Bloody Lover | Piper McLean

CHAPTER 3 : Madness, storm spirits, and extraction

EARLANA

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 slick floor but still kept his balance. Earlana, on the other hand, lost her balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason and Leo both grabbed ahold of her wrist and pulled her back. Immediately, she thanked them, yelling over the wind.

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

Piper and the asshole were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Earlana thought she must've been freezing, but she looked calm and confident - telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.

Earlana, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back. The asshole, calling himself 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.

The cabrón in question 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.

Seeing that Earlana saw red. She advanced forward ready to do something, but the wind was against her. Jason tried to grab her but the two of them were pushed back by Coach Hedge.

"Coach !" Jason said. "Let us go !"

"Voy a matar a ese pendejo !" Earlana was glaring at the boy on the other side of the skywalk,if she had been able to just walk through this wind, she would have run and beat the shit out of him.

"Leo, Jason, Earlana, 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 in the cartoons characters get when they're bonked on the head. Earlana had the impression that she had met people with the same appearance before. 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 that why they sent 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."

At the Coach's words, Earlana smirked and a dangerous gleam in her eyes lit up. That cabrón was going to get what he deserved, and if it wasn't for the coach dealing with it, it would be her.

"You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man ?" The monster 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.