The Sea of Monsters

Two Colchis bulls (fire-breathing monsters made of iron) attack the camp, even passing the invisible boundary line monsters shouldn’t be able to get through. Clarisse La Rue (daughter of Ares) and a group of campers put up a defense but are losing badly.

Percy and Annabeth join the fight. Percy manages to damage one of the bulls. It rounds on Percy, eyeing him as if he “just made things personal” (43). It charges, and Percy injures himself getting out of the way. Tyson tries to help but can’t enter camp until Annabeth gives him permission. Tyson leaps in the bull’s path and takes a blast of fire that doesn’t hurt him. He pounds the bull until it breaks. Across the hill, Clarisse takes down the second bull, leaving her, Percy, and Annabeth with a battlefield full of injured campers.

The bulls defeated, Annabeth gives Percy some nectar (food of the gods) to heal his wound, and Clarisse fills them in on what’s happened since they left camp in the spring. Chiron, former activities director, was replaced by Tantalus, and the head of security got fired. When Percy asks why, Clarisse points to Thalia’s tree. Normally, the tree reinforces the border around Camp Half Blood that keeps monsters out. Now, the tree sheds its needles and has “a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole” that oozes sap (47). Someone poisoned the tree.

Like the tree, the rest of camp looks like its dying, and instead of a fun atmosphere, campers and counsellors take stock of weapons and tend to the injured. Tyson asks questions about everything, including Percy’s cabin, wondering if he lives there with friends. Percy explains he doesn’t but leaves out it’s because he “wasn’t supposed to be alive” (50).

Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson find Chiron packing his bags to leave. Chiron took the blame for Thalia being poisoned. There is only one type of magic strong enough to reverse the poison’s effects, but it was supposedly lost thousands of years ago. Percy persists, but Chiron refuses to tell him what it is. After asking Annabeth to swear on the River Styx that she’ll protect Percy, Chiron leaves.

Later that night, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson join the rest of camp for dinner. Percy leads Tyson into the dining hall, and the cyclops’s presence causes a stir among the campers. Dionysus (camp director) and Tantalus warn Percy they want no more trouble from him and then make some announcements. First, the chariot races that used to be held are reinstated, despite how many campers died as a result of them years ago. Second, they seek a place to keep Tyson, as they think he might be useful and not the burden cyclopes normally are. Before they can settle on a place, a trident appears above Tyson’s head. Poseidon claims Tyson as his son, which means Percy has “a monster for a half brother” (65).