Disappointed

Jake woke up to the smell of something burning, he hadn't exactly gotten enough sleep, having slept late and having to wake up between intervals.

The place where Levi slept was a bit roughed up, it seemed like he had left in a hurry to check what was burning.

"Way to go Percy" he heard Lisa cheering from outside.

"Let's dig in guys" that was Tony obviously dripping with sarcasm. Jake poked his head out of the tent.

"Yeah, its burnt beans for breakfast" Levi chirped in with a wide grin. The whole tent roared with laughter. Jake who had just come out of the tent laughed to his heart content.

Percy on the receiving end of the sarcasm was not left out, he equally convulsed with laughter grabbing his stomach as though he might laugh out his insides.

Jake had now approached the space outside the tent to inquire what had happened.

"Seems, Percy here tried to make breakfast of bean soup but instead burnt the soup black"

Jake looked into the can above the firewood and laughed. Percy had burnt the beans completely black.

Though Levi scolded him for wasting food, they had laughed to their hearts content.

Levi had made it clear that they had to complete their mission and leave as early as possible, he couldn't stress the importance further as they could all relate to his desperation to leave this place.

The girls prepared another can of bean soup; they made sure they ate to their fill before gathering in front of the tents at Levi's call.

Tony had fully recovered, his ankle was healed and the only thing left was the bandage on his head. Kayla had approved his fitness for combat.

"This time we'll move in two groups. Kayla, Jake, Anna and Tony will move in the first group then Lisa, Percy and I will move in another group.

The four of you will comb the area toward south your location and anything around your path, while we will go north, the drill is same as yesterday, after two hours we'll circle back."

"You said the drill was same as yesterdays" Percy interrupted

"Yes, I did"

"But we did an hour yesterday but you just said two, shouldn't you correct yourself?"Percy asked

"No, Percy. It wasn't a mistake, today we are going to comb the area for two straight hours before circling back.

I don't need to stress the importance of terminating the last demon today do I?"

"No sire" Percy answered in a mock salute

"Then, get your weapons let's move"

The gathering immediately dissipated, Jake's group were the first to leave the area.

They sauntered off in the direction Levi had pointed to them. The four of them walked side by side, as the path was wide enough to take their sizes.

It was a path beside the dense thicket Tony and Lisa had taken the previous day, the smell of fresh water running somewhere close by filled the cold air with some strange freshness.

The path was mostly lined with fresh pine and almond trees, the leaves and branches from the tree stretched out far and wide covering the entire length of the path which they strolled.

As they walked down the path their steps in sync, they tried to take in the scenery.

They registered every movement, every sound, and every strange wisp of air not wanting to miss any single detail or worse still be caught by surprise.

They came across a pink field, the trees there had dropped its flowers to the floor and the wind had scattered it around the field making it seem from afar as if the field grew pink flowers, decorating it so beautifully that it seemed like couples came there every month to wed.

The once alive and blooming trees seemed to shiver and shrivel in the growing coldness of the winter.

Kayla was happy she had thought of gloves, Jake was the only one in the group without a pair of gloves; he rubbed his palms together fiercely and stuffed them deep in his pockets to keep them warm.

"Tony how's your head healing" Jake asked noticing the bandage wrapped around his head and also trying to get rid of the silence that had begun to bug him.

"Quite well" Tony replied as his face unexpectedly lit up with a slight smile, making Jake shudder and almost freeze in his tracks.

Tony for once on this clear quiet winter morning wasn't pissed about something or distracted by something.

"Did you spike his potion?" Jake mouthed at Kayla

Kayla giggled in response, shaking her head and trudging forward with her hands stuffed away deep in her pockets.

After they had walked a while, they came along a very thin path covered by a cluster of trees, the many trees covering the path made it seem like it was dusk inside the forest.

Jake led the group, taking the lead at the front of the single file which led into the path; behind him was Kayla, then Tony.

Annabeth held the rear of the group of four. Jake crooned his head in every position trying to see through every space, every hole, every crack in between trees and branches.

Tony took every step with caution, wondering what might jump out of the shadows and ram into him once again, he was still tormented from the trauma of yesterday's incident.

He seemed to be more alert than the rest of the team, his head was still throbbing slightly from the injury but except for that he was okay, he was just drunk with alertness and pumping with adrenaline to unleash on the first unlucky demon that encountered them.

They prowled deeper into the forest moving with calculated speed and stealth like predators on the move, looking to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.

Lisa, Percy and Levi had already reached the apex of their journey; they had walked for more than two hours and were now headed back to the tent.

Percy kept the group lively and chatty by cracking jokes every now and then by making fun of how Levi's hair was slicked back in a disorderly fashion.

Lisa simply laughed along and swung her baton at him whenever he made a bad joke about het.

Levi had made sure they had combed the entire area they patrolled but strangely enough they had found nothing.

xx

It bugged him; he wondered if the others had encountered the demon, he really hoped that it was his team who encountered the demon though he knew they could handle it if they came across it.

He had purposely put Jake and Anna on the same team with Tony and Kayla.

"Are you sure the school committee was sure about their information?" Percy suddenly said, voicing the exact thoughts that he had in his mind.

"I've been thinking the same thing, what if they made a mistake" "and we're running around in a wild goose chase" Percy added

"I think they might be right, they won't just send us first years out on a wild goose chase right?" Lisa added looking from face to face, trying to confirm her fears

"I think you have a point. But where could it be, we've searched the entire area three miles south of school"

"If need be we are going to comb the entire length of this forest because I miss the warmth of my bed and I'm certainly not staying a night more in this damned place" Percy spat

"Well said. Then lets up our pace and brace for whatever lies in wait for us ahead." Levi concluded

It was a little bit past mid afternoon when they returned to the tents, they were disappointed to see that the others were already there. They looked slightly worn out from a journey that had lasted almost four hours but there was no sign of combat on their bodies.

See anything?" Jake asked. Levi shook his head and threw his hands to the side.

"I didn't think it would take this long" Lisa sighed

"Let's not lose focus; we might get lucky in the next few hours. Let's get something to eat then we take different routes and search once again"

"Then what? What next? We stay in this place for another night because of one dumb creature?"

Tony asked almost burning with rage at the thought of staying out in the cold for another night because of a level five demon.

We don't have a choice, Tony. The order was to terminate three level five demons and return and we have only two" Levi sighed "so if it means staying one more night yes we will, to get the mission done.

They ate their lunch in silence, Tony was visibly annoyed, he knew it wasn't Levi's fault that they might have to stay another night but he couldn't help it, he had to lash out, he had to relieve the pent up stress.

Perhaps he had hit his head harder than he thought, he bit at his meat as he stared into the fire, they had built a small fire to keep them warm for a little while before they went back into the forest.

With the same group as before they entered back into the surrounding forest, following different routes.

They had to return to the tents in two hours, it was already a little bit past noon. Levi's group trudged into the forest with their shoulders slouched in disappointment and tiredness and a scowl on Percy's face.

Though beneath their dissatisfaction was a strong spirit of determination