The Cursed Hero

The Cursed Hero is the first book of The Cursed Weirdos of Olympus series, written by Brick Riordan, who is also the author of the internationally famous Perky Jackson and the Cursed Weirdos series. Unlike the books in the previous series, The Cursed Hero is written in alternating third person points of view between Jacinda Grace, Pipe McCleaner, and Clown Leandro, in contrast with Perky Jackson's first person point of view in the first series.

This time, the story tells of three unlikely friends: an amnesiac princess, an apparent pipe cleaner, and a clown who likes to play pranks, as they are thrown in together on a quest to save Hera, Queen of the Weirdos, before she is lost to the world forever (ig this is supposed to be bad or something).

The Grand Canyon
Jacinda Grace wakes up with amnesia on a bus headed towards the Grand Canyon. He is sitting next to Pipe McCleaner and Clown Leandro, who claim to be his girlfriend and best friend respectively (wait so is Pipe the girlfriend, or is Clown?). They explain that they, including the other kids on the bus, are from the Wilderness School, a school for weirdos where Pipe had gotten sent to for not being straight, and Leandro by trying to make people laugh.

When they reach the Grand Canyon’s skywalk, Leandro and Pipe try to get Jacinda to remember things as they remember them, but are unable to. Things get stranger for Jacinda when he finds a golden coin stamped with the word Ivlivs on its front (rich kid, amiright?). He is then approached by the chaperoning teacher, Coach Gleesome Hedge, who divulges that Jacinda must be the special package that the camp told Hedge to retrieve, along with two other half-bloods. Jacinda cannot understand the supposedly cryptic words that Hedge uses.

Their conversation is cut short when a storm appears, and a class member, Dylan, reveals his true nature as a storm spirit. Dylan causes a burst of wind to send Pipe crashing against the doors of the skywalk and to push Leandro to the edge of the skywalk. Hedge reveals himself as a satyr and goes to rescue Leandro, but not before ordering Jacinda to fight Dylan off. Dylan, however, summons a blast of lightning and uses it on Jacinda. Amazingly, Jacinda survives, though he loses a shoe. By instinct, he pulls the coin out of his pocket and flips it, turning it into a glden sword. Dylan summons two more wind spirits, but Jacinda easily fights them off.

A hole opens up in the clouds, and Dylan states that his mistress is calling. He then decides to take Jacinda, but is stopped when a recovered Pipe climbs onto his back. The wind spirit shakes her off, and she falls into the canyon. Hedge is taken instead, and both the wind spirit, Hedge, and the storm disappear. Jacinda then saves Pipe by diving into the canyon and using his sudden abilities to control the winds to bring them back to the skywalk.

Two cursed weirdos, Ennabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena, and Butch, a son of Iris, suddenly appear on a pegasi-drawn chariot. They claim that they are looking for a half-blood who has been missing for three days, and that the answer to finding that half-blood was with the 'guy with one shoe' ― Jacinda. Though the Jacinda knows nothing and though Ennabeth and Butch do not find who they are looking for, they all board the chariot anyway and go to Camp Cursed-Weirdo.

Camp Cursed-Weirdo
After they crash in the lake due to some other unruly storm spirits, Leandro is almost immediately claimed by Hephaestus, the god of fire and clowning. He is then taken by the Apollo head counselor, Billiam Skskolace, to see his new cabin and siblings. Meanwhile, Ennabeth notices tattoos on Jacinda’s arm: a dozen straight lines, an eagle, and the letters SPQR. Unsure of what to do with him, Ennabeth allows Drew, the tyrannical Aphrodite head counselor, to take Jacinda to Chickron in the Big House. Ennabeth then gives Pipe a tour of the camp. There, Pipe manages to claim the dagger Katoptris as her own weapon.

Pipe is suddenly drawn to Hera's cabin, leaving Ennabeth no choice but to follow her. There, they see a figure wrapped in a shawl. The figure is revealed to be Raquel Elizabeth Truth, the Oracle. Raquel and Ennabeth talk about Perky for a while before Ennabeth remembers to introduce Pipe to Raquel (#boyfieobsessedennabeth). A goddess then suddenly appears to Pipe by possessing Raquel. The goddess warns Pipe of the fiery giant that Pipe constantly sees in her nightmares and commands Pipe to free her. Pipe then faints like a diva.

