Chapter one,      I don't get choice in the matter.

         Demigod dreams weren't pleasant. Anyone could tell you that. More often than not, they were omens about something in the near future. They were sort of like prophecies, wrapped in mystery and nearly impossible to figure out.

       In this specific dream Cordelia McKinley was having, however, it was rather obvious what was happening.

       "What do you want?" Cordelia asked the woman in front of her. The woman was young, looked to be in her early twenties, with blonde hair. She wore a crab-claw crown and a golden net in her hair.

The woman frowned. "Now Cordelia, is that anyway to greet your mother?"

       Cordelia fought the urge to roll her eyes, which were carbon copies of her mothers. "Well maybe I would be nicer if you actually bothered to talk to me."

       Amphitrite simply waved her hand in dismissal, as if her daughters words weren't important enough. "Well... we can't have everything, can we?"

      "What's that supposed to mean?"

        Amphitrite smiled, which eerily looked like Cordelia's. "You'll find that out soon enough. Now, back to what I'm here for."

"Let me guess," Cordelia huffed and crossed her arms. "You need me to do something for you."

      "Yes, I do," The goddess said, her smile strained. "Well, not for me specifically, but for Triton."

Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "If triton wants something from me, why doesn't he come ask me himself?"

       "He's a bit preoccupied, at the moment. Which is why it is important that you succeed in the task I'm about to give you."

Cordelia clenched her fist, she felt her nails dig into her palms. It hurt, but she didn't really mind as she was too busy glaring at the woman who calls herself her mother. "Seriously? You don't ever try to reach out, and now you come to me in the middle of a dream and practically force me into going on a quest?"

       "Well when you put it that way, it makes this situation sound horrible," Amphitrite said, slightly pouting.

Cordelia decided arguing against her mother was futile. Through gritted teeth she asked again, "So, what do you need?"

       "I knew you'd come around," the goddess grinned. "Anyways, I don't know if you've noticed, but the tides have been pretty chaotic lately. Do you have an idea as to why?"

       Cordelia did notice. Being a daughter of the sea, her emotions were connected with the sea, so her moods had been all over the place. "I figured it was just Poseidon being pissy."

"Well it's not," Amphitrite said rather defensively. "The real reason is because Tritons weapon, his Trident, has gone missing. Not only is this causing the tides to become out of control, but it's also causing unrest among the sea creatures. Triton needs his weapon back, and he needs it immediately."

       "So you want to send me?" Sure, Cordelia was powerful, but she didn't know why they would choose her over somebody like Percy Jackson. "Why not Percy?"

       The sea goddess sighed. "Percy Jackson has his own things to worry about. Now, will you accept the quest or not, Cordelia?"

       "Well it's not like I've got much of a choice," she pointed out.

       "Good," Amphitrite said with a nod. Cordelia let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding in. She opened her mouth to say goodbye when her mother interrupted. "Oh! One last thing. This isn't a solo quest, Cordelia. You'll need one more companion on this quest."

"Uhm, okay? Who would that be?"

Amphitrite gave her a sly smile. "A son of Hermes, of course."

Cordelia had a sinking feeling she knew who she was taking about. She laughed nervously "Which one? He has many, many sons."

Amphitrite shook her head. "I believe you know who I'm talking about."

       "But—"

       "Good luck. You'll need it, child."

        And with those final words from Amphitrite, Cordelia awoke with a start in her sleeping bag.

Cordelia should've known her already shitty day would only get worse when she heard Thalia Grace call her name.

By simply turning around at the sound of her last name, she got herself roped into a rescue mission with recently alive Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase, and Percy Jackson. Percy's mom had picked them up at Camp Half-blood, and it was about an eight hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine.

Cordelia sat in silence, her frizzy red hair put into braids, as they almost always were. She gave up on straightening her hair long ago.

       The car was quiet, everyone much too nervous to talk much. The only person who was talking was Ms. Jackson, who Cordelia had grown quite fond of throughout the car ride. By the time they'd arrived at Westover Hall, it was getting dark, and Ms. Jackson had told Cordelia, Thalia, and Annabeth almost every embarrassing baby Percy story.

Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."

       Westover Hall looked like it came straight out of a fantasy novel. It was all black stone with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden doors. It stood on a big snowy cliff overlooking a big frosty forest on one side and a churning gray ocean on the other.

       "Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" Percy's mom asked.

       "No, thanks, Mom," he said. I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

       "But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

       Cordelia snorted at the blush that crept up his cheeks. Percy sent her a side glare.

