Wrath of the Triple Goddess

Percy finds Sally writing at a cafe and fills her in. The story makes her anxious, but she is characteristically optimistic. He asks if she was the child with the broken glasses from his vision, and she admits that she was. Her family made her wear the glasses because she not only saw through the Mist but also shared what she saw. Hecate assured her that her vision was fine, though Sally was too late to attend Hecate’s school. After that, Sally understood what to withhold and no longer needed the glasses. Percy feels guilty for having changed the course of her life, but she hugs him, saying she has no regrets. Sally believes Hecate does, however, and she says that Percy should focus on helping her.

At school, Percy finds Eudora and accuses her of avoiding him, but Eudora actually fears Hecate. She is worried that Percy will fail and that Eudora will be punished for having recommended him to Hecate. Eudora has already failed the goddess once before; desperate to impress her, she tried to help Hecate open her school in 1914. When World War I broke out, the students took sides, tearing them apart. Hecate refused to intervene and then blamed Eudora for what happened. Percy assures her that he will not fail.

Percy realizes he has forgotten to cancel their Halloween party. After school, he finds Annabeth reviewing architectural designs of Lower Manhattan. She plans to summon the ghost of Dutch colonial officer Peter Stuyvesant and an army of ghosts to do the repair work. Though he was not a nice person, Stuyvesant is connected to the place and is their best option. Hecuba and Nope will help guide the spirits of the dead, and Gale provides a potion to repel the dead.

The graveyard is 10 blocks away, and they will have to maintain their focus the entire time they’re bringing the ghosts back. Annabeth takes Hecate’s torches. Holding them out summons the dead and crossing them turns them to dust. With his ADHD, Percy is worried that his mind’s tendency to wander will hamper him. He looks around the room, feeling like he has forgotten something but unable to think of what it is, and they set off.

The group heads to the cemetery at St. Mark’s Church to summon the dead. They begin at the grave of Peter Stuyvesant. Warning Percy to stay focused, Annabeth raises the torches. When she stretches out her arms, the torches burst into flames. The confused and angry specter of Stuyvesant emerges from Annabeth’s shadow. Percy struggles to concentrate, but Annabeth urges him on as more and more smoky ghosts appear. Percy feels their thoughts and memories. Their presence seems to drain his strength. They are hostile and disoriented, speaking “a chaotic chorus” of languages (228).

Annabeth orders Stuyvesant to follow her. Percy feels his resentment but also “curiosity, cold amusement,” and “a cruel desire to see how long Annabeth could hold herself together” (228). She leads them all out of the graveyard, back toward Gramercy.

After one block, Annabeth stumbles, admitting she made a mistake: She does not have the strength to make it back to the mansion. Percy reflects that every hero has a “fatal flaw” and that Annabeth’s is pride—always aiming high, confident that she can surpass her best. The situation must be desperate for her to ask for help. Percy offers to take the torches. Hecuba warns that trading the torches has never been tried before, but Percy believes in his and Annabeth’s bond. They face each other, and he puts his hands over hers, taking over the torches and ordering the ghosts to follow him to Gramercy. Exhausted and drained, he stumbles but catches himself, focusing his thoughts. The hellhounds herd the souls, and they finally make it back to the mansion.

Percy is losing his strength, so Annabeth steps in. Each holds up one torch, their other arms wrapped around each other for support. Annabeth orders the ghosts to fix the house, and the spirits swirl into action, restoring the mansion to its original state. The demigods are ready to lower the torches, but before he has a chance, Percy collapses.

Annabeth lunges forward to grab the torch, and the ghosts disperse, raging through the neighborhood. Annabeth asks why they are not turning to dust, prompting Percy to wonder if passing the torches caused the problem. Annabeth is losing her strength again. Gale rushes into the mansion, emerging with vials of nectar that Grover pours into their mouths, restoring some of their strength.

The ghosts attack repeatedly, disintegrating when they hit the torch flames but reforming again at the yard’s edge. Hecuba tells Grover that Stuyvesant is holding them together. He comes forward, calling them “heretic souls” and saying Hecate’s house “must burn.” Percy tells them this is the home of Hecate, goddess of magic, not to be toyed with, and the ghosts disperse, but they return later in material shells—piles of garbage, Halloween costumes, and humans whom they have possessed.

Stuyvesant comes forward in the body of a mounted police officer and tells the group, “My mother must pay for her pagan crimes” (242), revealing that he is the son of Hecate. Telling Annabeth to guard the doors, Percy charges forward with Grover, the hellhounds, and Gale.

