Heroes of Olympus 5
Rick Riordan
Summary is from SuperSummary
1. The demigods are in Ithaca to collect information for their quest. Percy, Hazel, Leo, and Frank stay on the Argo II, while Jason, Annabeth, and Piper climb up to the ruins of the palace of Odysseus where one hundred evil spirits (the ghosts of Penelope’s suitors) are waiting for Gaea’s orders. Jason is disguised as an old man, Annabeth and Piper as Greek serving maidens. The climb takes its toll on Jason’s elderly body. He thinks about his recent nightmares, in which he’s haunted by the giant Clytius, Gaea, Juno, and the ghost of the woman who abandoned him at the Wolf House when he was two years old. The demigods hear a boom and cheering coming from the ruins and rush forward.
2. A “spectral mirage” of the palace in its prime overlays the ruins. The demigods find assembled double the expected number of not only spirits but also decayed and wounded ghouls and regular mortals. A ghoul with an arrow through his throat—Penelope’s chief suitor, Antinous—tosses a bust of Zeus into a fountain that spews sand rather than water. As the bust passes through the sand, it disintegrates, glittering gold, the color of “godly blood.” The ghoul announces that the next sacrifice will be a god. The demigods have 12 days before Gaea plans to wake. Jason, Piper, and Annabeth separate to carry out their plan, the girls assimilating into the crowd of serving women and Jason hobbling toward the suitors. Antinous thinks Jason is Iros, a panhandler who passed along messages for the suitors until the disguised Odysseus defeated him, and invites him to sit. Up close, Jason realizes that dirt—the “power of Gaea” (19)—is holding Antinous together. During their conversation, Jason learns that the ritual to awaken Gaea will take place at the Acropolis in Athens, not in Olympus, as he’d assumed. Another former suitor, Eurymachus, unwittingly reveals what traps have been set for the demigods on the route from Ithaca to Athens, and Antinous disintegrates him in a rage. Jason maintains his disguise by drawing on his own experiences fighting the monsters that Antinous and the others are allied with, and Antinous exclaims, “Victory runs rampant in Olympia” (26). With the information he needs and feeling a sense of foreboding, Jason ponders how to escape before Gaea’s recruits realize who they are. Michael Varus steps forward, calling Jason by name and gesturing to a woman who has come for him: his mother.
3. Jason’s mother, television star Beryl Grace, appears before him, and he feels his disguise burning away. She was Jupiter’s lover but was rejected by him in both his Roman and Greek forms. Piper uses her charmspeak to warn Jason that his mother is only a spirit. As Beryl urges him to lead the recruits, Jason reflects on his past failed attempts to reject the leadership role thrust on him as Jupiter’s son. He reminds his mother that she, not Jupiter or Juno, abandoned him, and Beryl replies that she returned as she promised. Antinous offers to make Jason king since he has no home among either Greeks or Romans, neither of whom will accept him. His mother urges him to give up his quest, since Gaea has sent “the hunter who never rests” (31) to kill Nico and Reyna. Although he doesn’t know who she means, Jason realizes that he must survive to warn them. Annabeth and Piper watch for his signal. Reflecting on what Michael Varus told him—that the spirits here are “sustained by their strongest desires” (32)—Jason asks his mother what she wants. She replies that she wants youth and beauty, which Jupiter could have given her had he not abandoned her. She wants Jason to “set things right” (32). Remembering what his sister, Thalia, told him—that despair led their mother’s perception to break from reality—and realizing that she’s a “mania,” a “spirit of insanity”—Jason uses an ancient sign for “warding off evil” (32), and Beryl disappears. Gaea’s recruits move in to attack him.
4. Jason fights alongside Annabeth and Piper. Michael Varus stabs Jason with his imperial gold sword—deadly to demigods—before Piper slashes Varus into oblivion. Annabeth feeds Jason ambrosia and nectar while Piper dresses his wound. With Jason unable to fly, Annabeth departs to signal the Argo II for help. Jason resolves to live to pass on the information he learned from Antinous. He reflects on Penelope and the suitors, his family, and his dreams—and realizes that he’s missing something. Meanwhile, Annabeth returns and weaves a hammock for Frank to transport Jason back to the ship. Recalling Odysseus and Penelope’s sacred marriage bed, Jason uses its power to summon Juno. Piper demands that Juno heal Jason, but Juno replies that the nature of the wound requires that he fight it himself and survive. Juno advises the demigods to choose the less direct route around the Peloponnese and confront Nike at Olympia so that the rift between Greek and Roman people can heal. She reveals that Jupiter blames her for the war with Gaea, forcing her to hide, and also directs his wrath at Apollo and Artemis, who may help him if he can make it to Delos. As the goddess vanishes, Jason—before losing consciousness—sees Frank in eagle form flying above them.
5. Reyna, Nico, and Coach Hedge are plummeting toward the volcano Mount Vesuvius. Nico shadow-jumped the three of them—along with the Athena Parthenos in a harness. Reyna commands Nico to take them out of danger, but his strength is depleted. Using the power of her mother, Roman war goddess Bellona, Reyna infuses Nico with strength, and he takes them to safety in a Pompeii courtyard known for its lemures (unfriendly spirits). She gives Nico unicorn draught (powdered horn mixed with sanctified water from the Little Tiber) to restore him. During the transfer of power, Nico’s sadness, loneliness, and heartbreak washes over Reyna, filling her with both sadness and respect for him. She urges him to rest, as they must depart again by nightfall. Coach Hedge takes the first watch with Reyna’s metallic greyhounds, Aurum and Argentum, who appear whenever she calls them, while Nico and Reyna sleep.
6. Reyna has a nightmare that Camp Jupiter is being destroyed and hears Gaea taunting her that she has left Camp Jupiter defenseless, Gaea’s hunter will destroy her, and the quest will fail. Reyna tries to will the nightmare away and sees a vision of Camp Jupiter’s legion preparing to attack Camp Half-Blood under Octavian’s orders. Octavian has elevated himself to a position of power that “[n]o demigod in living memory had” taken (53). He’s accepting a petition by Bryce Lawrence, who was banished for insubordination, to be reinstated and assigns him to the Fifth Cohort. Fellow centurion Mike Kahale objects to the quality of recent recruits and acting against Reyna’s order, but Octavian dismisses him. Although he hasn’t yet recovered his gift of prophecy, Octavian assures Kahale that, like his ancestor Augustus, he’ll save Rome by destroying the Greeks and restoring the Roman gods to full power. As the dream fades, Hedge shakes Reyna awake to warn her of trouble: tourists.
