{LORELAI}

The storm had churned into a mini hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like tendrils of a monster jellyfish.

Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Jason and Lorelai skidded across the slick floor.

Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Lorelai grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.

"Thanks, Lorelai!" Leo yelled.

"Go, go, go!" Coach Hedge said.

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. She looked more calm and confident than Lorelai had expected her to be, the McLean girl kept telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.

Lorelai, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like they were running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back.

The two holding the doors 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.

But the boy 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."

Dylan flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the sidewalk deck.

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

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

"What?" Leo demanded. A random worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away straight into Lorelai's. "What monster?"

Coach's cap blew off, and sticking 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 which had somehow turned into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.

Dylan gave the coach that psycho-happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the girl 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."

"Hey, nobody calls him grandpa!" Lorelai yelled as she removed the worksheet from her face.

"What are you gonna do about it Warner?" Dylan taunted.

Coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, 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 mid-air and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold.

To Lorelai's relief, 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. Keep that thing, busy you two," He jabbed a thumb at Dylan. "While I get Leo."

"Are you gonna fly like a bird?" The blonde girl asked.

"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Lorelai almost had a heart attack. The coach had goat hooves instead of feet.

"Oh my god, Coach Hedge is a furry!" She yelled in surprise.

"You're a faun," Jason spoke up.

"Satyr," Hedge snapped at the two. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll get to 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, and dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward the two demigods. "Now it's you two's turn."

Jason threw the club straight at Dylan's face. It seemed like a lost cause but somehow the club flew right at its target, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.

The club rolled over next to Piper and she wasn't as dazed as she looked, her fingers curled around it but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Golden blood trickled down from his forehead.

"Nice try, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have to do better than that."

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 winds and rose above the skywalk.

"You're a Ventus," Jason spoke up. "A storm spirit."

"You know what that is?" Lorelai looked at the boy next to her.

Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Lorelai, Leo, and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a fourth was coming—someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"

Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into ghostly young men with smokey wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.

Lorelai saw Dylan raise his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest.

Bang! Jason was flat on his back. His clothes were smoking. Lorelai didn't know how he survived the lightning bolt going straight through his body but she did see it blast his left shoe.

The storm spirits were laughing. The winds raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tinny and far away.

Piper was on her feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off one of the extra storm spirit while the other toyed with Lorelai. The blonde grabbed a walking stick that had been dropped and threw it at the creature, but it flew right through.

The spirit shot lightning at her but. Then the spirit's attention landed on Jason who was now on his feet.

"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"

"My turn," Jason said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold coin from before. He flipped the coin in the air like he'd done it a thousand times and caught it in his palm, then suddenly he was holding a very sharp double-edged weapon. The whole thing was gold—hilt, handle, and blade.

Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!" The other two didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity.

Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge.

The boy stepped in—one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder.

Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if he was expecting the other two to re-form, but their gold dust remained dispersed in the wind. "Impossible! Who are you, half-blood?"

Piper was so stunned she dropped her club.

"How the fuck did you not die?" Lorelai demanded.

Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour next to Lorelai.

"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.

"Uh, Coach you're a little late," Lorelai spoke up as she checked on Leo.

"Curse it, boy!" Coach Hedge snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"

The blonde helped Leo to his feet, he was breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks. "Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are—I just fell down the fucking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"

Dylan hissed at them, but the Warner girl could see the fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."

Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Lorelai used her hoodie to cover her head.

A hole opened in the clouds—a swinging vortex of black and silver.

"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigods, will come with me!"

He lunged at Jason, but Lorelai tackled the monster. Even though he was made of smoke somehow she managed to grab him. Both of them went sprawling.

Leo, Jason, Piper, and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward.

Jason and Coach landed on the floor and Jason's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on the side, dazed and groaning, Piper next to him.

Lorelai got the worst of it as she was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.

Jason started toward her, but Dylan interrupted by screaming, "I'll settle for these two!"

He grabbed Leo and Piper's arms and began to rise, towing two half-conscious demigods below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them up like a vacuum cleaner.

Lorelai tried to grab the ledge with her other hand but the winds knocked her off and she yelped as she fell.

"Jason, go!" Hedge yelled. "Save her!" Then the satyr launched himself at the spirit lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo and Piper from the spirit's grasp.

They dropped safely to the floor, but Dylan grappled the coach's arms instead. Hedge tried to headbutt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air gaining speed.

Coach Hedge shouted down once more. "Save her! I got this!" Then he and the storm spirit spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.

Jason ran over to the railing and jumped over the side.

In a heartbeat, he caught up with Lorelai, who wasn't even flailing her arms like she was ready to go splat.

He grabbed her hand and closed his eyes, waiting for death. She screamed. The wind whistled in his ears. He wondered how dying would feel like.

Suddenly the wind died. Jason thought they must have died, but he hadn't felt any impact.

He opened his eyes. They weren't failing. They were floating in midair, a hundred feet above the river. Lorelai's eyes were closed.

"You can open your eyes, now," He told her softly.

She opened one of her eyes and looked down, Lorelai yelped again and wrapped her arms around Jason like she would fall if she didn't, which she would.

"Am I dead?" She nuzzled her head into Jason's neck.

"Nope," He said as he hugged her.

Lorelai pulled away and patted his back. "Thanks dude," she said. "But how did you fly?"

"I didn't," he admitted. "I think I would know if I could fly..."

The blonde gripped onto Jason tighter as they shot a few feet higher. Lorelai had no idea how he was doing it, but she was surprised by it.

"The air is supporting us," he told her.

"Oh," she nodded. "Well, that makes sense."

