Previous Next

Chapters Fourteen–Sixteen

Summary: Chapter Fourteen

As Percy enters the water, he realizes he wasn’t hurt by the impact of the water or Chimera’s bite, but rather feels dry and can breathe underwater. As he looks around, he sees Riptide a few feet in front of him. A female spirit tells him that his father believes in him, he should go to Santa Monica before going to the Underworld, and to not trust gifts. Before she departs, the spirit reassures Percy that his mother’s fate is not hopeless. As the spirit disappears, Percy grabs Riptide and swims off to find Annabeth and Grover. 

Several news stations and police officers surround the area below the Arch, as they try to figure out what happened to it. Eyewitnesses tell them they saw a boy jump into the water. As ambulance technicians attend to the civilians on the roof, Percy finds his friends and tells them everything that happened. While they make plans to go to Santa Monica, they hear news reporters making the connection between the boy who jumped and the fugitive they have been reporting on. The three quickly dash toward the train station before anyone recognizes Percy and head to Denver.

Summary: Chapter Fifteen

In Denver, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover contact Chiron through Iris-messaging, the rainbow goddess who carries messages for the gods. Luke answers and is updated on all that has happened so far. Percy and Luke discuss the possibility of Hades stealing the master bolt during the winter solstice by using his Helm of Darkness. While eating at a diner, Ares, Clarisse’s dad and the god of war, joins the group and asks Percy to retrieve his shield, which he lost in the Tunnel of Love while at a waterpark with his girlfriend. In turn, Ares will disclose information about Percy’s mother and help the three continue west. 

After initial reluctance, Percy and his friends head to the waterpark. Percy discovers that Ares was dating Aphrodite, the goddess of love, despite Aphrodite’s marriage to Hephaestus, the blacksmith. Hephaestus is aware of his wife’s affair and always tries to embarrass her and Ares. While Grover stands guard, Percy and Annabeth are caught in a trap that was set by Hephaestus to catch his wife and Ares together. A camera emerges and spotlights shine down on Percy and Annabeth. A loudspeaker voice announces the beginning of a countdown until the broadcast goes live to Mount Olympus. Annabeth is concerned about looking like a fool before the gods until thousands of metal spiders emerge and begin to swarm toward them. Annabeth is paralyzed with terror. Percy moves her back to the boat and uses his connection with water to move the boat along and fight off the spiders. Before the boat crashes, the two of them jump and Grover grabs them by flying with his shoes and carries them to safety before dropping them along the way. They survive the fall and Percy vows to confront Ares on this assignment.

Summary: Chapter Sixteen

At the diner, Percy and his friends return the shield they recovered to Ares. He takes his shield and gives Percy a backpack with food and directs them to a truck that will take them to Los Angeles. Before leaving, Ares tells Percy that his mother is not actually dead, but rather a hostage in metamorphosis. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover join some caged animals on the truck headed to Los Angeles with a stop in Las Vegas. While on the road, Percy learns that Grover was the keeper for Thalia, Zeus’ daughter who died. The two half-bloods she was protecting at the time were Annabeth and Luke. Annabeth shares how she tried to reconcile with her family a couple of years ago only to return to Camp Half-Blood. 

Percy dreams about the pit again. He hears a mysterious voice and sees his mother reaching out to him but wakes up to the truckers checking on the animals. After witnessing the abuse of some of the animals, Percy releases them into Vegas while he and his friends leave the truck. They enter the Lotus Hotel and Casino and are given a room key. They shower, eat, relax, and play video games until Percy realizes something seems off. People appear to be in a daze. No one can tell him what year they are in. Percy snaps Annabeth and Grover out of the trance they are in and they leave the hotel only to realize that since they lost track of time, they only have one day left to complete the quest.

Analysis: Chapters Fourteen–Sixteen

Learning how to breathe underwater signifies that Percy is slowly reconciling the two sides of his character: the human and the divine. This ability provides renewed confirmation and faith that he is indeed the son of Poseidon. Rather than simply hearing something and believing it, Percy witnesses the proof of his identity as he exercises the powers that come with it. This incident also helps Percy feel much more confident in the face of mounting challenges. His father’s belief in him encourages him to keep going. Not only does Percy begin to come into his own power and show greater confidence in the water, but he also behaves with more confidence on land as he continues with Annabeth and Grover on their quest. 

The warning in the prophecy (“You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend”), though it foreshadows a coming betrayal, only strengthens Percy’s resolve to trust his friends. He knows he can trust them and places great importance on the close relationships they have formed. He sees their friendship as a gift, not unlike the gifts he has been blessed with as a demigod. 

Percy’s quest continues to be both reminiscent of Greek myths and also interconnected with the contemporary world with which readers are familiar. The author creatively adapts Iris, the goddess of rainbows and messenger to the gods, to the modern world by providing an instant message service, meant to mimic online messaging or text messages, that the trio uses to connect back to camp. Again, their quest is reminiscent of The Odyssey, especially as they reach the Lotus Hotel, an allusion to the Lotus-eaters. In the epic poem, the hero Odysseus encounters the Lotus-eaters who grow and eat a plant that produces forgetfulness. For Percy, he ends up stuck in a distortion of time. Beyond the modernizations of Greek myths, some of the stories are expanded upon, such as the myth of Arachne, a weaver who was turned into a spider by Athena. The Lightning Thief adds another layer, suggesting that her descendants, the spiders, hate Athena and her descendants. 

The importance Percy places on family and trust is the aspect of his personality most susceptible to exploitation. When Percy meets with Ares to return his shield, there is instant animosity between the characters. Ares, as the god of war, thrives on conflict and intentionally riles Percy up. Percy believes that a particular line of the prophecy (“And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end”) refers to him not being able to save his mother. But Ares challenges that idea by telling Percy that his mother is still alive. Percy is unaware that Ares is using him, and of what Ares’s true intentions are, but he is still naive and willing to trust. Ares uses this against him and deceives Percy by making him a pawn in his ultimate plan to incite a war between the gods.

Previous section Chapters Eleven–Thirteen Next section Chapters Seventeen & Eighteen

Take a Study Break