"It's okay. Mrs. Jackson," Annabeth smiled reassuringly. Her braids were tucked into a ski cap and her grey eyes were the same color as the ocean. "We'll keep him out of trouble."

Percy's mom visibly relaxed at that. Annabeth always had that attempt on parents or authority figures in general.

"All right, dears," Ms. Jackson said. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Mrs. Jackson," Cordelia said. "Thank you so much for the ride."

"Extra sweaters? You have my cellphone number?"

"Mom—"

"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"

"Mom, seriously! We'll be fine. Come on, guys."

Cordelia sent her one smile before following after her friends. The wind blew straight through her layers of clothing like ice daggers.

Once the car was out of sight, Thalia said, "Your mom is so cool, Percy."

"She's pretty okay," Percy admitted. "What about you? You ever get in touch with your mom?"

Cordelia kicked his ankle. "Ow! What was that for Cory?"

"Are you serious?" Cordelia sighed.

"We'd better get inside," Annabeth interjected. "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," he guessed.

       The oak doors groaned open, and the four half-bloods stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.

       "Woah," Cordelia heard Percy say.

Woah was right. The place was huge, the walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes and a bunch of other stuff. Sure, Westover Hall was a military school, but Cordelia didn't expect the decorations to be actual weapons!

Her hand immediately went to her charm bracelet where she kept her sword: Pearl. The sword was celestial bronze, but what gave it its name was its white hilt, which had a pearl on it that transformed it back into its charm: a bow.

       She could sense there was something weird about the place, like there was a monster waiting to jump out and attack them.

       Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where—"

       The doors slammed shut behind them.

       "Oh hell no," Cordelia murmured. This was straight out of a horror movie, and she definitely didn't fancy being killed in a boarding school.

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

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

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

       "They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward to me. They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spines.

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

"Um..." Cordelia realized that they hadn't planned to be questioned. They'd been so focused on getting Grover and the half-bloods out. It hadn't occurred to any of them that four kids trying to sneak into a dance at night would raise some alarm bells.

Percy said, "Ma'am, we're just—"

"Ha!" The man snapped, which made Cordelia jump. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

He had a horrible French accent. He pronounced his Js like in Jacques and he was tall with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard to not stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors— one brown one blue— like an alley cats.

If he wasn't a monster, Cordelia would be very shocked.

Suddenly, Thalia stepped forward and did something very weird. She snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Cordelia swore she felt a gust of wind ripple from her palm. It washed over everyone, making the banners on the walls rustle.

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

       The make teacher narrowed his two colored eyes. Great. Cordelia thought. Now we'll be thrown into the freezing cold. Again. But he seemed to be hesitating.

       He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these children?"

       Percy and Cordelia shared a glance. Despite the severity of the situation, they couldn't bring themselves to take the teachers name seriously.

       Gottschalk blinked, as if she had been broken out a trance. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at the quartet. "Annabeth. Cordelia. Percy. Thalia. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

       Before they could answer, 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! And they made it!"

Dr. Thorn glared at the group. He looked like he wanted to drop-kick them off the nearest tower, but then Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch in excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!"

They left with a couple 'yes ma'ams" and 'yes sirs' and a couple of salutes. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Grover hustled them down the hall. Percy walked closely to Thalia, and asked her something quietly. She didn't hear what Thalia said, but she saw Percy with a hurt look on his face. Grover hurried them to a door that had GYM written on the glass.

"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth and Thalia hugged him, Percy gave him a big high five, and Cordelia gave him a small smile and a wave. Grover was wearing a red cap on his head, baggy jeans, sneakers, and a black T-shirt that read: WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. It took her a minute to read it, the dyslexia did not help in the slightest.

"So what's the emergency?" Percy asked.

Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."

"Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?"

Finding one demigod was hard enough, but to find two? That was nearly unheard of. This year, Chiron put the satyrs on unpaid overtime, scouring the cities for demigods in fourth grade all the way to high school.

"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?"

"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 seemed a bit bothered by it, Cordelia noticed. She nudged him slightly and smiled at him. That seemed to cheer him up.

      "Right," Thalia said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"

       Grover nodded.

       "Then let's dance," Thalia finalized. Just as Cordelia was about to protest and try to save herself from humiliation, she spoke again. "Who's the monster?"

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

LIA SPEAKS
Well hello... I'm trying to update whatever books i haven't updated in a while ( June and Leo are next trust me)

Everyone thank mcle4an for the entire quest idea and the prophecy like she's actually so talented ily mel thank you smmmm

And also thank you Theo for helping me with Cordelia's weapon(s) thank you for letting me steal your idea ❤️❤️❤️