Gladiators

Chapter Thirteen

"Why would she do that?" Percy asked, confused. "Never mind that. What happened to you?" Thalia asked. Percy sighed. "I was captured. Taken to a fighting arena in the heart of the Roman Empire. I was put in the arena to fight." Percy told her, his hand going through his hair.

"Fight who?" Thalia asked with confusion.

"The prince of the Romans. The future ruler of the Empire." Percy said, and Thalia's jaw dropped open in shock. Percy continued his story. "I lost, unfortunately. I had been disoriented, unprepared. He took me...as his...spoil of war." Percy said reluctantly.

"Spoil of war?" Thalia asked in horror. Percy flinched from her tone. Horror isn't that different from disgust, and disgust was the thing he feared most by coming back here. The revulsion of others. Percy slowly nodded, head down. Percy felt arms around him and hugged her back. Suddenly, against his will, he began sobbing.

"Hey, it's okay. Nothing's wrong with you. It's not your fault." Thalia told him, rubbing his back. Percy soon calmed down, and they let go of each other. Suddenly, Percy heard yelling. Percy ran towards the noise, Thalia following. What Percy saw, shocked him.

Jason, Reyna, Hazel, and Frank were tied to archery targets, the best archers had their arrows pointed at them, posed to release the string. Greeks were crowded around, shouting for blood.

"What is going on here?" Thalia shouted angrily, standing in between the archers and their targets. The Romans had blank faces, showing no worry. Some of the crowd looked ashamed, others looked angry. "They took one of our own, and they'll pay dearly for messing with the Greeks!" An angry member of the crowd shouted defiantly, making others start shouting, too.

Sally and Paul suddenly appeared, Paul holding Tris. "Killing them won't help anything! He's back, safe and sound!" Sally shouted, but they ignored her. Percy saw a red-headed girl- his friend Rachel- in the crowd, and she didn't look happy. Her arms were crossed, and she was scowling at the Greeks around her, who were shouting defiantly.

"Stop! Don't shoot them! They're my friends!" Percy shouted, coming forward finally. Everything stopped. You could've heard a pin drop. No one made a sound. No one moved. Then, Annabeth came forward. "Percy, what are you talking about? They're Roman." She said in confusion.

"They're nice Romans! Sure, I mean, I was kept there against my will and imprisoned for a while, but they were okay!" Percy replied desperately. "We're not killing them." Thalia ordered, going to Jason and untying him. She stared at his face for a while, as if searching for something. "Do I know you?" Thalia asked slowly, still staring. "Not that I know of." Jason replied.

Then, like a switch, her eyes lit up with recognition. "Jason?" She asked, her eyes filling with tears. "Uh, yes. Who are you?" Jason asked. Tears were streaming down Thalia's face now. "It's me, Thalia. Your sister." Thalia said through her tears, and Jason stared at her in shock, his face pale. "You have a sister?" Frank asked. "I didn't know that." Hazel said. "Neither did I." Reyna said.

"And it looks like neither did he." Percy said, going to untie Reyna. "It's about time you told them we're friends." Reyna muttered to Percy, and he smiled apologetically. When Percy went to untie Hazel, she smiled. "I thought we were going to die." Hazel said with relief. Frank just nodded in appreciation once Percy untied him.

"My- my sister?" Jason stuttered finally, and she nodded tearfully. "I-I thought I was alone. I thought my parents abandoned me." Jason said quietly, suddenly hugging her. He clung to her as if his life depended on it- and maybe, just maybe, in his raging storm of emotional turmoil, his life did depend on her.

"No, Jason. Our mother, she was horrible. I was taking care of you. But I lost you. I had taken my eyes off you for a moment, and you were gone. I blamed myself ever since." Thalia sobbed into his shoulder. Jason was crying too. "But she doesn't look older than Jason." Hazel said, confused.