By Rick Riordan
Read in 7th grade
*Read previous Rick Riordan Greek myth books for context
Book 2 in series
Book 5 (coming soon)
Apollo has found the Grove of Dodona...and it didn't leave good memories. Meg ditched him because he was afraid her father, Nero, would be mad, and he just got a horrible prophecy with a talking arrow to boot. As the next part of Apollo's quest, he heads to Indianapolis with Leo and the newly-freed Calypso. Upon arrival, they are immediately attacked by Commodus's army of blemmyae. These monsters have faces across their chests and must behave with the utmost manners. Commodus is the next emperor they will face, and he is known as the New Hercules. He has a special vendetta against Apollo, for Apollo killed him when he became too violent in ancient times.
Apollo and his friends are about to be captured when two women from the Waystation rescue them. They are former Hunters of Artemis, and they too have a history with Apollo. Back when he was a god, Apollo gave them immortality because he liked them, after which they left to become Hunters. They tell Apollo his next Oracle is probably the Cave of Trophonius, where their adopted daughter Georgina went to get advice against Commodus. Unfortunately, Trophonius requires people to drink from wells of forgetfulness and memory, and it often drives them crazy. Georgina went crazy and was captured by Commodus, and the only way to make her sane is to recover the Throne of Memory, which Commodus has.
Britomartis, creator of the Waystation and goddess of nets shows up and tells Apollo that she will help him infiltrate Commodus's palace if he rescues her griffins, who were captured by Commodus and put in the Indianapolis Zoo. After barely surviving a fight against blemmyae guards and Lityerses, Commodus's new helper, Apollo brings the Griffins back along with Meg, who showed up to help, and Britomartis tells them of a secret sewer entrance to Commodus's palace.
The sewer turns out to be guarded by a serpent, which Apollo kills by taking down a wall with the perfect pitched scream, one of his random godly outbursts. Inside the palace, the team finds the prisoners and the Throne, but are then captured by Commodus. Commodus has Peaches, Meg's Karpos helper, and plans to kill him and Lityerses, who failed him, in a ceremonial rechristening of Indianapolis. Luckily, Leo and some Hunters disrupt the festivities and rescue everyone.
At the Waystation, they attempt to get a prophecy from Georgina in the Throne of Memory, but Trophonius tells Apollo to come himself. Trohponius is actually Apollo's son. He was blessed with architectural skills, which he used to rob places. Apollo cursed him to spend eternity as an Oracle. Apollo and Meg enter, but Meg doesn't have time to drink the two liquids because they are pursued by Yales, which are Greek creatures, not the university.
Inside, Apollo basically goes crazy from the effects of forgetfulness and memory at the same time, and Meg wills the spirit of Trophonius to appear by singing. In her song, she reveals everything about herself, and Trophonius gives her the prophecy, despite Apollo's pleading that he give it to him instead. Trophonius does, however, allow them both to get out of the cave on the condition that they destroy it. Apollo has no idea how to do that, but they find blemmyae outside, waiting to blow them up. Pretending to be polite, Apollo gets them to blow themselves and the cave up.
Back at the Waystation, everything is a mess, as Commodus has finally made his attack. He and Apollo face-off, and Apollo attempts to summon his godly glory, which will kill any mortal. He does so, nearly killing himself and blinding Commodus. Quickly, they put Meg on the Throne of Memory, and she spews out a long prophecy, one that almost seems as if Trophonius is getting the last laugh...
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