The Hidden Oracle

Apollo is disappointed that the Jacksons don’t have a bow or quiver, his weapon of choice. Sally lends Apollo and Meg winter fleece jackets to protect them from the January chill. Apollo’s jacket has the word BLOFIS written on it, which he hopes may be some kind of saying to ward off spirits. As Percy drives them in his Prius, Apollo grows frustrated with the heavy traffic, noting there is nothing “express” about human expressways. Apollo wonders if Meg’s rings are linked to his twin sister, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, but dismisses the possibility. Meg has a different “aura” that he cannot recognize. Learning from Percy that the Oracle, on which the gods and demigods depend for guidance, has not been working for the last six months, Apollo recalls more fateful events from six months ago. An angry Gaia raised the ancient monster Python from the depths of Tartarus, or hell, so he could seize the cave of Delphi, the original seat of Apollo’s Oracle. Apollo assumed the demigods would have reclaimed Delphi by now, but Percy counters that in the absence of a prophecy, the demigods have no clues about where to find the Oracle. Apollo begins to realize that it is he who has to initiate the quest for the Oracle, which in his mortal form is an extremely difficult task. Meg draws Percy and Apollo’s attention to three apparitions closing in on them.

To throw the spirits off their trail, Percy goes off the highway. However, the spirits continue to chase the Prius. As Percy heads into the countryside, one of the apparitions appears in front of him, forcing him to swerve. The Prius crashes into a peach orchard. Percy, Meg, and Apollo scramble out to face the spirits. Apollo tries to banish them by shouting “BLOFIS,” but to no effect. The spirits begin to solidify into “ghoulish corpses with yellow eyes” (51), wearing rags. Apollo tells Percy he finally recognizes the spirits: They are nosoi, or plague spirits, who can’t be killed.

The three nosoi move toward Percy, Meg, and Apollo. Though, like the nosoi, spreading illnesses was part of Apollo’s job, unlike them Apollo caused disease in a controlled fashion. The nosoi mock Apollo’s mortal form. Meg breaks off a branch and manages to stab one of the nosoi with it. His sword seeming to have little effect on the vaporous nosoi, Percy ruptures a passing irrigation tanker and sprays the nosoi with water to briefly distract them. Meg seems to be having better luck against the nosoi, levitating frozen, rotten peaches from the ground to knock them down. However, the malicious spirits rally again. As the youngsters flee the spirits gaining on them, Percy accidentally runs through a nosoi, getting infected. Another spirit knocks down Apollo, settling over the god like a murderous “glittering blanket,” intending to kill him with anthrax or Ebola.

Though Apollo wishes his entire life would pass before his eyes in his final moments, he only recalls his regrets. The god rues the day he “set rancor in the hearts of John and Paul” and broke up the Beatles (60). He regrets cursing the hero Achilles in Troy, causing his death. Apollo also recalls Daphne and the handsome youth Hyacinthus, whom he greatly loved and killed with his discus. Death may be preferable to reliving such painful memories, but Apollo’s mortal sense of self-preservation overrides his death wish. Apollo also reveals that the immortal gods are afraid of death, since immortality can be easily taken away, as in his case. Gods are actually in awe of mortals, who manage to live full, interesting lives despite knowing their days are numbered.

Filled with a desire to fight for his mortal life, Apollo holds his breath to keep the germs out. Floating in and out of consciousness, Apollo notices the frozen trees of the orchard rise and move toward the nosoi on Meg’s command. Peaches fly off the trees and hit the nosoi, riddling them with holes. However, Meg is insistent she has not summoned the peaches by design. The nosoi collapse and remark that Meg’s “guardian” would be very disappointed at her actions. Meg stomps her foot and yells “No!” More peaches fly off and fuse together in the form of a babyish figure with glowing green eyes and fangs. Apollo recognizes the creature as a karpos, or a vicious grain spirit. The “peach baby” launches itself at the nosoi, open its jaws wide, tears the nosoi apart, and devours them in seconds. He settles in front of Meg, beating his chest and shouting, “Peaches.” To Apollo’s surprise, the karpos hugs Meg. Apollo is certain that Meg summoned the karpos. Down with a bad cold, Percy wonders why Apollo and Meg were not infected by the nosoi. Apollo thinks Percy’s action of spraying the nosoi with water diluted their bad effects. Meanwhile, a police cruiser pulls over to the site of the car crash. Directing Percy to deal with the police officers, Apollo heads off to Camp Half-Blood on foot, along with Meg and Peaches.