The Heroes of Olympus, #5
The Blood of Olympus
by Rick Riordan
Contents
XXXIV
Overview
Leo bargains with Apollo on Delos, trading a newly invented instrument for the Delos flower and directions to Asclepius in Epidaurus. Apollo confirms Leo’s drastic plan could defeat Gaea but at great mortal cost. Hazel and Frank report Octavian’s incoming Cyclops-built onagers, then reluctantly agree to support Leo’s sacrificial strategy as the crew sets out to find the physician’s cure.
Summary
On Delos, Leo hastily assembles a mechanical instrument from his tool belt while pitching Apollo on helping defeat Gaea for redemption with Zeus. Seeking advice, Leo outlines a risky plan to strike Gaea as Ouranos was once felled. Apollo agrees it could work but warns mortals nearby would be destroyed, then notices Leo’s new device.
Unwittingly channeling Hermes’s old bargain, Leo plays the instrument—evoking Calypso’s song—and captures Apollo’s desire. Naming it the Valdezinator, Leo offers a trade: the physician’s cure for the instrument. Apollo admits he can’t provide the cure but directs Leo to the healer god Asclepius at Epidaurus, guarded by Zeus’s order. Pressed for the final ingredient, Apollo picks a yellow “curse of Delos” flower, explaining only he or Artemis can supply it for the potion.
Leo trades the Valdezinator for the flower and directions. Rejoining Hazel and Frank at the docks, he learns from them that Artemis warned Octavian has purchased Cyclopes-built onagers due to arrive by tomorrow night, enough to obliterate Camp Half-Blood at dawn with minimal Roman losses.
Recognizing the accelerated threat, Leo reveals his full plan to Hazel and Frank: a necessary sacrifice tied to Nike’s and Apollo’s confirmations about how to defeat Gaea. Though shaken, Hazel and Frank agree to help—Frank recalling Mars’s charge to make the hard call, and Hazel committing to cover Leo with her Mist. With their grim pact made, they return to the Argo II to seek Asclepius and brew the physician’s cure.
Who Appears
- Leo ValdezBargains with Apollo, trades his new Valdezinator for the Delos flower and Asclepius’s location, reveals a sacrificial plan.
- ApolloOffers advice on defeating Gaea, covets Leo’s instrument, provides the Delos flower and directs them to Asclepius at Epidaurus.
- Hazel LevesqueReports Artemis’s intel on Octavian’s onagers; tearfully agrees to help cover Leo’s sacrificial plan with her Mist.
- Frank ZhangExplains the onager threat; recalls Mars’s warning and reluctantly commits to support Leo’s difficult decision.