ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

2

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, and Kat was about to laugh at him when Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but she focused on grabbing his jacket and pulled him back.

"Thanks, Kat!" Leo yelled.

"Go, go, go!" ordered 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 her face. Kat thought she must've been freezing, but she looked calm and confident — telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving. Gods, that was so hot. Kat was a total simp.

She, 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.

"Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back.

"Coach," Jason said, "let me go!"

"Jason, Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."

"Excuse me, I can fight too!" Kat protested.

"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What monster? You can fight, Kat?"

The coach's cap blew off, revealing his horns. He lifted his baseball bat — but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. 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 boy 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."

He turned to Kat, sneering at her. "And you. Some kind of half-blood you are, Mikhailova. And here I thought you were competent like the rest of your family."

"At least I have a family." She rolled her eyes, though she was attempting to hide her anger.

The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down."

"You think you two can protect three half-bloods at once?" 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?"

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. You and Mikhailova keep that thing busy" — "he stabbed a thumb at Dylan — "while I get Leo."