56 pages • 1 hour read
Rick RiordanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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In the journey to Camp Jupiter, Percy’s memory returns in full. With the return of his memory, Percy understands that the real war will “happen far away, in the homeland of the gods” (473). To stop Gaea, all the demigods—both Greek and Roman—will have to work with the gods to stop her.
Percy, Frank, and Hazel arrive at Camp Jupiter to find the battle already underway. Arion is too tired to take the gold weapons to the battlefield, but Tyson and Mrs. O’Leary are there with Ella. Percy instructs Tyson to put on Roman attire so the others will know he is on their side, tells Ella to hide, and hooks Mrs. O’Leary up to the chariot so that she can drag it to the legion.
Percy takes the Imperial gold weapons to the Fifth Cohort and joins the fight. The Fifth Cohort, with Hazel and Frank, takes on a group of centaurs. Percy sees the First and Second Cohorts struggling with Polybotes. Percy leads the Fifth Cohort to their aid. Percy lifts the eagle and cries, “Twelfth Legion Fulminata!” (482). Lightning flashes from the eagle and destroys the enemy’s centerline. Percy sends the Fifth Cohort to help the Fourth, and he takes on Polybotes himself. Amazons arrive. Polybotes mistakenly thinks they are there to help him, but Hylla shows herself and turns her army on Polybotes’s monsters.
Percy engages Polybotes, keeping him distracted as he leads him toward New Rome. Percy knows he needs a god to help him kill Polybotes and the only god he can think of is Terminus. Percy pleads with Terminus to help him, but Terminus is busy protecting the border of the city. However, when Polybotes crosses the Pomerian Line with a weapon, he breaks Terminus’s rules. Terminus yells at Polybotes who becomes annoyed and breaks Terminus into several pieces. Percy stabs Polybotes in the knee and stabs him again in the chest when he falls. Percy then uses Terminus’s head to smash Polybotes’s nose. Polybotes dissolves into a pile of ash, ending the battle. Percy is immediately named praetor.
There is a big celebration during which Percy is officially made praetor and given the Roman tattoos that symbolize his first year of service. The legion is given the night off and Percy goes to New Rome for a short time to watch the celebrations, but exhaustion takes him back to the barracks to sleep. Percy dreams of Juno. Juno tells him she was imprisoned and that was partly why she kept him asleep for nearly eight months. In that time, Jason Grace learned to trust the Greeks and made it possible for the warship, Argo II, to be built. Juno says that Percy will be the glue that brings the Greeks and Romans together, but he should be wary of Annabeth. Juno warns that Annabeth has a hard task ahead in Rome and she might not be able to complete it.
Percy tells Frank and Hazel about his dream, and Frank shows them a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, a book about war tactics, that Mars left on his pillow. They ask Hazel if she got a message from Pluto, and she tells them she thinks that Pluto has turned a blind eye by not having Thanatos take her back to the Underworld. Percy assures her that as soon as the Greeks arrive with the warship, they will go to Rome and find Nico. They also discuss Ella, all three worried about what might happen if Octavian discovers that Ella has read part of the Sibyllean Books.
Ella brings a scroll to Percy that contains a video of someone named Leo. He says they will be sailing in an hour to Camp Jupiter and asks that they not shoot them out of the air. When Hazel sees Leo, she is shocked that he looks exactly like her friend, Sammy.
Percy, Frank, and Hazel take Leo’s scroll to the senate. Octavian immediately argues that they should not trust the Greeks, but after Percy argues that they will need the help of the Greeks to continue their fight against Gaea and that Jason Grace has been and will be with the Greeks, Reyna orders the legion to be ready, but not to fire on the warship. As it lands, Percy leads Frank and Hazel to meet his friends.
Percy’s memory returns and he understands exactly what he and his friends are up against, continuing the urgency to the end of the novel. Juno reiterates the importance of working together as a team during her visit to Percy in his dreams, continuing to press the importance of cultural competency and teamwork to defeat obstacles. This emphasis sets the stage for the larger plot of the series, leading Percy and his friends, both Roman and Greek, down a road that will challenge them and force them to work together. Percy has already shown that the Greeks and Romans can work together by completing a successful quest with Frank and Hazel, but some will still need convincing. That fact is revived when Octavian fights vehemently against welcoming the Greek warship into Camp Jupiter.
Percy helps lead the Fifth Cohort into battle, destroying much of Polybotes’s army with the eagle, but it is when he realizes he needs a god to help him kill Polybotes that he finally ends the battle that has been predicted from the beginning. This, again, touches on the idea that the demigods and gods will have to work together if they are to succeed in this war against Gaea and her giants. By killing Polybotes, Percy has won the respect of the Twelfth Legion, securing his welcome in the camp regardless of his Greek identity. With this new position, he can convince the senate to accept the arrival of the Greeks in their warship, acting as the glue between the two factions just as Juno told him he had to be.
By Rick Riordan
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