chapter one
mission kind of impossible

LENNON HART WAS EATING breakfast when Chiron informed her she would be going on an extraction mission. Her on an extraction mission. She'd only been on an extraction mission once and all she had done was stay in the car unless someone needed to be healed— spoiler: no one needed to be healed. Not to mention, the extraction wasn't that far from camp.

But this mission? It was in freaking Maine! She didn't know whether to feel flattered or a bit out of her depth. Chiron could've chosen any of her other siblings to go on a mission but he choose her. What exactly did she bring to the table? Sure she was decent with a bow, or a sword, or dagger, or even healing but that was it. She was just decent. And yes, Lennon was tired of being overlooked but she was still self-aware.

She was just plain old Lennon. Another demigod lost in a sea of more talented and special demigods. Like Percy Jackson, he was special. A child of the big three who got his first quest right when he got to camp.

Anyways, somehow Lennon had found herself on an extraction mission. After being driven to Maine by Argus, she found herself standing outside of Westover Hall. It looked like an evil Hogwarts built of dark stone, all it was missing was a moat and lighting striking dramatically.

She'd been standing there for a while waiting for the others. Her friend Annabeth, Thalia Grace, and, yes, Percy Jackson. All extraordinary people. Once again Lennon found herself wondering why she'd been chosen for this mission.

Lennon rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. She wasn't a patient person and standing outside in the cold definitely made her jittery. And suddenly she wished she would've worn a beanie. She'd wore a colorful striped grandpa sweater of light yellow, blue and white, dark wash mom jeans, and Doc Martens. Her dagger was strapped to her arm and sheathed under her sweater.

Even though she wore a sweater, she was still freezing. She rubbed her hands together, blowing on them. Lennon was not built for the cold at all. She was sure she looked odd, her dark hair in contrast to her pale skin, and her nose probably red from the low temperatures.

She looked around to make sure no one was there then opened her hands in front of her. In her hands was a small ball of swirling bright yellow light. It flickered a bit. She brought it close, letting the warmth wash over her.

Finally, a car pulled up. She quickly closed her hands, shaking them and letting the light flicker away. She watched it stop, sit idly for a few minutes, and then open. One by one everyone filed out and it seemed that Thalia and Percy were arguing.

"Lennon there you are," Annabeth interrupted their arguing, waving the others over as she enveloped Lennon in a hug. She stiffened involuntarily, like she always did when someone hugged her. Though, she still hugged her back, the warmth definitely welcoming. Lennon had known Annabeth since her first year at camp, they'd practically grown up together.

Next was Thalia who waved and gave Lennon a warm smile. They didn't know each other very well, especially since Thalia was a tree only a few months ago. Last was Percy who gave her a curt wave and a tight-lipped smile. His eyes darted towards the school, obviously not that interested in talking to her.

Lennon didn't know Percy very well, or really, at all. Of course, Annabeth had tried to introduce them but that was when Percy had just come back from his first quest. She thought she would look pretty inferior next to him and out of nervousness she had accidentally avoided him, multiple times.

Annabeth elbowed him and shot Lennon a smile. "Did you have to wait long?"

Yes, she practically froze to death. "Kinda," she shrugged, rocking on the balls of her feet as her hands were tucked into her pockets. "But it didn't really bother me."

Annabeth sent her a look that said, I know you're lying and that you definitely froze your ass off but I'll let it slide for right now. But she turned to the large oak doors and said "We'd better get inside. Grover will be waiting,"

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

"Nothing good," Percy said as he stared at Westover Hall's towers.

"But maybe it will be something good." They all glanced at her and she shrugged. "What? We should practice wishful thinking,"

They had walked inside the building which was gigantic and pretty dramatic, decorated with battle axes and other weapons. As they walked farther they could hear dance music echoing down the hall.

Suddenly, a man and woman walked out of the shadows, intercepting them. They both had short gray hair and military-style outfits. They looked so uptight Lennon wondered if either of them had ever smiled before.

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

"Um..." Percy spoke. He seemed at a loss for words. Lennon wondered if missions always went like this. "Ma'am, we're just—"

"Ha!" the man snapped. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

Lennon scrunched her face in confusion at his accent. Probably French.

Thalia stepped forward and snapped her fingers, a loud, sharp sound. It felt like wind rushed from her hand and settled around them, making the banners rustle.

"Oh, but we're no visitors, sir," She said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth, Lennon, and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."

The man narrowed his eyes at Thalia, hesitating. Lennon had some idea of what Thalia was doing— manipulating the mist. The Stoll brothers always gushed about how it would help with pranks.

The man looked at the woman. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

Lennon sniffed, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to crack on her face. She'd never heard of a name as weird as Gottschalk.