7. Tourists are wandering around the grounds, but mist keeps the Athena Parthenos hidden, and the statue’s spirit keeps monsters and lemures at bay. Hedge warns that they must be ready to leave at nightfall. He sends a letter back to his pregnant wife at Camp Half-Blood, in case he doesn’t make it back alive. Reyna privately promises herself not to allow his child to grow up without a father. She wonders whether Gaea is influencing Octavian without his knowledge or is actively in league with her. Throughout the afternoon, the ghosts and monsters stay away. As Hedge, Nico, and Reyna discuss their next moves, Reyna knows that the way to defend Camp Jupiter is to prevent Gaea from waking. As night falls, the ghosts begin to assemble into a mob but then suddenly vanish. Gaea possesses Hedge, who tells Reyna that she “will die as a Roman” and “join the ghosts of Pompeii” (64, italics in original). Swirling ash solidifies into human figures.
8. The figures close in on Reyna and Nico. Gaea continues her dire predictions of Reyna’s future until Reyna knocks out Hedge. Nico prepares to shadow-jump the group. Reyna orders Nico to use his scepter of Diocletian to summon dead legionnaires and then, drawing on her authority as a praetor, orders them to defend her, Nico, and Hedge. The more figures they take down, however, the more arise. Meanwhile, the scepter objects to summoning Romans to fight other Romans and explodes. With Reyna’s zombie legionnaires defeated and disintegrating, Gaea’s figures close in, and Reyna is wounded. She reaches for Nico’s outstretched hand “[w]ith the last of her strength” (69).
9. In the bowels of the Argo II, Leo is working on the ship’s mechanism and reflecting on all that he has experienced in the quest so far. He recovered the lost text of Archimedes, On Spheres, from Rome; picked up a bronze astrolabe in Bologna; and brought a chunk of crystal from Ogygia, where he fell for the immortal Calypso. Odysseus constructed the astrolabe but lacked “a crystal to use as a homing beacon” (72). Leo has the crystal but still needs to figure out how to use it to return to Ogygia. Over his bulletin board, he has pinned a drawing of the Argo II and a sketch of Calypso. The image of the ship, which he first saw in a dream when he was seven, reminds him that dreams can come true and inspires him to believe that he’ll find his way back to Ogygia again. In the mess hall, he finds his friends eating breakfast. Conferring over how to subdue Nike, the goddess of victory, the demigods realize that she could provoke their competitiveness. They decide to send Percy, Leo, Hazel, and Frank, since their divine parents aren’t inherently antagonistic toward each other.
10. The four demigods gather at Olympia. Percy and Leo skirt the topic of Calypso, whom Percy left behind during a quest in an earlier book. Frank gives them a tour of the site. When they arrive at the Temple of Zeus, Frank mentions a statue of Zeus that had graced the interior. Leo suddenly remembers the remains of a statue of Nike that they saw in a museum. He and Percy agree that this would be a good spot for her to appear, and she does, brandishing a spear and shouting that they’ll die.
11. Nike confronts the demigods, demanding that they need a winner. When they ask which manifestation she is, Greek Nike or Roman Victoria, she grips her head and screams in agony, splitting into two flickering images. Greek Nike bemoans the loss of the honor she received from all the Greek city-states when she presided over the Olympic Games, while Roman Victoria dismisses games as “irrelevant” compared to victory in battle (89). Leo interjects that “the real war is against Gaea” (90). Victoria scolds Frank for allowing the Greeks to live and insists that the demigods battle to the death in teams, Greeks versus Romans; only one demigod can survive (90). The demigods struggle to resist the effects of Victoria’s competitive aura. Frank tells the goddess that she should help them fight the giants. She agrees—but only for the victor; the other three must die. Her golden wings sprout four Nikai, metal replicas of Nike, and herd the demigods into the stadium. There, Hazel senses ghosts and pain. She ponders strategy using her underworld power, and Leo reveals that he has brought some gadgets of his own.
12. The demigods pretend to fight, spurred on by Nike. Hazel manipulates the terrain, distracting the Nikai and allowing Frank and Percy to destroy two of them, enraging Nike, who charges toward them in her chariot. Worried that they won’t survive, Percy confesses to Leo that he let Calypso down by not ensuring that the gods had freed her, clearing the air between them. Meanwhile, Hazel and Frank take out another Nikai, but Hazel is injured and pursued by the final Nikai. Percy rushes to her aid, while Leo distracts Nike by demanding a participation award, infuriating the goddess. Percy and Hazel finish off the Nikai, and one of Leo’s explosives erupts into a geyser, flipping Nike’s chariot over, horses and all. She prepares to kill him but pauses when he offers to show her his unbeatable weapon. Leo unleashes the Archimedes sphere he modified and traps the goddess’ two forms in a celestial bronze net from which she can’t escape. The demigods agree to take the goddess to the Argo II and stash her in a horse stall. The offended goddess warns them that one of them is fated to die fighting Gaea. Hazel demands answers, but Nike only reiterates that “the physician’s cure” (103) won’t save them. When she begins to curse them in ancient Greek, Frank stuffs his sweat sock into her mouth, and Leo tapes it shut; both resolve to find the physician’s cure.
13. Unconscious, Nico dreams, revisiting memories of his past and seeking to connect with Thalia Grace, the daughter of Zeus, by visiting her dreams. Instead, he lands in the dreams of Clovis, who sleeps in the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Nico asks Clovis to convey a message to Chiron that he and his friends are on their way with the Athena Parthenos but are being followed by one of Gaea’s hunters. Clovis shows him what happened at the war council earlier that day: Apollo’s oracle remains silent, and the Romans have them surrounded. Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, agitates to attack the Romans before their numbers increase, but the rest argue for standing by Annabeth’s plan. The Romans and Greeks must unite to heal the gods, kill the giants, and prevent Gaea from waking up. As Clarisse opens her mouth to speak, Hedge wakes up Nico.
14. Hedge informs Nico that they’ve landed in Portugal, in the remains of a temple of Diana. The Athena Parthenos landed atop the temple. Nico passed out upon arrival and has been asleep for 36 hours. A Burning Man has appeared, apparently to speak to Nico. He wears a monk’s habit, and Nico guesses that he was burned alive. He gestures for Nico to follow and leads him to the Chapel of Bones, constructed from “[t]he remains of five thousand monks” (116), where Hades is waiting for him. Hades reveals that Gaea’s hunter is Orion. Nico won’t be able to defeat him and must attempt to outrun him. Hades warns Nico that one of the seven demigods will die. Hazel may want to prevent it, in the process distracting her from her priorities. Additionally, Hades tells Nico that “[w]hatever happens, [he] has earned [his father’s] respect” (118). The burning monk warns them that time is short; the wolves will arrive soon.
