The Heroes of Olympus, #1
The Lost Hero
by Rick Riordan
Contents
XXXIII PIPER
Overview
Recovering on Pikes Peak after escaping Midas, the team consolidates information: Leo’s dream hints the gods are being influenced, and Piper reveals Enceladus’s ultimatum to trade her friends for her father by the solstice. United rather than divided, they resolve to seek Aeolus’s guidance as ominous howls approach.
Summary
Piper wakes in a frigid cave on Pikes Peak after being de-gilded from Midas’s curse, suffering hypothermia. Jason and Leo explain how Jason forced storm spirits to carry them from Nebraska to Colorado and crash-landed near Aeolus’s likely anchorage. They shelter by a fire as the blizzard rages.
They swap information: Leo recounts a dream from Hephaestus warning that giants, born of Tartarus, require gods and demigods to unite, yet the gods remain silent and Zeus seems erratic. The group suspects an unseen influence manipulating the gods, similar to Medea’s charms.
Coach Hedge grumbles about Olympian pride and hints at secrets Chiron would not share, then reveals his long, combative service and banishment to protector duty. Over food, Piper reflects on her Cherokee heritage and a tale of costly sacrifice, weighing it against her current dilemma.
Piper confesses the full truth: Enceladus abducted her father and ordered her to sabotage the quest and deliver Jason and Leo to a Bay Area mountain by noon on the solstice for an exchange. Expecting anger, she instead receives Jason and Leo’s immediate support; they insist they’ll save her father and Hera.
Hedge reasons that Enceladus needs the hostage alive until the deadline and urges consulting Aeolus to identify the correct mountain. They discuss the Bay Area’s dangerous sites and Jason’s hazy memories, but before they can plan further, distant howls pierce the storm outside the cave.
Who Appears
- Piper McLeanRecovers from hypothermia, reflects on heritage, confesses Enceladus’s hostage ultimatum about her father, seeks a way to save him and Hera.
- Jason GraceComforts Piper; flew them to Pikes Peak using storm spirits; suspects gods are being influenced; pledges to help save Piper’s father.
- Leo ValdezCooks, tends the fire, and recounts Hephaestus’s dream warning about giants and silent gods; vows to help Piper and consult Aeolus.
- Coach Gleeson HedgeUses “sports medicine” to aid Piper; shares satyr backstory; reasons through Enceladus’s leverage and suggests asking Aeolus.
- EnceladusOffstage antagonist; holds Piper’s father hostage and demands she betray her friends at a Bay Area mountain by the solstice.
- HephaestusAppears in Leo’s dream, warning about giants and hinting at strained, manipulated gods; withholds key secrets.