Copper Hill High's archery team returning from another victorious tournament was the biggest thing to happen in school all week. The pep squad ran to the steps with pom poms and faces with glittered letters CH on them. The student body could not be contained and rushed to see the boys getting off the bus between classes. Those who were in classes had all but squished their faces to the windows to get a glimpse of the red, white and green tracksuits. Damon Fellowes was the first off the bus. Captain was printed in bold red letters across his back as he took his victory stride up the stairs. His towering height and lean-muscular body garnered him a lot of fans and they all cheered for him as he walked by. The pep squad cheered his name in synchrony with their green and red pom poms. He held up horned fingers with one hand and his bow in the other. "First place baby."
The students on the steps roared in response and the entire school seemed to cheer in unison. Nina silently grinded her teeth behind tight lips as she watched the display from the bus. As annoyed as she was, she couldn't blame them for fawning over the archers. In a town with two churches, no mall and no movie theatre, teenage national archers appeared larger than life to the small-town folk.
Luke, Noel, Roman and Ethan followed off the bus. All were in identical tracksuits but with less arrogance than Damon. They held their gear at their sides and shied away from all the attention with their eyes casted downward.
"Let's go boys, stash your gear away and get back to class." Alan said. The boys nodded and did as the team sponsor said. They hurried up the stairs and the crowd of fans disappeared after them. Even the faces in the windows disappeared with the boy's team gone there was nothing else worth seeing. With a final glance around the now deserted school yard, Alan stuck his head back onto the bus. "Alright girls, hustle."
Nina and the other four girls hurried across the school yard and into the staff's washroom where Miss Gaines waited on them. Miss Gaines nodded and waved to Alan from where he stood and only then did he take his leave. She had a stack of white fluffy towels in her hand where she stood at the door. Each girl took one as they made their way into the communal showers with their gym bags flapping at their sides. Clover was the first one in, she had green slime dripping from her hair. If she didn't get that gunk out of her hair soon Nina feared she would burn down the entire school. Eirene and Lindsey filed in after her both with smudged dirt and more green slime on their faces and tracksuits. Finally, Jessie and Nina who looked the worst of the bunch trailed in after them. Scrapes and cuts marred Nina's neck while Jessie was nursing a small bump on her head and a nasty scrape on her neck. Nina smiled and thanked Miss Gaines with a small bow.
"Did you get it?" the history teacher said.
Nina nodded. "We got it." She looked around at the empty bathroom, the girls were in front of the mirror stripping down.
"What did you say that we needed the bathroom for?" Nina said.
Miss Gaines peered over her shoulder and said, "Colossal period emergency. You have about fifteen minutes. Make it count. I'll stand watch."
Nina looked back at her friends, Clover was muttering under her breath as she scooped gunk out of her golden curls. "Thank you," Nina said. She tried to shut the door but Miss Gaines' foot was in the way. "No Nina, thank you." The woman smiled before closing door. Nina locked the door then looked back at the girls and said, "We have fifteen minutes. Let's get cleaned up."
She glanced around at the bathroom, she had never been inside the staff's bathroom before. It was essentially the same as the student's, only this bathroom wasn't covered in graffiti and was much cleaner. To her right was a long counter with four sinks and awful light blue tiles. But unlike the bathroom she was accustomed to, the grout was still white. To her left was a large communal shower separated from the sinks by a tiled, privacy wall. Tucked into the corner was a door that she assumed led to toilet stalls. It could have easily been the general bathroom but they needed the privacy. They couldn't have their peers stumbling into the bathroom questioning them about the actual monster guts splattered all over them. Clover had gotten the brunt of it. If she counted right, she had two seconds before a Clover meltdown.
"Son of a bitch," Clover said. She was now stripped down to her pink matching bra and panties set. "I'm so sick of this. The boys get all the glory when we're the ones doing all the work." The others sighed, Eirene ignored it altogether and hopped into the shower first. Clover scowled at her back and then turned back to the mirror where she continued scraping the gunk out of her hair. "When are you going to get over it Clo?" Lindsey said. She pulled out a hair tie from her bag and piled her blond hair into a top knot bun.