15. Nico returns to Reyna and Hedge, and as they wait for darkness to fall, the three eat dinner, discuss Nico’s dreams (and his visit with his father), and strategize. Reyna worries that the wolves associated with both the goddess Lupa and the Amazons “have gone silent,” and “the only hope for either camp lies with us” (123). She acknowledges that the burden lies heavily on Nico’s shadow-traveling, which takes a great toll on him. Privately, Nico reflects on his unrequited feelings for Percy and the kindness that he and Annabeth have shown him, though other campers tend to find his presence unsettling. He believes that if he survives the quest, he’ll find peace only by leaving both camps behind. Reyna offers Nico whatever help she can for the next shadow-jump, which will be the most difficult because it must take them across the Atlantic. Suddenly, wolves emerge, surrounding them. The largest morphs into a man.
16. It’s Lycaon, the first werewolf, whom Gaea has recruited to assist Orion on his hunt. Reyna takes out her silver knife, but Nico knows that they may not have enough time to survive since they can’t shadow-jump until after nightfall. Meanwhile, Lycaon boasts that he’ll spill Nico’s demigod blood on sacred ground, which will give him power over life and death. Reflecting on the many dead of this ancient city who lie beneath his feet, Nico summons bones from beneath the earth and traps the wolves and Lycaon. Hedge climbs up to the temple roof to secure the Athena Parthenos, while Reyna and her silver wolves fight off Lycaon’s wolves, who have begun to break out of Nico’s trap. Lycaon frees himself and rushes Nico, who stabs him with a silver knife. Orion arrives as Lycaon dissolves into shadow, which Nico uses to shadow-jump away with his friends and the Athena Parthenos, though he has no idea where they’ll land.
17. At the port of Pylos, Piper and Frank search for the poison they need to make the physician’s cure. Piper is happy for the distraction from thinking about the conversation she and her mother shared the previous evening, in which Aphrodite offered a bleak vision of the future and made Piper promise not to share it. Frank secures the poison from his shape-shifting distant relatives, though the demigods still don’t know how to brew the physician’s cure. Back on the Argo II, the demigods discuss their plans. Frank’s relatives told him that “the chained god” they need to find refers to a statue of Ares that the Spartans keep “chained up in their city so the spirit of war would never leave them” (137). When Jason wonders how this will help them, Piper privately recalls Aphrodite’s warning that the threat to Jason isn’t only his sword wound but also “the ugly truth he saw in Ithaca” (138, italics in original). Prompted by Hazel, Piper shares one of the visions she saw in Katoptris: herself and Annabeth in a cave with a statue of a warrior engulfed in flames.
18. Jason admits to Piper that he thought about giving up back on Ithaca. She shares a story with him that her Cherokee father told her about the importance of following one’s instincts. She reminds him that he’s a good person, with good instincts, who always tries to make the right choices. Jason feels comforted. Leo calls him to guard duty, and Piper takes a nap. She has a nightmare in which she sees a vision at the Parthenon: at least 20 giants and hordes of other monsters assembled around a makeshift throne. The giant Hippolytus reveals that the demigods destroyed Ithaca’s ghosts and captured Nike. King Porphyrion is neither surprised nor concerned, since their brother, Mimas, is waiting for the demigods in Sparta. He reiterates that the demigods “cannot change their fate” (146). When the giantess Periboia questions why Gaea must be awake at the Acropolis, Porphyrion insists that the Parthenon “holds [the gods’] memory best” (147) and that waking Gaea there will bring them the most glory. Periboia argues that it’s unwise to choose a place where the demigods also have allies. Another giant, Enceladus, explains that they’ve driven Apollo out of Olympus, leaving the gods without knowledge of the future. The giant Thoon will kill the Three Fates, leaving the giants to make their own destiny. As the crowd cheers, Piper wakes up. Annabeth tells her that they’ve arrived in Sparta.
19. Piper recalls her dream to Percy and Annabeth before the girls head down to Sparta. As they wander through the city’s ruins, Annabeth confesses her fears, and Piper comforts her. Privately, Piper’s own fears over her mother’s warning worry her. Suddenly, a geyser of flames spews out of a stone-lined pit and then extinguishes. The process repeats from two other pits. Annabeth can find no pattern and determines that it must be an emotional reaction. Ignoring Annabeth’s objection, Piper jumps into one of the pits, quickly unsheathing her sword as she lands, and decapitates a bronze dragon at the bottom and two others as well. The stone cavern is lined with Greek inscriptions. On a dais, a bronze warrior statue wrapped in chains is flanked by two doorways, each topped with the carving of a stone face, reminding Piper of her brothers, the attendants of Ares, Fear and Panic. Piper calls Annabeth to come down using a rope. They hear a heartbeat from within the Ares statue. The shrine—“a temple of Fear” (155)—is amplifying their fears. The giant Mimas appears.
20. Mimas swings a sledgehammer at Piper, and she ducks, taking Annabeth down with her. Annabeth is paralyzed by fear, which the shrine is designed to cause, and is unable to function. Piper slashes Mimas’s knee, ducking into the nearest tunnel with Annabeth and leading them forward, where the fear feels most acute, explaining that they can’t reason away their emotions. Mimas unwittingly confirms Piper’s belief when he boasts that he was born to kill Hephaestus and is “the breaker of plans,” around whom “[n]othing goes right” (158). Piper repeats her refrain that they must accept, adapt, and ride their emotions. Like love, fear and hate can’t be reasoned with, which is why Ares and Aphrodite are drawn to each other and why their sons are Fear and Panic: They “were spawned by both war and love” (160). Together, Annabeth and Piper run back into the shrine room and slash at Mimas’s legs. While Annabeth stabs at him, Piper makes a sacrifice—her cornucopia—to the bronze warrior, which contains the spirits of war. Slashing off its head, she releases the spirits, who promise to answer her call and “complete her cure” (161, italics in original), just once when she most needs them. With the spirits’ help, the girls slay Mimas. Piper thanks her brothers and asks for their help to escape the crumbling cavern as the girls plunge through the second doorway.
21. Nico’s first jump lands the trio and the Athena Parthenos on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic and then inside an empty restaurant in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Reyna’s home, where she experienced her “darkest, most painful memory” (166). Nico immediately needs to sleep, so Reyna summons Aurum and Argentum for guard duty. She wonders if their landing in Puerto Rico connects to her lending strength to Nico, who himself is drawn to dark, painful thoughts. She tries to focus on positive associations with her home but feels on edge. Adding to her sense of unease, the restaurant is closed for a private party. Reyna reflects on Nico’s loneliness and promises herself to ensure that his bravery is recognized after their mission. Suddenly, she notices a dark shape moving on a balcony below. Silver darts strike her and then Hedge in their necks. As she fades into unconsciousness, she feels a sack placed over her head.
