After the Oracle delivers Zoë’s prophecy, Percy and Grover carry the mummy back to the attic. Percy feels humiliated by the lost capture-the-flag game and rejected because the Oracle ignored Percy’s question about Annabeth. Grover tries to distract Percy, then admits that the manticore’s talk of a Great Stirring has made Grover think again about Pan and the possibility that not every awakening ancient power is evil.

Thalia summons Percy and Grover to a council of cabin leaders. Around the Ping-Pong table, Zoë insists that the Hunters must leave immediately to rescue Artemis, while Thalia and Chiron argue that the prophecy requires campers and Hunters to cooperate. Chiron stresses the deadline: Artemis must be found before the winter solstice council, or the gods may fail to act against Kronos’s forces. The group also discusses the unknown “bane of Olympus,” the prophecy’s likely deaths, and the ominous lines about the Titan’s curse and a parent’s hand.

Percy suggests that the quest should include three Hunters and two campers. Zoë chooses herself, Phoebe, and Bianca, despite Bianca’s fear that she is too new. Grover volunteers because he wants to help Artemis, and Thalia claims the second camper spot. Percy protests that he needs to go for Annabeth, but Zoë refuses to travel with a male hero, and Chiron allows the Hunters to approve their companions. The final quest party becomes Zoë, Phoebe, Bianca, Thalia, and Grover, leaving Percy behind.

That night, Percy avoids dinner, and Grover apologizes for unintentionally taking a quest spot. Chiron then tells Percy that Chiron would not have chosen either Thalia or Percy because both are impulsive, and together they would be especially dangerous. Chiron also hints that Zoë has a reason to dislike Percy’s sword, Riptide, and says Chiron nearly joined the quest himself but feared the prophecy’s line about a parent’s hand because Chiron’s father is Kronos.

Percy uses Chiron’s drachma to Iris-message Sally Jackson and unexpectedly sees Sally with Paul Blofis from her writing seminar. Percy tells Sally about Annabeth and the quest, and Sally encourages Percy to do what Percy believes is right, even if it is dangerous. Percy then dreams of Annabeth collapsing under a crushing burden in a cave, Luke presenting chained Artemis, and Artemis taking the weight from Annabeth to save her. The shadowy “General” plans to keep Annabeth alive as bait and says the Hunters’ quest will play into his hands.

At dawn, Blackjack, the black pegasus Percy helped free the previous summer, pounds on Percy’s cabin door. Blackjack says the hippocampi need Percy’s help at the sea. Percy prepares to go and impulsively pockets Annabeth’s Yankees cap, sensing that Percy may not return to the cabin for a long time.