The rain had stopped. The storm clouds didn't seem as bad, but they were still rumbling and flashing. There wasn't a hundred percent chance that the storm spirits were gone. She had no idea what happened to Coach Hedge, Leo, or Piper.

"We have to help them," Lorelai said. "Can you—"

"Let's see," Jason said and instantly they shot skyward.

If she wasn't worried about her friends, Lorelai would've enjoyed flying in the air. As soon as they landed on the skywalk, the two ran toward Piper and Leo.

Piper seemed fine but Leo not so much. She turned the Valdez boy over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least they weren't dead.

"Stupid...ugly...goat," He muttered.

"Where did he go?" Lorelai asked staring up at the sky.

"Never came down," Piper said.

"Please tell me he didn't actually save my life," Leo groaned.

"Twice," Jason said.

Leo groaned even louder. "What the fuck happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword...I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"

Lorelai watched as Jason walked over to the sword and picked it up. He flipped it into the air and mid-spin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.

"Yup," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."

Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes.

"Jason, those things—"

"Venti," he said. "Storm spirits."

"You were acting like...like you'd seen them before," Lorelai said. "Who are you?"

He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."

The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn'tseem to be having any luck.

"Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people," Jason recalled. "I think he meant us."

"And that thing Dylan turned into..." Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me."

Lorelai covered her mouth as a laugh slipped out.

"Lorelai!" Piper scolded.

"Sorry,"

"He called us...what, demigods?" Leo said as he lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem very eager to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he said. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feel godly."

"I've heard that term before," Lorelai knit her eyebrows. "I told you guys what I saw in Manhattan was real."

"Lorelai," Piper rolled her eyes. "For the last time, there wasn't a big Doberman eating a person."

"But I saw it, and I saw these two kids beating up a giant, there was a literal war going on."

"No there wasn't," Leo said. "We would've seen something on the news or shit."

There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and cracks in the skywalk began to widen.

"We need to get off this thing," Jason said.

"Maybe if we—"

"Okay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me those are flying horses."

Lorelai looked at where he was looking and saw a dark shape descending from the east—too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer she could see a pair of winged animals—gray, four-legged, exactly like horses, except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements," Jason said. "Hedge told us about an extraction squad coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet.

"That sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.

The chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass a bulky guy with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks stood in the chariot. He wore jeans and an orange t-shirt with a shield over his back.

Suddenly the temperature dropped, and then tendrils made out of shadows from the canyon began circling one spot on the skywalk.

"What's happening?" Leo whispered. 

The shadows disappeared and there appeared a girl.

She had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and skin as pale as a ghost, she looked older than them. She wore a black cardigan and blue jeans with a green top. She looked at the brink of having a breakdown but that didn't stop her from making Lorelai want to hide from her.

She made her way toward them while the bulky guy was reining in the horses.

"Where is he?" She demanded.

"Where's who?" Jason asked.

She glared like the answer was unacceptable.

Then she turned to the other three demigods. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some...tornado things."

"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."

She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Jason with distaste. "Anemoi thuella? That's the Greek term. Who are you and what happened?"

Jason and Lorelai tried their best to explain, but it was very hard at the terrifying amount of fear the girl was radiating. The other guy from the chariot came over.

He stood there glaring at them but he looked at Lorelai like he was trying to figure out something about her, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his bicep.

When they finished the story, the brunette looked more angrier than before.

"No, she told me he would be here." The girl said. "She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"Evangeline," the bald guy said. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's foot. "The guy with one shoe. He's the answer."

She clenched her fist. "He can't be." She glared at the sky with pure hatred. "What do you want from me?" She asked the sky.

"Evangeline," said the bald dude. "we gotta leave. Let's get these four to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

Evangeline scowled. "Let them come back, I'll stab every single one of them to death until they tell me where he is."

"Evangeline—" The bald guy faltered as a white light suddenly flashed around them. When it disappeared everyone was staring at Lorelai.

Lorelai looked down at her clothes, they had been swapped for rainbow peplos with a rainbow cloak, and she realized she was glowing—rainbow. "What the actual—"

"You're a daughter of Iris," Evangeline announced.

"What?" Lorelai asked. "Why I am glowing? What happened to my clothes?"

The bald guy held up a hand. "Calm down, you've been claimed."

"Huh?"

"You've been claimed by the goddess Iris," Evangeline explained in an annoyed tone. "Quicker than I expected but whatever. This is Butch, he's your brother."

"My what?" The blonde had trouble processing this information as she looked at the bald guy.

"Come on," Butch said, clamping a hand on her shoulder. "We have to hurry up."

Evangeline turned to look at Jason, her eyes were filled with resentment. "We'll settle this later." She said it like she was going to beat him up later. She turned on her heels and marched toward the chariot the shadows following after her.

Piper shook her head as she stopped staring at Lorelai. "What's her problem?"

"What's going on?" Jason asked.

"Seriously," Leo agreed. "Why does Lorelai look like a skittle?"

"We have to get you guys out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way." He glanced at Lorelai.

"I'm not going anywhere with her," Jason gestured toward the brunette. "She looks like she wants to stab me to death."

Butch hesitated. "Evangeline looks at everyone like that. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find the guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?" Lorelai asked.

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's so worried she's losing her mind. She hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."

------✧------

A/N:  Short chapter but it's fine. I did my research on this and apparently children of Iris' clothes get swapped and they glow rainbow when they get claimed.

Okay so the reason for the late update was that I started watching Shadow and Bone and my Ben Barnes obsession came back... How could Netflix cancel that show? I need season three, like now.

(Not proofread I was too lazy again lol.)

Anyway, our girl is backkk!