the archer, percy jackson

003. grand plan

chapter three
003. grand plan!

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    WENDY, Annabeth and Percy walked for a good few metres in absolute silence. Wendy hunched up between her older sister and the boy with the Minotaur horn, trying very hard not to burst into some random fact or how Percy still hadn't tied his shoelaces up▬because she knew that would only be annoying. But it was getting harder and harder when Annabeth just huffed, miffed and annoyed, and so did Percy with a grit of confusion over the reaction in cabin eleven. 

    Wendy glanced between them and fiddled with her fingers. She wondered why Annabeth seemed upset▬perhaps her idea of who this boy with the Minotaur horn was might have been just as persistent and hopeful as Wendy's own. Maybe she was disappointed. 

    Soon, when it became too much for Wendy to handle, she took a breath to say something▬it was then that Annabeth blurted out: "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

    Wendy puckered her lips, growing silent.

    Percy frowned at Annabeth, his wild hair stuck over his forehead. "What?"

    Annabeth rolled her eyes and grumbled to Wendy, gesturing at Percy: "You seriously think he's the one?"

    Wendy gaped. "I▬well▬" she went red, eyeing Percy beside her. "I mean▬'the one' is a grouping of some very specific pair of words▬"

    "What is your problem?" Percy cut her off, his frown turning into a scowl that narrowed onto Annabeth who stood taller than the both of them. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy▬"

    "Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him in a harsh whisper. In the sunlight, her grey eyes looked more blue. Wendy wondered whether hers do, too. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

    "To get killed?"

    "To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

    Percy stopped in his path. Wendy skidded and turned back around, a little bit impatient. He made a face at Annabeth, very confused. Then, he shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories..."

    "Yes," said Annabeth, also growing impatient.

    "Then there's only one."

    "Yes."

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

    Wendy lit up when he knew about Theseus. "Yes, he did!" she let out, excited. Percy turned to her, taken aback. "I mean, technically he didn't die because monsters can't die. But they can be killed. Like how you killed the Minotaur."

    Percy grew dubious. He made a face at her. "Thanks..." He muttered sarcastically. "That▬that really clears it up."

    She went flushed at the cheeks, suddenly embarrassed. "I▬I mean that monsters don't have souls, like you or me. So, because of that, you can dispel them for a while▬even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron told me they're like archetypes. They're a constantly reoccurring symbol▬" she shrugged. "So, like, they'll reform eventually. So they don't die."

    He thought about what she said. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword...?"

    "You mean the F▬" she corrected herself, "▬I mean, your maths teacher?" Wendy nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah, exactly like that. She's still out there." She smirked. "You've just made her really mad."