22. Reyna wakes up with her hands bound and tied to a chair and the sack still over her head. When she hears someone coming, she feigns sleep and then uses her advantage to overcome her captor—Thalia, leader of the Hunters of Artemis. She received Nico’s message and decided to intercept the demigods. Revealing that the Hunters and the Amazons are working together to fight monsters across the North American continent, she takes Reyna to her sister, Amazon queen Hylla, in the Amazons’ underground bunker before departing for guard duty.
23. Although Hylla saved Reyna’s life “many times over” (175), the sisters’ history is complicated. Reyna sarcastically thanks her sister for abducting her, but Hylla insists that “[r]ules are rules” (176) and Reyna should appreciate being a praetor. The Amazons and Hunters are both concerned about Orion, who Hylla says “takes a special interest in killing” (177) strong women. In ancient times, he joined the hunters of Artemis and fell in love with her. After she rebuffed him, he died. When he rose from Tartarus, he became the “bitterest enemy” (178) of Artemis. Reyna realizes that she’s the bait to ambush and kill Orion, which she doesn’t object to since killing him will remove a significant obstacle to fulfilling her quest. She asks if the Amazons can ship the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood, but Hylla doesn’t think the statue will accept that, since the Amazons are honorary daughters of Ares. Besides, the quest can succeed only if the three demigods themselves deliver the statue. However, the Amazons have repaired Reyna’s dogs and will provide magic camping provisions. An Amazon comes running in to announce that Orion has somehow breached their defenses—and the doors explode.
24. As Amazons and Hunters are struck down, Hylla insists that Reyna must escape to complete her quest. She spirits Reyna through the underground lair, which exits into their childhood home. Reyna is shocked and angry that Hylla would take possession of the house, but they don’t have time to fight. Emerging into the daylight, Orion is waiting for them. Reyna is shocked to discover that Orion resembles a handsome mortal man, not the “towering ugly demon” (184) she expected. Hoping to gain useful information from him, Reyna keeps him talking about his past. When he unwittingly reveals that he was tracking her, not the Athena Parthenos, Reyna takes the cue to attack him before he can find it. If she dies, Hedge and Nico can still deliver the statue. Reyna and Hylla battle Orion together until Nico, Hedge, and the Hunters appear and help them. Reyna doesn’t want to leave her sister, but Hylla insists, as she did six years earlier when “they escaped their father’s house” (189). As Reyna reluctantly departs with Nico and Hedge, all three notice ghosts on the balcony of Reyna’s home, some bearing violent wounds. They whisper to Reyna that she can’t run away from her crime.
25. Jason wakes to find the Argo II under siege by a violent storm. Rushing to the deck, he finds Leo, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper doing their best to keep the ship afloat. Tired of feeling weak and useless, Jason leaps into action and is relieved that Percy welcomes his help. Percy dives overboard to work from the water, and Jason lassoes the strongest wind spirit, ventus, encasing himself in it, and follows Percy. Jason finds Percy at the bottom of the ocean following a green searchlight. They track it to the ruins of an underground palace, where a 20-foot-tall woman with jellyfish for hair is conjuring the storm above. She introduces herself as Percy’s sister, saying that she wanted to meet him before he died.
26. They’re in the ruins of Poseidon’s old palace, and the woman is Kymopoleia, a daughter of Poseidon who is banned from her father’s new home. She resents the Romans for not worshipping her and resents her father for having arranged her marriage to the giant Briares against her will. Percy notes that Briares is a friend of his whom he freed from Alcatraz, but Kymopoleia doesn’t appreciate this since she hates her husband. When the boys realize that she must be working for Gaea, Percy warns her that Gaea won’t keep her promise, but Kymopoleia doesn’t care, since the Olympians use other gods too. Percy responds that the Olympians are trying to mend their ways but admits that he has never heard of her. Percy lists his positive track record fighting goddesses, but Kymopoleia notes that she won’t kill him. She has simply lured him here for the giant Polybotes, who appears and releases basilisks into the water.
27. The basilisks circle Percy, ignoring Jason, who summons a lightning bolt and kills them, enraging Polybotes. Percy rushes at the giant, who releases poison into the water. The ventus, in which Jason is encased, filters out the poison, but Percy is immediately incapacitated. Polybotes traps him in a net, where—the giants boast—he’ll die after paralysis and hours of excruciating pain. Jason stalls for time, fighting and dodging the giant with the help of the ventus. He begs Kymopoleia to save them. When she asks whether he has a better offer than Gaea’s, which is unlimited power, Jason reminds her that once all of human civilization is gone, no one will be left to fear her, and she’ll remain unknown. The argument appeals to Kymopoleia, who enjoys being feared by mortals. Jason promises shrines and banners at both demigod camps—and a Kymopoleia action figure. Persuaded, Kymopoleia helps Jason kill Polybotes.
28. Jason releases Percy from the net. Kymopoleia prophesies future pain for the boys: Percy hasn’t yet faced his fatal flaw, which is “being unable to step away” (209), and it will trick Jason. She also reveals that “the forces of the ocean are at war” (209) and that the merpeople whom Hazel helped are fighting to prevent Gaea’s allies from reaching Long Island. She plans to follow their progress and hopes that Jason, who amuses her, survives. When he asks for pointers, she reminds him of the primordial god Ouranos. She calls Jason pontifex, meaning priest, which initially surprises him, though he later realizes that his promise to build shrines for Kymopoleia (and other minor deities) fulfills the job description. Before he and Percy leave, Kymopoleia tells Jason that his ventus servant hopes to be freed for helping Jason. After they leave, Percy thanks Jason for saving his life and asks what Kymopoleia meant by bringing up Ouranos. Jason explains that the Titans defeated him by luring him “away from his home territory” (211). Privately, Jason reflects that if it comes to this, Percy could end up being more hindrance than help. When Percy notices that Jason looks better, he checks his wound and realizes that it has healed. Having decided “to honor the gods at both camps” (212) has given him a future path and healed him.
