Before leaving Olympus, Percy sends Iris-messages to Tyson and Sally Jackson. Tyson is proud that his shield saved Percy and promises to visit camp next summer to repair it. Percy then accidentally catches Sally holding hands with Paul Blofis, but after learning that Paul makes Sally happy, Percy accepts the relationship and looks forward to Christmas at home.

Argus brings Percy, Annabeth, and Grover back to Camp Half-Blood through a snowstorm. Thalia is already gone with Artemis and the Hunters. At the Big House, Chiron welcomes the returning heroes, Grover spreads news of their strange contact with Pan’s power, and Clarisse returns from a difficult mission with bad news Chiron postpones explaining.

Percy tells the senior campers that Luke survived, confirming Annabeth’s hope and Poseidon’s warning. Chiron explains that Kronos’s forces will likely strike Camp Half-Blood because heroes are the gods’ most important tools. Nico di Angelo then enters looking for Bianca, forcing Percy to tell him that Bianca died during the quest while saving the others.

Nico reacts with grief and rage, accusing Percy of breaking his promise to protect Bianca. When four skeleton warriors attack, Nico believes Percy summoned them, but Nico’s anger opens a fissure in the ground that swallows the warriors. After Nico runs away, Percy recognizes Bianca’s final gift as a statue of Hades and realizes Nico is a son of Hades.

Annabeth and Grover help Percy search for Nico, but they find no trace of him. Percy insists on hiding Nico’s parentage from Chiron and the gods, reasoning that Bianca and Nico were born before the Big Three’s oath and were preserved for decades in the Lotus Casino. Percy chooses to carry the burden of the Great Prophecy himself so Nico will not become another target.

Chiron accepts a partial explanation for Nico’s disappearance but warns that the Titans may recruit lost half-bloods and that the first attack on camp will probably come in summer. Annabeth plans to go to San Francisco to watch Mount Tam, while Percy prepares to return home and rest. The chapter ends when Grover rushes out, shaken, and announces that Pan has spoken in his mind, telling him, I await you.