plan on moving to a different town and a different neighborhood where nobody would know anything about the things that my mother had been able to do at different times.

The day that I had learned that my parents and I were going to be moving had seemed to be the strangest day of my entire life. I had been spending my time with my closest friends discussing the things that we had wanted to be doing during the summer, which had included the summer camp that we had hoped to be attending once everything was said and done. There had honestly been several places that my friends and I had been interested in and our plan was that we would start attending one of these camps at the beginning of each summer, if that was honestly what we were going to have to do throughout that entire time. We had honestly believed that we would have time to attend each of these summer camps, regardless of the different things that people had been saying about my parents and the different abilities that my mother had always seemed to have at different times. It wasn’t until after I had gotten home during the early evening hours that I had found out about the different things that my parents had ended up going through when the rumors had started getting closer to the truth.

I knew that it would take quite some time for my parents to find a new place for us to live and even then there was absolutely no way of knowing where this house was going to be. While my parents were searching for this new house, I would spend my time doing everything that I could to hang out with my friends before school had ended for the summer holidays. The only thing that I was able to do during that time was to make sure that my closest friends would have some way to contact me if they had ever wanted to talk since there was no way that we would be able to hang out as much as we had always done during and after the school year. My parents had recently gotten me a cell phone for my birthday since it was something that all of the kids in my school had wanted after they had gotten to the point where they were responsible enough to use these electronic devices. My parents knew that I would not use my phone to access the more popular social media websites like many of the older kids in the school had been doing. My phone was often used to call or text my friends, especially during those evening hours when we could not spend our time hanging out. During the remainder of the school year I had found myself searching for the right way to tell my friends about the fact that my parents and I would be moving and that our summer plans would have to continue without me. One problem that I had seen with these things was that my friends weren’t always as understanding as they had pretended that they were at different times. In this case I was pretty sure that it was bound to be more difficult for them to understand since many of these things had already been planned for several months. I knew that explaining these things to my friends would be a bit more difficult than even my parents had seemed to understand at different times.

I had been rather close friends with the same group of kids ever since the day that I had first started attending the local elementary school where my mother had been working. We were always talking about the things that we would eventually want to do during the school year and even after we had finally graduated from high school, provided that we had all been friends by that time with all of the changes that would eventually end up taking place at different times in our lives. My parents had made a few close friends during that entire time and some of those friends just happened to be the people that were spreading the stories and rumors that would make my mother seem to be a bad person instead of the person that she actually was throughout that entire time. When I had first learned about my mother’s magical abilities I had never stopped to think about the fact that people would try to claim that my mother had been using her abilities for evil purposes. I don’t know if it was simply because she was my mother or if there was another reason for me to believe that my mother was not doing these things, but I would never believe that these abilities were evil until after my parents and I had moved to our new house and I had started making some new friends in the neighborhood where we would be living throughout that entire time. One thing that I knew for certain was that making new friends had always been rather difficult. It was always hard for me to figure out exactly what to tell people whenever they had asked me about my parents and other members of my family. I knew that one wrong move and my parents would find themselves caught up in a nightmare that would lead to someone deciding to call a witchhunter that would never give up until after they had gotten rid of my mother and the abilities that she had always had for as long as I could honestly remember. I knew that witchhunters and demons was the last thing that my family had needed to deal with at this particular time.

Throughout the entire time that my parents had been searching for our new home, I had been spending every spare second trying to explain to my friends about the different things that had led to my parents making this decision. Of course, I was told to never mention to my friends about the magical abilities that my mother had always had. Whenever my friends had started asking questions about the reason that I could not stay with one of them while my parents had moved to the city or town where they would be moving, it had seemed that I was always forced into making some kind of excuse that had made it seem that I just did not have a choice in the matter. I had hoped that my friends would understand that I would always be available through text messages and phone calls if there was ever a time when they had needed me for anything. I had absolutely no way of knowing that my friends would not spend their time texting or calling me once my parents and I had moved out of the house where we had lived throughout the entire time that we had been friends and had been attending the same school. Even during those last couple of weeks that my parents and I were living in this house, it had seemed that there were things happening that had caused more trouble than anybody had honestly been expecting throughout that entire time. My friends had started to realize that the stories and rumors about my mother were starting to get out of control and that sooner or later my parents had obviously felt that they had absolutely no choice except to make sure that we had left the house where we had lived throughout the entire time that these things were happening and once that had taken place it would mean that my mother would be kept safer once we had officially moved into the town where our new home was located.