29. Nico, Reyna, and Hedge are in Buford, South Carolina. Nico worries that shadow-traveling is taking a toll on his body, causing him to at times become more spirit than shadow. He remembers Jason suggesting that it might be “time you come out of the shadows” (214, italics in original) and realizes that for the first time in his life, he fears the dark. The Athena Parthenos has brought them to the site of the Battle of Waxhaws during the American Revolution, when the British (Roman demigods) massacred the colonialists (Greek demigods). Nico is surprised that he can’t sense any spirits at a site of so much death. When Reyna says she blames herself that they landed there, Nico encourages her to talk about her past, sharing his own anecdote of Hades gifting him a French zombie chauffeur. Disarmed, Reyna tells her story. The Roman war goddess Bellona, a patron to her family for centuries, fell in love and had children with Reyna’s father. Bellona prophesied that the fate of Rome rested on his family, and he became obsessed. A soldier, he returned from serving in Iraq with post-traumatic stress and physical wounds that both took a toll. Eventually, he became nothing more than a mania, a wraith. One day, he knocked Hylla unconscious, and Reyna rushed at him with a saber, a family heirloom that she didn’t realize was imperial gold, and accidentally vaporized him. Nico tells her that she didn’t kill her father, since he was already dead, but Reyna weeps that patricide is a capital offense in Rome. She says that if word got back to Camp Jupiter—and Roman legionnaire Bryce Lawrence appears, finishing her thought—she’d be killed.
30. Hedge returns with good news but stops short at the sight of Bryce, who arrests Reyna for violating Roman laws. He calls forth from the earth the skeletons of British soldiers—skeletal warriors called spartoi—who offered the colonialists quarters and then slaughtered them. Because they broke their oath, the British soldiers come under the power of Bryce’s father, Orcus, the god who punishes oath breakers. Nico can’t affect them. The spartoi grab Reyna and Hedge while Bryce shares his plans to torture them. Nico feels himself dissolving. If he tries to shadow-jump with the Athena Parthenos, he’ll dissolve and the statue will be lost forever. Reyna locks eyes with Nico, infusing him with strength. When Bryce tells Reyna how much he looks forward to exposing her secret and slashes her across the face, Nico explodes in anger.
31. After turning Bryce into a spirit, Nico collapses. His dreams cycle through an inexplicable series of images—ravens, horses, and his sister Bianca; Hazel telling him that she wants him to be an exception; the harpy Ella; Clarisse caring for Hedge’s wife, Mellie; Hades sending Nico to Camp Jupiter for the first time; and the goddess of misery, Akhlys, declaring Nico’s sorrow and pain perfect. He wakes up covered in mud-soaked bandages, Hedge’s “sports medicine with a little nature magic” (230). Nico was disappearing so quickly that unicorn draught, nectar, and ambrosia had no effect. Reyna tells him that there’s both good and bad news.
32. Reyna reveals that Nico was in a shadow coma for three days. She and Hedge had been unable to wake him; he’d practically been a ghost. They have only two days to make it back to Camp Half-Blood before the Romans attack, and Nico isn’t ready to shadow-jump yet. Another jump would kill him. Nico apologizes for scaring Reyna and Hedge by what he did to Bryce, and both admit that turning him into a ghost unsettled them. Nico is surprised to find that their criticism hasn’t made him angry. He asks why they didn’t leave him behind, and both Reyna and Hedge affirm that he’s “part of the team” (233). They won’t leave him behind. Everyone has their bad moments, but friends support each other. The good news is that they’ve seen no sign of either the Romans or Orion, suggesting that Bryce was working alone and that the Amazons and Hunters took down the giant. Reyna hasn’t heard from either Hylla or Thalia but has “to believe they’re still alive” (234). Best of all, Hedge called in favors and has found a new way for them to transport the Athena Parthenos. A group of winged horses appears, led by “the immortal lord of horses,” Pegasus (234).
33. Leo gets the Argo II back in working order, and the demigods battle an assortment of sea monsters, eventually arriving in Mykonos, near Delos. When the crew deliberates whom to send, Leo immediately volunteers. Based on his conversations with Nike over the last three days, he has an idea that he wants to run past Apollo. Frank and Hazel agree to accompany him. On Delos, they find Apollo (who’s playing a sad song on a ukulele) and Artemis. Apollo complains that he’s the scapegoat of Zeus, rejecting any responsibility for actions he participated in—including trying to overthrow Zeus. In addition, he reveals that Gaea has resurrected the Python at Delphi, thus closing off access to prophecy. He wonders if killing these demigods will please his father, and Leo reminds him that they’re on Apollo’s side. He quickly tells Apollo his plan to create the physician’s cure. Apollo initially refuses since it would make Zeus even more angry at him. Artemis instructs Hazel and Frank to come with her so that she can tell them about the Twelfth Legion. As she leaves, she advises Leo to tell Apollo his plan, adding that her brother “likes a good bargain” (242).
34. Using items in his magic tool belt, Leo constructs a magical instrument to use as a bargaining chip. First, Leo convinces Apollo that Zeus would be much more likely to forgive him if he helps defeat Gaea, which would also make a much more appealing ballad than smiting a demigod. Apollo agrees that Leo’s plan could work to defeat Gaea. When Apollo asks what the instrument is, Leo calls the Valdezinator and then plays a sad song that Calypso sang for him. For a moment, he doesn’t want to relinquish the instrument but relents, remembering that Calypso needs his plan to succeed. He agrees to give the Valdezinator to Apollo in exchange for the physician’s cure. Apollo explains that he can’t provide the potion; only Asclepius can do that. Apollo can, however, give them its final ingredient, the Curse of Delos—yellow daisies that sprouted on Delos after he and Artemis were born—and directions to Asclepius. Although frustrated at having to visit another god, especially one who is under guard, Leo agrees. Apollo and Artemis disappear as the three demigods reconvene to return to the Argo II. Hazel and Frank tell Leo what they learned from Artemis: Octavian has amassed weapons and monsters to destroy Camp Half-Blood, after which the monsters will destroy Octavian, and Gaea will rise. Leo reveals his plan, and it brings them to tears. He tells them that, as Romans, they understand the importance of sacrificing oneself. He insists that it must be this way, reminding Frank of the warning by Mars that he’d have to make a call no one else could make, and they don’t argue with him.
35. At the temple complex of Asclepius in Epidaurus, Leo’s mechanical knowledge enables them to access the secret passage that leads underground to where, in ancient times, “the high priests had their intensive care, super-magical-type compound” (252). Leo, Piper, and Jason follow the passage into a waiting area, where a large statue of Hygeia stands guard over a metal door. A sign over the door indicates that the doctor is incarcerated. As they enter the room, Hygeia walks toward them, asking about their insurance and whether they washed their hands. Declaring them a health hazard, she tells them that they must be sanitized and unleashes a golden snake. The demigods fight Hygeia and the snake, but the machines are programmed to repair any damage immediately. While Piper and Jason distract the machines, Leo climbs first on the snake and then on Hygeia, reprogramming them to “idiot mode” (258, italics in original) so that they continually make the worst possible decisions. With the machines out of the way, Leo, Jason, and Piper approach the metal door.
