Lightning and the Beauty

Annabeth Judo Flips Me...Again...

                                                               Pierce's POV (Jason will have his next one :)

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. Jason skidded across the slickfloor.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. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in herface. Pierce thought she must've been freezing, but she looked calm and confident—telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keepmoving. Pierce, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, 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.Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck."Dylan, help!" 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, 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. "Told ya the Cowboys were bad.." I muttered. "Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back."Coach," Jason said, "let me go!" Pierce ran instead, the wind not fighting him as much. "P-pierce...y-you have a sword!?" "Ya I know. I'll tell ya later." "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 thehead. 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, withtwigs and leaves still attached.Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boys attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why theyretired 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 inmidair, 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 thumbat Dylan—"while I get Leo.""Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You going to fly?""Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Jason almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves—goat's hooves. Which meant those things on his head, Jason 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, findingfootholds 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, boys." Pierce had left Piper's side. "I liked you better as a Cowboys fan Dylan." Pierce said, sarcasm dripping off his voice. "Ah yes! The great Pierce Murphy, Son of Zeus. Normally I wouldn't fight kids of Zeus, but the mistress has ordered me."