The Heroes of Olympus, #1
The Lost Hero
by Rick Riordan
Contents
XXXVII JASON
Overview
Jason wrestles with painful revelations about his family as the group ascends Aeolus’s floating fortress. After crossing grounds divided into the four seasons, they send Coach Hedge away and enter a lobby branded as the Olympian Weather Channel. A wind nymph, Mellie, receives them and schedules an audience with Aeolus, hinting at danger ahead.
Summary
Climbing the floating island, Jason broods over finding and immediately losing Thalia, doubting his place in her new Hunter family and smarting from her revelations about their unstable mother and distant father. He shoulders the writhing wind-filled backpack, growing heavier as they near Aeolus’s palace.
Piper watches Jason with concern, torn by the plan to save both her father and Hera. Leo, shaken by his earlier flare-up, anxiously checks that he isn’t igniting again. Jason fixates on Leo’s “bridge” comment and the burned house from his dreams, and on Thalia’s unsettled reaction, sensing answers are close yet elusive.
They reach a bronze-walled fortress whose rotunda crowns four landscaped quadrants—winter, autumn, spring pasture, and a desert advertising “watch aeolus nightly!” Coach Hedge, eager for the pasture’s cloud sheep, dashes off, while the others proceed up the purple-stoned road to the citadel.
Inside a marble foyer draped with “olympian weather channel” banners, a floating aura, Mellie, greets them, brightening when Jason identifies as Zeus’s son. Piper smooths over Jason’s faux pas by flattering Mellie, who leads them deeper, tablet in hand, promising a time slot before Aeolus’s 11:12 segment.
They push through gusty corridors where paper airplanes carry messages and a harpy blunders past, which Mellie contrasts with the gentler aurai. At an interior airlock, a green light flashes; Mellie cheerfully notes Aeolus probably won’t kill them if they enter now, and ushers them toward the audience.
Who Appears
- Jason GraceProtagonist; struggles with Thalia’s departure and painful truths about their parents while leading the approach to Aeolus.
- MellieAn aura (wind nymph) receptionist who welcomes the group and schedules their risky audience with Aeolus.
- Piper McLeanWorried about saving her father and Hera; deftly flatters Mellie to smooth their entry.
- Leo ValdezAnxious after accidentally igniting earlier; keeps checking himself and follows Jason into the fortress.
- Coach HedgeSatyr chaperone who charges off toward the spring pasture, leaving the others to meet Aeolus.
- Thalia GraceJason’s sister; recently separated to hold the Wolf House, remains central to Jason’s thoughts and family revelations.