Synopsis: The Titan's Curse

[H S]

Unlike the first two books, The Titan's Curse began during the winter of Percy Jackson's school year. Grover summoned Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia to Westover Hall military school in Maine because he had discovered two half-bloods at the school, siblings Bianca and Nico di Angelo.

Arriving at the school, the trio met the vice principal, Dr. Thorn, and another teacher. Thalia used the Mist to allow them past the school faculty. Grover showed Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia to the gym, where a dance was in progress. There, Percy became separated from the others but saw Dr. Thorn (who Grover pointed out was really a monster) taking the di Angelos away.

Percy gave chase but was wounded and captured by Dr. Thorn. The vice principal then led Percy and the siblings to the cliffs near the school, where he reveal himself to be a manticore, with a deadly tail that shot spikes. Dr. Thorn summoned a helicopter to take them all away to "The General", but before the helicopter arrived, Percy's friends engaged the manticore in battle.

The friends were not faring well, but Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, suddenly appeared with her Hunters. They wounded Dr. Thorn, and he leaped off the cliff with Annabeth, who was trying to stab him, on his back. Artemis then destroyed the helicopter, turning it into a flock of birds.

Percy revealed to Artemis that Dr. Thorn worked for the General and warned of a monster "that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus." Artemis asked Percy to escort her Hunters, left in the charge of Zoe Nightshade (who had an antagonistic relationship with Thalia), to Camp Half-Blood while Artemis herself went to hunt the monster.

Saddened by Annabeth's disappearance, Percy was disappointed even more to learn that Bianca had decided to join the Hunt rather than attend Camp Half-Blood with Percy and her brother Nico. Nico, however, was excited at the prospect of being part of the mythological world.

Artemis summoned her brother Apollo to transport the half-bloods and Hunters to Camp Half-Blood. Apollo arrived at dawn in his sun chariot, a glowing hot Maserati Spyder. In order to carry everyone, however, the car transformed into a bus. Apollo let Thalia drive the bus, and after a wild ride, they ended up at Camp Half-Blood.

Percy told Dionysus and Chiron what happened to Annabeth, but Dionysus was indifferent to her fate, angering Percy. Returning to his cabin, Percy placed an Iris-message call to his half-brother, Tyson. Tyson informed Percy that Luke's boat, the Princess Andromeda, had left the eastern seaboard for the Panama Canal.

That night, Percy dreamed that Annabeth was trapped in a cave. The ceiling began collapsing, and Luke tricked her into getting trapped under the falling rocks. When Percy told Grover about his dream, Grover revealed to Percy that Zoe also had a nightmare, about Artemis being in danger. Percy visited the Oracle to seek more information, but the Oracle did not answer him.

The next day, the campers played capture the flag. The regular Camp Half-Blood residents were on one team, and the Hunters were on another. Percy's team narrowly lost, and Thalia blamed Percy for their defeat. They began to fight, but the Oracle appeared in a rare sighting outside of her home. She told everyone:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

The cabin leaders met to decide how to act on the prophecy. Three Hunters were chosen to go on the quest -- Zoe, Phoebe (the best tracker among the Hunters), and Bianca -- and two members of Camp Half-Blood -- Thalia and Grover. Percy wanted to join the quest as well, but Zoe refused to allow a "hero boy" to accompany them.

That evening, Percy had another dream about Annabeth. The General was also present, and he had captured Artemis. The goddess offered to take the burden of upholding the rocks from Annabeth.

Percy was awakened by a noise at his cabin door. It was Blackjack, a pegasus that Percy had saved months earlier. Blackjack led Percy to the ocean, where hippocampi begged the son of Poseidon to save a half-cow, half-serpent creature that Percy dubbed Bessie.

After saving Bessie from being trapped in a fishing net, Percy returned to the camp grounds. Instead of going to his cabin, however, he saw Nico eavesdropping on Zoe and Bianca and listened in, hiding under the cloak of Annabeth's invisibility cap. The two boys overhead Zoe telling Bianca that Pheobe wouldn't be able to go on the quest because she was poisoned by a prank from the Hermes boys. Zoe, however, was adamant in not taking on another member of the quest to replace Phoebe.

Since Nico was too young to go on the quest, and Percy planned to find Annabeth anyway, Percy decided to follow the quest secretly, promising to keep an eye on Bianca for Nico. Percy tracked the quest's van on the back of Blackjack. He followed them to Washington D.C. before sending Blackjack home to recuperate.

In D.C., Percy spotted Dr. Thorn following the quest. Percy tailed Dr. Thorn to the Museum of Natural History to see what he was up to. Inside, Percy saw the General and Luke, but they confirmed his hopes that Annabeth was still alive. The General then created a dozen skeleton soldiers from dragon teeth to find and destroy Percy.

Percy fled to the Air and Space Museum, where Thalia, Grover, Zoe, and Bianca were. He warned them about what he had seen. Before they could decide what to do next, a Nemean Lion attacked them. Their weapons were ineffective against its hide, but Percy was able to defeat it by throwing foul-tasting space food from the souvenir shop into the lion's mouth. The lion disappeared, leaving behind its coat, which Percy claimed.

Zoe reluctantly allowed Percy to join the quest. The group then escaped the General's minions through the subway system. They arrived at a train yard, where Apollo, disguised as a homeless person, pointed them toward a car-transporting train heading westward. Apollo also advised Percy to seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, in San Francisco.

The train took the quest to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Grover began to act strangely because he detected the presence of Pan. In the meantime, four of the General's skeleton warriors found them and attacked. Bianca was able to dispose of one skeleton. Suddenly, a giant Erymanthian Boar appeared and dispatched of the remaining three skeletons. Grover claimed the boar was "a blessing from the Wild", but it attacked the group anyway. Percy and Thalia managed to trap it, and they rode the somewhat tamed boar to Arizona.