36. They find Asclepius with an attendant python called Spike. Piper uses her charmspeak to tell Asclepius that they need the physician’s cure. Saying he’d be “delighted to help” (260), Asclepius diagnoses Jason with near-sightedness, giving him a pair of glasses rimmed with imperial gold, and offers advice for Piper’s old wounds and vegetarian diet. When he sees Leo, his expression clouds, and Leo realizes that he must go through with his plan. Jason and Piper demand to know what’s wrong with Leo, but he ignores them, reiterating their request for the physician’s cure and placing the collected ingredients on the desk. Asclepius feeds the ingredients to Spike, and the snake belches out a vial filled with red liquid. When Asclepius questions why he should agree to make it, recalling the trouble he experienced the last time he raised someone from the dead, Piper uses her charmspeak again, telling him that he’s the only one who can help them save the world. He warns the demigods that the vial has only enough for one person and must be administered as soon as possible after death. Back on the Argo II, the other demigods want to know why Asclepius looked so grim about Leo, but Leo brushes them off. Only Hazel and Frank seem to understand. Leo reflects on the line of the prophecy, “To storm or fire the world must fall” (265, italics in original) and Nike’s warning that one of the demigods must die, reminding himself that there’s no other way. He must ensure that the war ends. The group agrees that Piper will hold the cure and be ready to administer it when needed. Locking eyes with Hazel, Leo elaborately wraps the cure and hands it to Piper. Later, Jason and Piper try to corner Leo, but he insists that he must work on the ship. Alone in the engine room, Leo checks the astrolabe that he has fitted with Ogygia’s crystal. He pulls out the real vial of physician’s cure and drops it into the engine’s ventilator line.
37. Approaching Camp Half-Blood, Reyna, Nico, and Hedge spot the Romans, their siege weapons, and their monster allies, who vastly outnumber the Romans. Their winged horses land on the helipad of a mortal ship moored off Camp Half-Blood. Reyna thanks Pegasus, who must depart immediately, and through Hedge, the immortal horse tells Reyna that he came for her, moved by her compassion for Scipio. Reyna is surprised to see a black motorboat bearing the legend SPQR rushing toward them since the Romans don’t have a navy. She recognizes Michael Kahale, whom Octavian has sent to arrest her and confiscate the Athena Parthenos. Hoping that she can reason with Michael, she invites him aboard but warns Hedge and Nico to be ready to fight. Michael, Leila (a daughter of Ceres), and Dakota (a son of Bacchus) half-heartedly try to convince Reyna to come peacefully. Dakota keeps winking at her. Suddenly, they hear Octavian’s voice demanding both drop their weapons. Reyna fears a trick but follows her instinct to obey. Tyson the Cyclops and his girlfriend Ella, the prophetic harpy, climb aboard. Tyson knocks out Michael and swoops Reyna, Nico, and Hedge into his arms.
38. Tyson confronts Dakota and Leila, who insist that they planned to switch sides. The legion isn’t as united as Michael suggested, and not everyone trusts Octavian’s alleged allies. Reyna sends Hedge back to Camp Half-Blood with Tyson and Ella, instructing him to convey the message that Reyna will return the Athena Parthenos as a gift from Rome to Greece. She sends Nico with Dakota and Leila to create a distraction in the Roman camp that will delay their attack—and to sabotage the Romans’ onagers. Dakota worries that the statue could still be destroyed, but Reyna thinks that will be difficult to do once it’s back in the Greeks’ possession. The statue hasn’t yet shown its power. They put Michael in the speedboat, and Nico and Reyna share a warm moment of mutual respect before Reyna is left alone on the ship with the pegasi and the Athena Parthenos. She recalls Orion’s taunt that she “failed in her duties” (278) and wonders if she did the right thing given that leaving the Romans exposed them to Octavian’s schemes and manipulations. The horse Blackjack comforts her, and she prays to Bellona, the mother she never met. Suddenly, a dark shape appears on the horizon, and an arrow hits Blackjack’s flank. A second arrow lands between her feet, a countdown timer attached.
39. Orion has found her, though he looks worse for wear after his battle with the Hunters. He escaped into the sea to avoid them, and they’re still alive. As the minutes to detonation wind down, Orion taunts Reyna, who concentrates on how to protect Blackjack and the other horses. Orion taunts her that her prayer to her mother has gone unanswered, but Reyna disagrees. Her mother has given her an opportunity to prove herself. She pulls out her knife, telling Orion that Bellona will help her kill him. She throws the knife into his chest and then flings her cloak over the explosive arrow, falling on it to absorb the explosion—but it never comes. The Athena Parthenos has transformed Reyna’s cloak into her own aegis. Orion is still alive, but Reyna feels her mother’s strength surge through her and attacks him. Bellona and another goddess, Athena, help Reyna kill Orion.
40. Back on the ship, she treats and bandages Blackjack’s wound and feeds him unicorn draught. As the sun comes up, Reyna sees no signs of battle and momentarily wonders if the Romans changed their plans, but then orange streaks of fire climb into the sky. The battle has begun.
41. The demigods arrive in Athens, and Piper is on guard duty, while the others prepare their weapons. The part man, part snake (gemini) founder and first king of Athens, Kekrops, arrives with two attendants and asks for permission to board. The demigods suspect a trap but allow him aboard. Kekrops warns them that all roads to the Acropolis are guarded, and they’ll be destroyed if they attempt to travel aboveground. He offers them safe passage through his underground lair but can guarantee safety only for three. Jason distrusts Kekrops when he insists that the demigods split up. Percy questions why Gaea’s forces would destroy them when she needs the demigods to come to the Parthenon for her ceremony. Annabeth and Piper believe that Kekrops is hiding something. Piper remembers her father telling her that they chose her name because her grandfather believed that she’d have a powerful voice, even learning “the song of the snakes” (291, italics in original). She begins singing one of her father’s favorite songs, which puts Kekrops into a trance. He reveals his intention to lure them into the tunnels and destroy them, on Gaea’s orders. Although he chose Athena over Poseidon as the city’s patron, she betrayed his people, forcing them underground. Spilling the demigods’ blood under the Parthenon will bring Gaea back. Everything else he told the demigods about the roads to the Acropolis being guarded is true. Since Piper’s music keeps Kekrops under control, the demigods decide to risk sending Piper, Annabeth, and Percy with him to disable the weapons of Gaea’s forces, enabling the others to join them.