"I'll get over it when I get some freaking respect." Clover said, a blob of green goo dripped down from her fingers into the sink.
"We literally have a network of people who respect us. Whose entire lives are dedicated to protecting us." Nina said, arms on her hips. She was annoyed she had to do this every time with Clover and even more annoyed that the cut on her side was now throbbing. She stiffened, ignoring the injury she had not revealed to Alan or the others.
"A secret network Nina. Secret admirers don't count." Clover said. She looked back for support but Lindsey was already in the shower and Jessie was not backing her tirade. Jessie was sitting between two sinks on the counter rubbing at her neck. Nina vaguely remembered the monster scraping her neck with a tusk.
"I'm supposed to save the world, pass Chemistry, have a social life and get no recognition for it? Bullshit." Clover said. Nina slapped her hand against the counter making Jessie flinch and Eirene peer around the tiled, privacy wall in the shower.
"By all means go into the halls and start screaming about how you just killed a four-legged monster straight out of Greek mythology. I'll wait." Nina waited for the inevitable eyeroll. "Exactly. Just get into the shower Clover." A vein throbbed in Clover's neck as she held her ground in front of Nina who was getting shaky on her feet from the pain in her side. "I don't know who spit in your green juice this morning Woodstock but you should really watch how you speak to me." She rolled her eyes, dropped her shoulders and went into the shower. Nina's eyes shut under the pressure of the morning and she took a deep, calculated breath.
"One day I'm going to run out of sympathy for her." she said in a low tone to Jessie. Flashing her a sympathetic smile, her fellow wood nymph jumped into the shower.
With everyone else in the shower, Nina dug into her bag and left a disinfectant balm for Jessie's neck on the counter. She then tentatively lifted her t-shirt and inspected the gash on her ribs from the creature's bite. It stung like a bitch and with all the adrenaline mostly gone, the pain came back in waves. She didn't want the others to see and quickly dropped the t-shirt back in place. She would wait for the others to leave so she could shower alone. All she had to do was get to the forest for her wound to heal, she could deal with a little bite until then.
While the girls scrubbed away the putrid smell of the green goo that was splattered everywhere when the monster's head exploded, Nina pulled twigs and leaves out of her jet-black hair. She then pulled out a change of clothes from the gym bag at her feet. She couldn't remember how many track suits they'd been through in the last six months. Monster hunting was not a clean pass-time. They were often soiled or torn during battle. Today was no different.
The others traipsed out of the shower a few minutes later, scrubbed raw with wet hair. "I'm going straight home after school and soak in the tub for like three hours." Lindsey said. She was wringing out excess water from her hair over one of the sinks.
"Ditto. Wait, don't you have dance today?" Clover said.
Lindsey froze. "Oh yeah, scratch that, make it twenty minutes."
Clover grinned, drying off her annoyingly perfect body.
"Aren't you getting in Nina?" Lindsey said. Nina nodded, stalling time by helping Jessie with the balm for her neck.
Clover scoffed. "Don't be such a prude Woodstock, no one cares that you didn't develop over the summer. Ooo I know, why don't you grow yourself a pair of lemons and stuff them in your bra?" Nina's eyes grew into saucers as she locked eyes with Clover's pointed gaze in the mirror. Blinking back the embarrassment, Nina turned away from the mirror and focused her attention on inspecting Jessie's small wound.
"Geez Clo," Lindsey said. The entire bathroom fell in silence as was custom whenever Clover felt especially malicious. No one dared contest her lest she aimed her razor-sharp words at them. It had been like that since they were kids. Nina would have liked to be accustomed to it by now but each day Clover found a new way to snipe at her or worst, embarrass her.
Nina waited for the others to get dressed and leave before she stripped down. Sizing up the damage to her side in the mirror, she bit her inner lip as thick dark red blood oozed from the bite. She popped two ibuprofens into her mouth and washed it down with a half-drunk bottle of water she found in her gym bag. She would just have to manage the pain during evening classes. It would be lunch by the time she got out of the shower, she could make it till two thirty. As soon as she got to the forest, all would be healed.
The dirt and green goo washed off of her and swirled around the drain before disappearing. She blew air out her cheeks as the water pressure hit her wound, despite herself, she smiled. She would have actual battle scars now. They had kicked ass today and took that thing down in record time. They were getting better, stronger. Or at least she was. Sure, it had only been six months since they started but they had been training for this since they were thirteen. She looked down at her hands palms side up and smiled remembering the way they had commanded the vines and branches just hours ago. She ducked her head under the spray of the water completely, nothing could beat the high she felt.
Always aware of time, Nina didn't let her gloating linger much longer as she was cutting it close to her deadline. After drying off she slipped up onto the counter and peeled the glossy paper off the back of the biggest band-aid she could find in her gym bag. She slapped it over the wound and put it out of her head. Foregoing a bra, she pulled a green sweatshirt over her head and pulled up matching green sweatpants over her tanned legs. Staring at her disheveled appearance in the mirror, she forced a small smile.
She said to herself, "Two thirty."
Before she returned the key to the staff washroom to Ms. Gaines, she then headed to the janitor's closet for bleach and some other cleaning solvents. Copper Hill High looked like one long building from the outside but was so much more behind. Behind the main building was a perfect square with a large courtyard at its center. North was the main building, office, staffrooms and custodian closets. West were the labs and auditorium, south and east were classrooms and outside lockers. She wasn't far from the janitor's closet and got there in less than a minute. Luckily, he wasn't there when she knocked. She took whatever she wanted before he stumbled upon her with questions, she didn't have a logical answer to.
When she returned to the staff's bathroom Miss Gaines was gone from her guard post. She would have to be quick. She wiped the counters where the green gunk still littered and sprayed the showers so the repulsive smell that came with it was destroyed or at the very least, masked. She knew the girls were not keen on claiming her as their leader but none of them had the foresight to clean up after themselves and until they showed more initiative Nina would have to take lead. She knew since she was a child she was born for something great. When she grew into her birthright at the age of thirteen, she had needed no convincing to hunt and kill monsters that lurked in and around the woods of Copper Hill.
She returned the cleaning products and was headed to the courtyard when she ran into Emma. She should have run the other way the moment she saw that pink streaked ponytail coming. "Nina, didn't see you girls get off the bus. Another loss huh?" Emma said.
"I guess it wasn't our day." Nina tried to leave but Emma stepped into her path.
"It rarely is your day I think…" Emma said. "When's Mr. Karmekov having tryouts again?"
Nina shrugged, "You'll be the first to know when he does."
"Funny, how he refused to pick me for the team even though you girls keep losing…what do they say about insanity again?"
Nina shrugged. "Better luck next time Ems." Nina side stepped her again and was too quick for Emma to block her path this time. She shook off her triggering encounter and hurried to her locker.
The lunch rush was at full swing when she stowed her gym bag in her locker. Snacks were tossed from the vending machine to waiting hands. Lunch trays and brown bags occupied hands as they looked for a spot to have lunch. That was never a problem for Nina and her friends. Nina cut across the courtyard where the others would be waiting. Everyone was there sitting around the fountain that was really their fountain now. The creepy sculpture of the baby blowing water out of its mouth had long stopped working and was now covered in moss and grime. It was still their favourite spot. Luke and Damon sat on top the concrete rim while Clover, Ethan and Lindsey were on the soft grass scarfing down sandwiches and granola bars. Roman, Noel, Jessie and Eirene had a different lunch period, much to their chagrin. Nina thought it was a blessing in disguise. It made them look like less of a cult since they did everything else together.
Ethan looked up when she arrived. He was holding a sandwich and an apple out for her. "Hello you, figured you didn't have time to get lunch." he said.
"Right as always." she said taking them from Ethan with a smile. She slowly eased herself down to the grass and hoped they failed to notice she was wincing in pain. But everyone was busy with their food. They had skipped breakfast for their extracurricular activities and hunting mythological beast really worked up an appetite. Clover and Damon were splitting a grilled cheese. Lindsey and Luke were the poster children for healthy households and were having a veggie stir fry and loaded baked potatoes respectfully. She looked down at her own sad sandwich from the cafeteria that was probably stale. Ethan and Alan were on their own and pretty much hopeless when it came to their nutrition. In fact, she was usually the one feeding Ethan with lunches her dad packed.
"I know feeding a chef's daughter a cafeteria sandwich is a punishable offense but it was all I could do on short notice." Ethan said.
Nina laughed, shaking her head. "It's perfectly adequate, thanks babe."
She leaned against the fountain between Luke's dangling legs, thankful for the backrest. It took some pressure off her wound. It felt worse than it did one minute ago but she ate her sandwich with a small smile and tuned into the conversation that was already in motion when she sat down.
"Anyone else have to go to the career fair Monday?" Luke said. "Bennet is forcing us to go, attendance is half the grade."
Damon shrugged, taking two bites from the grilled cheese. Clover scrunched her face up. "Why is it the only things we ever get invited to at this stupid school are school related?"
"Not this again," Damon said.
"Yes, this again." she said, pouting her lip-glossed lips.
"What's got her so upset?" Luke said.
"She didn't get invited to Brady's party. Me and the guys got invited but we're not going without you, obviously." Damon said. He popped the small piece of bread left into his mouth and dusted his hands from the crumbs. "You don't even like Brady." he said.
"So? I'm the hottest piece of ass in this school and if not for you lot, I would run this school." Clover said, seemingly fed up of the half-eaten sandwich in her hands, she extended it to Damon.
"I'm only pissed because this is the party to be at. Besides Ethan, Brady's family is like the richest in Copper Hill. I heard they have two Jacuzzis in their backyard. Two. Jacuzzis."
"Sorry to bring down your social standing." Ethan said in a dry tone making Clover roll her eyes at him.
"I doubt this fair is going to have a monster hunting booth, no use in going." Ethan said.
"Bennet can kiss my perfect, heart-shaped ass." Clover said. "I'm ditching. Who needs a career fair when I already know what I'm going to do after high school."
"Which is?" Luke said.
"Be a kick ass nymph slash sexy bartender…like Coyote Ugly." She flipped her hair over her left shoulder, eyes sparkling with confidence.
"What's a Coyote Ugly?" Luke said.
"It's an old, obscure movie she probably came across in a Buzzfeed article that has her feeling edgy this week." Damon said. Clover pinned him with glare sharper than a dagger. "First of all, fuck you." She pointed at Damon. "Second of all, it's Nat's favorite movie, we've watched it like a hundred times."
"So, what's it about?" Lindsey said.
"Sexy bartenders wearing low-rise jeans who dance on counter tops and spray beer at gross men." Clover said. Luke's eyes squinted at her synopsis.
"Why do I get the feeling you're missing the point of the movie?" Luke said. Clover shrugged. "I left out all the parts that didn't matter."
"Umm, anyway…wouldn't it be sweet if monster hunting paid better…or at all." Luke said.
"Speaking of monsters…give us the goods nerd, what was that thing today?" Damon said. Ethan twisted on the grass, so he was facing the fountain. He consulted his manilla folder and settled on a page. "It's apparently an Erymanthian Boar." Ethan said.
"I knew it looked like that thing from the Lion King." Lindsey said. They all laughed because everything Lindsey said was inherently funny.
"There's not much information on it to be honest. According to the myths it was Hercules' fourth labour. He captured it and brought it to the king of Mycenae. And as always, we don't know how it stumbled out of a myth to a forest in Copper Hill, Maine. My guess is they will take the remains back to the factory and run some tests. Wouldn't hold my breath though. Not like those tests have ever been conclusive."
Nina ate in silence but listened intently. She doubted the test would reveal anything about the creature's origins either, they never did. Ethan was right, most of the archives they had on the Monsters had been destroyed in the fires of 1999 along with anyone who could replace those files from memory. It was Copper Hill's biggest tragedy that they would never be able to escape. The fire took Nina's grandmother who was also a wood nymph. In fact, it took out all their grandparents making them the only surviving nymphs now. When it came to the mythological, they were flying blind basically. Alan's life and fortune were devoted to filling the gaps that had been lost by the fires but he was only one man.
