The Lost Hero (Jason Grace x OC)

2

The storm churned into a miniature hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish.
Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Me and Jason skidded across the slick floor. Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.
"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.
"Go, go, go!" said Coach Hedge.
Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside I ran over them helped them hold the doors open.
Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward us, but it was no use, the wind was way to strong.
We pushed one more kid inside, then lost our grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.
Me and Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.
"Dylan, help us!" Piper shouted.
Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm.
"Sorry, ladies," he said. "I'm done helping."
He ficked his wrist, and we flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.
"Kendal! Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back.
I groaned, and then crawled over to Piper, who was unconscious. "C'mon Pipes. Wake up!"
"Coach," Jason yelled over the wind, "let me go!"
"Jason, Leo, 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 above his curly hair were two bumps like the knots cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat- -but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.
"What the . . ." Piper said, and my gaze snapped to her.
"You good?"
"Yeah I'm okay. What the hell is happening?"
We turned our attention to Dylan who was talking to Coach Hedge.
Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy 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 going to fly?"
"Not fly. Climb."
Hedge kicked off his shoes, and I almost had a coronary. Coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves—goat's hooves. Which meant those things On his head, I realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.
"You're a faun," Jason said.
"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."
Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.
"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy."
Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.
I stood up, my head pounding. My fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to me, but before I could use it, Dylan rose. Blood—golden blood trickled from his forehead.
"Nice try, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have to do better."
The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.
Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Jason decided, they would look exactly like this.
"You're a ventus," Jason said. "A storm spirit."
Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo, Kendal, and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a fourth was coming. Someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"
Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.
Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed. Her face was pale, but she seemed okay. I hid the club behind my back, giving Jason a look that hopefully said, Keep him distracted.
He didn't get the chance.
Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest.
Jason went flying, landing on his back. His clothes were smoking.
"Jason!" I screamed.
Piper echoed me, but he wouldn't respond.
The storm spirits were laughing. The winds raged.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Coach Hedge climbing the cliff with Leo on his back.
The storm spirits charged me and Piper. I was on my feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off the two extra storm spirits, but they were just toying with us. The club went right through their bodies like they weren't there. And Dylan, a dark and winged tornado with eyes, loomed over Jason.
"Stop," Jason croaked. He rose unsteadily to his feet.
"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"
"My turn," Jason said, a scary look in his eyes.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He flipped the coin in the air and caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a wickedly sharp double-edged sword. The whole sword was gold, with a glowing gold aura.
Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"
The other storm spirits that had cornered me and Piper turned around and flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity.
Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge. Jason stepped in—one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder.
Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to re-form, but their gold dust remains dispersed in the wind.
"Impossible! Who are you, half-blood?"
I was so stunned I dropped the club. "How the hell? Jason . . ."
Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.
"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.
"Curse it, boy!" he snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"
Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks.
"Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are— I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"
Dylan hissed at us. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."
Above us, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and I had to crouch to keep my balance.
A hole opened in the clouds a swirling vortex of black and silver.
"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"
He lunged at Jason, but I tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, I somehow managed to connect. We went sprawling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leo, Jason, and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked us all backward. Jason and Coach Hedge landed on their butts. Jason's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning. Piper had crashed into the railing, and was knocked unconscious.
I was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until I was hanging by one hand over the abyss.
Jason started toward me, but Dylan screamed, "I'll settle for this one!"
He grabbed Leo's arm and began to rise, towing a half-conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.
I squirmed, trying to get a hold of the railing with my other hand. My hand slipped and I screamed as I fell.
The sides of the canyon raced past like a film on fast forward. I knew there was no way I was surviving the fall and squeezed my eyes shut.
Something hit me, and I screamed. Someone's arms wrapped around my waist, and my eyes snapped open.
I gasped, my eyes snapped open. Jason had caught me. We were floating in mid air, about a hundred feet above the ground.
"J-Jason," I managed.
He held me tight, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. We were nose to nose.
He sucked in a breath, glancing down at my lips. I breathed in his cologne, and my head felt fuzzy. I couldn't think straight.
"Jason," I breathed out. "How did you—"
"I didn't," he said. "I think I would know if I could fly . . ."
He knit his eyebrows in concentration, and I yelped as we shot a few feet higher.
"The air is supporting us," he said.
"Do you think we can get back up there?" I said, trying not to panic.
"On it." Jason said, looking up.
We shot through the air, reaching the sky walk in a few seconds. As soon as we landed, we ran to Piper, who knelt over Leo.
Piper turned Leo over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he wasn't dead.
"Stupid . . . ugly . . . goat," he muttered.
"Where did he go?" Jason asked.
Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."
"Twice," I said.
Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword . . . I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"
I had forgotten about the sword. Jason walked over to where it was lying and picked it up. He flipped it. Midspin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.
"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."
Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, those things—"
"Venti," he said. "Storm spirits."
"Okay. You acted like . . . like you'd seen them before. Who are you?"
He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."
The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Guards were working on the locks now, but they didnt seem to be having any luck.
"Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people," I remembered. "I think he meant us."
"And that thing Dylan turned into . . ." Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me. He called us, what, demigods?"
Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he said. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"
There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.
"We need to get off this thing," Jason said. "Maybe if we—"
"Okay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."
At first I thought Leo had hit his head too hard. Then I saw a dark shape descending from the east too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer I could see a pair of winged animals gray, four-legged, exactly like horses except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels. A chariot squad was coming for us?
"Reinforcements," Jason said. "Hedge told us an extraction squad—"
"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."
"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.
I watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The fying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot—a tall blond girl maybe a little older than us, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs.
The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward our group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.
"Where is he?" the girl demanded. Her gray eyes were fierce and a little startling.
"Where's who?" Jason asked.
She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to me, Leo, and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"
The coach's first name was Gleeson? I might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge; football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?
Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some . . . tornado things."
"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."
The blond girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuetlai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"
Jason explained, and about halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at us, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.
When Jason had finished his story, the blond girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."
"Annabeth," the bald guy grunted. "Check it out" He pointed at Jason's feet. Jason was missing his left shoe, which must have come off sometime during the fight.
"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."
"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.
"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these four to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."
She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."
She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.
I shook my head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"
"Seriously," Leo agreed.
"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."
"I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured toward the girl. "She looks like she wants to kill me."
Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."
"What problem?" Piper asked.
"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."