Home|| Leo Valdez

4

—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 them 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."

"I'll have you know, my nose is perfectly fine. Just ask Violet." The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "Come at me 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.

"LEO!" Alex tried to run to him but seemed to be stuck in place. "FUCK-"

"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

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

"Get him how?" Alex demanded. 

"You going to fly?" asked Jason.

"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Alex almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves—goat's hooves. Which meant those things on his head, Alex realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.

"You're a faun," Jason said while Alex stared at the two of them, she had absolutely no idea what was happening. Maybe this was all a dream.

"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."

Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.

Everything was happening so fast. It was all a blur, Alex didn't even have enough time to process everything that was going on. But somehow, she fit right in. Chaos raged around her and it was almost like being ADHD had prepared her for whacky shit like this.

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Alex and Jason "Now it's your turn"

Alex threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.

Somehow the weak feeling that had crept into her when they entered the desert made way for a burst of strength in the middle of the storm. 

"What, how- Did I just-" Alex stared at Jason for an answer, but the blond was looking at Dylan. 

Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood—golden blood—trickled from his forehead.

"Nice try, child of sea." He glared at Alex. "But you'll have to do better."

Alex had no idea what he meant, but she had bigger problems. The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.

Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk.