¹Pocket Full of Posies, p. jackson

i. The Minotaur Slayer

chapter one
❛ the minotaur slayer ❜

━━━━━  THE WHISPERS OF a boy who had managed to kill the Minotaur was the only thing Josephine heard the morning after, and of course, she already knew that — she saw flashes of the fight in her dreams. She saw the lightning, the explosion of a red car, three figures (one limping along as they leaned on another) as they climbed Half-Blood Hill, one figure melting into a shimmering golden form until they disappeared into nothing, and the Minotaur's horn being snapped right off the top of his head. The nasty crunch! was the thing to wake Josephine up, and she had been so certain that she could hear it echo across the valley; however, from her dream to her reality, it went from nighttime to daytime. The sun was starting to rise, and Josephine swore she had already started hearing the whispers of the boy who killed the Minotaur.

But perhaps that could have just been her whispers; whispers under her breath as she started getting ready in her cabin to head for the dining pavilion. It all seemed to be her whispers, in the beginning at least. Straight from Cabin Six's, Athena's cabin, mouth (dining pavilion neighbors of Cabin Seven), Josephine heard from Malcolm that Annabeth had gone to speak with Chiron about the weird things happening (to demand a quest, if Josephine knew Annabeth at least a little bit — which she did) the night before, and as she was pleading with Chiron, there was a thump! on the front porch and when they rushed out there — there was the boy Chiron had been sent to New York City for and the satyr who had found the boy, Grover Underwood. The boy (his name was something along the lines of ... Percy Jackson) and Grover were both lying on the front porch of the Big House, and then — they passed out.

At least, that was the story Josephine heard from Malcolm, who had heard it all from Annabeth, a daughter of Athena and Head Counselor for Cabin Six. Josephine couldn't vex the story by Grover's keen senses as he was currently getting grilled by the Council of Cloven Elders (and if Josephine heard the rumors correctly, Grover had already had one hoof out the door).

And Josephine soon learned that the mighty killer of the Minotaur was a rather scrawny-looking twelve-year-old boy. And that he also drooled in his sleep — a lot, at that.

Beyond the vague visions and the sliver of information she had gotten out of Malcolm, that's all Josephine knew — his name was Percy, he killed the Minotaur, he was scrawny, and he drooled in his sleep. He also had messy black hair, which was curly now as it had dried from the rain last night. He still had mud streaking his clothes and face, and Josephine could see cuts and blood staining his pale face. His eyebrows were pinched together in his sleep, and she figured he was having a bad dream — typical for half-bloods.

He really did drool in his sleep. Josephine was almost a little disgusted by it.

Josephine had been placed on infirmary duty. Regardless, it hardly mattered as Annabeth practically haunted the place like a ghost, waiting for the moment this Percy boy would wake up. That was how Annabeth always was whenever there was any new kid who showed even a bit of promise at Camp Half-Blood. She was even like this with Josephine for a time — until Josephine was claimed by Apollo and not by Zeus (not that she was complaining, learning what happened to the last daughter of Zeus ...). In fact, she was almost glad Annabeth was there. It meant Josephine didn't have to feed the drooling boy some mashed ambrosia.

However, as she watched Annabeth, she started to hear Michael and Lee, her older brothers, in her head. She's not doing it properly! She knew Michael would bemoan. You have to be gentle with the patients. It was ironic that Michael ever thought that way, considering just how much of a hot-head he was in every other aspect. Lee would try and gently correct Annabeth, not counting the fact that Annabeth rarely ever took criticism well (a con of being the daughter of Athena and Head Counselor of Cabin Six only at age twelve).