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The navigation app sent her south, and she soon found herself on the tall bridge leading to Coronado Island! Whoever this Gio was, he must be rich or in the military because those were the only people who lived here.

She was driving slowly, intimidated by the height of the bridge and the narrowness of the lanes. Halfway over the bridge, a massive bird suddenly landed on the large passenger side mirror!

With a startled screech, Mila almost drove into the next lane. “What the hell?”

Someone behind her blared a horn at her slow speed, then whipped around her. If she wasn’t so busy trying to keep the van steady and being seriously disturbed and distracted by the big bird's behavior, she might’ve waved to apologize to the angry driver.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked the bird. It was staring intently at her with large, yellow eyes. It took her amoment to recognize the species. It was a sea hawk, but people out here called it an osprey.

Why in the name of all things holy had this bird decided to land on her van?

“Bird, that’s not a good place fo—” her words were cut off when it started violently pecking at her window. She didn’t think it was possible, but the bird shattered the window and flew inside!

Once again, she almost crashed the van, but thankfully she was going so slow now that it was easy to correct before she went into the barrier that kept traffic from plunging into the Pacific below.

There was no place to pull over on the bridge so she had no choice but to keep going, even if it was at a much more sedate pace than the rest of the traffic around her.

“Babette?” she called out, scared the large bird would kill the little canine. When she managed a glance back, it was to find both of them staring at Carter!

She’d told her mom San Diego was a magical place, but this wasn’t what she’d meant at all.

“Is Carter a Disney princess?” she asked the air around her with a shake of her head. She forced herself to focus on driving. It wouldn’t do any of them any good if she killed them all in a car accident.

She let out a massive sigh of relief when she got to the other side of the bridge where the old toll booths stood, closed and empty. She was finally able to pull over. Shoving the van in park, she turned in her seat to fully see what was going on.

The sea hawk had pulled the covers back, revealing most of Carter’s naked body. The bird seemed like it was surveying Carter’s injuries. When the avian looked up and focused bright amber eyes on Mila, she got the distinct impression of impatience.

“You broke my window,” she mumbled, unable to look away from the bird's gaze. “I’m going to make you pay for that in fish!”

The creature's head drew back, as if surprised at her words.

“This has to be a dream,” she mumbled at the same time her phone reminded her that she needed to “Turn left in .4 miles.”

“If you peck him or hurt him, I’ll deep fry you!” she warned the bird before turning back around and shifting the van back into drive.

“Were there rude birds in any of the fairytales?” she mused, following the phone’s directions. “If there were, I missed it.”

“You have arrived.”

Those words were accompanied by her pulling into the driveway of what had to be a very expensive home. She could hear the ocean behind her through her broken window. The briny scent she’d come to associate with the beach filled her nose.

The house was three stories with several balconies. The front was modest, but she had a feeling the real elegance was hidden inside. Every window was lit from within, so someone had to be home.

She opened the door to get out but before she even put a foot down, the bird was winging out of the open door and flying up to the roof of the house.

Was this a trained sea hawk? Wait, could someone train a bird to break a car window and examine someone for injuries?

Before tonight she didn’t think a bird smaller than an emu could break a window to begin with. Or she was going to wake up and find out that she’d had a spiked drink, and this was all some kind of drug induced hallucination. Damn fancy French water!

“I need to start writing novels,” she muttered as she finished sliding out of the van. “If my brain made all this up, I need to put it to work!”

She was almost to the front door when it swung open, and a man rushed out. “I’m Gio,” he explained, grabbing her arm and walking her back to the van.

She was too startled to talk. Not because of Gio’s sudden appearance or him grabbing her.

It was that he had the same amber eyes as the osprey.

Gio