On his way to Cabin 9, Leandro manages to catch a glimpse of his former babysitter, Tía Callida, but she immediately vanishes. He brushes this aside and allows Billiam to teach him how to find his own place at camp. Billiam goes on to explain that the cabin appears to be under a curse since Chairles Benchendorf’s death. None of their jokes are working and this problem is depressing the entire camp. Billiam then leads Leandro into the forges and leaves him in the hands of the Hephaestus kids.

There, Leandro then learns of the problem they need to fix: a purple dinosaur that Benchendorf managed to tame has gone haywire and is hiding in the forest, destroying everything in its path, disrupting weirdos and eating old goats. He also learns that the ability to manipulate fire, an ability he possesses that he has made a well-kept secret, is a rare trait among Hephaestus' children and is a dangerous power due to it normally bringing destruction to the area around them. Leandro is terrified at this, as he recalls when he accidentally used his fire powers during his childhood and killed his mother.

Meanwhile, Jacinda is brought to Chickron, who is puzzled at Jacinda being at the camp. The two talk, and when Chickron switches to Pig Latin, Jacinda immediately answers in the same language. Then, time seems to freeze in the room and Jacinda has a vision of a goddess asking him for assistance (oh no, Jacinda is more than a damsel in distress!). When the vision ends, he relays the vision to Chickron. This gives Chickron some clues as to who Jacinda is, but he does not voice aloud these thoughts. At that moment, Raquel and Ennabeth enter the room, stating that Pipe is in a weak state. As Chickron heals Pipe, they all share notes about what has recently happened: Jacinda’s vision and the possessing of Raquel. They also talk about the fact that F/ckboy Zeus has recalled all the weirdos to Olympus and closed off all communications to the normal world.

They then conclude that the goddess who is behind both appearances to Jacinda and Pipe is Hera. Later, Ennabeth takes Jacinda to Hypnos' Cabin as she explains that his memories might be brought back there. He, however, does not regain his memories, but instead learns from Clovis, the head counselor of Hypnos, that his memories were actually stolen by Hera (a dastardly plot). It is also there that Ennabeth and Jacinda learn the truth about the weirdos ― no matter what name they are called by, Greek or Roman, they are all just the same heavenly weirdos with slightly different personalities.

While unconscious, Pipe dreams of the last day she spent with her father. The dream changes to a view from the top of a mountain. There, Pipe sees the fiery giant who tells her to do as he says and go on the quest, though she does not know what he is talking about. She then sees her father bound on a stake before she comes to. She sees Raquel by her side, and they talk for a while before Raquel lets her know that it is time for the campfire.

A Quest is Given
That night at the campfire, Jacinda proves himself to be a son of F/ckboy Zeus (whom he initially calls F/ckboy Jupiter) by flipping his coin this time turning it into a scepter, and summoning a bolt of lightning down from the sky. He then accepts a quest to save and release Hera from her bonds by the winter solstice in four days. Raquel Elizabeth Truth issues a new prophecy that demands the need for a child of Hephaestus and a child of Aphrodite to accompany Jacinda. Leandro volunteers and Jacinda accepts with the one condition that Leandro must find air transportation as Raquel’s prophecy warns them to beware the earth.

Drew volunteers to go on the quest as well, but Pipe intervenes. Drew, however, reminds them that Pipe is still unclaimed and because of this, is forbidden to go on any quests. Pipe insists and unknowingly uses barbspeak on the listeners. Their argument is cut when Pipe is suddenly dressed in a Greek chiton and surrounded by a pink aura. It becomes apparent that she has been claimed by Aphrodite as the goddess gives Pipe her blessing, thus allowing her to venture on the quest. She is then proclaimed as the third quest member.

After being claimed, Pipe is given a bunk at the Aphrodite cabin, but Pipe quickly learns how Drew treats those under her. Drew uses her barbspeak to always get her way and punish anyone that disagrees with her. Drew also forces any new members to perform an initiation ceremony, which is to make someone fall in love with them and then break their heart (DUDE NOT COOL). Drew believes that breaking hearts is what love is all about (after mistaking the true reason Aphrodite always leaves her lovers, which is kinda stupid, but what's new), and that Silena Bowregard and Chairles Benchendorf's death was a result of Silena breaking the tradition (which it wasn't). Pipe disagrees that breaking hearts is what love is really about, but Drew turns the tables on her by asking what love is really all about if not breaking hearts. When Pipe can't think of a response, Drew only continues to mock her (hmm).

