Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 17. The Griffin's Nest

'NO!' Demi screamed.

Jayden hugged her to his chest so she couldn't watch Kendra fall. Hailey didn't have the luxury of looking away. She stood frozen while part of her mind told her this wasn't real, that Kendra wasn't about to die.

Use your powers! a voice screamed in her head. Warmth poured from her fingertips, shooting towards Kendra as Hailey summoned a gale of wind to catch her.

She fell straight through it.

COME ON! Her hands shook as she poured everything she had into intensifying the wind.

Instead of stopping Kendra mid-fall, the wind smacked her into the jagged cliff, and Hailey dropped her hands with a gasp, feeling completely betrayed by her powers. Kendra was falling too fast for her wind to work. Once again, she was a complete failure as a Zeus. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the sickening thud that would signal her friend's death.

But it didn't come.

She kept her eyes shut a few more seconds, thinking she'd misjudged the time it would take Kendra to hit the ground. When there was still no thud, she dared to take a peek, expelling a gasp of air.

Alec stood at the foot of the cliff, cradling a limp Kendra. Hailey's first thought was that she'd missed the thud, and Alec had picked Kendra's dead body off the ground. But as Alec walked towards her, she noticed that none of Kendra's bones were bent at strange angles, which was what you'd expect after someone had just fallen 400 feet-not to mention a lot of blood and gore. But aside from bleeding gashes on her stomach and head, Kendra was unharmed. How's that possible?

Alec carefully placed her on the ground.

'I don't understand,' were the only words Hailey could manage.

'Kendra!' Demi cried, peeling herself from Jayden, who stared, dumbfounded. She fell to her knees beside Kendra and shook her. When she didn't respond, Demi looked up at Alec, tears glistening in her eyes. 'Is she dead?'

He slowly shook his head. 'No. She's just passed out.'

'How?' the question came from Jayden this time. 'How is she alive after that fall?'

Alec appeared as perplexed as everyone else. 'I caught her,' he said in a voice edged in uncertainty.

Hailey gazed back at the griffin's nest and then down to Kendra, thinking maybe the fall wasn't as high as she'd first thought, but it definitely wasn't less than 400 feet. 'That's not possible. From that height, she would have crushed you if you'd tried.'

Alec opened his mouth to say something, but Rain's squealing from above cut him off.

'We have to save her,' Demi pleaded, staring towards the nest.

'We will,' Hailey promised, but she had no idea how to get up there, since climbing would take too long.

'Get on that tree,' Demi ordered.

Hailey blinked at her. 'What?'

'You and Jayden on that tree. Now!'

The tree Demi was pointing to was so short its lowest branch came to Hailey's shoulder. But she knew better than to argue with Demi, and pulled herself onto it with Jayden.

Demi aimed an arm at the tree. 'Hold on tight.'

'Whoa.' Hailey's body jerked as the tree shot up like an elevator. She grabbed the branch above her to keep from losing her balance.