𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. ── 𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞

𝐢𝐢. 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞!

THE STORM CHURNED INTO A MINIATURE HURRICANE, BUT SOMEHOW, KORI DIDNT FEEL SCARED OF IT. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish. Yeah, that was more the scary part. Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Kori and Piper skidded across the slick floor, and somehow found their way to the doors. 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.

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

Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back. "Jason," Leo called, "What's going on?"

"I would tell you if I knew, Leo! That's what I've been saying all morning!" He replied, shouting.

Kori and Dylan pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk. Piper tugged at the handles, but no matter how hard she tried, the doors wouldn't open. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.

"Dylan, be useful for once in your miserable life, and help us open the damn door!" Kori shouted.

Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm. "Sorry, babe," he said. "I'm done helping." He flicked his wrist, and Piper and Kori flew in opposite directions, with Kori almost flying into Jason, and Piper slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck, the deck that they tried to hard to escape.

"Piper!" She shouted, her voice hoarse. "Piper, hang on!" She tried to push herself off of the ground, but the wind intensified, and she could barely get up. When she did, the Coach restrained her, much to her and Jason's anger.

 "Coach," Jason said, "let us go!"

"Jason, Leo, Kori, 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.

Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the pretty girl attack me! I'd be ok with getting to fight the boy as well. 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?"