Leandro is able to obtain air transportation by managing to fix the furry dinosaur, who he names Barney (based on our favorite purple dinosaur). Barney leads Leandro to an underground workshop where Leandro finds wings and attaches them to the dinosaur. Jacinda, on the other hand, explores the F/ckboy Zeus cabin while waiting for the transport. He then finds some pictures that the former occupant, Natalia Grace, had left behind. These photos include one which shows Natalia, Lasputin Castellan, and Ennabeth before they had reached camp. At that moment, Ennabeth comes in.

Ennabeth tells him to follow the wind spirits that had attacked them as their master might know where Hera is. She also tells him that it might be better to go directly to Aeolus, the master of the winds. And in order to find him, they must interrogate one of the four seasonal winds under his control ― preferably the god Boreas in Canada as he is the friendliest. Their conversation drifts to the pictures on the wall, and Jacinda asks after Natalia.

Ennabeth gives him a brief history of Natalia’s life, including her family name. A shard of Jacinda’s memory ignites, and he asks Ennabeth to keep a secret what he would divulge to her. She hesitatingly swears on her cell phone, and Jacinda reveals to her what he now remembers: his royal family name is Grace, and Natalia is his sister (le gasp). Ennabeth does not have time to voice her thoughts about this revelation as Leandro appears outside with Barney. The three quest members then set off.

The North Wind
The trio makes it to the top of Boreas' penthouse in Quebec, when they are met by his sons, Calais and Zethes. A fight almost breaks out, but Pipe uses her barbspeak to convince the two Boreads to allow them to enter the residence. Once inside the icy penthouse, they meet Boreas' daughter Cone, the cursed weirdo of snow, whom Leandro almost immediately feels an attraction to despite the fact that she is very cold, both literally and figuratively (opposites attract?). Calais and Zethes do not let Leandro go in the throne room as Barney may cause trouble. Though Leandro manages to compact him into a briefcase, they still do not permit Leandro to enter as they can detect that he can summon fire (...schist). Jacinda and Pipe than proceed to meet Boreas.

While speaking to the North Wind, Pipe is revealed to be able to speak French as it is the language of love. Boreas then tells them that Aeolus is angry with the gods when they defeated Typhon in the war as it had released a wave of wind spirits, and he is expected to control them. Because they are gods, Boreas explains, Aeolus cannot take out his anger on them and instead, does so on their children, the cursed weirdos. This is why Boreas and the winds under Aeolus’s control have orders to kill any cursed weirdo who asks for help. Jacinda, however, is a son of F/ckboy Zeus, and Boreas and his company have been told to wait for one of F/ckboy Zeus’s children and hear that child explain before they pass judgment.

Jacinda is too nervous to explain his side, but is saved when Pipe does so instead. Boreas then tells them that he knows the storm spirits who attacked them on the Grand Canyon and where the mistress resides ― the windy city of Chicago. Suddenly, Jacinda's mysterious tattoo makes Boreas turn into his Roman form of Aquilon. It then becomes apparent that Aquilon has realized what Hera is doing, but does not share his thoughts and instead lets them go, much to Cone’s displeasure.

Detroit
As they travel to Chicago, Pipe dreams of the fiery giant again (awww). This time, she can no longer see her father tied to the stake. The giant, who reveals his name as Enchiladas tells her to come to him at noon on the solstice, and she may live with her father. He tells her to betray Hera and her friends for they have all done nothing for her, but she refuses to.

Pipe wakes just as Barney falls from the sky. Jacinda manages to grab her and Leandro and keep the three of them from free-falling before Barney crashes onto the ground. Jacinda loses control of the winds and they fall into a warehouse below. They then figure out that they are in Detroit. Sensing that they need a moment in private, Leandro goes out to find and try to fix Barney and leave the two inside.

Leandro discovers out that the control disk of the dinosaur had iced over, which is quite impossible as it must have been too hot for ice to form. He summons supplies from his magic tool belt and cleans the disk. While doing so, he then sees the figure of an earthen woman: the same woman who had appeared to him that fateful night in his mother’s workshop, and the real reason why his mother had died. The woman tries to convince Leandro to leave his friends, but Leandro refuses to and instead smashes the woman with a devastating roast. He then hears a commotion inside the warehouse and summons a hammer before he goes in.

There, he finds that three Cyclopes have captured Jacinda and Pipe inside their closed down car plant. Leandro builds a remote control and attaches it to some robotic cranes which he uses to destroy two of the Cyclopes. He then manages to bait the third Cyclops, Ma Gasket, under a car engine held by a rusting metal chain. He shoots out a concentrated burst of fire from his fingertips which causes the chain to snap and release the weight, flattening the Cyclops. However as they celebrate their victory, Ma Gasket and her two sons, Sump and Torque, instantly begin to reform.