"If you asked me, all these creatures we fought are just enhanced versions of animals we have right here today." Ethan said. "Maybe any resemblance to Greek mythological creatures is strictly coincidental. Maybe every weird thing that happens in this town is the result of unethical animal testing or something."
Luke snapped his fingers. "Like the Python last month." Ethan nodded shuffling around the files in his hands. "I'm saying if you guys are nymphs and we kill creatures out of myths every single week then where are the Olympians? Where are the Muses or the Fates? Why just nymphs? It doesn't make any sense."
"If you need me to help you believe I can always set fire to your awful clothes? Would that do?" Clover said. Ethan glared at her.
"Pretty sure we already knew the answers but it was lost in the fires of 1999." Luke said. "Now back to your Boar theory."
"Yeahhh, I'll take Pumba over that thing from today." Lindsey said. The others laughed but Nina was afraid that she would bleed out right there if she laughed. She was in a lot of pain now and she was beginning to consider cutting class just to get to the forest. The forest at the heart of Copper Hill was the source of every mythological thing that happened in Copper Hill, that much they knew. Not many knew about it but the ones who did were privy to the very scary and exciting world that lay just below Copper Hill's mundane, small town surface. She would be able to heal there. She just had to wait. Taking another bite into the sandwich, it tasted like cardboard in her dry mouth. She couldn't even identify what meat she ate anymore. Unsure if that was a side effect of her wound or the cafeteria food. She gave up and put the sandwich on the grass beside her thighs. Even the open space of the courtyard began to feel suffocating and she was getting dizzier by the second. Stilling her mind, she tried to focus on something else. The others, what were they talking about something? Focus on that.
"Where'd you get it?" Damon said, pointing to the folder in Ethan's hand.
"Dad's library," Ethan said. Nina began sweating profusely and sunk further so she was almost on the other side of the fountain, out of sight from her friends. She didn't want them to worry when she would be fine by tomorrow.
"Whoa-ho, stealing from Alan, that's bad ass." Damon said, "Even Alan scares me." Ethan shook his head and shoved the folder back into his worn, grey messenger bag.
"Not steal, I just copied a few pages from the index." Damon made a loud puff sound.
"You were so close to being cool." He and Clover snickered, they kept a record of every 'bad' thing Ethan and Nina did for their own amusement. She'd never been affected by Clover and Damon's teasing though and she didn't think Ethan was either. He waved them off and said, "Dad doesn't want me helping with his research so I've taken it upon myself to keep my own record and go about my own research."
"Nerd." Damon said. "How does your version of rebellion include research. You gotta admit that's pretty lame." Ethan rolled his eyes.
"You still love me, right?" He turned to look for Nina but she was slouched against the fountain. "Nina?" she heard him call again. Nina was straddling the line between conscious and unconscious, her wound felt like it was on fire and she didn't even have enough energy to scream for help.
"Shit," she heard Ethan's voice. He gently slapped her face but she couldn't focus on his voice or his face. She heard Clover snickering from behind Ethan.
"Let her sleep weirdo." Clover said
"Something's wrong, she's burning up." he said. His worry called the others to action and they all huddled around her.
"The Boar," Nina said incoherently. "The Boar got me." They all struggled to hear her above the chatter of the lunch period. "Did she say she wants more?" Lindsey said.
"The Boar? Nina, sweetie we killed it." Ethan said.
Nina's wound burned, she lifted her sweat shirt and heard them all gasp. She had completely bled through the band aid. The edge of the wound was black and sticky and smelled like decaying flesh. "The Erymanthian Boar must have some kind of venom. When did it bite her?" Ethan said.
"I didn't know that it did. She was fine." Clover said.
"And she didn't say anything?" Luke said.
"That's Nina for you." Clover said.
"We have to get her out of here." Damon said.
The others murmured in agreement, but no one suggested an actual idea. That was usually Nina's role. It was also the last thing she heard before she blacked out.