Ventus sure knew how to fly.

Lightning flashed everywhere, but my winged stallion avoided the bolts with his wings, which absorbed the energy. All the others behind me were screaming as they tried to duck for cover, but their stallions had the same ability as Ventus had. They dived through the storm with no problem.

I held my father's waist tightly, since the wind was incredibly strong. I had the feeling that the storm was more violent because it could sense the presence of my father. Now that I mentioned it, if I look more closely at Poseidon, I could see that he was literally glowing with a blue aura of power, like he was drawing strength from the storm.

Through the flashes of lightning and thunder, I could see the California State School in the distance, smoke rising from several of its shattered windows. A crowd gathered outside the front door of the school, all of them dressed in grey clothing and obsidian armour. They looked as if they were guarding it for some reason. The more I looked at the school, the more I could see the damage it suffered. A section of the building had crumbled to the ground, the roof had been ripped open like a box and the doors looked like someone had blown themselves in. Smoke continued to rise up from the inside.

The soldiers looked up and saw us, pointing at us with their weapons.

"What have they done to our school?" Jake shouted over the wind.

"They've taken control of it!" I yelled back. "Chiron and the rest of the students are in the main storage room underneath the building! Jake, I need you and Katie to guide us there, because I have no idea where it is!"

"Haven't you noticed the guards standing in front of the entrance?" Chloe cried out. "The only way inside is through the front doors!"

I reached inside my pocket and brought out the silver cylinder. "Leave that to me!"

I leaned forward and patted Ventus's back to get his attention.

"Listen to me Ventus! On my mark, I need you to soar down and glide straight at those soldiers!"

What! You've gone insane, the stallion neighed at me.

"Just do it!" I bellowed.

I wrapped Ventus's reins around my father's waist, just to make sure.

When we hovered a hundred or so metres away from the sentry guards, who spotted us almost immediately. They formed themselves into a tight phalanx, wielding their spears outwards.

"Guy's," I held up my right arm. "We're gonna dive downwards on my mark! Stay close behind me!"

Chloe grunted in disgust. "What is with you people and heights?"

"Just deal with it Chloe!" Katie yelled. She looked ready for action. "We're going in hard! And we better be ready, because they're bound to attack us on sight!"

I waited several seconds, where I could hear the constant rumbling and booming sounds of thunder. "Now, dive Ventus! Dive!"

Ventus folded his wings and started to plummet to the ground. Everyone screamed and groaned as their stallions picked up the speed. The wind slapped me in the face, blowing my wavy black hair. I concentrated all my will into the thick metallic cylinder and it grew into my father's three pronged trident. Chloe cried out in surprise as she recognised the weapon.

I pointed the trident at the guards who was still in their phalanx. The weapon hummed with uncontrollable power as the prongs glowed with blue fire. With a shudder, the trident let loose a giant ball of sparkling energy and hurtled towards the phalanx of soldiers. At such close proximity, the ball exploded with dangerous results. There was a bright flash, like I just created my own miniature version of a supernova, making me shield my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the sentries had been obliterated. Shields went everywhere; spears were embedded into the ground and shattered into splinters and armour was strewn across the pavement of the street. With a new found adrenaline coursing through me, I willed Ventus to fly through the bellowing smoke and the open doors of the building and landed on the floor, flapping his wings in triumph.

I jumped off Ventus's back, pulling my father off with me. Chloe's winged stallion came in and landed. My sister rushed over and helped me carry Poseidon over to the main staircase, getting him into a sitting position.

Jake and Katie ran over, looking at me in awe as I held the trident in my right hand.

"Where the hell did you learn how to use a god's weapon?" Jake demanded. "I thought that was against the rules!"

"Not where I come from," I answered. I looked down the corridors, feeling like we're being watched. "Katie, can you and Jake get us to the underground storage room?"

"We can," Katie said, "but not if we're gonna have company on the way."

"I bet you a hundred bucks that we're dealing with a least a few dozen soldiers," Chloe guessed. "How guarded do you think the door is?"

"It's made out of pure bronze," Jake explained, "with chrome steel melded into the locks and combinations. It would take a lot of man power to open it up from the outside without a key."

I clicked my fingers. "Katie, give me your phone."

Katie frowned. "Why–?"

"Just give me it!"

The agriculture goddess's daughter tossed her phone to me.

I quickly dialled Chiron's number, and he immediately answered. I put it on loud speaker.

"What took you so long?" the old centaur scolded. "You said half an hour!"

