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Chapter Twenty-Four

I found a seat and settled in, ready for the boat ride out to Alcatraz.

“You row, Trisha,” Starren said, unchaining two oars from the floor.

“Why me?”

“Because it will look pretty strange to see a princess sitting in a boat as it floats against the current out into the bay,” Starren answered. Today I must be more work than I was worth. She was sounding even grumpier than normal. But she did have a point. I grabbed the oars and dipped them into the water.

“Plus, if you get any blisters on those delicate hands they’ll take care of themselves,” Wade said, clearly enjoying this.

Ugh, they both had good points. But it was quite a ways out there. Sure, my muscles would fix themselves and not be sore, but did I really have to row the whole way? The thought had barely pinged through my mind when a head broke water beside us.

Starren and Wade instantly pulled their swords, which really wasn’t something I was comfortable with in this small of a space.

“It’s just a sea lion, calm down.”

Starren eyed the creature doubtfully as it slipped onto its back and splashed water toward us.

“I think it likes you,” Cray said.

“Me?” I asked, my voice a little higher than normal. I was not an animal person.

“Yes, you. Ask it to help us,” Wade said.

“What?”

“Ask it to help us,” he said again, this time slower like that would help me understand. I just stared at him. “Animals here sometimes listen to fae. All nature here. We can even manipulate it on a small level, like the sword I made you. Ask the creature to help us.”

Feeling ridiculous, I leaned out of the boat and stretched a hand toward the animal. It swam over and bumped my hand with its nose like my hand was a ball and it was some trained aquarium sea lion, not a wild animal.

“Would you mind pushing us to that island out there?” I asked, pointing at Alcatraz. It looked that way, then dove under water. I glared at the others, half expecting them to burst into laughter at the way they’d made me look ridiculous. “Was that some kind of joke?”

“No. But apparently the boys were incorrect to believe it liked you,” Starren said. “Row. We need to get further from the docks in case the boat’s owner comes looking for it.”

I growled under my breath but started rowing. Within seven or eight minutes it was getting harder to make out details back on shore.

“What are you feeling, Cray?” Starren asked.

“This is right. I don’t know how far it is, but we are going in the right direction.”

Another ten minutes of rowing and people on the shore were getting tiny. There was a small splash from behind the boat, then three laughing sea lion heads popped out of the water together. I stopped rowing. “What’s up, guys?”

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The smallest one, which I got the strangest feeling was the first one that came to visit, splashed me. “Hey! That’s cold!”

“We can’t be taking water on like that.” Cray’s fingers went white from gripping the sides of the boat.

“It’s not going to hurt anything. Why are they here Trish?” Wade said.

How was I supposed to know? It wasn’t like they were talking back with me. “Are you boys going to help us out?”

The two bigger sea lions put their heads against the back of the boat and started pushing, propelling us forward at a much faster speed than I’d even gotten close to. We weren’t pointed straight at the island, but they could get us that much closer at least.

“Give me one of the oars,” Wade said. He snatched one out of my hand and muscled past me, then Cray, on his way to the back.

“Don’t hurt them, they’re helping.” I grabbed his wrist, determined he wasn’t going to hurt anyone or anything again, at least not while I was around.

“I’m not going to hurt them.” He looked at me like he thought I was crazy, twisted his wrist free and finished his short trip to the back of the boat. He stuck the oar into the water and used it as a rudder, putting us on a direct heading for the island. I turned into the cool spray of the water off the bow, sure I was blushing hot red. Of course I would assume the worst from him, he’d shown me his true self. Or was it his true self before, when we were dating? Nah, that was just an act, right?

Poor Cray was shivering over on his section of the bench.

Whether from fear or the cold water, I couldn’t tell. The regenerating also helped my cells stay a good temperature. It had to be freezing out here, but it just felt cool to me.

This could be it. If we found Jaden today, I would be done with these guys and officially be allowed to stay on Earth. Was this why Mom had been running? To keep me away from the fae? She’d been open about everything else but that. The island rushed toward us with all the sea lion power in the back. I rested my arms on the wood and my chin on my arms and watched it get bigger and bigger.

The island looked gloomy today. A thick fog hung over the whole place. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign.

“That’s close enough, call off your pets,” Starren said.

I inched toward the back of the boat, having an interesting time staying on my feet while we moved at a good clip. How had Wade done it? If he could, I could. As long as I didn’t go pitching off the side.

“Thanks guys, that’s close enough.” I had to yell over the wind. It was picking up more and more as we moved farther from shore. The sea lions instantly stopped, sending the boat lurching. Wade reached out a hand and steadied me. I glared at him. He threw his empty hand in the air as if to say he was hands off.

Three heads popped up out of the water. “Thanks again. We really appreciate it.”

“Ask them to stick around. We might need a ride back,” Starren said.

“Do you think you could stay here? Just for a little while until we’re ready to go back?” They looked at each other, then my lion nodded. He splashed me and then they all disappeared under water.

I wiped the moisture off my face with my hand. “Thanks a lot,” I yelled after him. “I wasn’t wet enough already.” I turned back to the island, foreboding welling up inside me as we drifted toward the rock face. “Now what?”

“Time to row,” Starren said.

“I got it.” Wade moved to the middle of the boat and grabbed the other oar.

The island looked even worse than gloomy now that we were closer. It looked downright cursed. Tendrils of fog floated toward us, twisting and contorting into strange figures. This was so different than when Mom and I had come to visit in July years ago. Then there were huge amounts of people, the sun was out, everyone was on vacation. Today there was no one in sight. The sun hadn’t come up enough to burn off the fog yet, that had to be why there was so much of it. I hoped. No matter what the reason for the strange weather, Alcatraz looked like it could still be in business.

Wade paddled close and let the boat bump the dock, the sound echoing across the water and making me cringe. Cray grabbed hold until Wade jumped out and pulled the boat close, using the chain in the front to tie it to the dock.

Something felt wrong when I stepped off the boat. The mist swirling up and around us was unnatural. This was more than just fog. My eyes went to the stone of the building. Were we really going in there?

From the look on Starren’s face, yes. We were going in, no matter what.