That Friday my father had come home for the first time with any kind of indication that this move was actually going to be happening. The minute that my father had brought back the moving boxes, it had become obvious that the sorting and packing process was going to begin. My parents would be sorting through everything that was in their bedroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen while I would be sorting through everything that was in my bedroom trying to figure out what I would be bringing with me throughout that entire time. Even though there were several things that I had not wanted to leave behind, I was pretty sure that sooner or later I just would not have any kind of a choice in this entire matter. I knew that many of my closest friends had believed that my parents and I would not be moving out the way that we said that we would be doing, but the arrival of the moving van had proven otherwise. My parents and I had spent the next few days leading up to the last day of school packing our belongings and eventually putting everything in the different compartments of the moving van so that we were prepared for the day that we would be leaving the one place where I had been living right from the first day that I had been attending the local elementary school.

During the time that all of these things were happening, it had seemed that my parents had been the only ones that had known exactly what the house had looked like, or even where this house was throughout the entire time that we had been preparing to move out of the house where I had felt like I had grown up for the longest time. My parents had explained so many different things to me during the time that we were preparing to move into our new house, but nothing that they had said to me had seemed to show me anything about what our house was actually going to look like throughout that entire time. Either way, it was becoming increasingly obvious that I would have to wait until we had gotten to this house that my parents had bought for us and hope that I could at least spend the summer making the attempt to make a few new friends among the kids that were living in that particular neighborhood. A neighborhood that I had not really wanted to move into, but now that everything was packed up and put in the moving van, it was obvious that I definitely did not have any kind of a choice. This move was happening whether it was something that I had wanted to happen or not.

JASON QUINN HAD BEEN standing outside on the front porch quietly looking at the house that was across the street from where he had been living with his parents. Over the last few months he had been hearing all kinds of stories about how the house had recently been sold, and that the new owners had been planning on moving in sometime during the summer. Even before these stories had started circulating throughout the neighborhood where Jason was currently living, it had seemed that there had been stories circulating about the terrible things that had supposedly happened in the house when it came to the previous owners. Jason knew that the house had remained empty for several years before he had moved into this neighborhood with his parents and in some ways he was finding it hard to believe the thing that his friends had been telling him every time that they had been spending their time together. Even now, Jason had found it hard to believe some of the things that he had been hearing simply because it had something to do with the supernatural world. Even the new owners had been rumored to be vampires or some other supernatural creatures, but there was absolutely no way that anybody could know if any of these things had actually been the truth. Jason had the feeling that he was bound to learn the truth after the new neighbors had officially moved into their new house.

For several weeks before the school year was going to be coming to an end for the summer holidays Jason had been watching everything that was happening at the house across the street. He had been watching when the house had been officially sold and for some reason there had definitely seemed to be something strange about the people that were going to be living across the street from him once they had officially moved in. He had never noticed whether this couple had actually had any children that would be attending the same school that he was, but he was pretty sure that they must have had some kind of family if they were buying a house that was honestly as big as this house actually was. Jason had hoped that he would find out the answers to his questions the minute that these neighbors had started the process of moving into their new house. A house that had been rumored to be haunted for as long as Jason could honestly remember.

