The Harvest Trials

Chapter III

Percy

On the second day when they finally came it get me, two random agents I'd never seen before untied me from the chair. They grabbed me under the arms and dragged me, walking swiftly enough so my feet hardly touched the ground.

They led me down many long hallways and past many doors when they finally stopped. The one on my right, a big burly dude, pulled out a key and opened the door. The one on my left not-so-gently shoved me through the opening before slamming the door shut. I heard it lock behind me.

I got my hands beneath me and started to push myself off the ground when a voice spoke in front of me. A very familiar voice. "Ah, he lives."

My head snapped up and I couldn't help but grin when I saw Leo propped against the wall. Piper sat on his right and Lou Ellen on the other wall. Sherman Yang sat beside her and Will stood and paced over to me, helping me up.

"So where have you been?" Piper asked me. "I've been sitting in a chair for two days," I answered, taking the opportunity to stretch myself out a little.

"No joke?" She asked. "No joke," I answered, a scowl settling on my face as I remembered the very much unsuccessful interrogation two days ago. "Well we've just been in this cell, running laps around this small square for all eternity," Leo said.

Lou Ellen made a special trip across the cell to kick Leo in the shin. "Do you know where anyone else is?" I asked. "As far as I know, half-bloods are being put in cells in groups of six. Tomorrow they will be testing us on the power of our demigod abilities. I have no idea how they plan to use them." Will explained.

"Use us," Lou corrected.

"Yeah that."

I started to feel really sick thinking about Camp Jupiter. I wonder if any of my friends besides Annabeth knew about my betrayal and what they would do if they found out. Would they blame me? Would they cast me out?

I'd like to think they wouldn't, but I can't be sure.

"Well, at least Camp Jupiter is safe," Leo let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, about that..." I explained to them what happened in the interrogation room where I was forced to reveal the Roman camp.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Sherman exclaimed angrily.

Piper gave him a disapproving look and pulled me into a hug. "It's not your fault. They would've found it eventually, or just gotten the information from someone else. You did the right thing."

Just then we heard a great roar of commotion from outside our cell. We all jumped up to see if we could see through the tiny window on the door of the cell. What I saw made me sick all over again.

The agents of HARVEST were trying to corral a raging Camp Jupiter. I saw Frank at the front of the group, going ballistic. He was spinning around, taking out agents left and right, and changing to different animals so fluidly, my brain almost couldn't follow his motions.

The most sickening thing I saw was not the hundreds of campers getting shoved into various open cells, but the fact that James Everette, that son of a bitch, had also kidnapped the entirety of New Rome.

I started shoving the door, desperate to get out of here and help them. Mothers were being shoved around, trying to protect their children. Fathers were being gunned down if they didn't cooperate.

One man was pushing past agents to get to his family. They shot him once, in the back of the head, and he toppled. A young boy, maybe eight, screamed in terror and ran to his father, pushing against the tide to get to him.