Summary
Something's off at Camp Half-Blood; there’s a strange air of danger now. Nobody is welcoming, and only Tyson is excited to be there. After entering, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson encounter Chiron in his apartment, who confirms that he has been fired by Mr. D., the camp director, implying that Zeus had to blame somebody. Chiron admits that he’s unfamiliar with the poison and says that there’s no way to reverse it except with magic that was lost centuries ago. He asks Percy to be careful no matter what, especially since it could be a trap from Kronos. He tells Annabeth to stay with Percy and makes her swear on the river Styx to keep Percy from danger. As Chiron leaves, Percy realizes that he forgot to tell Chiron about his dream about Grover.
As they head to dinner, they get stares from the other campers because of Tyson, and they come across Mr. D., who continues not to care about Percy. Next to him is the new activities director, who is clothed in a prisoner's jumpsuit. Mr. D tells him to keep an eye out for Percy and Tantalus warns him to keep out of trouble. As Tantalus requests food from the magic table, his food scoots out of reach, and Percy realizes that he's the spirit from the fields of punishment whose food is always out of reach. Tyson is forced to stay back with the counselors while they figure out what to do with him and Percy heads towards the Poseidon table. Tantalus stands up to introduce himself to the campers and announces that they will be bringing back the chariot races despite them being extremely dangerous. Afterward, he asks who is willing to put up Tyson in their cabin, and Tyson is then claimed by Poseidon. People laugh as Tantalus jokes that he can see the family resemblance, and while Tyson doesn't realize how cruel they're being, Percy does, now that he has a new cabin mate and half-brother.
The next few days are hard for Percy. He struggles to adjust to the reality of Tyson being his brother, and he feels ashamed of being related to him and tries to distance himself from Tyson. Annabeth tries to make him feel better by directing their attention to the chariot race, but they end up fighting over Tyson. Annabeth calls Tyson a monster and Percy defends him, accusing Annabeth of having something against Cyclopes, leading them to not talk to each other for a couple of days. He works with Silena to learn how to ride a pegasus and goes to swordplay and archery class, but things aren't the same, and he feels really isolated. He's haunted by the memories of last summer, when his friend Luke betrayed him and tried to kill him for the titan lord, Kronos. At night he continues to have dreams about Grover but doesn't feel like telling anyone.
He and Tyson build their chariot together, but Percy can't shake his bad mood and admits to Tyson that he's having a tough time. That night, he dreams of Grover in a wedding dress staring at him. Grover begs for him to hear him, and Percy replies that he can. In the background, he hears a voice call out for "honeypie" and Grover responds to it. Percy doesn’t really understand since Grover is unclear, but Grover says that he doesn't have any time and that he's stuck on an island in the sea. Polyphemus the Cyclops has been trapping and eating satyrs by luring them in with magic that smells like Pan's. Grover admits that he's avoided this by pretending to be a lady Cyclops that Polyphemus can marry. Percy promises to rescue him, and Grover confesses that he’s in the Sea of Monsters, and that, because of their empathy link, if Percy doesn't save him, he'll probably die as well. But Grover fades out before he can share exactly where he is.
The morning of the race dawns and when Percy approaches Annabeth about his dream, she claims that he's trying to distract her because it's too good to be true that Grover would stumble across the one thing that could save the camp. She's doubtful though, and since empathy links are rare, she concludes that he was probably dreaming, but says that they'll talk later after she wins the chariot race. Before the race, Percy notices a lot of pigeons which makes him feel weird, but he keeps going and focuses on trying to prove that he's not ashamed of Tyson. As the chariot race starts, people are immediately sabotaged. They're making good time until they see that the pigeons have begun swarming in a huge tornado. They try to keep going, but the spectators start getting dive-bombed. Annabeth yells across that they're Stymphalian birds, and that they need to drive them away before they strip everyone to shreds. They struggle to figure out how to scare them away, and then realize they can use Chiron’s music collection. They run to the big house to grab the boom box and start playing the music as loud as possible. The demon pigeons, as Percy calls them, start flying in circles and come together, making them easy targets for the Apollo cabin. However, despite them saving everyone, Clarisse is awarded the prize of the day for crossing the finish line, and he and Annabeth are punished for disrupting the race.
All three of them are punished with chores for supposedly ruining the race by disturbing the birds with their chariot driving. It's hard for Annabeth and Percy, who don't have Tyson's immunity to the lava that the harpies use to clean the lunch plates, but they find that they begin to bond together against a common enemy. Annabeth listens to Percy talk about his dreams of Grover and suggests that he may have found the Golden Fleece. Percy is skeptical, but Annabeth reminds him that the Gray Sisters, who had told Jason where to find the Golden Fleece originally, had told him how to find the thing they seek. If they find it, it could heal Thalia's tree, but other heroes have searched for ages with no luck at all. Percy theorizes that Grover might have found it because of its natural magic. The problem is that it's deep in the Sea of Monsters—the sea that all the Greek heroes sailed through. As the West's center of power shifts, it's now moved to the Bermuda Triangle.
