The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Welcome to Amazon

"Nope, nope, nope" Ella said. "Get books instead. No Amazons"

"We have to try" Percy said. "I promised Reyna."

"Besides the Pax isn't doing too great" Lani added. "We've been pushing it pretty hard"

I looked down at my feet. Water was leaking between the floorboards. "Oh"

"Yeah" Percy agreed. "We'll either need to fix it or find a new boat. It's taking my will power and Lani's to keep it together at this point. Ella, do you have any idea where we can find the Amazons?"

"And um," Frank said nervously, "they don't like, kill men on sight, do they?"

Ella glanced at the downtown docks, only a few hundred yards away. "Ella will find friends later. Ella will fly away now"

And she did.

"Well..." Frank picked a single red feather out of the air. "That's encouraging"

We docked at the wharf. We barely had time to unload our supplies before the Pax shuddered and broke into pieces. Most of it sank, leaving only a board with a painted eye and another with the letter P bobbing in the waves.

"Guess we're not fixing it" I said. "What now?"

Lani and Percy stared at the steep hills of downtown Seattle before they spoke in unison. "We hope the Amazons will help"

We explored for hours. We found some great salty caramel chocolate at a candy store. We bought some coffee so strong, my head felt like a vibrating gong. We stopped at a sidewalk café and had some excellent grilled salmon sandwiches. Once we saw Ella zooming between high-rise towers, a large book clutched in each foot. But we found no Amazons. All the while, I was aware of the time ticking by. June 22 now, and Alaska was still a long way away.

Finally we wandered south of downtown, into a plaza surrounded by smaller glass and brick buildings. My nerves started tingling. I looked around; sure we were being watched.

"There" I said.

The office building on our left had a single word etched on the glass doors: AMAZON.

"Oh," Frank said. "Uh, no, Hazel. That's a modern thing. They're a company, right? They sell stuff on the internet. They're not actually Amazons"

"Unless..." Percy and Lani walked through the doors. I had a bad feeling about this place, but Frank and I followed.

The lobby was like an empty fish tank— glass walls, a glossy black floor, a few token plants, and pretty much nothing else. Against the back wall, a black stone staircase led up and down. In the middle of the room stood a young woman in a black, pantsuit, with long auburn hair and a security guard's earpiece. Her name tag said KINZIE. Her smile was friendly enough, but her eyes reminded me of the policemen in New Orleans who used to patrol the French Quarter at night. They always seemed to look through you, as if they were thinking about who might attack them next.

Kinzie nodded at Lani and I, ignoring the boys. "May I help you?"

"Um... we hope so" I said.

Lani smiled winningly and for a second Kinzie looked flustered. "We're looking for Amazons"

Kinzie glanced at my sword, then Frank's spear, though neither should have been visible through the Mist. I noticed Lani run a hand through her hair, and I almost didn't notice the hairclip disappear from her jet-black locks.

"This is the main campus to Amazon" she said cautiously. "Did you have an appointment with someone, or—"

"Hylla" Percy interrupted. "We're looking for a girl named—"