"We ran into some old friends," I answered. "We're in the main staircase corridor right now. How far down are you?"

"We're five stories down into the ground. We got soldiers standing outside the doors, but they can't hear anything we're saying. However, you've got to hurry."

"We're on our way," I said. "But we need to hurry as well – we've got Poseidon with us."

"It's about damn time as well," a new voice spoke from the phone.

I smiled. "Hermes, is that you?"

"Yep, it's me cuz," the messenger god replied. "Glad to hear your voice again and that you're still okay. I was worrying that you wouldn't have made it. I'd be furious to know that if you died, getting my car destroyed and getting you to L.A. was all for nothing!"

"Glad to hear you too. Okay, get a medical team ready, because Poseidon is still unconscious."

"We'll be ready." The phone hung up.

Suddenly, there were noises coming from the front doors, and I could hear the familiar voices of soldiers. Fearing the worse, I draped my father's arm across my shoulders. Katie did the same. Chloe got her bow ready, while Jake got his golden sword ready, the blade sparking with electricity.

Jake looked at me. "We'll cover you from behind. You concentrate your fire in front. Be ready."

"Got it," I said.

We all walked down the main corridor, just as the first wave of Typhoon soldiers rushed inside the complex. Chloe started firing explosive arrows after explosive arrows at them, causing the soldiers to duck for cover, but all the explosions sent pieces of shrapnel everywhere. There were a lot of grunts and yells, letting me know that the shrapnel had found its marks.

Jake sent bolts of lightning at the enemy, causing more flash fires to erupt, sending the Typhoon soldiers into further panic.

In front of me were more soldiers, who were possibly wondering what all the noise was about. They didn't have much time to react, because I sent a powerful blast of blue energy from my father's trident, and the Typhoon's were ripped to pieces of glass, shattering like smashed ice. Katie and I continued walking forward, hauling Poseidon's paralysed body along, his head lolling from side to side.

"Turn left!" Katie screamed. We turned at a corner, where a set of elevators were placed.

"These should take us down to the lower levels," she panted.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked her, my voice sounding concerned.

"Poseidon's getting heavy with every step," she grunted.

I looked at my father. "He feels light to me. But if you say that he's getting heavier, then I'm gonna have trouble with him. Come on; let's get inside one of those elevators!"

We hurried along and dived into the elevator, with Chloe and Jake rushing inside. The doors closed with a loud squeak.

"Give me Poseidon," Jake said.

Katie and I were still carrying my father. Now I knew what Katie meant about him being heavy. It felt as if I was carrying several bags of potatoes (Yeah, I use to carry two huge bags of potatoes on both shoulders, so I know how much they weigh), and my arms ached with the effort.

"Come on," Jake insisted. "You're the one with a god's weapon. You practically know how to use it. We need you in front in case there's more Typhoons' or Whirlwind's down there."

I grunted. "Okay, but a little warning for you – he's really heavy. Like, he weighs the equivalent of a freaking adult elephant."

As soon as Jake grabbed hold of Poseidon – he nearly collapsed with the weight – I gripped the Sea God's weapon more tightly.

The doors opened and we were greeted with more Cyclone City guards, who looked at us with surprise. They didn't have much time to even speak, because I pointed the trident at them and a jet of minty green flame came rushing out. The wooden floor ignited like wildfire – flames dancing, soldiers screaming as they tried escape but with no success. They were engulfed instantly, and were reduced to white ashes.

The flames, however, continued to race up the walls and up the ceiling. All of us ran forward, straight through the flames and down the hallway of the bottom levels. More soldiers came at us, but they didn't stand a chance against me and my father's powerful weapon of the ocean. Katie was throwing knife after knife at them, when they dared came close. They seem to get the hint that we were too strong, because some of them got to the ground, pleading for mercy. We left them alone, because that was one of the demigod rules: never harm a soldier if he pleads mercy.

"It's not far now!" Katie shouted over the roar of the flames. "It's just around this corner!"

We turned to the right and came to a massive bronze door. It gleamed in the dim light, the steel buckles shining like stars. There was no visible handle on it, but I knew that the thing would open.

I hammered my fist against the cold metal. "Chiron let us in!"

Noises came from the end of the corridor. Someone was running down the hallway, shouting orders at other soldiers.

"Chiron! This is serious, open the door!" I shouted louder. "Open the goddamn door!"

There was a series of unlocking sounds from the other side of the door and the huge sheet of bronze and steel swung open. A couple of teenaged demigods hurried us inside and closed the doors quickly.