Jevin's POV:

Dad took my prayer a bit too seriously, and he nearly crashed us into an island. (Thanks DAD.)

The light was overwhelming at first, a loud static rang in my ears, and I couldn't feel my body, I thought I was in heaven for a minute, but the taste of the puddle of saltwater woke me up.

I frenziedly looked around, the others were on the deck as well, though a few of them seem to be waking up as well.

I breathe a sigh of relief and tried standing up, but a stab of pain ran through my leg.

"Ow! Ugh, must have broken my leg or whatever," I said, mildly annoyed at the inconvenience.

And another voice raised, "Ugh, passing out three times in two days is embarrassing enough... but now I have a head-splitting headache."

"Grian! You ok?" I half yelled.

"Except for the headache, yea I think so," Grian said, his brown eyes studying my leg. (Which was in a weird position, ow)

"Do you need Joe? He's awake over there." Grian offered.

"I just need to for my broken leg to touch the ocean," I said, staring longingly at the ocean.

"Why?" He said.

"My half-brother says that Poseidon kids can heal from seawater, I never tried it so I'm kind of curious." I grinned.

"Alright, uh give me your hand, we'll limp together." Grian smiled and reached for my hand. And clumsy limped our way to shore.

"Ok, what now do you just put your feet in the water?" He said, his arms crossed and staring at my leg.

I shrugged a bit, and put my leg in the water, the cool water numbed the pain and I suddenly felt wonderful and refreshed.

"Woah, I feel a lot better," I said, amazed, and moved my leg to show Grian that it was better. (Thanks, bro, for showing me that trick.)

"Is the water on drugs? You look much better too." Grian laughed a bit.

I sprang up, feeling like I could move a truck, I marched back to the ship's entrance, "Well, let's go back!"

Grian looked around, and hid his wings, "Wait, hold on, where are we?"

I looked around, we were on a huge island, we were hidden behind some beautiful mountain and outwards seemed to be a Greek-like city.

Grian went to an old fisherman who was sitting nearby, "Uh, hello do you know where we are, we got a bit lost at sea."

The fisherman smiled weakly, "Oh, you poor souls! You're on Naxos, isn't my home beautiful?"

I looked around, the landscape is beautiful it looked like a video game, "Scar would love this landscape." I muttered.

"Thank you for telling us where we are, we'll be going now." Grian bowed a bit and waved goodbye.

He ran towards me, "Geez, your prayer worked." He said.

I laughed a bit, "Maybe it worked a bit too well, we nearly crashed."

We walked back onto the ship, most of the hermits were now awake.

"Well, we are on the island we want to be on." Grian jokily said.

"Naxos? I heard the landscape was beautiful." Scar said with a big grin on his face.

"Oh, oh course Nereus will be here, Naxos is usually called the island of the gods," False said, her arms crossed.

"Well, we have to find Naxos who is probably in the bottom of the sea, where we can't breathe," Jessassin said.

"I can, I can make air bubbles for you as well, though I can't do too many at a time," I said, pulling in a small bubble of water.

"Well, I'll stay here, I don't think my fire magic will be much use in the sea." Impulse sat on the ground.

Tango sat down on the ground as well, "Well, controlling rocks won't work underwater, the water will soften the rocks impart, and summoning the dead? I don't think that will work."

Cleo, Mumbo, Stress, Doc, Iskall, Keralis, TFC, Ex, Xisuma, B-dubs, Hypno, and Scar sat this one out. (They all have their reasons, some better than others)

Zed was bouncing around, "Can we go now?"

Xisuma roughed up his hair, "I think it's better for you, Beef, and Xb to sit this one out."

Zed growled, "But why?"

Xisuma smiled gently, "The ocean is really dangerous. There are unknown monsters down here, so it's for the better."

Zed looked down at his feet, "Oh... ok." He softly whispers to himself.

Beef embraced him, "It's fine, we can do fun stuff here as well!"

Tango, learning Zed's tricks, pops out of nowhere, "I found a cool board game!"

I smiled and looked at my group, "Well let's go."

While walking out, I silently eavesdropped on the others, "It's called Decked-out!" Tango's voice said.