The Sorceress and the Gold King
They then reach Chicago and follow some wind spirits which go into a sewer. Leandro sends Barney off but not before telling the dinosaur to come when he blows on a plastic whistle that he summons from his toolbelt of fun. While camping in the sewers, Clown Leandro talks about his fire abilities, branding it as a curse, but Jacinda retorts and calls it a gift. After getting some sleep, they explore the sewer and find an elevator with a directory on its side. They ride the elevator to a shopping mall owned by a beautiful older woman who introduces herself as the Princess of Colchis.

The princess invites them to shop for a while, and though Pipe is immediately suspicious of her, Jacinda and Leandro follow the princess's orders without fault. They then spot Coach Hedge in a cage where he is still frozen in a fighting stance. Meanwhile, the woman is impressed that Pipe has not succumbed to her enchantment, and reveals that she is using barbspeak on the boys.

The princess orders Jacinda and Leandro to fight each other and almost do so, but by this time, Pipe has figured out who she is and tells the two: the princess is the sorceress Medea. Jacinda and Leandro are still ready to fight though, and to weaken Pipe's resolve, Medea publicly reveals that Pipe's father is captured by the giant Enchiladas. Pipe, however, manages to snap the two out of their trance, and the three turn on her. In retaliation, Medea sets free two Sun dragons, gifts from her grandfather Helios, which are easily defeated by Barney (hah). They then escape with Coach Hedge and a cage full of venti in tow. They then fly towards Aeolus' fortress by following a vapor trail which is only visible to Jacinda.

Leandro later has a dream in which his father, Hephaestus, appears to him for the first time. Hephaestus explains that F/ckboy Zeus closed off Olympus because he felt that it was high time that the weirdos return to traditional ways where they were more distant with the mortal world. In addition to that, the bad things that were happening may be stopped if the weirdos withdrew from the world. Hephaestus then tells Leandro that he has watched over Leandro throughout his life, and that he gave the gift of fire to him for a reason. Hephaestus cryptically adds that nothing lasts forever, but that everything can be reused before disappearing.

Leandro wakes to a malfunctioning Barney as the weight of three people and two cages is clearly too much for the dinosaur. Leandro tells Jacinda to take Pipe and fly away as he tries to fix the dinosaur. He manages to direct Barney to a yard near a mansion for landing when Barney is shot out of the sky by lasers. When Leandro comes to, he is being attended to by Jacinda and Pipe. He then sees that Barney's body is destroyed, with only his neck and head intact. Leandro prays to his father to take the intact parts to Bunker 9, and Hephaestus obliges. They figure out that the lasers must be part of the defense mechanism of the house. With nowhere else to go, they enter the house.

They discover that it is being resided in by King Midas. He is revealed to be against their side as he asks them if they would rather join his collection of gold statues or be killed by his son Lityerses. Before they could answer, Midas turns both Leandro and Pipe to gold. Jacinda chooses to fight Lityerses and defeats him by using a Roman style of fencing. He then manages to trick Midas into turning Lityerses into gold. Jacinda summons a bolt of lightning to let rain into the roof, allowing the running water to return to normal all of the gold statues. With the help of Hedge, who is now conscious, Jacinda takes his friends and the four of them escape.

The Hunters of Artemis
While resting in a mountain cave after returning Leandro and Pipe back to normal, Pipe reveals the secret she had been carrying the whole time: the giant Enchiladas had ordered her to sabotage the quest in return for the safety of her father. She expects the group to turn their back on her, but is relieved when they comfort her instead and tell her that they would rescue both her father and Hera.

The group is suddenly attacked by Lycaon and his group of lycanthropes. The group tries to attack the werewolves with their weapons when they discover that only silver can wound the werewolves. On cue, silver arrows shoot the werewolves and the monsters retreat. The Hunters then appear, with Natalia Grace in the lead. Natalia then orders the other Hunters to follow Lycaon's trail. As Pipe has contracted hypothermia, Natalia asks the remaining Hunter to take care of Pipe and the satyr, leaving her with Jacinda and Leandro, the latter being immediately attracted to her (uh). Leandro senses that the two siblings need to be alone and turns to leave, but Jacinda asks him to stay. Natalia grudgingly accepts his company.

