They both raised their heads to see Annabeth returning her bow to where it was hung on her shoulder.
"It's late" Percy called out.
"Oh, Guys" Levi acknowledged their presence with a wide smile.
"Move it" Lisa snapped at them. They immediately packed their things and trailed behind the others. After they had washed and eaten most of them seemingly tired retired to their beds.
Jake stirred in his sleep, he opened his eyes and looked through the window.
It was still dark outside, he couldn't see the clock in the near darkness of the room so he assumed the time to be somewhere around 2am.
He wondered what had woken him, then h heard it again, what seemed like leather rubbing against the wall.
He stood from his bed and walked to the balcony. He held the railings and looked down, he could see a figure covered in a black cloak beside the cafeteria, squeezing out of the little space between the walls, the figure disappeared into the large corridor leading to the entrance as soon as he had seen it.
He couldn't really make out who it was, since there was only a single dim light down there casting eerie shadows all around the floor below, he could only see a hooded figure in a black cloak.
He went back to the boys room and counted. They were three people in the beds making him the fourth person, so it definitely couldn't he any of the boys.
Then who was prowling about in the middle of the night dressed in black.
He climbed back in bed and drew his blanket all the way to his neck, as soon as he closed his eyes, he was fast asleep once again.
The next time he opened his eyes, the room was illuminated by sun rays which filtered through the plane windows and the green curtain, giving the room a warn green glow.
He stood up and looked around, this time there was no one awake yet, but Percy was stirring in his bed.
He went to the curtains and threw drew them wide open completely waking Percy, whose face was on the receiving end of the onslaught of the sun rays.
Jake turned to Tony's bed, he almost jumped back in fright to see Tony already up, he was prone on his bed reading a book with the little light that filled the room before Jake drew the curtains.
"Hey, Tony. Didn't see you there"
"Yeah, there's more to life than prancing around just to show people you're awake". Tony replied
Jake chuckled at his attempt at sarcasm.
"How was your night"
"Like others" Tony turned to continue his book
"What a good day to be alive" Percy yawned and stretched his hands as far as try could go.
Levi was soon up, he rallied the others around trying to get things done. Levi and Percy were the most excited about their first mission though Percy tried to mask his excitement behind a serious face.
They had packed their bags and Levi had made sure to inspect each bag, making sure they were not forgetting anything they needed.
They made sure to stuff themselves up at the cafeteria, then the walls to the school gate, it felt like they were going back home for a short break after less than three months in school.
Argus was at the gate when they got there, he had been waiting for them so he could share a few tips and to lift the barriers at the gate so they could pass through.
"As I said earlier, this is a level five demon. However, you should try to conclude as soon as possible and you should always be on alert and expect the unexpected."
With that he wished them good luck and raised the barrier. They were able to feel the barrier being lifted, even Jake without magic could feel it.
Jake had often wondered why the gate was left unguarded but as time went on he came to understand that there was a barrier surrounding the school, but they never actually knew it was Argus who kept the barrier spell up.
Argus dealt with abjuration magic, he was a master of barrier and protection spells, it was rumored that his spells had not once been breached. He was the one keeping unwanted presences from the school premises.
The barrier round the school prevented the students from leaving and prevented anyone at all from entering.
The barrier was up and all seven of them moved out in search of their first adventure.
It was a cocktail of sounds out there, the tap tap sounds of woodpeckers trying to bore holes into trees could be heard, other birds shrilled their mating sounds to attract the females to their nests, while the young birds cried for breakfast.
They now noticed that the barrier also kept out the sounds.
Life was bubbling outside the school, the animals ran around chattered excitedly. Levi brought out his compass, Argus had told them that the threat they needed to eliminate was three miles to the South.
They started off down the main lane, trying to get a head start before the sun battered their skins with it's malevolent rays and made walking with a bag more uncomfortable than it already was.
They walked through the main part toward the city, they had already covered half the distance when the sun came blazing down in its full glory creating pools of sweat on their forehead and clothes.
They could see squirrels leaping from tree to tree, there was a lot to be seen in this rarely used road, the animals were used to the silence and lack of human presence on the road.
A few of the animals even played into the midst of the road and only ran off when they saw them coming.
They wondered if there were also wild animals in the surrounding first, they had already walked two miles in the opposite direction of the school, after a little distance, Levi led them through a pathway to the right of the forest.
They walked into the forest maintaining a single file. Staring at the compass every five minutes Levi maintained their journey to the South.
They had walked quite a distance and we're quite hungry, but Levi insisted that they cover the remaining distance before settling down, because they had covered more than two and half miles.
They reluctantly agreed and trudged along with hunched shoulders.
By the position of the sun, it was most likely noon, luckily they were shielded from the persistent rays of the sun by the cluster of tree branches hanging overhead in the dense forest, they were contented they had only stress and fatigue to worry about.
This part of the forest was partially quiet, there were not much animals out here, the journey took a tougher turn from here on.
The landscape seemed to morph from the straight road to a hilly plain. It was hard enough to have walked for four hours now they had to climb a hill.
The slope of the terrain took the air out of their lungs and the strength out of their legs, they were visibly tired and needed to take a breather.
"Had I known this was the detail of this mission, I wouldn't have been so eager" Percy said between breaths.
"Learning the rough way, huh?" Levi commented.
"Says Levi" Percy huffed, pulling his bag higher. The kids laughed a little despite their fatigue and hunger.
Annabeth and Jake were the only ones who didn't seem to mind the slope of the terrain, they trudged up in front without a care in the world.
Jake had collected Kayla's bag when he noticed she was having a hard time keeping up, with the load.
She was very appreciative of the thought.
Levi was also tired and felt like giving up, but the sense of leadership drove him forward, he felt he had to lead by example so pushing forward with all his might he trudged along shooting words of encouragement to the rest of the team.
After what seemed like a ten minute hike. The terrain soon spread out flat in front of them.
They heaved sight of relief and trudged forward slowly washing the stress in their legs, about a few meters into the flat terrain, the trees gave way to expose a sparse clearing.
Lush green grass cut low enough to like bare back on without feelings of discomfort spread out in front, surrounding the area were trees with bent trunks making them easy to climb In case need be, primroses and dandelions spread out in small patches on the grass around the area.
The clearing seemed like a space that had been created exclusively for them before they decided to embark on this journey.
"We'll camp here" Levi instructed. Sighs of relief filled the air as everyone flopped to the floor, too tired to unpack the bags.