42. Kekrops leads Piper, Annabeth, and Percy through the underground tunnels while Piper sings. They hear Gaea’s voice echoing through the stone. When they arrive at the entrance to the Acropolis, Kekrops has them wait, saying that he’ll scout the territory. Piper realizes that he plans to alert the giants and destroy the demigods. Using charmspeak and song, she convinces him that Gaea will destroy all of Athens, including his people, and he agrees not to betray her. While they wait, Piper thinks about her family, reflecting on how the pain and struggle of the last few months also forged the bonds she shares with Hazel and Annabeth and helped her find her courage. Kekrops returns alone, telling them that the way is clear. They emerge at the spot where Poseidon struck the earth with his trident, under the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to Poseidon and Athena. Percy pulls Annabeth into a long kiss, declaring the rivalry between Poseidon and Athena over. Frank arrives in the guise of a swarm of bees. Hazel’s mist transforms Percy, Annabeth, and Piper into giant, six-armed Earthborn. They hear chanting, indicating that the ceremony to awaken Gaea has begun. Piper heads toward the Parthenon, killing monsters and sabotaging catapults and siege weapons to enable the Argo II to approach. The chanting suddenly stops, and a cheer erupts. Princess Periboia has captured Annabeth, and Enceladus has Percy. King Porphyrion welcomes “the blood of Olympus to raise the Earth Mother” (302).
43. Porphyrion calls for Thoon to slay Annabeth with his cleaver, but Piper attacks, slicing off Thoon’s hand. Piper’s small size is an advantage as she dodges and weaves through the enormous giants, stabbing all she can. She uses charmspeak to stop Periboia from killing Annabeth, but her blade strikes Annabeth’s thigh, and Annabeth’s blood soaks into the earth. Piper plunges her sword into Periboia and stands protectively over Annabeth, who has lost her strength. Porphyrion screams at the giants to remember that the demigods can’t kill them, and they start closing in. At that moment, the Argo II arrives, and Jason leaps into the fray.
44. The demigods hold off the giants for a few minutes, but their greater strength and numbers eventually wear the demigods down. Whatever wounds the demigods inflict, the giants can heal by drawing on Gaea’s increasing strength, and they can’t be killed without the gods’ help. Enceladus throws a fiery spear at the Argo II, and an explosion rocks the ship. It begins sinking. A drop of blood from Percy’s nose drips onto the stones below, and the Acropolis trembles as Gaea wakes up.
45. Nico summons his zombie chauffeur to bring himself, Leila, and Dakota back to the Roman lines. He’s shocked by the vast number of monsters overwhelming the Roman numbers. After sending Leila and Dakota to cause a distraction, he melts into the shadows to disable the onagers by stealth. He almost dissolves but recovers his strength enough to make it back out. Nico notices that Octavian is filled with hate and has loaded the onagers with explosives and imperial gold—enough to annihilate everything in the blast zone, monsters and demigods. Nico considers shadow-jumping to Octavian’s tent—where he expects that the Roman leader will wait out the attack on the Greek camp—and assassinating him, but he’s intercepted by Will Solace, who is on a scouting mission. He passes on the news that Hedge’s wife, Mellie, had a satyr baby boy. Realizing that Nico won’t survive another jump, Will forbids him to shadow-travel. They must find another way to stop the Romans. Nico grudgingly agrees and orders the others to follow his lead.
46. Nico and the Camp Half-Blood demigods successfully sabotage three onagers. Nico endangers himself by using his underworld power, and Will offers him medicinal gum to recover his strength. Their skirmishes with the Romans attract Octavian’s attention. He accosts them, ordering them to drop their weapons and ordering his elite guard of dog-headed warriors (cynocephali) to tear them apart.
47. Will stuns the cynocephali with an ultrasonic whistle, and Nico vaporizes them with his sword, shocking Octavian, who orders his legionnaires to fire the onagers. Nico considers killing him but hesitates, remembering his unease after Bryce Lawrence’s death. Octavian tauntingly asks if the Greeks have offered him a place in their camp. Nico replies that he’s fighting for both Greeks and Romans and then announces that he plans to leave both camps after the war is over, upsetting Will, who tells Nico that he has friends there. The two bicker until Octavian offers to top any offer the Greeks have made him. Apollo has shown him the future. Will retorts that prophecy power has been cut off, but Octavian insists that his father foretold that he’ll be Rome’s savior by destroying the Greeks. The onagers fire, but the sabotage works, and they explode harmlessly into the sky. Dakota leads his cohorts forward, announcing that Reyna ordered the Romans to stand down. As Octavian orders Dakota arrested, against Will’s warning not to make his people choose, the Camp Half-Blood army appears over the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Clarisse is at the head, ordering the Romans to “[w]ithdraw or be destroyed” (326). Octavian orders his legion to charge.
48. Will saves the day with his ultrasonic whistle and points to the sky, where Reyna, riding in front, leads the winged horses who are carrying the Athena Parthenos. She announces that she’s returning the Greek’s “most sacred statue […] wrongly taken by the Romans […] as a gesture of peace” (328). She sets the statue on the hill, and it fills Nico with warmth and a sense of belonging. As Reyna and Nico urge the Greeks and Romans to stand together, Gaea’s voice interrupts them. She’s awake, and her monsters surround the demigods.
49. The gods come roaring down Mount Olympus in war gear and fight the giants alongside their demigod children. Jason’s first time meeting his father is battling with him, but his presence feels familiar, evoking some of his happiest memories. Zeus destroys Porphyrion’s throne, but Porphyrion taunts him that his cause is lost. Even if Zeus kills him, Gaea will bring him back. Zeus indicates to Jason that they must destroy Porphyrion in the air, where Gaea can’t save him. After Jason sends Porphyrion flying off the Acropolis cliff and Zeus vaporizes him with a thunderbolt, Zeus praises Jason and says that he doesn’t hold him accountable. However, “[t]he worst is not over” (335): Someone must be held responsible for what happened.
50. Although they’ve defeated the giants, the gods look uneasy. Zeus calls them to attention, chides Hera for her dangerous plan, and then calls Apollo forward. Zeus points out that Apollo has defied his father twice; he emboldened his descendant Octavian “to follow his dangerous paths” and “prematurely revealed a prophecy that still may destroy them all” (338). After Zeus sends Apollo back to Olympus to await his punishment, Jason challenges his father, angering the god, but Artemis steps in and smooths things over. The group must deal with the problem of Gaea’s waking up. Her first plan is to destroy Camp Half-Blood. Frank suggests that the gods and demigods go there together right away, but Zeus says that it’s impossible. From the moment that “Apollo allowed the Prophecy of Seven to be spoken” and Hera interpreted it, “the Fates wove the future” (340) with limited outcomes and solutions. The demigods must defeat Gaea. Zeus offers to slap the Argo II back to Long Island. Jason recalls how Asclepius responded to Leo and feels a sense of dread. The demigods board the ship for its last voyage.
