Regen

by Cassie Greutman

  Wait, what? What did that say about me? They didn’t know that I’d had my power a lot longer that they thought. I’d always healed quicker than other kids, but the first time I specifically remember regenerating was when I was eight and fell skiing. It was one of the few times my mom had let us slow down enough to do something fun. My bone had been sticking out of my leg. Mom must have known about the healing, she pushed it back into place, held me while I screamed for a couple minutes and voilà, all better.

  She had made me promise not to tell anyone unless they saw me heal. Under the no lying rule, I couldn’t break that promise even if I’d wanted to. Not long after the skiing incident, she’d dropped me off at a kids’ home, first of many. She’d said she’d be back, but it had never happened, leading me to believe she was dead. Not that I wanted her to be, but she better not be on a beach somewhere. At first I’d thought she’d left me because of the new power thing, but as I got older it didn’t seem to make as much sense. Then I just stopped thinking about it.

  “Speaking of families, Trisha, what is yours like?” My head whipped over to face Starren. Her tone was far too casual. And she’d never cared about any life details before. This was weird.

  “Your fae family, not the humans,” Wade added, just as casual.

  “I don’t know,” I answered, keeping it short. Where had that come from? It wasn’t like they were just trying to find something to talk about. They let it go though, and didn’t keep asking. So weird.

  We walked and walked, me deep in thought, the others just naturally quiet. Eventually the air started to smell like salt. “We must be getting close to the bay,” I said.

  “It does smell like water,” Starren said. “What do you know about this bay?”

  “It’s big. People swim it. I don’t know, what is there to know about some water?”

  Starren rolled her eyes. “Is there somewhere nearby that would attract fae?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. What attracts fae?”

  “You’re fae,” Cray said.

  “Yes, but I’m not sure what you mean. I find Orlando Bloom attractive, does that make him a fae magnet?”

  Starren sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Should I ask who that is?” Wade shook his head. “Fine. Fae are attracted to anywhere that has energy, good or bad.” Starren said. “Non-humanoid fae are attracted to the bad energy in this world while we are basically immune.”

  I glanced at Wade. He was being awful quiet.

  “Alcatraz,” I said. That had to be it.

  “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 closer.

  “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 out 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 are really cute. You should see them when they’re little.”

  “Why?” Starren asked.

  “Because they are 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.

  “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?”

  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 said, his fingers 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 to 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. I looked at the others to see if they were feeling it too. Cray was for sure, poor guy looked nearly sick. But then, he could feel all this much stronger than the rest of us could, so it was probably about overwhelming him right now.

  “You will have to lead, Cray,” Starren said, her tone the most gentle I had ever heard it. She was picking up on something bad being here too. It was still bugging me that I didn’t know what Jaden had done to be imprisoned in the first place. Had he killed someone? Or a lot of someones?

  Cray started up the concrete steps slowly. The only sounds making it through the heavy fog blanket were the sl
ight scuffs of his boots on stairs. Wade and Starren pulled their swords and followed him. The cheery colors of the fall flowers mocked us as we wound our way to the top. One of the signs said it was a fourth of a mile. It felt so much longer in the damp, half dark.

  Finally Cray stopped. “We’re on top of it,” he whispered.

  “Trisha?” Starren asked.

  “He’s down in the cells maybe?” It came out as a question, but she must have taken it as gospel, because she headed straight for the door that somehow had no fog blocking it and was in plain view. That seemed like a bad plan. And of course Jaden couldn’t be standing up on top, he had to be down in the dark, scary area. Hopefully fog was his power. That I could deal with.

  Wade touched me on the shoulder. “Watch for security cameras. They won’t see us, but they will see you.”

  Another thing to worry about, other than the fact that we were chasing some guy with unknown powers down into a scary rock fortress. I pushed against the door. Locked.

  “Move aside,” Starren pushed me out of the way and put her hand on the door. A flash and the door popped open. Wow, nice. Beat picking a lock with tools. She pushed the door open. Another handy trick I was going to have to learn. Was that another ability all fae had? If it was, then what was her ability anyway? That probably would be a good thing for me to know.

  My fae eyes adjusted to the dark fairly quickly after stepping inside. Dark. Dark was good. No, dark was bad. Okay, both. Good because of the cameras, bad because it could lead to our deaths. I shivered as we passed cell after cell. What must it have been like to live here? The cells were tiny, not even as big as my bathroom I’d bet. If low fae fed on bad energy, this was definitely a feast. We came to a stairwell. Starren didn’t pause, just headed down.

  “The stairs are damp, be careful,” Cray said.

  “But still, much better than a fae prison,” Wade said.

  Not something I ever wanted to see. If the fae I’d met so far were any indication of general faeness, I was better off with the humans. At least when they stabbed you in the back it wasn’t literal.

  “We’re getting close Starren, be careful,” Cray said.