¹Pocket Full of Posies, p. jackson

ii. Downsides of Godliness

chapter two
❛ downsides of godliness ❜

━━━━━ THE SILENCE WAS already suffocating, and Josephine, Annabeth, and Percy had only walked a few feet away from Cabin Eleven. Josephine was shoved between the other two, her shoulders hunched as she tried not to bump into either (and so she wouldn't have to say anything to them, too). She wanted to break the silence; however, every time she tried, one of them would huff — Annabeth was miffed and annoyed, while Percy was confused and angry.

        Josephine glanced between them, her fingers getting caught up in the end of her shirt as she fiddled with it nervously. She knew Annabeth was holding out hope that Percy was "the one" she had been waiting years for; however, she had never seen Annabeth treat any new campers like this — like they were something so bothersome. Maybe it was just her disappointment finally boiling over after so many years.

        Eventually, she hit her own personal breaking point, the silence growing too suffocating. She opened her mouth, no longer worried about what words she would say, just to have any words break the silence — but then, Annabeth beat her to the punch with a snappy opener of: "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

        Josephine pursed her lips, staying silent and looking off.

        Percy gave Annabeth an offended look, his frown deepening. "What?"

        The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one ..."

        "What's your problem?" Percy demanded, the frown turning into a deep scowl as his eyes narrowed in on Annabeth (though she stood taller than both him and Josephine, so the glare wasn't that intimidating as he had hoped). "All I know is, I kill some bull guy —"

        "The Minotaur," Josephine corrected quickly. "You killed the Minotaur."

        "Whatever," Percy snapped, glaring at her. "Minotaur, bull guy — same difference!"

        "Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him with a harsh tone. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

        "Oh." Percy scoffed incredulously and rolled his eyes. "To get killed? What an honor, Annabeth."

        "To fight the Minotaur!" she hissed back, stomping her foot. "What do you think we train for?"

        "To not get killed ..." Josephine muttered, her arms crossing over her chest defeatedly. Some tour this was turning out to be ...

        Suddenly, Percy stopped dead in his tracks, leaving Annabeth and Josephine to both skid to stop in front of him. The daughter of Apollo spun around, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion; however, Percy still had his eyes narrowed on Annabeth, his anger slowly melting into what looked like disbelief. He shook his head, saying, "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."

        "It was." Josephine nodded, starting to grow a little impatient. "Yes."

        "Then there's only one."

        "Also yes."

        "And he died — like — a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."

        Josephine frowned slightly. "Monsters don't die, Percy. Not like us, at least. They can get killed, but they don't stay dead — unfortunately for us."