Near Gila Claw, Arizona, a white limousine pulled up to the quest party. Ares stepped out and told Percy that Aphrodite requested his audience. She revealed to Percy that she had aided him into going on the quest because he sought Annabeth, and she wanted to see a quest for true love. Percy denied his feelings for Annabeth, but he couldn't convince Aphrodite otherwise. The goddess left with a warning not to take anything from the nearby junkyard of the gods.

The party carefully walked through the junkyard, but Bianca took a small figurine for Nico. Her theft awakened a prototype of Talos, a giant bronze status of a Greek warrior. Feeling guilty, Bianca offered to try to get inside Talos through a hole in his foot. She succeeded, keeping the statue from killing her companions, but she was lost in the process.

Percy, Grover, Thalia, and Zoe continued westward in an abandoned tow truck until it ran out of gas, then rode in canoes to the Hoover Dam. On the canoe trip, Percy learned that Zoe was a Hesperides, one of the daughters of the sea goddess Pleione, and that she was over two thousand years old.

At Hoover Dam, Percy encountered Bessie once again. Bessie seemed to be beckoning Percy to follow her, but Percy couldn't understand her. Just then, the General's army of skeleton soldiers drove up. Percy escaped them with the help of a mortal named Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who could see through the Mist. He rejoined his friends, and they were all saved from the skeletons by two statue angels at the dam, gifts dedicated to Zeus by Athena.

The angels flew the foursome to San Francisco, where Percy found Nereus. Percy asked Nereus what the monster was and was surprised to learn it was Bessie. Bessie was an Ophiotaurus, and a prophecy foretold that whoever sacrificed the Ophiotaurus would one day overthrow Mount Olympus. While the quest party was talking about Bessie, Dr. Thorn arrived with his mortal mercenaries. He was especially interested in Thalia. Kronos believed that she would fulfill the prophecies -- Thalia, who was to turn sixteen soon, would sacrifice Bessie and lead the overthrow of Mount Olympus.

Percy, Grover, Thalia, and Zoe tried to fight against Dr. Thorn and his army, but they were outnumbered. Desperate, Percy placed an Iris-message call to Mr. D and asked for his help. Dionysus did so, driving the mercenaries insane and entombing Dr. Thorn in vines.

Once the danger was over, Grover, who could talk to Bessie, volunteered to travel with her to Camp Half-Blood where they hoped she could be protected. Zoe then realized where the remaining three had to go. She told Percy and Thalia that they had to head to Mount Tamalpais, also known as the Mountain of Despair, and home of the Garden of the Hesperides.

Unfortunately, they needed to arrive there by sunset, and they had no car. The only place they could turn for help was Annabeth's father, Dr. Chase. They went to his house, finding a nice man who had a fascination with war history. He gladly offered his car to the trio, and they took it to Mount Tamalpais.

Entering the Garden of the Hesperides, Zoe confronted her sisters, who did not consider her as one of their own. Nevertheless, without the other Hesperides' help, Zoe distracted the dragon Ladon, who guarded the tree of immortality in the garden, but not before suffering a poisoned wound. The three managed to get past Ladon to the top of the mountain where the General and Luke held Artemis and Annabeth prisoner.

Upon meeting the General, Percy was astonished to learn that the General was Atlas, and Zoe was his daughter. Artemis now carried the weight of the sky upon her in Atlas' place. Deciding to fight against insurmountable odds, Thalia took on Luke while Percy and Zoe fought Atlas. Atlas was too powerful for Percy and Zoe, so Percy traded places with Artemis so that Artemis could fight against Atlas. During the struggle, Atlas threw Zoe against the wall, but Artemis tricked him into holding up the sky again in Percy's place. Meanwhile, Thalia defeated Luke, inadvertently causing him to fall down a cliff to his apparent death.

The evil army was still advancing upon the heroes. Suddenly, Dr. Chase flew overhead in a Sopwith Camel and fired upon the monsters, allowing the heroes to escape in Artemis' chariot. Sadly, given her injuries from Ladon, Atlas' blow proved to be fatal for Zoe. Artemis turned her into a constellation as she died.

Three pegasi appeared to carry Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia to Mount Olympus for the gods' winter solstice meeting. The gods had all gathered at the meeting to decide the fate of Bessie, Percy, and Thalia. Fearing the prophecies, some wanted to destroy all three. However, Poseidon offered to build an aquarium to keep Bessie safe on Mount Olympus. He also vouched for Percy, that he would not fulfill the prophecy in destroying the gods. Artemis asked Thalia to be her new lieutenant, and Thalia accepted so that she would never turn sixteen and could not be the subject of the prophecy.

During the ensuing celebration, Poseidon informed Percy that Luke was still alive. Athena then revealed to Percy that his fatal flaw as a hero was personal loyalty. He was willing to sacrifice the world in order to help his friends.

After the celebration, the heroes returned to Camp Half-Blood. Percy had the unenviable task of breaking the news of Bianca's death to Nico. Nico blamed Percy for his sister's death because Percy promised to look after her. While they were talking, skeleton soldiers appeared, and Nico created a fissure in the ground to swallow them up. Nico then threw away the figurine that Bianca had given him and ran away, saying how much he hated Percy. It was then that Percy realized Nico was the son of Hades.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover decided to keep Nico's lineage a secret from the gods because it would cause a fight among the gods if they knew Hades had a son. Meanwhile, Chiron informed the heroes that the war against Kronos would begin at Camp Half-Blood.