Ms. Gottschalk blinked. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at them. "Annabeth, Lennon, Thalia, Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

Before any of them could answer, there were more footsteps and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You—" He stopped when spotted the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

"What is it, Mr. Underwood? What do you mean they made it? These students live here." the man said.

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 and Lennon tried to give a bright, convincing smile. His dual-colored eyes were a bit unsettling. And he looked like he wanted to pitch them off the highest tower he could find.

"Yes, the punch is excellent." Ms. Gottschalk said dreamily. "Now run along, all of you. You are not allowed to leave the gymnasium again!"

They were quick to walk away, leaving with lots of Yes ma'ams and Yes sirs. Lennon even did a salute, not really sure if that was a regular thing to do.

As Grover hustled them away, Lennon could feel the teachers staring hard at their group.

Faintly, she could hear Percy whispering to Thalia. "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"

"You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?" Thalia replied and Percy was left silent.

Grover hurried them to a door, labeled Gym. "That was close! Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth and Thalia hugged him and Percy only high-fived him. Lennon gave him a bright smile— which he returned— as they'd only ever had a few conversations.

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

Grover took a deep breath and said, "I found two." Lennon widened her eyes. It was rare to find one half-blood, so the fact that there were two half-bloods in the same place amazed Lennon.

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

Grover nodded.

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

"Are they like super powerful?" Lennon asked. "Cause that would make this mission a lot harder,"

They, once again, all glanced at her. Annabeth gave her a look that said Not helping. "I mean, not super hard 'cause you all— we can handle that," Lennon waved her hands, sighing. "Nevermind, that doesn't matter. Grover, you were saying there was a problem? Monsters?"

"One," He nodded. "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!"

He looked to Thalia desperately and she said, "Right, these half-bloods are here? At this dance?"

"No, they're not here. We just came to enjoy a dance at a random school—" Annabeth said sarcastically. "Of course, they're here,"

Thalia put up her hands in surrender, "Well, excuse me for being thorough," She straightened up, more serious. "If they're here at this dance, then we dance,"

"Who's the monster?" Percy was the one to ask.

"Oh, you just met him. The vice-principal, Dr. Thorn."

They went inside the gym where it was decorated with streamers and black and red balloons. Lennon felt a pang of sadness as she'd never got to experience a school dance. She'd only been 8 when she was thrown into the dangerous world of demigods.

"There they are," Grover nodded to a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers.

The little girl wore a flappy green cap, trying to hide her face. The boy, who was obviously her little brother, was shuffling some kind of trading cards. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin. The girl kept looking around— in between scolding her brother— like she sensed trouble.

"Do they... I mean, have you told them?" Annabeth asked.

Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."

"So let's grab them and get out of here,"

Lennon spoke up, "I don't think we should really—" However she was interrupted as Percy started forward and Thalia put her hand on his shoulder.

Dr. Thorn had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers, now standing near the Di Angelo siblings. He sent an icy glare in their direction, his blue eyes seemed to glow. He obviously hadn't been fooled by Thalia's trick with the Mist. He probably knew they were demigods. Suddenly, Lennon was nervous their plan would go to pieces.

"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent,"

"How?" Lennon asked, tilting her head to look at the black-haired girl.

"We're four powerful half-bloods," Lennon would argue that number was three but oh well. "Our presence should confuse him. Mingle, act natural, do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids,"

"Dancing, really?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia nodded before cocking her ear to the music. "Ugh, who choose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt. "I did,"

Lennon shrugged, "Hey, his songs have some decent lyrics,"

Thalia raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

They listened to the music and Lennon scrunched her face. "I'm sure if you really look you could find some good qualities,"

Grover pouted a bit and Thalia said, "Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play like Green Day or something?"

"Green who?"

Lennon whipped her head to Grover, "You don't know Green Day?" Lennon was a proud music enthusiast and prided herself in knowing every song ever (at least that's how Julian, her brother, would describe her).

Thalia shook her head. "Nevermind. Let's dance,"

"But I can't dance!"

"You can if I'm leading. Come on, goat boy," With that Thalia dragged him out to the dance floor and Lennon took that as her opportunity to go elsewhere, leaving Percy and Annabeth to talk to each other.

Lennon wasn't a shy person or even just a bit antisocial, but she found she had no interest in the dance. If all school dances were like this then maybe she wasn't missing out on anything.

Right now, she just wished she was back at camp. The Apollo cabin had an annual holiday song battle every winter. It was one of the highlights of her Holidays since she never spent it with her mother. Lennon and Julian were supposed to do a duet of White Christmas, complete with their guitars and everything.

She stood by the table with the punch bowl, still watching the Di Angelos, as she nursed a cup of punch. It was a bit too sweet to her liking. All the waiting didn't do well for her nerves. She wasn't often nervous about things but this was also her first mission.