Percy works through the crowd of ghosts, careful not to harm their mortal hosts. Grover plays his panpipes to help differentiate mortals from ghouls. Annabeth keeps the ghosts out of the mansion with the torches. Each time ghosts come into contact with Percy, he experiences a jolt of pain and snippets of their memories. The eels speak inside Percy’s head, asking to help; they then begin zooming around the yard.

No matter what they do, they cannot banish the ghosts. Percy decides to attack the head, getting the attention of Stuyvesant, who tells Percy it was a mistake to summon him. His mother’s servants “must all burn” since the monstrosity Manhattan has become is her legacy (248). She oversees crossroads, but all roads “lead to evil” (248). They spar, but Percy is exhausted. He falls backward, and Stuyvesant rears over him.

One of the eels launches itself at Stuyvesant, saving Percy at the last moment. Simultaneously, a van from Camp Half-Blood (a Long Island camp where demigods train) arrives carrying Percy and Annabeth’s demigod friends, whom Percy invited to the Halloween party. They jump eagerly into the fight, each using their power, whether causing mortals to fall asleep, using costume pearls as lassos, or bashing ghouls with weapons.

Camp security guard and 100-eyed giant Argus lifts Stuyvesant and his horse, allowing Percy to run to Annabeth and tell her they need to cross the torches together. She wants to do it alone, but he reminds her that they are stronger together. When they cross the torches, the ghosts finally dissolve. Only Stuyvesant remains, insisting that he cannot allow Hecate to remain in his city. One of the demigods, Clovis, comes forward and tells Stuyvesant that the city belongs to everyone; he has done his part and deserves a rest. Clovis hugs him, and Stuyvesant dissolves.

Complimenting their party-throwing skills, demigod Connor Stoll asks if they can come into the house now.

The party is not wild, but it is good: They are all alive and together. Everyone enjoys themselves, and their chaperone, Argus, stands guard at the doors, handing candy out to trick-or-treaters.

Later, Percy finds Annabeth alone on a terrace overlooking Gramercy Park. She admits that her pride almost got them killed; she was wrong to think she could handle the torches alone. Percy reminds her that they all have fatal flaws. What matters is working as a team. Only then can they turn their flaws into strengths. Annabeth tells him he is “a pretty smart guy” and intuits that he has something planned for tomorrow (260). He reveals (though not to the reader) what he plans to tell Hecate when she returns. Annabeth calls it risky, but when Percy suggests she and Grover stay away while he speaks to Hecate, she reminds him that they are a team.

Hecate arrives at 5:32 am, startling the demigods and Grover awake. She surveys the room, notices a plastic soda bottle, and scares Percy by pretending to be angry but then laughs. She is pleased they celebrated her with a party. She meets and welcomes Nope, declares that all looks in order, and gives Percy his recommendation.

Percy realizes that she has offered him another crossroads: He can take the letter and leave, but that would be wrong. He tells Hecate everything that happened while she was gone. She asks why he confessed and why she should not incinerate him. He replies that Hecuba and Gale helped them and need more freedom. Pointing out that he is offering a path that she can choose to follow or not, he suggests that Hecate meant for things to happen as they did. It enabled them to learn not only what the animals but also the mansion and Hecate need. She has regrets and grudges. Hecate admits that she did not parent Peter well. Percy asks her to hear his plan, and she agrees.

Eudora is thrilled (and surprised) when Percy is alive at school on Monday morning. He shows her Hecate’s recommendation letter and informs her that Hecate will be reopening her school and wants to hire Eudora as her full-time admissions director. First, however, Eudora has to help him get into New Rome University. Eudora is so excited that she melts into a puddle. When she re-forms, she hugs Percy, swings him around, and does a happy dance.

After school, he heads toward Gramercy to walk Gale and Hecuba and is sad when he remembers he no longer needs to. Instead, he visits his mother at the Cracked Teapot and fills her in on how things worked out with Hecate, adding that he knows where she can learn magic, if she is so inclined. His mother is happy for him and happy with her choices. They plan dinner with Annabeth, Grover, and Juniper (a dryad and Grover’s girlfriend), and Percy goes home to do his chores contentedly.

The demigods, Grover, Juniper, and Percy’s mother and stepfather, Paul, have dinner together. Sally asks Juniper what dryads eat, and she is happy with the salad Sally offers her. Annabeth talks with Paul about her newest architecture assignment, and Sally looks around the table happily. As they eat, the demigods and Grover recount the events of the past week. Percy hopes to get the third letter he needs, and Annabeth quickly affirms that he will. Grover promises to help, even if Percy and Annabeth “have to leave for California afterward” (276). Juniper comforts him with the reminder that “your roots are where you’re planted” and that Percy and Annabeth’s are around this table (276). Percy reflects that no matter how far he and Annabeth travel, they will always have a home here.