The demigods are in Ithaca to collect information for their quest. Percy, Hazel, Leo, and Frank wait on the Argo II, while Jason, Annabeth, and Piper climb up to the ruins of the palace of Odysseus. There, one hundred evil spirits, the ghosts of Penelope’s suitors, have gathered “to await Gaea’s orders” (11). Jason is disguised as an old man, Annabeth and Piper as Greek serving maidens. The climb takes its toll on Jason’s elderly body. He thinks about his recent nightmares, in which he’s haunted by the giant Clytius, Gaea, Juno, and the ghost of the woman who abandoned him at the Wolf House when he was two years old.

The demigods hear a boom and cheering coming from the ruins and rush forward.

A “spectral mirage” of the palace in its prime overlays the ruins. The demigods find assembled double the expected number of not only spirits but also decayed and wounded ghouls and regular mortals. A ghoul with an arrow through his throat—Penelope’s chief suitor, Antinous—tosses a bust of Zeus, food for Gaea, into a fountain that spews sand rather than water. As the bust passes through the sand, it disintegrates, glittering gold, the color of “godly blood.