"THE RESCUE MISSION HAS A ROUGH START"

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Vespertine has always believed that life is a dish best consumed at the moment. She liked living in the moment, but as she stood outside Westover Hall, she wished she was doing anything but.

The air was cold, but Vespertine didn't believe that was a sufficient enough word.

The air bit at her. Its teeth were embedded in her skin and the feeling of winter seeped into her bones. She hated this weather. It reminded her too much of her homeland that she was oh so desperate to forget.

Vespertine wasn't at Westover Hall in the dead of winter just for shits and giggles but for a mission.

Two demigods that could be instrumental in the brewing war. If what her Grandfather said was true, the two DiAngelos were soon to attract more attention.

Hopefully, this would be easy quick in and out and she could get on with her very long life.
She knew there were at least two empousa that had been sent, but she was just detail to ensure the extraction of the kids worked out in their favor.

She nervously twisted her ring as she was waiting for a signal from the monsters inside, but she couldn't remember what it was supposed to be. A little ironic that she forgot something considering it was her.

But otherwise, she was hoping that this would go smoothly and she could return to the cozy flat that she had found abandoned and fixed up just outside the city.

She was leaning against the cold black stone wall next to the entrance when a car pulled up with three children in it. The driver was a woman with kind eyes, the kind of woman Vespertine knew to respect and never underestimate.

There was also a boy and two girls.
The boy. Well, she knew who that was.
Percy Jackson had appeared in her dreams every night ever since her Grandfather started speaking to her.
The dreams always were of him living his life.
His joys and fears were always open to her.
She was free to turn his life events over like a Rubik's cube in her head, trying to solve the puzzle and the prophecy with every twist.
She could not tell you why this happened.

He reminded her of humanity and it gnawed at her soul to have to face a person so loyal and pure to the point of risking their demise.

Vespertine could feel the boy's eyes rake over her as the trio stood where the car had been and the girls turned to watch it drive away, still conversing.
She did not move.
Most people didn't feel her presence unless she wanted them to.
But she couldn't seem to look away from Percy and his intoxicating eyes.

She smiled and broke eye contact, making her way inside. Damning those monsters and their nonexistent signals.

She wished him a kinder sea for all it was worth.

✦ ✦ ✦

Percy had just gotten out of his mom's car, thoroughly embarrassed. Thalia and Annabeth followed him out and were still giggling about what his mom had said.
He was going to join in again, but he felt someone's eyes watching him.

The prettiest girl he'd ever seen was staring at him.

She was wearing a navy blue oversized sweater over a pair of old-looking jeans. And she was staring at him, smiling, while leaning against the wall outside the building. But that wasn't what intrigued him.

Her eyes were the most vibrant shade of purple he'd ever seen. On anyone else, they would've looked weird or scary, but on her, they looked natural.

He would've kept staring had she not smiled at him and slipped inside, letting the heavy doors slam behind her.

"Did you guys see that girl?"
Percy looked back towards Thalia and Annabeth, who looked back at him in confusion.

"We'd better get inside," Annabeth broke the awkward silence. "Grover will be waiting."

Thalia looked at the castle and shivered. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."

Percy stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall. "Nothing good."

The oak doors groaned open, and the three of them stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.
All Percy could say was, "Whoa."

The place was huge. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff.

Westover was a military school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. Literally.

Percy's hand went to his pocket, where he kept his ballpoint pen, Riptide. He could already sense something wrong in this place.
Something dangerous.

Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, her favorite magic item. They were all thinking the same thing.
A fight was coming.

Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where-" The doors slammed shut behind us.

"Oo-kay," Percy mumbled. "Guess we'll stay awhile."

He was momentarily distracted by looking for the girl with purple eyes. He wondered where she could have gone. It's not like the hall had many places to hide.

He could hear music echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like dance music.

They stashed their overnight bags behind a pillar and started down the hall.
They hadn't gone very far when they heard footsteps on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept them.

