House of Cards, percy jackson & the olympians

iv. Old Habits Die Hard

house of cards
❛ iv. old habits die hard ❜

━━━━━ THERE WAS ABSOLUTE silence for a good few feet, which was absolutely suffocating for Genna to bear. She was hunched between Percy and Annabeth, trying to be as small as possible — avoid bumping into one of them, and to avoid having to look at them if she did so. Obnoxious comments were on the tip of her tongue, and she had to bite down to keep them from spewing out. Genna knew she was only going to be annoying if she started to just talk — started saying whatever came to mind (currently she was thinking: "Man, this is fucking awkward.")

Annabeth huffed, clearly miffed and agitated, and Percy copied her, albeit with a bit of confusion over the reaction from Cabin Eleven and Annabeth. Genna jetted out her jaw and looked aside. She had a pretty good idea why Annabeth was so upset — she was sure that any new camper was "the one", and Percy was a new camper, but yet, he wasn't acting very "the one-esque".

Soon, the silence became too much for Genna to handle. She unclenched her jaw and took a breath to speak — but just then, Annabeth blurted out; "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

Genna grimaced, letting out the air she took in.

Percy frowned at Annabeth. "What?"

She rolled her eyes and grumbled to Genna, gesturing to Percy: "This is who you were sent to watch?"

Genna scoffed. "It wasn't my idea, just so you know. It was Grover's nose —"

"What is your problem?" Percy cut her off, scowling at both Annabeth and Genna. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy —"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth chided him with a sharp hiss. "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 dead in his tracks. Genna skidded to stop and whipped around to look at him, giving him a vexed face. For a moment, Percy looked between Genna and Annabeth, then shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."

"Yeah." Genna nodded impatiently.

"Then there's only one."

"Yeah."

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

"So you did listen to Chiron in class." Genna crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Figured you didn't — Percy, monsters don't die. They can be killed, but they don't stay dead."

Percy's expression grew from impatient to dubious. "Oh, thanks. That clears it up, Genna."

Genna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, Percy, they don't have souls — not the way we do. So you can dispel them for a time, a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they're ... I don't know the big words Chiron used." She waved her hand impatiently. "Something to do with primal forces and archetypes —"

Annabeth gave Genna a peeved look. "They're primal forces. And Chiron calls them archetypes. You would think you'd remember those words by now, Genna."