The rest of the group didn’t seem impressed by announcement of where the bad mojo would have most likely drawn any fae in area.

“What’s an Alcatraz?” Cray asked.

“It’s an island. It used to be a prison. They put the worst criminals in the U.S. there.”

Cray pushed up his glasses and stared at me blankly. “What’s the U.S.?”

“The United States you idiot,” Wade broke in.

Wow. Grumpy. It wasn’t Cray’s fault he’d been pulled from some other world and didn’t know the geography here. Poor guy just blinked behind his big glasses, looking even more confused.

“How do we get to this island? Sounds like a good place to start. Take us the direct way, Cray can find him from where we end up.”

Like I just automatically knew how to find Alcatraz because I lived in this world. “Follow the slope down. All these hills lead to the bay eventually.”

“This way then,” Wade said and took off downhill.

“Watch out for the trolleys,” I called after him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wade said, moving like there was a fire behind him. Good. He must want to get done with this deal as much as I did. The sooner we got done, the sooner we wouldn’t have to see each other anymore.

“What’s a trolley?” Cray asked.

I sighed and took off after Wade. Starren stayed behind with Cray and said something, but I couldn’t make it out over the traffic.

This early on a weekday, the roads were pretty empty. We’d left home at 7:30, which meant it was probably only 5:00 am now. The ferries wouldn’t be running yet. No reason to bring that up until we got down there and Cray made sure that was the direction he was getting a signal from.

It took us ten minutes to get to where the signs started pointing us toward the wharf. At least now we knew which direction to head in for sure. I’d been here once, a long time ago, the same trip Mom and I had gone through Yosemite. Too long ago to remember much.

We walked down the pier together, passing the occasional jogger who didn’t even look our way. The sound of barking started when we got close.

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“What’s that?” Cray asked, his eyes wide under his glasses.

“Sea lions.” I couldn’t keep the smile from taking over my face. I pointed down at the pier where twenty or so sea lions were floating on whatever perches they could find down on the water.

“Lions?” Starren frowned. “Those are supposed to be big cats, not some kind of water animal. Or was I misinformed?”

“Nope, you’re right. I never really got that either.” We stopped talking for a moment to let a biker pass. “I think there are a lot of them this time of year. Sounds like it anyway. They’re really cute. You should see them when they’re little.”

“Why?” Starren asked.

“Because they’re cute and squeaky and stuff.”

“And you think I would be interested in a cute Earth animal because?” She looked genuinely confused. I groaned inside. Apparently Wade wasn’t the only fae incapable of feelings. Were all of us like this? “Once this chase is over I plan to never leave Faerie again. I wouldn’t be here if Jaden Martan had not escaped. You can keep your not cat lions.”

We made it to the pier without any more conversation, but it was closed. “The ferry doesn’t leave until nine and even then we might not get on. The sign says they sell out in advance most of the time,” Wade said, coming back from the ticket booth.

“It’s off season,” I answered. “We should be able to get on.”

“That would mean wasting four hours,” Starren growled. “Find us another way out there.”

“We could swim,” I offered. “I don’t know any other way. But it’s going to be really, really cold.” We all looked at Cray. I’d be fine, and I’d hazard a bet that Starren and Wade would be too. But Cray?

“No. Let’s take one of those.” Wade nodded toward some small boats tied to the dock.

“There are all these people around, how are we supposed to do that?” I asked.

Wade lifted an eyebrow. “They can’t see the three of us. None of the humans can unless we want them to. Why aren’t you staying hidden?”

Well, duh. I forgot all about asking Cray to teach me that last night. I hadn’t even seen him once I got back to headquarters. “Show me how,” I said to Starren.

She lifted an eyebrow.

“I’m serious, no one has ever shown me how.”

“It isn’t something someone has to show you, Trish,” Wade said, his tone gentle. “You just have to concentrate. There are several gifts all fae have and this is one of them. It’s been sitting there waiting for you to use it since you turned eighteen. Whenever that was.”

Great. Concentrate. I wasn’t the best at doing that. I closed my eyes like Cray always did when he was looking for a target and concentrated like Wade said. Nothing.

Starren snorted. “She’s too human. We’ll hide her in the bottom of the boat.” She headed down to the docks, walking toward a small rowboat no one was paying attention to.

Wade looked at me and shrugged, then headed after her.

Cray wouldn’t look at me at all.

I closed my eyes and tried again, focusing with all my might. After a moment, I cracked one eye open. Nothing looked different. I waved at a businessman in a suit. He looked at me strangely but waved back. Shoot.

Obviously this was going to be something I had to work on. I took off down the dock after the others. There were quite a few people here already. Why did fishermen have to get up so early? Starren and Cray were in the boat by the time I caught up. Wade was waiting for me on the dock. He put out a hand to help me on board. I slapped it away.

Muttering something under his breath, Wade got on after me. Once we were situated, he held a hand out over the padlock chaining us to the dock. It flashed and fell off. Time to head out across the water.