They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim.
Fucking military schools, am I right?

The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward.
They both walked stiffly like they had sticks up their asses.
Why was everyone always so uptight at boarding schools?

"Well?" the mustached woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Um..." Percy realized he hadn't planned for this.

He'd been so focused on getting to Grover and finding out what was wrong, he hadn't considered that someone might question three kids sneaking into the school at night. It was a little stupid to just wing something like that, but they were literal kids so you couldn't blame them.

They hadn't talked at all in the car about how they would get inside either.

Percy said, "Ma'am, we're just-"
"Ha!" the man snapped, which made him jump.
"Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

He had an accent-French, maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques, he was tall, with a hawkish face. He was pretentious to a fault.
His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it hard not to stare up his ugly ass nose, and his eyes were two different colors-one brown, one blue like an alley cat. And it didn't look cool at all.

Percy figured the dude was about to toss them into the snow, but then Thalia stepped forward and did something very weird.

She snapped her fingers.
The sound was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just his imagination, but Percy felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room.
It seemed to wash over all of them, making the banners rustle on the walls.

"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."

The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes.
It seemed Thalia was out of her goddamn mind. Probably from too much pine sap in her brain.

Perfect, now they'd probably get punished for lying and thrown into the snow. But oddly enough, the man seemed to be hesitating.
He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"
Despite the danger they were in, Percy had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, the little shit.
A teacher named Got Chalk? He had to be kidding.

The woman blinked like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir."
She frowned at them.
"Annabeth. Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

Before they could answer, they heard more footsteps, and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You-"

He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh-"

"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man.
His tone made it clear that he detested Grover.
"What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."

Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I just meant I'm so glad they made... the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"

Dr. Thorn glared at them.
Percy had decided one of his eyes had to be fake.
The brown one? Maybe it was the blue one. Yep, had to be the blue one.
He looked like he wanted to pitch them off the castle's highest tower, but then Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!"

They didn't wait to be told twice.
They left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the thing to do. But that was mostly Percy.

Grover hustled them down the hall in the direction of the music.

Percy swore he could feel the teachers' eyes on his back, so he walked closer to Thalia and asked in a low voice, "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"

"You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?"

An uncomfortable lump formed in his throat.
Chiron was their head trainer at camp, but he'd never shown him anything like that.
Why had he shown Thalia and not Percy?

Grover hurried the group to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with their dyslexia, they could read that much.
"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth and Thalia both hugged Grover. Percy gave him a big high five.

It was good to see Grover after so many months.
He'd gotten a little taller and had sprouted a few more whiskers, but otherwise, he looked like he always did when he passed for human- a red cap on his curly brown hair to hide his goat horns, baggy jeans, and sneakers with fake feet to hide his furry legs and hooves.
He was wearing a black T-shirt that took Percy a few seconds to read. It said WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. He wasn't sure whether that was, like, Grover's rank or maybe just the school motto.
"So what's the emergency?" Percy asked.

Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."
"Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?" Grover nodded.

Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade through high school for possible recruits.
These were desperate times. Camp Half-Blood was losing campers.
And you kind of need campers to have a camp.

They needed all the new fighters they could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many demigods out there.

"A brother and a sister," he said. "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."

"Monsters?"

It was obvious that was what he meant, so take your guess who asked.

One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!"

Grover looked at Thalia desperately.
Percy tried not to feel upset by that.
Used to be, Grover looked to him for answers, but Thalia had seniority. Not just because her dad was Zeus. Thalia had more experience than any of them with fending off monsters in the real world.
"Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"

Grover nodded.
"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"

"Oh," Grover said and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."

author's note
So... the first chapter!! So sorry for the wait.
As you can probably tell, I'm taking a lot of the scenes straight from the original text and adapting them, and adding my stuff to them. This is just a fanfic and the original work is owned by Rick Riordan, I just own my ideas and adaptations. Hope the long ass chapters are okay. 2k and a little more... oops.
Anyways, tell me what you think!! <3