51. The slap of Zeus is so forceful that the ship barely makes the trip. All the demigods except Leo evacuate. Frank transforms into a dragon, carrying Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel; Jason harnesses the wind, flying himself and Piper to safety. The demigods leap into battle, Romans fighting alongside Greeks. Although he thinks the battle is progressing well, Jason wonders where Leo and Gaea are. At that moment, Gaea rises out of the earth; she was delayed by the power of the Athena Parthenos, but the statue is no match for a primordial goddess. Jason rises into the sky to avoid being pulled into the earth like the demigods and monsters. Gaea boasts that they can’t fight the earth. Suddenly, Leo descends from the sky on a reborn Festus, who is spewing fire, and pulls Gaea off the hill.
52. As Gaea leaves the earth, demigods and monsters stop sinking. Jason prepares to join Leo in the air with Piper, who still thinks she holds the physician’s cure. Percy tries to stop them, but Frank holds him back. The prophecy is clear: This part of the fight belongs to Jason (storm) and Leo (fire), and Piper’s charmspeak has a role to play, as it has in the past. Gaea tries to disintegrate herself into sand and dirt to get back to the ground, but Jason prevents this by using storm spirits, and Leo invokes fire. Gaea must be kept off the ground, her source of power, as Kymopoleia hinted. Piper uses her charmspeak to convince Gaea that she’s exhausted, until she falls asleep, but Jason too becomes affected and begins to lose altitude. Festus grabs him and Piper in his other claw. Leo orders Jason and Piper to leave so that he can vaporize Gaea, but they don’t want to leave him behind. Leo reminds them that he has a plan and that he loves them. Then, Festus opens his claw, releasing them. As they hurtle toward the earth, Festus becomes a ball of fire. A comet rises from the ground, hitting the ball of fire in a huge explosion.
53. As the battle rages, Will finds Nico, and they plunge into the chaos to find Octavian. Nico decides not to allow Octavian to escape him a second time. He sees Festus grab Gaea and Jason fly up with Piper. Nico and Will find Octavian preparing an onager, unaware that his robes are tangled in the trigger rope. He sneers at Nico and Will; they can’t stop him from killing Gaea and Jason and saving Rome. Michael Kahale appears and understands what will happen when Octavian fires but doesn’t try to stop him. Will worries that Jason will be killed in the explosion. Privately, Nico shares his concerns but decides to trust his father’s words at the Chapel of Bones that “[s]ome deaths cannot be prevented” (356, italics in original). Octavian pulls the trigger and is pulled into the ball of fire that shoots into the sky and explodes.
54. The following day, the survivors try to make sense of events. Giant eagles brought Jason and Piper safely back to earth. Pieces of the Argo II were scattered around the valley, but there was no sign of Leo. After a meeting of the Cloven Elders, Grover Underwood announces that they can’t sense Gaea’s presence, “now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness” (356). Octavian had saved Rome “by hurling himself into the sky in a fiery ball of death,” but “the real sacrifice” (356, italics in original) belonged to Leo. Hazel and Frank reveal that Leo planned all along to vaporize Gaea far enough away from Earth that no one else would be hurt. Hazel admits that she switched the vials, and Piper wonders how Leo could have planned to take the physician’s cure since he was alone. The Romans set up a camp for themselves, and the Roman and Greek demigods mingle, help each other, and gather around the campfire together. The night before the Romans head back to Camp Jupiter, the two sides gather for one last campfire. Frank announces that Chiron has agreed to “a free exchange between the camps” (361). Reyna gives a speech honoring the two sides for choosing peace, cooperation, friendship, and acceptance over hatred and war. She pulls Nico into the firelight, speaks of his courage, and hugs him.
55. That night, Nico stays in the Hades cabin with Hazel. Frank stops by and invites Nico to return to New Rome with them, but he declines. He and Hazel discuss Leo. Hazel admits that she felt Leo’s death, and Nico agrees but notes that “[s]omething about it was…different” (365). Hazel worries that she messed up by helping Leo, and Nico reassures her that it wasn’t her fault. He thinks back to the moment he allowed Octavian to fire and wonders if that blast enabled Gaea to die or needlessly condemned Leo to death. He prays to Hades for guidance.
56. Awake at dawn, Nico sees a blond head enter his cabin and is disappointed that it’s Jason, not Will; he’s then promptly annoyed at himself for being disappointed. He assumes that Will blames him for Octavian’s death and now finds Nico “creepy and revolting” (366). Nico follows Jason outside and watches the Romans prepare to depart. He heard that the senate is planning to elect Jason pontifex maximus, but Jason cares more about the shrines he intends to build than the title. Nico regretfully confirms to Jason that he sensed Leo’s death, holding back what felt different so as not to give him false hope. Ella, Tyson, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare (the mortal oracle) follow the Romans to Camp Jupiter “to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books” (368), their only guidance for quests since Apollo’s prophecies remain dark. Jason is thrilled when Nico reveals that he plans to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Seeing Will sternly calling him over, Nico excuses himself. Will berates Nico for not stopping by the infirmary, where he has been tirelessly working on injured demigods. Nico reminds Will that he can summon skeletons and zombies, but Will tells him that he can’t summon anything without dissolving and then orders him to stay at the infirmary for three days until he heals. Nico agrees but first clears the air with Percy, admitting that he had a crush on him but now sees that the son of Poseidon isn’t his type.
57. Piper spends the days before the Romans depart acting as a go-between and peacemaker when old rivalries bubble up. She shares a final heart-to-heart with Reyna, revealing that she knows Reyna lends her strength to others and needs to allow herself to draw strength from others too. She invites Reyna to visit Camp Half-Blood anytime she needs a break or a friend. That night, Piper reflects on her memories aboard the Argo II and feels restless. Around two o’ clock in the morning, Jason knocks on her window, and the two go to the roof of Cabin One to look at the stars. They share their first kiss and their hopes for a fresh start. Jason reminds her how she brought Festus to life with her voice and encourages her to believe that Leo could still be out there.
58. Leo died, but he’d programmed Festus to inject him with the physician’s cure. He wakes up on the back of Festus above cloud cover. When his navigation readings scramble, he happily orders Festus to descend. Seeing Ogygia below, he whoops: Calypso is waiting on the beach. Festus dumps Leo onto the sand, face-first. He spits out some seaweed and looks up at Calypso, who says that he’s late. She helps him up, and they kiss. She summons her suitcases, and Leo asks if she’ll be immortal once she leaves the island, but she doesn’t know and is “[m]ore than okay” with that (380). With no plan except returning to Camp-Half Blood to assure the other demigods that he’s okay, Leo flies off with Calypso on Festus