I waved my group towards the water, and told them, "Hold your breath underwater for a while and once you have an air bubble on your head, make sure it doesn't pop." I drove underwater and started making air bubbles.

Controlling water was hard and controlling water and air pressure in a way it forms a bubble without it popping was harder.

By the time, all the air bubbles were formed and were on the hermits, I felt like fainting, but the cool water of the sea was helping me so that's neat.

"Woah, this is cool," Jessassin said looking around in his air bubble.

"Jevin, I didn't know you can even do this!" Cub said with an amazed tone.

"My half-brother had to teach me," I said.

I looked around me, a thin layer of air surrounded my body (Or my slime-like body will melt into the ocean, last time that happened, it wasn't a pretty scene.), the bright yellow sand with the ocean's pretty hue of blue surrounded us, the fishes swam high and low, and the seagrass danced along with the water current.

"Does this mean, I can call Grian; Cod Boy?" False lightly tapped on Grian's shoulder.

"Just because my hair color is the same as a cod?" Grian sighed.

"Oh gods, yes everyone should call him that." I chuckled a bit. (No seriously, his hair color is the same as a cod, Cleo once called some cod 'Grian but with a soul' and she was nearly killed by Cod Boy.)

"Well do we split up?" Cub asked.

Joe shrugged, "I guess so. It'll be faster this way."

I nodded, "Nereus is a bit of a... err... new-age boomer... he acts like if he's... yeah."

Cod Boy nodded, "Well, that's great." He smiled flatly.

We split up, I went to my left and the others went their separate ways.

The sea is beautiful, with the evening light warming my outsides, the fishes swam in bunches, the blue-hued seagrass pass around me, and now and again, a weird shadow hid in the movement of the grass.

"Nereus, I know you're around here," I called out. Silence...

"Nereus, please make my life a bit easier and come out," I called out again.

"I'm bi!" Nereus' voice called out; I shook my head a bit.

"Not like that but I support you!" I looked around to try to spot him.

Then the voice went deadly silent.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm hiding." His voice echoed, coming from the west now.

"Why?" I asked again. Silence...

Ren's face popped out of the seagrass, "Oh, greeting again, I'm been chasing that old geezer everywhere."

"I think he thinks he's playing a game," I said, rubbing my head.

"Ugh. That isn't good." Ren said looking around.

A quick zoom of two shadows passed by me, "Did you see that?" I backed up and reached for my sword.

"Yeah, what was it!" Ren said.

Everything was still for a bit, then Nereus went sonic out of the grass and ran behind me, he was this old fish-man with crazy fins on his ears, he had a white long beard that was braided, he had those 'cool' sunglasses, his lower half of the body was a fish and his fingers had long nails with web between them.

"Yo, homie you mind doing me a solid and pretending that I'm not here?" Nereus said.

I was confused and mildly shocked, "Uh, ok."

Nereus lower his sunglasses a bit, "Thanks, homie, you're lit." and hid behind my back.

The cod boy came charging out of the grass, "What the... oh hello. I saw Nereus a bit ago, he went somewhere around here."

I and my confused bottom just stared at him, Ren spoke up, "Nereus is behind Jevin."

I nodded, and Nereus went out of my back, "Yo! Yo! What's up fam!"

Nereus then turned to me, pulling his sunglasses in a way that lets me see half of his eyes, "That's not cool, my dude, you gave me away!"

I had my jaw opened, and the only thought that came to my mind was...

"Cod Boy, can you go and bring the others?"

The cod boy groaned a bit at the mention of his nickname but nodded anyway.

So, Cub, False, Etho, Cod boy, Joe, Ren, I, and Wels were soon back together.

"Yo, Yo! You're fast my dude." Nereus smiled at Cod boy, making the Cod feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Can you tell me why you were hiding from us; we oppose no thread we swear," Wels asked.

"I was chilling in my home, then you just came rick-rolling your way into my home, so I just had to- sksksk." Nereus grinned.

Ren asked, "Why were you even hiding?"

Nereus said, "Isn't that the newest trends? Oops sksksk."