Natalia explains to Jacinda that their mother was visited by F/ckboy Zeus twice. After F/ckboy Zeus left their mother for the first time, she got worse and began to act irrationally, seeing getting F/ckboy Zeus' attention as the ultimate prize. When F/ckboy Zeus came back a second time, she was happy and got better. Natalia noticed that he was stricter and spoke in Latin sometimes. He left their mother for good the second time as she had pestered him to give her immortality. Then, one day, their mother had driven them to a place that they had always known ― the Wolf House. She left the car with Jacinda and came back without him. Losing Jacinda was the last straw for Natalia, and she ran away. Natalia adds that their mother died driving while drinking. She then tells the two that Artemis had set them on the trail of Lycaon as it would lead them to their missing friend.

Natalia then leads them to Aeolus' palace (a floating mountain), and in order to enter, they must cross a frozen bridge. As they are crossing, Leandro suddenly gets an idea. He voices this out loud and says that perhaps Jacinda was a bridge between two places ― an exchange. As an exchange goes both ways, then the missing cursed-weirdos must be the one sent to the other side. Basing his thoughts from Jacinda's dream, he also says that Hera is kept in the Wolf House. He gets excited by these ideas that causes himself to burst into flames, thus melting the ice bridge while Natalia still has yet to cross it. Natalia tells them that the Hunters will go to the Wolf House and hold it while they rescue Pipe's dad from the giant. She also says that Jacinda already knows where it is and that they'll meet again soon.

Aeolus and the Real Enemy
They go up the mountain and are escorted by an aura, Mallow, the assistant of Aeolus whom they mistake for a ghost. When they finally meet Aeolus, he turns out to be a weather reporter-type figure who gets his commands from the gods, and therefore his forecasts, from the gods. Because the gods are constantly changing their decisions, it causes Aeolus to do the same to his forecasts. The group concludes that because of all this chaos, Aeolus must be mad. Aeolus then explains that because he is the master of the winds, all things carried by the winds, secrets included, come to him in time. The group proceeds to give him the caged venti, both as a gift and to be in his good graces.

Aeolus then stops the order to kill the cursed weirdos and tells them that he was just cranky. Through an earpiece, the children's weirdo parents order him to reveal the location of Enchiladas at Mount Diablo, and he obliges. He also gives Leandro the crayon drawing he had done when he was much younger, explaining that all things lost come to him eventually. He is about to send them on their way when he gets a call from an anonymous source that tells him to kill the group. He relays this message to them and says that the authority of the caller overrules the authority of the gods, and therefore he must comply to the caller's wishes. He then sends his harpies to kill them.

The group dash to one of the many tunnels of the mountain leading to the open air. Mallow, who has formed an attachment to them (especially to Hedge), helps them escape. She and Jacinda are able to control the winds to cushion their fall. As the violent winds chase after them, Mallow wraps them in a breeze just as the winds hit.

Pipe opens her eyes to see her mother, Aphrodite, standing before her. They are back in Medea's department store. Aphrodite advises her daughter by telling her that being a child of Aphrodite does not mean just being a pretty face. She explains that some of her children are destined for greatness due to her unique lineage. Aphrodite then gives Pipe two things ― a vial filled with a potion that only erases recent memories and an invaluable piece of information. Aphrodite reveals the identity of their true enemy, the most ancient weirdo and the mother of all ― Gaya.

Pipe wakes to see that the group has been transported to San Francisco, courtesy of Aphrodite. She then discusses what she has learned to the group. They see Mount Diablo in the distance and prepare themselves for what they might encounter.

Mount Diablo
They get to Mount Diablo via taxi. The males of the group try to distract Enchiladas while Pipe frees her dad, but Hedge is almost immediately knocked out. As soon as Pipe's father is free, the giant summons Earthborn to kill them. Leandro manages to get a hold of a construction crane to destroy most of the Earthborn, and Pipe kills the last. Jacinda fights Enchiladas, but is unable to defeat the giant as he is being aided and healed by the earth. Jacinda’s lance is then destroyed and unleashes an explosion that blows a massive crater on the mountain. With nothing to combat Enceladus with, Jacinda then prays for assistance from his father, offering his life in return for help. F/ckboy Zeus answers, and his lightning bolt transfers through Jacinda into the giant, who falls into the crevice it creates, for the only way to kill a giant is for a god and a hero to kill it together.

The Wolf House
The group gets a helicopter with Pipe's barbspeak ability, and they are flown to Oakland Airport. During the trip, Twistin' McCleaner is visibly shaken by his experience, causing Pipe to make the decision to give him the vial Aphrodite had given her as soon as they land. She does so, and Hedge volunteers to take Pipe's father to safety. Leandro then flies the same helicopter they used and they travel to the Wolf House. The group crash-lands and joins the Hunters of Artemis as Natalia rushes to meet them.

