Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) Read Online Free

walked in, the huge Exhibit Hall buzzed with conversation and the noise of the countless strange and wonderful inventions on display.
    Everywhere , odd machines were chugging, whirring, beeping, hovering, clicking and revolving, burping steam and whooshing out fumes: brass and steel, rivets and engines, pumping pistons, beeps and whistles.
    Tables and booths were set up with various displays where the inventors could tell visitors about their gadgets. Jake walked down the aisles between them, gawking at everything that the day’s wizards of science from all around the world had dreamed up or discovered.
    A woman riding on a dirigible chair floated past , offering a tray of sweetmeats. Jake accepted one and thanked her, marveling at the miniature blimp that kept her chair suspended several feet off the ground.
    He wandered on, approaching a cluster of people who were all speaking different languages and laughing at themselves and each other. He furrowed his brow as he read the placard in front of the table.
    Professor Stokes’ Rosetta Stone Babblegum.
    “Free samples! You, young man! Would you like to try a slice of Babblegum?” the inventor offered him, gesturing to various colorful flavors. “Just choose your language—and chew!”
    “Do you have Norwegian?”
    “Sorry, all out. Would you like to try Swahili?”
    He shrugged. “Why not. Thanks!” H e accepted a slice of the Swahili-language Babblegum, though he didn’t even know where in the world people spoke it.
    Moving on, he stepped into an aisle marked Medical Advancements, where he saw an enormous, clumsy fellow with a terrible, ash-gray complexion staring dully into space.
    A crazy-haired scientist in a white laboratory coat stood beside the large oaf, speaking to those who had gathered around. “Allow me to demonstrate!” he was saying to his awed-looking audience, then he picked up a violin and began playing a mournful tune.
    The melody drew the big, dark-clad oaf out of his reverie. He let out a low, animal moan and began swaying back and forth.
    The watchers gasped in amazement and backed away a bit, then applauded as the big oaf began stomping back and forth like he was dancing.
    “It’s just astonishing, Doctor Frankenstein! What do you call the process?”
    “Reanimation!” he replied with a dramatic chord on his violin. “Through the wonders of electricity, we shall unlock the secrets of immortality!”
    The people gasped and then applauded, and t he scientist put aside his violin to take a modest bow. “I’ll be happy to answer all your questions at my lecture tomorrow afternoon…”
    A reanimated corpse! Jake shuddered and moved on.
    Turning down the next aisle, he spotted Miss Langesund standing in a booth beside an older gent, who was smoking a pipe as he answered questions from the curious. When Jake saw a sign that said Archeology Row, he realized that must be her father.
    But it was not just the Langesunds’ Viking artifacts on display in this amazing aisle. The top archeologists from all over Europe had brought their latest finds.
    There was a terrifying dinosaur skull with huge teeth and a collection of bones; early tools from cavemen; spooky Egyptia n mummies in grave wrappings lay in their opened sarcophagi. But the biggest crowd of all flocked around the booth of a German fellow called Professor Schliemann, who—according to the placard—had just discovered the ancient city of Troy. Security guards stood watch over the solid gold “Mask of Agamemnon.”
    Whoever that was, Jake thought.
    The line to see the ancient Greek mask was too long to bother with for an impatient lad who was more interested in a heaping plate of food at the Welcome Dinner than seeing all this stuff.
    Drifting on, hands in pockets, Jake wandered into the Aisle of Industry , passing a complicated, noisy heap of metal labeled “Combustion Engine.” He did not know what it did or why anyone would want one, so he hurried on, past another massive bulk