"I am so sick of boys trying to get into the showers at the same time as us," Lilith growled as she threw her bath essentials into her box of possessions.
Nerissa rubbed at her wet hair with a towel. She glanced behind her to see Hercules, Jason, and Iolaus walk in.
"Well, at least we have three boys on our side," she smiled.
Jason moved over and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Aren't you lucky?"
Iolaus leaned against the wall while Hercules hopped up onto his bed.
"Adrastos is the one leading the guys who keep trying to sneak in. He's getting really annoyed with us," the strong boy grinned.
Lilith scowled and looked at Nerissa.
"I feel bad for you," she said," One usually thinks the pretty girls have it easy, but I never had this problem when it was just me staying here."
The long-haired girl shook her head before resting it on Jason's shoulder.
"Life is so hard for me," she pouted and then pretended to cry on Jason's shoulder.
He patted her head as Iolaus moved over to them.
"Since classes are over for today, you guys feel like doing anything fun?"
Lilith sat down on her cot and grinned at him.
"Like what?"
Nerissa looked up.
"How about fishing?"
Hercules laughed, confusing the others but Nerissa just winked at him. Iolaus focused on her.
"Well, if you want to, why not? Sounds fun, right?"
There was a murmur of assent. Jason and Iolaus elected to go get the fishing rods while Lilith said she'd find some buckets for them to use. Hercules hopped off his bed and moved over to Nerissa as they made their way out of the building. He leaned close to her ear.
"You're not allowed near any waterfalls," he informed her.
Her face went pale.
"I'm okay with that."
They met the others outside where Iolaus and Jason handed out fishing rods and Lilith gave the boys the buckets. They then followed Iolaus to a lake he knew was nearby. Their conversation was light hearted and joking, yet Nerissa couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed. She glanced back so often that Hercules slipped back to her and whispered at her.
"What's up?"
She looked up at the tall male. Looking back again, she stopped. She could have sworn she saw a patch of black, but it was gone now.
"I...think we're being followed. I just...feel strange."
Hercules looked around, but didn't see anything. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. The others had kept walking without noticing them. He nodded at their group of friends, urging her forward.
"You're probably just feeling anxious because of Ares attacking last time."
"I guess..."
When they reached the lake, they instantly set up the four buckets they had between each other. Right from the start, Nerissa began reeling in huge fish upon huge fish. Iolaus and Jason took this as a challenge and began to get really competitive. Hercules and Lilith just laughed.
"How are you doing that?" Iolaus asked when Nerissa had nabbed her thirteenth fish.
She smiled and put her fishing rod down for a break so other could have a chance to fish better.
"Well, my mother rose out of the ocean and I happen to be favored by Poseidon. He's like...the best pseudo grandpa. Him and Zeus were always arguing about who gave me the better gifts."
All of her friends were staring at her in astonishment. Nerissa looked down at the ground in embarrassment.
"I don't...know why I brought that up..."
There was a loud sound from behind them, so they all turned. A really strange guy was standing there. He was wearing a completely black outfit with pins all over it. He was a very pale white with really messy black hair. He had a bit of a crazed expression as he laughed very squeakily.
"What's wrong with talking about gods, beautiful?"
Nerissa's face was completely confused as others scrambled to their feet. They all looked ready to punch him.
"Strife! What are you doing here?"
The female demigod got up slowly.
"Strife? That doesn't sound good..."
"That's because it's not," Iolaus informed her," He's always trying to help his uncle, Ares, destroy Herc."
Nerissa turned to Strife with her eyes narrowed.
"A nephew of Ares?"
Strife gave her a sickening smile.
"Not the best way to be introduced. Hehe. I mostly followed because of the pretty girl with you. I don't think you'll mind if I take her with me? Some personal time alone would be nice."
Jason and Hercules stepped together, moving in front of Nerissa and blocking her from view.
"Not happening," Jason growled.
Strife narrowed his eyes at them.
"Maybe not today. But I'll get her. But for now..."
He suddenly sent Hercules flying into the lake with a blast of his power. He laughed strangely as his victim yelled and splashed into the lake.
"Oooh, the monster down there probably won't like someone being that far into its territory. Oh well! I didn't kill the demigod. I just gave him a push."
He blew a kiss at Nerissa, making her gag, before disappearing. Lilith, Iolaus, Jason, and Nerissa all ran to the edge of the lake.
"What do we do? I can't swim," Iolaus shouted," I really need to learn."
They watched as Hercules surfaced for a second before being pulled back under the water. He didn't come up again. Jason pulled off his vest, prepared to go in, but Nerissa stopped him.
"Let me."
She sent a quick prayer out to Poseidon despite their presence at a body of fresh water before running in and diving. The water was so dark and hard to see through. She kept swimming though, praying that she was getting closer to Hercules. Suddenly the water around her became bright. Her own skin was glowing and she could suddenly breath under the water. She sent a silent thank you to Poseidon, swearing to place an offering at his nearest temple as soon as she could. She found Hercules quickly with a giant, grubby sea monster's hand wrapped around his leg. He was still holding his breath. Nerissa reached him just as he couldn't hold it anymore. Kicking at the sea monsters hand, it let go and gave a watery scream at the sight of the glowing girl. Grabbing the unconscious Hercules, she uneasily swam up to the surface. When she breached the top of the water, she stopped glowing and assumed she could only breath air. Using all the strength she had, she swam the moderately heavy boy to the shore. Jason and Iolaus grabbed him and pulled him away from her.
"He's not breathing," Lilith announced, panicking.
Nerissa wobbled as she crawled over to him, but she took a deep breath and looked at Jason.
"Push down on his chest, I'm going to try and get air back into his lungs."
Jason didn't question her and instantly knelt down beside his friend. Nerissa had forced them to practice this when Jason told her they had a lesson on it at the Academy before she had attended. For once, he was grateful she had been so pushy about learning. Closing his nose off, she opened his mouth and blew air into it. She had to do this about three times and on the third Hercules gasped. She pulled away just as he began coughing up the water. Jason let him go and Hercules turned over to expel the water and take deep, life sustaining breaths. Nerissa lay down on the gravel trying to breath normally again. Exhaustion was taking over her body which was now beginning to ache. She had dived into the water during an adrenaline rush, pulled a male much heavier than herself to shore, and then made him breathe again. Hearing Hercules breathing normally, she got up enough to join the others in checking to see if he was okay.
"I'm alright, you guys, thanks. Nerissa, you-"
She waved away his comment.
"I owed you one, don't worry about it."
"No. You kissed me! Your kisses save lives, you never told me about that!"
Everyone was silent for a second before Hercules started smirking and Nerissa tackled him and pretended to beat him up. Iolaus, Jason, and Lilith laughed at the two of them as it turned into an actual wrestling match, which Hercules easily won. Happy that no one was dead, they packed up the fish they caught and headed back to Cheiron's Academy. That night, they were able to have fish for dinner. Though neither demigod mentioned it to anyone else, they were both keeping a sharp eye out for Strife, who they were sure would come back. And next time, it wouldn't be to kill Hercules.