They find Hera in a cage made from earthen tendrils as the giant Porphyrion uses her power to reform himself. Leandro then reveals Hera as his former baby-sitter in the guise of Tía Callida. Natalia leaves to help her Hunters, and Leandro tries to find a way to destroy Hera’s cage. Cone, the goddess of snow, appears and reveals herself to be the reason for two things ― Aeolus order to kill the cursed weirdos and Hera’s coming to the Wolf House. She then explains that, like snow, her voice is soft, gentle, and very cold. This allows her to easily manipulate the thoughts of the gods.

Cone goes on to tell them that because the Wolf House is a sacred place for Jacinda’s group of cursed weirdos, they would be appalled when they discover his corpse with the bodies of his two Greek companions. This would cause them to think that the Greeks had conspired with the giants, causing a war between both lines of cursed weirdos. She then offers Leandro a place beside her as she knows that he is attracted to her. Leandro is stunned, but he refuses and charges to fight her.

While Leandro combats Cone, Pipe holds her own against the Earthborn. Jacinda manages to get a hold of a storm spirit and rides it as he incapacitates enemy wolves. As the Earthborn and the wolves are defeated, Cone flees from the battleground. Leandro and Pipe then try to destroy Hera’s cage by sawing through it and using barbspeak to lull it to sleep respectively. Porphyrion, however, is able to rise, and Jacinda has no choice but to fight him. The fight is almost hopeless for Jacinda, though, and he is about to be killed when the two manage to free Hera.

She then assumes her divine form which obliterates all other monsters in the area. Porphyrion does manage to escape. Jacinda accidentally looks at the goddess in that state, and is knocked unconscious and apparently dies. Pipe, however, is able to save him by using barbspeak on him while coaxing him to wake. Hera congratulates them, and, though she has a little spat with Natalia, brings the trio back to Camp Cursed-Weirdo.

A Change of Power and Bunker 9
After the quest, Pipe challenges Drew Tanaka to a duel for the position of Aphrodite head counselor as Drew had turned the Aphrodite cabin into a group not above twisting the meaning of love and beauty. Drew backs down from the duel, allowing Pipe to become the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. Later, Pipe and Jacinda share a moment before coming with Leandro as he reveals the entrance to Bunker 9 and his fire ability to Chickron and the Hephaestus' Cabin. There, they find many diagrams and spreadsheets of jokes and pranks. In addition, they find a map of the camp crisscrossed with weaponry. They wonder why the pace and everything in it was built.

Leandro guesses that the bunker used to be a command center when the camp was attacked in a war. They speculate that this means the Weirdo War that had happened months ago, but realize that the map looks much older. Chickron then tells them that map was from the last Civil War, which had another side to it as being the battle between two different cursed weirdo groups. The war caused so much grief and bloodshed that the gods put all their will and power to separate them as much as they could. The bunker, Chickron goes on, was only visited during times of great unrest as it awakens many horrible memories.

Leandro then shows them the blueprints for a rocket ship on a board and the drawing he did as a child. The people present are amazed because the two are completely similar, and the blueprints must have been made a century ago. They also realize that Barney' head is the masthead. The Hephaestus cabin decides to take the project even though they only have six months to build the warship. Leandro is then proclaimed head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin and names the ship the Argo II. As the giants had mentioned that the gods must be destroyed at the roots, the trio make plans to travel to and protect the weirdos' ancient homeland in Greece.

Mysteries are Unveiled
While in Cabin One, Jacinda Grace is visited by Juno. She promises to watch over him as his patron and gives him a new pugio to replace IVLIVS. Pipe then comes in to bring him to the council of cabin leaders. At the council, Jacinda reveals that both Greek and Roman cursed weirdos were never aware of each other. While the Romans conquered the Greeks and the Greeks had thought the Romans were barbarians, they had always respected each other ― the Romans for their military prowess, and the Greeks for their rich culture.

Jacinda also reveals that during the Weirdo War last summer, the Roman cursed weirdos were the ones who stormed Mount Othrys and he himself defeated the Titan Krios. The council decides on a plan: build the Argo II and find the Roman kingdom in San Francisco. Ennabeth then asks to come with them. Jacinda accepts as they reveal that the missing cursed weirdo ― Perky Jackson ― as the war leader of Camp Cursed-Weirdo, was traded with Jacinda to the Roman kingdom and has probably no idea who he is.