I facepalmed a bit and False sighed a bit.

"Alright, we may need some information out of you if you don't mind."

"Na! That's not popping from me tonight." He said and crossed his arms.

"Please understand Nereus, this is a big problem." False continued.

"You demies are, all the same, I'm not that old but I know your techniques." Nereus puffed up.

Wels looked around, "Look, our home was attacked we need to know what's happening!"

"Ah! Is that's popping?"

"Yes, do you know how serious this is?"

"Yo just chills and stare at the night sky, that's calming for your soul."

"We can't chill for five seconds with getting attacked!"

The cod boy walked up, "Please tell us what's happening, and who's doing this." He put in a lot of charmspeak in it.

"Ay, boy, charmspeak won't help you boy, because I'm immune to it, Hermes's kid."

You can see the light drain out of the Cod's eyes, his smile went flat, "Please don't call me that."

"Fine, fine, I'm giving you all I know for a deal. Is that fine Hermes's kiddo?" Nereus held up his arms.

"I. Don't. MAKE. Deals." The cod boy growled; Cub held him back.

"It's for the sake of the others, just go along with it for now," Wels said to provoked Cod.

The cod boy took a huge breath, the light returned to his brown eyes, "Alright, but Nereus please don't call me that."

"Alright, fam! There is a bunch of water hydra near me and I don't mind them too much, but oh me, are they loud, please help me silence them all somehow!" he patted his hand against his forehead.

Cod boy (still looking like he wants to rip someone, aka. Nereus, head off) nodded a bit. Cub smiled, "Where is this... water hydra?"

False shoved herself into the convention, "It's called a Lernaean Hydra, not a water Hydra."

"Right, right, from the right and to the right, they are to your right." Nereus did a bit of a rap.

"Man, my dad didn't bless you with many musical talents," Joe muttered.

"What was that punk?" Nereus and stared down at Joe.

Joe didn't crack in, "Meh, you don't have a taste in music, I prefer more chill songs."

"Ugh, whatever, just go dabbing your way to Hydra, fam." Nereus brushed it off with a 'cool' wave. "I'm here, waiting!"

We went to our right; it was pretty silent until...

"Nereus is weird," Cub said.

Etho nodded, "He's trying to keep up with the newest trends but just uses them in the wrong ways."

Ren nodded, "Though I have to admit, he used them... very creatively."

I laughed, "If you can even call that creative."

"You have to deal with this dude every day? Wow, I feel sorry for you." Grian said, taking the lead.

"Not every day, but I have his contact on my phone," I said, sighing as to remembering his weird text messages.

"I finally found you guys!" A very similar voice said.

I looked around and saw Zed, well, his lower half of the body, and he took a huge breath and dived down. He tried to speak, but only a fury of bubbles came out.

"What is he trying to say?" False said.

Zed tried to speak again but choked on the water.

"Wait! Um, hold still." I said, hastily making an air bubble for Zed to breathe.

"Augh! Thanks for that, I nearly drowned!" Zed laughed, then he choked on the leftover water in his throat.

"Why are you even out here? It's dangerous!" Wels said.

"You guys were gone for a long while, it's night already!" Zed crossed his arms and frowned a bit, "We were getting worried." He sighed.

"Well, the other hermits will be worried about you!" Wels signed.

"Don't worry! I told them that I was sneaking out!" Zed put his hand between his back.

"That's not how sneaking out works!" The cod boy muttered, disappointed at the skills that Zed had at sneaking out.

Zed looked around, "What you even doing, I thought you were trying to find Nereus?"

I sighed, "He said that he needed a favor, then he will give us the info we need."

Ren added, "He speaks weirdly."

Zed nodded, "What is this favor you spoke of?"

"Calming down some Hydras," Joe said, running through his backpack.

"What are you even doing?" Jessassin stared at some of the items which were now floating in the water.

"Trying to find my ukulele," Joe answered blankly, pulling out some junk from the bag.

"And that's for... calming the Hydras? How does that work?" Zed asked.

Joe found his ukulele, and pulled it out with care, "Remember, child of Apollo, music is powerful... that is when you play it right."

