Wild ― Piper McLean

―ii. roni & blondie save the day

THE STORM BECAME A POCKET-SIZED HURRICANE. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of some alien, sky-bound monstrosity.

Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Verona gripped the railing so tight her knuckles turned white.

Jason skidded across the slick floor. Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing before Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.

"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.

"Go, go, go!" Coach Hedge urged.

Piper and Dylan were up ahead, holding the doors open and herding the other kids inside. Verona, Leo, Jason, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind fought their movement, pushing them back.

Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk and trapping the rest of them outside in the storm.

Piper tugged at the handles, but they wouldn't budge. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.

"Dylan, help!" Piper shouted.

Dylan just stood there, his smile wide and unmistakable, as if he were at home in this raging storm.

"Sorry, Piper," he said. "I'm done helping."

He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.

"Piper!" Verona tried to charge forward, but the wind was against her, and Coach Hedge pushed her back.

"Coach," Verona protested, "let me go!"

"You three, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."

"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What monster?"

The coach's cap blew off, and sticking up out of his curly hair were two bumps. He lifted his baseball bat, but it had changed while Verona wasn't paying attention. Now it was a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.

Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the girl attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa."

The coach made an angry sound, like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down."

"You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck."

Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.

"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy"—he stabbed a thumb at Dylan—"while I get Leo."

"Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You gonna fly?"

"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and where there should have been regular human feet, the coach had hooves.

"You're a faun," Verona said.

"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."