—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.
Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let them 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."
"I'll have you know, my nose is perfectly fine. Just ask Violet." The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "Come at me 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.
"LEO!" Alex tried to run to him but seemed to be stuck in place. "FUCK-"
"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"
Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Alex his club. "I don't know who you are, kid," he said looking at Jason "but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy"—he stabbed a thumb at Dylan while looking at Alex—"while I get Leo."
"Get him how?" Alex demanded.
"You going to fly?" asked Jason.
"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Alex almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves—goat's hooves. Which meant those things on his head, Alex realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.
"You're a faun," Jason said while Alex stared at the two of them, she had absolutely no idea what was happening. Maybe this was all a dream.
"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.
Everything was happening so fast. It was all a blur, Alex didn't even have enough time to process everything that was going on. But somehow, she fit right in. Chaos raged around her and it was almost like being ADHD had prepared her for whacky shit like this.
"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Alex and Jason "Now it's your turn"
Alex 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.
Somehow the weak feeling that had crept into her when they entered the desert made way for a burst of strength in the middle of the storm.
"What, how- Did I just-" Alex stared at Jason for an answer, but the blond was looking at Dylan.
Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood—golden blood—trickled from his forehead.
"Nice try, child of sea." He glared at Alex. "But you'll have to do better."
Alex had no idea what he meant, but she had bigger problems. 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.
"You're a ventus," Jason said, "A storm spirit."
"JASON, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Alex yelled, the strong winds of the storm were making it hard to hear what was going on, but even if she could hear the conversation properly, Alex wasn't sure she'd understand anyway.
Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo, Alex 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 venti-ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.
Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave Jason a determined look. All the while Alex looked around to see if Coach Hedge had reappeared again. If this was all a dream- it was the worst nightmare she had ever encountered.
Jason got ready to charge, he seemed like he had done this before- the fighting, but he never got a chance.
Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest.
BANG!
Jason fell flat on his back. Alex yelled in panic, as Jason flew back and landed harshly on his back. Her eyes had been open when the lightning struck, so she was momentarily blinded, and then deafened when the thunderclap followed.
She was almost too afraid to look when she had recovered, fearing the worst. But Jason was up on his feet when she looked back at him, not a single scratch on him, but his clothes were smoking.
Alex promised herself she would deal with Dylan or whatever he was later— she raced toward Hedge when she saw him climbing the cliff with Leo on his back. Everything was going miserably, but if there was one person who could make it better, who could make her feel a little more sane, it was Leo.
She'd choose Leo over mister-sexist-tornado-dude any day.
She didn't get a chance to get close though because a storm spirit blocked her way. Alex backed away, but the spirit it seemed didn't want to hurt her, only toy with her.
"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"
"My turn," Jason said.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He flipped the coin in the air like he'd done it a thousand times. He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword-a wickedly sharp double-edged weapon. Alex watched wide eyed, the whole thing was gold-hilt, handle, and blade.
Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"
The other storm spirits didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity.
The one in front of Alex left her and went to fight Jason, which was a mistake because it disintegrated within ten seconds. 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?"
Alex's head swirled trying to make sense of what was going on, she tried to grasp what these terms meant and why Dylan called her child of the sea.
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, but he ran to Alex "Yo, Coach Super goat, whatever you are— I just fell down the fucking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"
"What just happened?" Alex whispered softly.
"I have no fucking idea"
Dylan hissed at them, "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."
Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Alex had to crouch to keep her 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 Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Leo, Jason, Alex and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage.
He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Jason, Alex 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. Alex landed hard on her backside, her chin banging against her knee causing her teeth to sink into her bottom lip. Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.
Jason started toward her, 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.
The coach launched himself at the spirit with some serious goat fu-lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit's grasp. Leo dropped safely to the floor, next to Alex but Dylan grappled the coach's arms instead. Hedge tried to head-butt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air, gaining speed.
Coach Hedge shouted down once more, "Save her! I got this!" Then something snapped inside Alex, she was tired of Dylan trying to kill her friends. Her fury rose and before she knew what was happening only Coach Hedge remained floating in the air. Dylan burst like an overfilled balloon, but the satyr spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.
Even though it seemed impossible, she knew she had somehow controlled the storm and destroyed Dylan.
She had willed it and it happened. That didn't mean she caused it though... right? She was losing her mind.
The only rational part of her brain was screaming for Leo.
"What the fuck was that" Alex had scrambled to Leo's limp body, wrapping her arms around his torso, trying to lift him into a sitting position.
The silence after the fight was loud, it almost seemed unnatural— until a scream pierced through the air.
Alex turned just in time to see Piper lose her grip and fall. Alex's stomach dropped.
Jason then— like the lunatic he was, jumped over the side leaving Alex alone with an unconscious best friend.