𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍, leo valdez

𝐢𝐢𝐢

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢𝐢

»Dylan, help!« shouted Piper. Dylan stood there with an idiotic grin and flapping sports jersey, as if he was suddenly enjoying the storm. »Sorry, Piper,« he said. »Enough help.« He made a gesture with his hand and Piper was flung backwards, slamming into the doors and skidding onto the pavement. »Piper!« Jason tried to dash off, but the wind was against him and Coach Hedge pushed him back. »Let go of me!« said Jason. »Jason, Leo, Layna, stay behind me,» Hedge ordered. »This is my fight. I should have known that was our monster.« »What?« asked Leo and Layna together. A runaway worksheet hit Leo in the face, but he brushed it aside. »What kind of monster?«

The coach's cap was swept off his head and two stumps stuck out of his curls - like the bumps that characters in comic books get when they're hit on the head. He raised his baseball bat, but it was no longer a normal baseball bat. Somehow it had turned into a crude branch club, even with twigs and leaves still attached. Dylan grinned at him in the most insanely happy way.

»Oh, come on, coach. Let the boy attack me. You're getting too old for this anyway. Isn't that why you were retired from this school? I've been on your team all school year and you haven't noticed. You've lost your scent grandad.« The coach let out an angry sound, like bleating animals. »That's enough, sugar baby you're finished.« »You think you can protect four demigods at once, old man?« laughed Dylan. »Good luck.«

Dylan pointed at Leo and a gust of wind formed around him. Leo fell off the pavement as if he'd been pushed down. Somehow he managed to turn in mid-air and slammed sideways into the wall of the canyon, sliding off and searching desperately for something to grab onto. At last he grabbed a thin ledge fifteen metres below the pavement and hung there by his fingertips. 

»Help,« he shouted upwards. »Rope, please! Bungee cord! Anything!« Coach Hedge cursed, threw his branch club to Layna and said to Jason. »I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing off me,« he pointed his thumb at Dylan, »and I'll get Leo.« »How?« asked Jason. »Do you want to fly?« »Not flying. Climbing.« Hedge slipped off his shoes and Jason and Layna nearly had a heart attack. The coach didn't have feet, he had hooves, goat hooves to be precise. That means those things on his head weren't bumps but horns.

»You're a faun,« Jason said at the same time as Layna said, »He looks like a satyr.« »The girl's right. I am a satyr!« hissed Hedge. »Fauns are Roman, but we'll talk about that later.« Hedge then jumped over the railing to make his way to Leo's rescue. »Isn't that lovely?« Dylan turned to Jason and Layna. »Now it's your turn.« Layna threw the branch club. It didn't seem to make much sense in this strong wind, but it flew straight at Dylan, even changing direction when he tried to dodge it and hitting his head so hard that he fell to his knees. Piper wasn't as dazed as she looked. Her fingers closed around the branch club as it rolled towards her, but before she could strike, Dylan straightened up. Blood, golden blood, seeped from his forehead. 

»Nice try, kid.« He looked angrily at Layna. »But you've got to do better.« The pavement shook. Hairline cracks formed in the glass. The others stopped banging on the doors. They backed away and watched in horror. Dylan's body went up in smoke. He still had the same face, the same bright white smile, but his whole form was suddenly swirling black vapour, his eyes like electric sparks in a living storm cloud.He spread black smoky wings. 

»You're a ventus,« Jason said, though he had no idea how he knew that word. »A storm spirit.« Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado ripping the roof off a house. »I'm glad I waited, demigod. I've known about Leo, Piper and Layna for weeks. Could have killed them at any time. But my mistress said there's a fourth coming, someone special. She'll reward me handsomely for your death.«