The Demigod Games (PJO/THG)

10 - Trees. Everywhere.

-Frank

I knew it.
I just knew it! Something bad simply had to happen. Just when everything was perfect, when the seven were reunited, no creepy titans were trying to send us to the underworld, and Mr D had finally decided to sober up. Everything seemed at its best, and then this happened. That... portal... at the bottom of the lake. And obviously, Percy had to check it out. I mean, come on! There's a portal in the lake, so what? Leave it be! It's not like we hadn't seen anything stranger. Over the years, we'd fought a rabid three-headed pet dog, held off a giant mad titaness, and even managed not to get killed by Piper when she realized we'd put hot pink food coloring in her shampoo.
So some stupid parallel reality was the least of our worries.

But there was no use complaining- what was done was done, and now we were stuck here, in the middle of -

In fact, where were we?

Hazel and I were sitting in a bush, and we were surrounded by large, dense trees - oaks, probably. I spotted a squirrel in a nearby branch, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

At least we're still on the same planet, I thought. How on earth could we have gotten back to camp if we'd landed on Mars? Maybe we were even in the forest near camp, and all we had to do was have a little walk to get back home.

But deep down, I knew it was more complicated than that. In our world, nothing happened by chance, and when something like this occured, you could bet there was a mission to accomplish.

Hazel suddenly shook my arm. "Frank!" She sounded worried. "Where's Leo?"

Ah, crap. I'd forgotten about him. Why was he always disappearing? He'd already vanished during our huge, final, avengers-endgame- level battle against Gaia, and we'd all thought him dead for months.

I crossed Hazel's frowning glance - we knew what each other was thinking.

If we lose Leo again... I thought. It was a possibility too horrible to contemplate. No, it wasn't an option. We had to find him.

We both got up to our feet at the same time, and started yelling, ignoring the possible dangerous animals that could be roaming around.

"Leo!" I yelled. No answer, except from a bird singing in a nearby tree -

What was that? I asked myself, taken aback by the bird's voice. It was nothing like what I'd heard before... not alike a simple birdsong - like the noise Twitter notifications made - but a longer, more melodic sound. Four high-pitched notes chanted harmoniously... Don't ask why, but I somehow knew this melody had some sort of significance in this place.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I continued to search Leo, but no-one responded. This was the first time I actually wanted to hear his annoying voice.

I morphed into an eagle and soared above the trees to find him, feeling a wave of relief as I noted that my powers hadn't disappeared.

I searched every branch of every tree, but saw no sign of the exasperaring, flaming demigod. After two hours of searching in vain, I abandoned and went back to Hazel, feeling miserable.

When I returned, a fire was lit, and Hazel was throwing dry branches into it to keep it going. Her eyes lit up when she saw me descending from the trees.

"Frank, I was really worried. You were out there for so long..." She tried to sound accusing, but only relief was heard in her voice.

"I soared above the trees- but no sign of Leo. He's nowhere to be seen. " I replied.

Hazel threw another small log into the flames. "I looked for him too, but without your powers, I'm a lot less useful... I gave up after an hour and decided to make myself useful here." She sighed.

I scooted up next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "We'll be okay. Tomorrow, we'll head north. Cover as much ground as possible - this forest can't go on forever. We'll find a village, and hopefully they'll be able to help." I tried to sound reassuring, but I was as unsure as her. Nevertheless, Hazel nodded and curled up against me. I stared into the crimson dancing flames and exhaled. We'd be fine. We'd find him.

Leo... Ugh. Even when he wasn't there, he was always the center of attention.

Author's Note

September 4th, 2019

I know what you're thinking. Finally! I know you've been waiting a while... But here it is! Chapter Ten. I'm trying to add more detail and quality into this chapter and the next ones. Hope you enjoyed, and if you did, you know what to do! See ya :)
-uLySse