She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for some action to happen. Lennon nodded her head in approval as a The Smiths song came on. Most of the music that played had been a bunch of bad pop songs.

"Is the punch good?" A person asked walking up to her.

"Hm?"

"The punch. Is it good?"

"Uh, I guess," she shrugged. "It's kinda sweet,"

The kid grinned at the word sweet and took a cup for himself, walking away soon after.

Lennon felt eyes on her and snapped her head up to see Thalia glaring at her. Thalia widened her eyes in confusion. The girl scared her a bit.

Thalia frantically waved her over but Lennon shook her head confusedly, holding up her cup of punch. Her spot by the table was a pretty good vantage point to see the Di Angelos.

The girl huffed animatedly and stomped over to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Watching the Di Angelos and drinking punch?"

She sighed again, "I said act natural. This is not natural,"

Lennon shrugged, "Isn't it?"

"No, you need to dance,"

"Thalia, I don't really want to dance with random people,"

She glanced around before her eyes landed on someone. "Then dance with Percy."

"What?" Her voice was an octave higher. "No, I don't have to dance with Percy, I'm fine. I'll find someone to dance with—" She spotted the boy that had asked about the punch. "Look, see him. I talked to him, I'll go ask him to dance," She tried to walk in that direction but Thalia looped her arm with Lennon's dragging her to where Percy and Annabeth were talking.

Thalia waved her hand to him, "Percy!"

He turned to them as they made their way toward them. He mouthed What?

Thalia rolled her eyes, "Come dance with Lennon,"

Percy turned to Annabeth, confused. They seemed to have some sort of whisper fight before Annabeth rolled her eyes and nudged him forward. It kind of stung a bit that he was that opposed to the idea of dancing with her.

Hesitantly he put his hands on her waist and Lennon put her hands on his shoulders. They danced for a bit in awkward silence, neither of them really looking at the other.

"Uh, you're good at dancing," he said, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh thanks, Julian made me learn ballroom dancing for choreography once,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah,"

They fell into a bout of silence, Lennon staring hard at the streamers hanged across the ceiling.

"Julian's your half-brother, right? A child of Apollo?" He asked. He had to look up since she was a few inches taller than him.

She nodded, "Yeah,"

"Why'd you learn ballroom dancing?"

"Apollo cabin has these mini talent shows. He wanted to add choreography to our performance,"

"That's cool, I didn't know other cabins did their own activities like that,"

"Yeah, it was kind of weird at first because I didn't know any of them but after a while, it was really fun. They're all welcoming and it's nice cause we have a lot of common interests and they're just really..." she trailed off, realizing she was rambling. "Sorry,"

He shook his head, "It's okay. So music, it's really an Apollo thing huh?"

She shrugged, "I mean, I guess, but my mom is a music producer so I might've gotten my interest in music from her,"

"Oh, I guess you two are close?"

Lennon let out a bitter laugh, "Nope, not really," Lennon hadn't talked to her mother in a long time. She'd basically ignored all the letters she sent her.

"Oh," He trailed off in awkwardness. "Why not?"

She stared at him a bit. Why would he have any interest in her problems? "It doesn't really matter,"

"But—" He started to say more but Lennon's stare turned into an icy glare and silenced him. After a beat of silence, he said, "I'm surprised you're talking to me,"

Lennon cocked her head. "Why would I not talk to you?"

He looked at her confused. "Cause you always avoid me. I assumed you only talked to people in Apollo cabin or Annabeth. Y'know, exclusive or whatever."

Lennon frowned. She never knew that by avoiding Percy, she'd given him a bad impression of her. Before she could say anything to debunk his assumption of her, Lennon noticed the Di Angelos had disappeared from their spot by the bleachers.

"Oh Styx, they're gone,"

"What, gone?"

Lennon nodded towards the bleachers where the kids once were. Percy followed her gaze to the empty bleachers and the open door next to them.

"Shit,"

Lennon nodded, "Yeah,"

They hurried through the crowd and towards the bleachers.

"Should we get the others or..." She turned to Percy but he seemed to be lost in thought. "Hey, don't ignore me! Should we—"

"Shh!"

She scoffed, "I get you have a bad impression of me, but don't shush me," She understood he'd had a bad first impression of her— and Lennon's people-pleasing nature would have her fix it later— but he didn't get to be rude.

"No, I'm trying to think," Percy's eyes darted around the gym behind them.

"Ok, well, again, you don't need to—" Abruptly, Percy took a pen out of his pocket and grabbed her hand, running after wherever Dr. Thorn went. "What the hell!"

AUTHORS NOTE:
first chapter!! here's lennon, i know this wasn't a lot and really just an introduction but i'm so excited for lennon and her story. i have some interesting things planned.
any thoughts? questions?