That morning when Jason was watching the things that had been happening at the house across the street from where he was living, he was supposed to be spending his time with a few of his closest friends. Even though the summer holidays were quickly approaching, they had never exactly figured out what they were going to be doing throughout the two months that they did not have to worry about the things that they were doing for the school year. Jason knew that there had always been different things that he was doing with his friends throughout the school year, and this year had not really been any different. The summer holidays usually meant that he would be playing baseball and kickball with a small group of his friends. Games that would usually keep Jason and his friends rather busy throughout the entire day until their parents had called them making it clear that they would have to return home. Most of the time Jason and his friends would meet at the local playground so that they could start planning everything for the games that they would eventually be playing throughout that entire time. Jason knew that if he was hearing all kinds of stories and rumors about the people that were going to be moving into the neighborhood, then he could almost guarantee that his friends had been hearing a few of the same things that he had been hearing before the school year had officially ended. Either way, Jason was pretty sure that there was something happening that even his closest friends would never exactly be expecting throughout that entire time.

THE DAY THAT MY PARENTS and I had left the house where we had been living the last thing that I had honestly wanted to do was say good-bye to my friends that I had made during the time that we had been living in this town and I had been attending the local elementary school with each of my closest friends. Each of my friends had stopped by the house before my parents and I had left to make the long drive to the house where we would be living after everything was said and done. For several hours I would be listening to the music that was on my MP3 player and watching as the scenery from the town we had lived in for so long had seemed to be disappearing right before my light blue eyes. The first time that I would see the house that my parents and I would be living in would be the day that all of these things had seemed to be happening. The house itself had definitely seemed to look like something that had come from the different horror movies that I was always interested in throughout that entire time. In many ways, I knew that my parents had chosen this house for us because of the different things that they had found to be interesting after certain things had been said and done. The minute that my parents and I had gotten to the house, we had found ourselves having to wait for the moving van where the majority of our belongings had been packed and put away. I knew that the moving van was only a few minutes behind me and my parents so we wouldn’t be waiting for a long period of time to get our belongings put in the right rooms and eventually set up so that we would at least have a place to sleep throughout that entire time. While we were waiting for the moving van to get to our new house I could not help feeling that there was someone watching us from somewhere rather close by. Whoever that person was I was pretty sure that they were just curious about the reason that my parents and I were wandering around as if we were exploring the house where we were going to be living, hopefully for a rather long time.

About an hour later, the moving van had finally arrived and the entire process of getting everything inside of our new house had officially started. My parents had given me the chance to explore the inside of the house so that I could eventually decide which room I was going to claim as my new bedroom. One thing that I knew for sure was that I had wanted my bedroom to be as far away as possible from wherever my parents were going to be throughout that entire time. During the time that I had been exploring all of the rooms that were upstairs the first thing that I had noticed was that there had been two bedrooms that had been connected by a rather small bathroom that had been painted in a beautiful light pink. The minute that I had seen this bathroom and the two bedrooms that had been connected by it, I had found myself wondering if this area had once belonged to another little girl that had been around the same age that I was at this particular time. If my parents were okay with it I would have loved to have these two rooms so that I could have one room where I could hang out with any of the new friends that I had made without worrying that we would be bothering my parents during the times that they had been so busy. It would also give me a quiet place to study during those after school hours when my parents were often watching television or even talking about the different things that would eventually be happening once they had started working at one of the two schools that was in our new neighborhood. Either way, I would have to discuss these things with my parents who were already looking at the few bedrooms that were downstairs that they had considered when they had first bought this rather old and scary looking house that we were moving into at that exact moment.

For several hours my parents and I had been getting all of our belongings out of the moving van and even then it had seemed that my parents had been surprised when they had figured out the bedroom that I had eventually chosen. They knew that there had been several bedrooms in the house that could have worked as a library or a study during the time that I was in school, but they had never expected to find a room that would give me the chance to have my own bathroom instead of sharing one bathroom with my friends and even my parents. Despite having two rooms entirely to myself, I could not help feeling that there was something very different about this house and the reason that it had looked like the definition of a haunted house. Whether the house was actually haunted, was going to be a completely different question altogether. Every time that I had gone out to grab one of the many boxes that had contained my belongings, it had seemed that there was someone watching from the front