Since Tantalus will likely oppose a quest, they trap him by announcing their idea at the campfire in front of the entire camp, where Percy realizes that the numbers that the Grat Sisters gave him were sailing coordinates. The campers pressure Tantalus into assigning a quest, but instead of choosing Percy, he chooses Clarisse. Conflict breaks out, with each cabin taking sides until Tantulus tells them all to quiet down. He tells them a ghost story of a king who was once allowed to eat at Olympus, but who was banned after he stole ambrosia and nectar from them. He got scolded by his children, and then, when the gods next came to visit them, served his children as the meat for the stew. After this story, he asks if there are any complaints and the campers are unsurprisingly silent, including Percy, as Clarisse heads off to consult the Oracle. Everyone heads back to their cabins, and Tyson asks Percy if he still plans on going on a quest anyways. Tyson offers to come along, but when Percy refuses, he asks if it’s because Annabeth doesn’t like him and Percy doesn’t want him along. Percy feels bad, but still tries to convince Tyson to stay and that the others will learn to love him.
Tyson goes to sleep, but Percy is kept awake by his worries and decides to sneak out of the cabin and head for the beach. As he’s staring at the stars, he hears a voice next to him comment that the stars are beautiful, and he’s so surprised that he almost spits out his soda. Standing beside him is a guy in an NYC Marathon shirt who looks sort of familiar. Percy has no idea where this guy would have come from, but he agrees to let the stranger join him. All of a sudden his phone goes off, and two snakes begin weaving around the antenna of his cell phone as he answers it. Percy, freaked out, points them out; the stranger responds by telling George and Martha to say hello. Two voices introduce themselves in Percy’s head and immediately begin arguing, but the stranger cuts them off and begins to lament that he hasn't relaxed in a while. He asks who Percy’s favorite hero is, and Percy admits that he likes Hercules because he had worse luck than Percy does. Percy asks who the stranger is, and as the stranger transforms his phone into a caduceus, Percy realizes that he’s Hermes. Hermes asks what he intends to do about the quest in front of him, and while Percy is hesitant since it’s not allowed, Hermes encourages him to sneak away using the story of a young boy who snuck out and stole cattle from Apollo—the young boy being him. To help Percy, Hermes gives him the winds from the four corners of the earth to speed him on his way, which are conveniently located in a stainless steel Hercules-themed thermos. Hermes also gives him a bottle of vitamins, which should help heal him and his friends when they need it. Percy thanks him and asks him why he’s helping him, to which he replies that he hopes that Percy can also try and save Luke. He doesn’t think he can, but Hermes reminds him that he can’t give up on his family.
Their conversation ends with Hermes warning him that he has less time to make up his mind about the quest than he thinks. As Annabeth and Tyson call his name, Hermes gives him three yellow duffel bags, directing him to a ship in the distance. He lets Percy know that he has five minutes before the harpies come and eat him before jogging away and disappearing. Annabeth and Tyson came because they heard Percy calling for help. Percy, knowing that Hermes likely set that up, fills them in on their conversation. As the harpies close in, Annabeth says that they have to do the quest but wants Tyson to stay behind. Percy again notices that there’s something that Annabeth isn’t telling him. But while Percy hesitates to bring Tyson along, he decides that Tyson can come if he wants to. Annabeth is frustrated but focuses on how they might get to the cruise ship. Hermes had told Percy that he should ask Poseidon for help, and Poseidon responds by sending them hippocampi so that they can ride towards the cruise and away from the harpies, who are beginning to close in on them so they can eat them for breaking curfew. Soon, they’re off, racing away from the shore with the wind in their faces.
They approach the cruise ship, which is named the Princess Andromeda, and which is huge. Andromeda, who was Perseus’s wife, reminds Percy of his namesake, but he remains somewhat pessimistic about the chances of inheriting Perseus’s luck. They start climbing abroad over the side, although Tyson is sad to say goodbye to his hippocampus friend, Rainbow. Percy initially thinks it’s a ghost ship, but Tyson says he smells something bad and Percy starts to have a bad feeling, although he can’t quite put a name to what it is. They search and find an empty suite to sleep in, opening their duffel bags to find that Hermes provided really well for them, including Tyson’s tools and Annabeth’s cap of invisibility. Annabeth cautions them not to eat or drink anything since she also senses something is wrong here. They lock their doors and Percy finally falls asleep only to have his worst dream yet. It begins with the voice of Kronos, mocking him for going on yet another quest, tempting him to turn his back on the gods. The scene then shifts, with Grover at the loom making a bridal train. The room shakes as an enormous Cyclops enters, asking when the bridal train will be done. Grover continues to delay, and murmurs under his breath that Percy should please hurry.
He wakes up to the ship’s whistle and an intercom announcement that disemboweling practice will happen on the Promenade for the special guests. Finding this strange, the three of them dress and venture out onto the ship to discover that the passengers are all under some sort of trance. Throughout the ship, they see that monsters and entranced humans seem to be intermingling. The three of them duck into the women’s room to hide, and Annabeth and Tyson realize how important it is that they escape. To their surprise, they hear Luke’s voice from their hiding place. While Tyson wants to leave, Percy and Annabeth decide that they have to stay and figure out what Luke is up to.
