“I’m sorry. ”
He held out his hand. “You’re my sister too. You deserve another chance. Come with me. ”
XXX Hazel
“HAZEL. ” PERCY WAS SHAKING HER SHOULDER. “Wake up. We’ve reached Seattle. ”
She sat up groggily, squinting in the morning sunlight. “Frank?”
Frank groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Did we just…was I just—?”
“You both passed out,” Percy said. “I don’t know why, but Ella told me not to worry about it. She said you were…sharing?”
“Sharing,” Ella agreed. She crouched in the stern, preening her wing feathers with her teeth, which didn’t look like a very effective form of personal hygiene. She spit out some red fluff. “Sharing is good. No more blackouts. Biggest American blackout, August 14, 2003. Hazel shared. No more blackouts. ” Percy scratched his head. “Yeah…we’ve been having conversations like that all night. I still don’t know what she’stalking about. ”
Hazel pressed her hand against her coat pocket. She could feel the piece of firewood, wrapped in cloth.
She looked at Frank. “You were there. ”
He nodded. He didn’t say anything, but his expression was clear: He’d meant what he said. He wanted her to keep the piece of tinder safe. She wasn’t sure whether she felt honored or scared. No one had ever trusted her with something so important.
“Wait,” Percy said. “You mean you guys shared a blackout? Are you guys both going to pass out from now on?”
“Nope,” Ella said. “Nope, nope, nope. No more blackouts. More books for Ella. Books in Seattle. ”
Hazel gazed over the water. They were sailing through a large bay, making their way toward a cluster of downtown buildings. Neighborhoods rolled across a series of hills. From the tallest one rose an odd white tower with a saucer on the top, like a spaceship from the old Flash Gordon movies Sammy used to love.
No more blackouts? Hazel thought. After enduring them for so long, the idea seemed too good to be true.
How could Ella be sure they were gone? Yet Hazel did feel different . . . more grounded, as if she wasn’t trying to live in two time periods anymore. Every muscle in her body began to relax. She felt as if she’d finally slipped out of a lead jacket she’d been wearing for months. Somehow, having Frank with her during
the blackout had helped. She’d relived her entire past, right through to the present. No wall she had to worry about was the future—assuming shehad one.
Percy steered the boat toward the downtown docks. As they got closer, Ella scratched nervously at her nest of books.
Hazel started to feel edgy, too. She wasn’t sure why. It was a bright, sunny day, and Seattle looked like a beautiful place, with inlets and bridges, wooded islands dotting the bay, and snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. Still, she felt as if she were being watched.
“Um…why are we stopping here?” she asked.
Percy showed them the silver ring on his necklace. “Reyna has a sister here. She asked me to find her and show her this. ”
“Reyna has a sister?” Frank asked, like the idea terrified him.
Percy nodded. “Apparently Reyna thinks her sister could send help for the camp. ”
“Amazons,” Ella muttered. “Amazon country. Hmm. Ella will find libraries instead. Doesn’t like Amazons. Fierce. Shields. Swords. Pointy. Ouch. ”
Frank reached for his spear. “Amazons? Like…female warriors?”
“That would make sense,” Hazel said. “If Reyna’s sister is also a daughter of Bellona, I can see why she’d join the Amazons. But…is it safe for us to be here?”
“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. I’ve been pushing it pretty hard. ”
Hazel looked down at her feet. Water was leaking between the floorboards. “Oh. ”
“Yeah,” Percy agreed. “We’ll either need to fix it or find a new boat. I’m pretty much holding it together with my willpower 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. ”
They docked at the wharf. They barely had time to unload their 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,” Hazel said. “What now?”
Percy stared at the steep hills of downtown Seattle. “We hope the Amazons will help. ”
They explored for hours. They found some great salty caramel chocolate at a candy store. They bought some coffee so strong, Hazel’s head felt like a vibrating gong. They stopped at a sidewalk café and had some excellent grilled salmon sandwiches.
Once they saw Ella zooming between high-rise towers, a large book clutched in each foot. But they found no Amazons. All the while, Hazel was aware of the time ticking by. June 22 now, and Alaska was still a long way away.