"Guy, remember on our task at hand here!" Ren smiled, waving his arms in a snake.

"A Lernaean Hydra doesn't even look like that! Did you not pay attention in Xisuma's Class?" False exclaimed.

I laughed and looked around, "Try and find claw marks on rocks near the shelter, that's how they usually mark their territory."

"It's Jevin lesson time!" Cub grinned and went to look at a nearby rock.

"I haven't had one of these in a long time. Boy, I must be out of touch." Jessassin nodded.

I smiled at Jessassin, "It should be quite easy, their claw marks are large!"

Ren went ahead as well, "Well, I'm more scared at the fact that a large sea hydra feels the need to mark its territory."

False nodded, "The more I think about it, the more confusing and scarier it becomes."

Cub pointed at a nearby rock, "Is this a claw mark or just a large crack in the rock?"

I went near the rock, "Uh... it looks like both?" I guessed.

"That may be a problem." Ren sighed.

"Do we need a voting for this?" False said, she looked over at us.

"I'm an indecisive person, I really don't know what to choose." Zed looked at the rock then looked at Grian.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" The cod boy suggested.

"No, no, that's way too risky if we get it wrong," Jessassin claimed.

I nodded, "I agree with him."

The Cod gave a massive shrug, "Voting then?"

"It's the best choice." Cub nodded.

We went and sat in a small circle, while we were voting, a large roar cut through the calm waves of the sea.

"What is Queen Elizabeth's name was that?" British Cod shot up from his seat.

"Well, that answered my question. That is a hydra roar, a mighty one too." Ren looked at the fish swimming away from where the roar came.

"You did listen when Xisuma told us about what the roar of a Lernaean Hydra sounds like." False stared at Ren (If you could sweat underwater, Ren would be sweating like crazy.)

"I mean, his voice cracked in the middle of that roar he tried to do it." Ren grinned, False facepalmed.

"Ok, what now," Jessassin said, as another roar came through.

"I got a plan. First-" False started but her plan in vain as Zed budded in.

"We charge in." Zed grinned.

"What! No! You'll kill yourself with that plan!" False tried again.

"Sound bold, I like it." The cod boy beamed.

Zed looked up, and pointed at himself proudly, "I wasn't called 'The Bold Action Man' for nothing!"

False looked at Jessassin, who was massaging the tip of his nose, "If you died, don't blame me." Jessassin shrugged.

"Then I won't die!" Zed beamed, making himself to be the ignorant, happy boy.

"That's not how it usually works," Cub said.

"Well, let's go!" Zed tried to charge into the area where the sound was coming from.

Well, "Tried", Zed forgot that he was underwater, the water physics are still the same.

"Zed, you're still underwater, you may have an air bubble on your head, but you are still underwater." I chuckled.

Wels kicked off from a rock, and began swimming, "I'll go ahead to check for danger."

Wels swim around the rock, hid between some rocks, and peeked into the great unknown, after a while, he gave a thumbs up.

I went next, then the rest of the hermit soon followed.

The blue mist of the sea covered the horizon, a forest of aqua green seaweed covered a hole in an underwater cave. Out of the hole were two heads, it looked like a water dragon, but the eyes were not... alive, it was pure white, the gills on his face roughed up as if it sensed something new, the dull sea-green scales shone dimly with the moon's light.

One of the heads looked around, it took a large breath and roared again, the eyelids went downwards as if it was upset about something.

"She seems scared," Zed said.

"You sure that's a female?" Cub asked.

"Look, she got long eyelashes!" Zed pointed at the hydra's eyes.

Cod boy Grian, shushed him, "Keep your voice down!"

I looked closely to where Zed was pointing, "I don't see anything."

"Look closer than!" Zed dropped his voice into a whisper.

One of the heads sank into the cave and came out nearly afterward.

"Wonder what's inside." Jessassin mouthed.

"It's mating season for them, so usually, a nest and some food," False said.

"Is that why it's causing so much noise? To scare the enemies away from its nest?" Wels said.

"Probably, so it is a female. Males usually go out and hunt, right?" Zed exclaimed and looked at me.

"Correct, so that is the female." I nodded blankly.

