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Summary

Chapter 5

Percy enters Camp Half-Blood and immediately feels like something is wrong. He, Annabeth, and Tyson go to find Chiron, who is packing to leave. Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron suspect that Kronos, the king of the Titans and the mastermind behind the plot to overthrow Mount Olympus, is behind the poisoning. Chiron predicts that the tree only has a few weeks left, and then the camp will be overrun by monsters. He starts to say there is only one thing that could save the tree but he stops himself before going any further. He guesses that the poisoning of Thalia’s tree is a trap to get Percy out of Camp Half-Blood and into harm's way, and tells Percy to stay at camp and train. He then urges Annabeth to remember the prophecy, and makes her swear on the River Styx to keep Percy safe. Annabeth agrees but is distressed; the gods only made Chiron immortal as long as he was needed to train heroes. She is worried about him now that he has been fired from his position. 

Later at dinner, Coach D (also known as Dionysus) and Tantalus (a prisoner from the Fields of Punishment who has been relocated to Camp Half-Blood) keep Tyson with them so that they can determine his fate. Percy dejectedly heads to the empty Poseidon table and waits to see what will happen. Percy is the only camper at the Poseidon table because he is a Forbidden Child of one of the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) and is not supposed to exist. Tantalus announces that he is reinstating chariot races and that the first race will take place in three days. He then cruelly asks the campers where they should keep Tyson—he begins to suggest they should house him in the stables when Poseidon claims Tyson as his son. Percy is shocked to learn that Tyson is his brother, and that he is no longer the only claimed son of Poseidon. Many of the campers then start to mock Percy for having a monster for a brother. 

Chapter 6

Tyson is excited to be Percy’s brother, but Percy does not share his enthusiasm. Camp Half-Blood was the first place that Percy felt like he fit in; now his fellow campers have been making fun of him. He tries to protest that Tyson is not his real brother whenever Tyson is not around, but it does not do him any good. Percy becomes angry with his father because he feels like being his son is now a joke.

Percy and Annabeth team up for the chariot race. Percy tries to ask Annabeth why she behaves weirdly around Tyson while they strategize, but she evades his answer. They argue and decide to split up for the race. Tyson continues to have trouble fitting in at camp and spends most of his time metalworking with Beckendorf, head of Hephaestus’s cabin. His cabin is accepting of Tyson because Cyclopes work in Hephaestus’s forges. 

Later, Percy has another dream about Grover, who is wearing a wedding dress and trapped in a cave. This time, Grover is able to talk to Percy, and he explains that he created an empathy link so they can communicate through Percy’s dreams. He tells Percy that he is trapped on an island in the Sea of Monsters by a Cyclops named Polyphemus. Grover managed to avoid being eaten by pretending to be a lady Cyclops, but now Polyphemus wants to marry him. He tells Percy that Polyphemus has an object that he uses to lure satyrs with its powerful nature magic, but he does not identify the object by name. He then explains that Polyphemus is only giving him two weeks to finish the bridal train, and that Percy needs to help him. Finally, Grover apologizes and admits that Percy might die if Grover dies, due to the empathy link. 

Percy wakes and gets ready for the chariot race. He tries to tell Annabeth about his dream before the race begins, but Annabeth accuses him of lying to distract her from winning. She claims that it would be an insane coincidence for Grover to conveniently “stumble across the one thing that could save the camp.” However, she is soon convinced by Percy’s urgency, and they agree to talk after the race. The competition begins, but the race is soon interrupted by Stymphalian Birds—lethal monsters with bronze beaks. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson manage to stop the attack, but Clarisse wins the race. Tantalus is angry with the three of them for “disrupting” the competition.

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