Analysis
Now that Thalia’s tree is poisoned, camp isn’t a happy place to be anymore. Even the people who used to be the most reliable, like Chiron, have been pushed out. Unsurprisingly, this is another example of the gods being unfair; despite being the least reliable staff member, Mr. D, who is actually the god Dionysus, is the only one to still have his job. Their situation is especially serious given that they’re also facing the titan Kronos, who may be involved in this scheme. Last summer, what seemed to be a conflict between the Big Three turned out to be due to Kronos's machinations. However, it’s still unusual how heavy of an emphasis Chiron places on keeping Percy safe in that context, and it suggests that Percy might have more to do with the fight against Kronos than he knows. More pressing, however, are the changes to the camp, including the presence of a new activities director. The gods choosing Tantalus, who used to be imprisoned in the fields of punishment, is another indication that they’re not occupied with caring for their children.
This is only confirmed, of course, by the revelation that Tyson is actually the son of Poseidon. Part of Annabeth’s hesitation around explaining the details of Cyclopses to Percy becomes clear now, since they tend to be fathered by Poseidon. As the next few days progress, Percy has to confront his inner dislike of Tyson. Although he was willing to be Tyson’s friend, being his brother is very different, especially when the other campers are making fun of him. Despite not wanting to claim Tyson completely, Percy still feels obligated to treat him kindly. But his situation with Tyson is only part of the problem: with Thalia’s tree, dreams of Grover, and Kronos looming in the background, Percy must deal with being isolated from everyone. Trust is difficult since Luke, who was the first camper to take him under his wing when he arrived at Camp Half-Blood last summer, tried to kill him. While for other campers, Camp Half-Blood has always been a safe haven, for Percy, this is not the first time that it’s been dangerous.
The danger continues through to his dreams, where we receive more information about what’s happening to Grover. Grover, despite his tendency to be anxious, shows how clever he is with his deception of Polyphemus. He also has gotten closer than any other satryr to discovering what happened to Pan, the god of the wilderness. In revealing that he’s stuck in the Sea of Monsters, he gives readers the first glimpse of where the book will go in terms of setting, though we don’t yet know what the Sea of Monsters is. In spite of his difficulties with trust, Percy’s friendships prove strong, with Grover being close enough to Percy to establish an empathy link with him and Annabeth being willing to hear him out, despite being angry with him. Annabeth’s skepticism at Grover finding the one thing that can save the camp foreshadows that there might be something a bit too convenient about the way things are lining up. As with most of the foreshadowing, however, the characters don’t have time to dwell on it; instead, they have to fight off the monsters.
Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth put their differences aside to protect the camp, using quick thinking to save the others. We again see examples of how demigods, most of whom have ADHD, use their condition to help with “battle reflexes.” Their initiative isn’t rewarded, with Tantalus continuing to show a preference for Clarisse over them, to the point where he says Clarisse should go on a quest, instead of the more obvious choice of Percy and Annabeth. But beyond just saving Thalia’s tree, Percy is invested in helping Grover, and so is willing to search for a way to get around the rules. With this context, it’s not surprising that the god that appears to him is Hermes, the Greek god of mischief and travel. Hermes’ disguise, which is that of a chill NYC marathon runner, allows Percy to feel free to express his trademark honesty. His choice of Hercules as his favorite hero due to Hercules’s awful luck shows readers how, in some ways, Percy is quite a reluctant hero. Although he does love his life at camp, he also knows that he’s had a horrible time because of the gods and their meddling. They’ve endangered him all throughout his life, and often don’t care too much about their kids. Percy’s skepticism of his ability to get through to Luke reflects his own understanding of how badly the gods can mistreat their children. Hermes picks up on this tension, and reassures Percy that even though family is complicated and tough, he should still fight for it. As Luke’s father, Hermes is the one directly responsible for Luke’s hatred of the gods, which stems from Hermes’ abandonment of him as a kid. But Percy is still willing to try.
As that discussion of family ends, Annabeth and Tyson appear, forcing Percy to deal with the dynamics between his close friend and his newfound brother. Percy continues to stick up for Tyson, but at this point, it’s clear that Annabeth’s problems with Tyson run deeper than him being embarrassing, or even him being technically a monster. They head towards the ship with the help of Poseidon, who, much like in the previous novel, does not show up in person but instead offers his help in other ways. As Hermes mentioned, it appears that the gods are limited in their ability to interact with their children. Tyson shows himself to be both kind (his appreciation for Rainbow) and discerning (he notices that there’s something off before Percy or Annabeth do). The danger, however, is something that they have to accept, and they do their best to mitigate it by avoiding obvious traps. Even then, it isn’t completely inescapable, since during the night, Kronos takes advantage of Percy’s doubts about the gods to try and lure him to the other side. Meanwhile, Grover rehashes a mythical trick from the Odyssey, where Penelope pretended to weave a funeral shroud to ward off her suitors, to delay Polyphemus. Waking up to discover that the ship is overrun by monsters is scary, but Percy and Annabeth insist on facing the danger so that they can take down Kronos by any means necessary, even if it means risking Grover and Thalia’s tree. They, like the reader, also have an inkling that the events may be connected.