Ren shushed us, "Keep quiet! I think she heard us."

The head that roared was staring at the rock we were behind, in an instant, everyone quieted down and held their tongues.

A full minute passed, and the head finally looked away, we all let out a breath they didn't realize we were holding before.

"That was way too close for my comfort. We were lucky that she didn't hear us." Zed said, sighing. And that sentence was just loud enough for the Hydra to hear.

One of the heads went right to the rock we were hiding behind, I looked up at her face, "Uh, hello?"

Then she blasted my non-existence slime ears off of me.

Zed looked between him, "I am going to die."

My face went down several shades of blue, "If I do die, you're the one telling Exy."

The hydra didn't move, she just... stared at us, right through our souls. She growled softly.

"I think this hydra is a mother-to-be," Zed said.

I looked at him and he just pointed at the hydra's neck. I didn't realize it till now...

"Her body is still in the hole, she would have come out if she was trying to stare us off, she must have something in her nest she's protecting," I said, standing up a bit straighter. (Ha! I had a big brain moment! Wo!)

"You got it; well we just have to tell her that we are friendly!" Zed said and started walking towards her.

Wels stopped Zed, "How are you going to do that?"

I climbed up the rock, "I have no idea, but I am going with the flow."

Wels reminded silence until, "Wait, DID YOU JUST MAKE A SEA PUN-"

His words were muffled by the water around, I took a big breath and stared at the Hydra's eyes, "Can we help you?"

The Hydra recoiled a bit, clearly confused by my words, she growled softly.

Ren came up with me as well, "Well you see, we had a complaint from Nereus that you were making a lot of noise, so we want to see what was going on."

The Hydra gestured to her nest for a brief second and growled again but cut off every second.

"That sounded like coughing to me," Joe said, gathering his strength to walk towards the Hydra.

I went with him, the Hydra got out of the nest, still staring into the depths of our souls; Me, Joe, Zed, and Ren jumped.

The nest was just a big underwater cave, but in the middle, the Hydra's tail was curled around a bed of seaweed, two eggs laid to the side, and a small baby hydra laid in the middle of the nest, unmoving.

"Is that one sick?" Jessassin's voice echoed, then a faint thump was heard, he walked up to us.

Joe got closer to the small one, "No, it doesn't seem to have a fever-" He lightly opened the mouth of the hydra, there weren't any teeth yet, "-but it does seem like not it has not eaten in a few days."

I looked out of the hole, "Is this what you are so worried about?"

The Hydra growled and nodded softly.

"Well don't you have any remaining food left?" Ren asked.

She looked at the surrounding area and shook her head, Ren then turned to me, "Do you think Nereus will help?"

I shrugged a bit, "I guess, at least the Hydra doesn't know English, so she won't lose any brain cells."

Zed looked at the Hydra, "Do you have a brain or-"

She growled intensely at Zed, I chirped in "Oh course the Hydras have a brain! Look she's offended now! Say sorry!"

Zed scowled, "Fine! I'm sorry!"

The Hydra nodded and lead us out of her nest. I looked around and took out my phone.

"Wels? You mind looking out while I talk with Nereus?" I asked.

Wels gave me a thumbs up, and I opened my chat history with him.

CoolFishDude101: YO, YO BROSIK! YOU DID WHAT I ASK?

Jevin: No, but yes, you mind helping?

CoolFishDude101: YEA, YEA! ANYTHING; D

Jevin: The Hydra causing this has a child, but they don't have food

CoolFishDude101: YO, WHAT YOU TRYING TO GET AT MATE?

Jevin: Just give them some seaweed now and again

CoolFishDude101: NO PRO, LOL

Jessassin stared at my phone, "Nereus is weird."

I nodded in agreement and shut down my phone. Wels was stomping at some sea monster in the background.

"Geez, what in Soteria's name is that weird monster?" Wels sighed.

"The sea is a bit scary with all these unknown monsters..." False shivered, looking behind her every few seconds.

"It's going be fine, we go to Nereus then we get the information we need!" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"There is no other way... I guess." The cod boy shrugged and began swimming back.

