Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan, the only character that I own is Tori
A/N: Picture is Tori's hair.
Chapter two- Percy Jackson
Tori pov
The Storm Churned Into A Miniature Hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the sky walk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish. Kids screamed and ran for the for the building. The winds snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Jason skidded across the slick floor, I stumbled a little as well. I also saw Leo lose his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him up him back up.
"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.
"Go. go, go!" said Coach Hedge.
Piper and Dylan were holding the door open, herding the kids inside. Piper's jacket was flapping wildly, her hair was all in her. I thought she must've been freezing, but she look calm and confident--telling everyone else it was going to be okay, encouraging them to keep going.
Jason, Leo, Coach Hedge and I ran toward them, but it was like running threw quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, and pushing us back. Dylan an Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the sky walk. Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, kids were pounding on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.
Dylan, help!" Piper shouted. Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin on his face, 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.
"Piper!" Jason and I tried to charge forward, but the wind was against us, and Coach was also pushing us back. "Coach," Jason said, "let us go!"
We have to help her!" I said.
Jason, Tori, and Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known this was our monster."
What?" Leo demanded. A rouge worksheet slapped him in the face, nut he swatted it away. "What monster?"
The coaches hat blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps--like the knots in 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 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 the kids attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't it that why the retired you this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa."
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 materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed side-ways 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 kids are, 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?" I asked.
"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and I almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have 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 and I said at the same time.
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 bounced down the cliff with impossible agility, finding foothold no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwind 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 wind 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.
Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her finger 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, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have to do better." The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, 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" I said, even though I had no idea on how I knew that word. "A storm spirit." Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I wait, demigod. Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third and fourth was coming-- some special people. She'll reward me greatly for your deaths!" 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 and I a determined look, we understood the message: Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind.
Smart and violent I wished that I remembered having her as a friend. I clench my fist and got ready to charge, but I never got the chance.
Dylan raised his hand, arcs of of electricity running between his fingers and blasted Jason and I in our chest.
Bang! I found myself on the ground, flat on my back. My mouth tasted like burning aluminum foil, and I felt like singed chicken. Jason lifted his head saw that his clothes were smoking, and so were mine. My vision was blurred, I blinked a few times and it cleared up. The lightning bolt had gone straight through our bodies and blasted off Jason's left shoe. His toes were black with soot.
The storm spirits were laughing. the winds raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tinny and far away. "Stop," Jason croaked. He rose up unsteadily to his feet and I got up to my feet as well. I was wasn't sure who was more surprised: him, the storm spirits, or me. "How are you two alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"
I let my instincts take over and reached up to my neck and pulled of my necklace. It turned into a silver bow that fit perfectly in my hand. Then I noticed a ring that looked like a sliver crescent moon and a star connected with a simple silver band. I took it off and it turned into a quiver with a fully stocked supply of arrows.
Dylan snarled and yelled, "Well? Kill them!" The other storm spirits didn't look to happy with that order. I and Jason (who was currently holding a gold, double-edged sword, where did that that thing come from?) a look that was basically saying ha ha, they think they have a chance. It came so naturally to, like I had given him the same look a million times before. I set an arrow in my bow and the storm spirits flew at us.
Jason swung at the first storm spirit and his blade went straight through it, the creature dissolved. The second spirit charged and let loose a lightning bolt, but Jason's sword absorbed it. I stepped in and shot the arrow, then the second storm spirit dissolved as well. Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to re-form. "Impossible! Who are you, half-bloods?" Piper was so stunned she dropped her club. "Jason, Tori, how...?"
Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour. "Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arm. 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!" I looked at Hedge like You crazy?
Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands were 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, but I could see the fear in his eyes. "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, but it didn't touch me. However, Jason had to crouch to keep his balance. A hole opened in the clouds--a swirling vortex of lack and silver.
"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigods, will come come with me!" He lunged at Jason and I, but Piper tackled the monster from the behind. Even though he was made of smoke, she managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Jason, Leo, the coach, and I 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. Leo and I hit the back of our heads, I curled on my side and groaned.
I was pretty dazed, but I was pretty sure Dylan said "I'll settle for these two." After that, I think a blacked out for a minute or two after that.
When I woke up, I sat up and heard Valdez muttering, "Stupid...ugly...goat." Then he pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."
"Twice," Jason said while I was rubbing my forehead. He groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword, the silver bow and arrows... I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"
I had forgotten about the bow and arrows and Jason's sword. I stood up not very steadily to get my weapons. But by the time I actually got up, Jason had all ready returned from getting his sword and my bow and arrows. "Thanks." I said. "No problem." He replied. Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, Tori, those things--"
"Venti," I said. "Storm spirits."
"Okay. Both of you acted like... like you had seen them before. Who are you guys?" Jason shook his head. "That's what we've been trying to tell you. We don't know." The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn't seem to be having any luck. "Coach Hedge said that he had to protect four people," Jason remembered. "I think he meant us."
"And that thing Dylan turned into..." Piper shuddered. "I can't believe he 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 to 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," I said. "Maybe if we--"
"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses." At first I 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.
"Reinforcements," Jason said. "Hedge told Tori and I about an extraction squad was coming for us."
"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."
"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked. I watched the chariot land on the far end of the skywalk. The flying 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 me, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and oranges T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife an ran toward the four of us 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 at his answer like it was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo, Piper, and I, but when she look at me, she face completely soften. But she must've realized and toughed up again. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" The coach's first name was Gleeson? I might've laughed if this entire morning hadn't been so weird and crazy. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not? "He got taken by some... tornado things."
"Venti," I said. "Storm spirits."
The blond girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"
Jason did his best to explain, though it was hard to look directly into her intense gray eyes. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at us with his arms crossed. I straightened my back and put my shoulders back and look at him trying to glare his glare down. When Jason finished our story, the blond girl didn't look very 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. I hadn't really thought about it, but Jason was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot looked like a lump of charcoal. "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 if 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. The storm spirits might come back." She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed her eyes on Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later." She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.
Piper shook her 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 blonde. "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 three days and you," he pointed at me, "look exactly like. She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."
"Who?" I asked.
"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."
"Jackson." I said but it came out more like a question.
"Yeah, Jackson. Why? Do you know something?"
"No. The name just sounds familiar."