Percy takes Will Solace from the Apollo cabin and rides a borrowed motorcycle to the Plaza Hotel, which the demigods and Hunters have turned into a headquarters. Outside, the animated statue Pompona complains that minor gods are ignored and bitterly supports Morpheus and Hecate, reinforcing how Kronos has gained allies among neglected powers.

At the Plaza, Percy finds exhausted campers and Hunters recovering from the battle. Will treats Annabeth’s poisoned knife wound with nectar, healing paste, and a hymn to Apollo; the venom has not spread far enough to kill her, but Annabeth remains weak and feverish. Silena blames herself for not being a stronger fighter, then decides she may be able to persuade Clarisse and the Ares cabin to join the war, so Percy allows Silena to return to camp by pegasus.

Alone with Annabeth, Percy tells her that his vulnerable Achilles spot is in the small of his back, because Annabeth’s intervention saved him from Kronos’s poisoned dagger. Annabeth then reveals that Luke secretly visited her in San Francisco before the Labyrinth, frightened that Kronos would use him as a stepping stone and asking Annabeth to run away with him. Annabeth fears she caused the war by refusing to help or stop Luke, and Percy connects her guilt to earlier warnings that Annabeth would have an important role.

Connor Stoll brings Percy to Grover, who reports heavy losses among nature spirits fighting hellhounds, a dragon, giants, and other monsters across the city. Thalia adds that Kronos’s forces are gathering at every bridge and tunnel, that a powerful golden-armored Titan is mustering troops in New Jersey, and that the gods remain occupied with Typhon. Jake Mason points out that Kronos anticipated Percy’s deployments, confirming that the enemy likely has a spy inside the demigod ranks; Percy decides they must keep fighting without letting suspicion divide them.

After Percy finally sleeps, he dreams of Nico summoning the dead and seeing the death of Maria di Angelo. The vision reveals that Hades tried to hide Nico and Bianca from Zeus because of the Great Prophecy, Zeus attacked their hotel, Maria died, and Hades sent the children to the Lotus Hotel after washing their memories. Hades then cursed the Oracle of Delphi, preventing the spirit from taking a new mortal host as revenge for the prophecy’s role in his losses.

Percy’s dream shifts to Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who senses danger in New York, writes Percy’s name in Ancient Greek on a beach, and bargains with her father: if he flies her back immediately, she will attend Clarion Ladies Academy. Rachel’s father accepts the deal, and Percy wakes later to Thalia telling him that a Titan has arrived under a flag of truce with a message from Kronos.