Nereus was where he was before (Thank gods for I am going just scream at him.), he looked up and grinned, "Took you too long! But now, Yo I can reward you for your fine work!"

I plastered on a fake smile, "Yay."

Nereus took out his phone, "Yo, your other brooks may want to hear this."

Jessassin looks up, "As in... phone the other Hermits?"

"Yo, yea! But cooler trick is to facetime them, bro!" Nereus said.

Joe nodded, "You remember X's number?"

A bit of silence goes by, Joe then said, "Well... great! Now what?"

I frantically looked at Jessassin, "Please tell me you remember any one of the hermits' numbers?"

Jessassin shrugged, "I may not be a hermit anymore, but I am still a demigod."

Wels panicked, "Try every number?"

"No! That takes too long! Ren! Your mom is the Titan of memory, do you remember?" I paced around.

"Yeah? I think?" Ren then took Nereus' phone and dialed a series of numbers.

The screen lit up and then Nereus made it project onto the water.

Exy's face was the first time they saw, "Who the Hades are you and why are you calling me?"

"Exy! It's us!" Zed waved.

Exy sighed and then said, "If you wanted to call us all, just dial Xisuma's number. His number is a number ahead of mine."

"I got them mixed up sometimes." Ren nervously said.

Exy called for the others and they all crowded around Exy.

Stress asked, "Please just make this quick, I was getting really lucky at our game!"

Nereus cleared his throat, "Ok. What do you want to ask?"

Xisuma's face popped up, "Well, who sent the bulls to our camp?"

"Someone did, and with time you'll find out." Nereus' voice turned serious.

"Can you tell us now?" Doc asked.

"Just look up at the sky, the answer is very clear," Nereus said.

"I don't like how you're answering us right now," Exy growled.

"That reminds me, what time is it?" Nereus asked and swam right into the forest, leaving us alone with his phone, a really confused group of hermits.

"Huh, guys it's still should be sunlight. There was supposed to be an extra hour before night came." Ren said, looking at his watch and the dark window behind the hermits.

"Is this what it means? The twenty-four becoming twenty-three? The hours of the day changed." Stress muttered.

Joe nodded as well, "Well, another version of this dream makes sense as well, we got Jessassin with us, and we were a group of twenty-four."

Jessassin looked at his feet, "Well, I was going to ask if I could stay here. I got some... unfinished business to do."

I looked at him, trying to keep a smile on my face, "But..."

Jessassin turned around, "Well, it was fun traveling with you all, don't worry, I'll meet you all again soon."

He walked into the void of the sea and vanished with the mist.

A moment of silence goes by... And the tears in my eyes grew a bit, I turned around and tried to look happy, "Well, I guess the line doesn't make sense anymore."

Xisuma rather softly said, "Well, he did say he will come back..."

I cheered myself up, "We found the question of the sea at least! Now for the question of the flames, who we suppose is Nike right?

"Well, yes but I don't know where Nike could be." TFC ,aid.

"Well isn't the statue of Nike found on the island of Samothrace?" I said using my one brain cell.

"Yea! Then we'll go there!" The cod boy exclaimed.

"Let's go to the surface first, are you still at the port?" Wels asked.

"Yep! We'll meet you there." Iskall said.

The phone was then switched off, I looked at the mist with Jessassin went then looked at my friends, "Well I'll race you all to shore!" and kickstarted my way back up.

As the yells of the others got distant I looked up, the ship we stole was near, the dim moonlight shone onto it like a spotlight, Jessassin's last few words echoed in my mind.

I will see him again. I swear it on my life, we will meet again.

TLDR: 

Nereus plays hide and seek with the hermits, they made friends with a MASSIVE FU** YOU MOTHER DRAGON, then facetime others to realize they have no idea where to go next so Jevon's quick thinking saves them from an extra chapter of traveling around... well if he is correct on his guess.

Author's notes:

You have no idea how much I was cringing when I wrote Nereus's lines.

And according to my notes of Jevin, I wrote 'Pretty color deaf but can describe every shade of blue.'

And not to worry, they do meet again, at another time.

For now, pay close attention to details, every word matters.