The Tower of Nero

Apollo misses his mark. Python awakens and laughs at Apollo. Only Apollo stands in the way of Python’s total control of Delphi. Apollo knows that if Python owns Delphi, he will effectively run the world because the Oracles don’t just predict fate, they create destiny. Python will cause the entire world to wither and die. Python tells Apollo that Delphi now seeks to tell Apollo’s fate through him. As Python begins to channel Delphi, rage consumes Apollo. He pierces Python’s hide with his arrow. Python lunges toward Apollo while Apollo continues to shoot at the snake.

Python begins to overpower Apollo. He tells Apollo that the prophecy was Apollo would fall, and that is happening this very minute. Apollo manages to briefly hide from Python. Apollo has lost his bow and the only arrow left is Dodona. Apollo asks Dodona for counsel. The arrow says it must go right and Apollo should go left. Apollo decides not to take the arrow’s advice; the only recourse is to face his problems head on. As Python approaches Apollo’s hiding place, Apollo jumps on the snake, ramming his ukulele against Python’s throat. An injured and angry Python coils around Apollo, squeezing him.

Apollo begins to succumb to the physical pressure and faint, but the Arrow of Dodona tells him that he must first fulfill the prophecy that Python spoke. Apollo must fall, and before falling he should use Dodona. The arrow points itself toward Python’s face. Apollo knows the arrow will die if shot into Python, but the arrow tells Apollo this is part of its quest. The arrow tells Apollo that after Apollo falls, he will rise again. Apollo jabs Python in his eye with the Arrow of Dodona. Python’s grip loosens, and Apollo hits the ground.

Filled with anger because of the death of the arrow, Apollo begins to fill with divine power. He tackles Python and pulls him into the chasm at the edge of the tunnel. The prophecy comes true with a twist: Apollo falls, but so does Python. Apollo and Python fall to Tartarus for an interminable amount of time before landing in Styx, the river of forgetting. The two wash up against a ledge teetering over Chaos, the void of disintegration. Apollo notes his flesh seems to be melting away, leaving a golden structure in its place. Python’s body is coming apart too, but he still lunges at Apollo. Apollo knees him and Python somersaults into Chaos, splattering into purple fizz. Python’s body takes down Apollo as well, but Apollo manages to hold the corner of the ledge. Apollo hears a familiar voice.

Apollo sees the goddess Styx (in Greek mythology, Styx is both river and goddess) floating over the void. Styx reminds Apollo that she had told him she would punish him if he broke his oath to her. In The Hidden Oracle, the first book of the series, Apollo had taken on oath on the Styx that he would not play music in his human form. Since then, he has broken the promise many times. Apollo expects Styx to fling him into Chaos, but she asks him if he has learned his lesson. Apollo thinks that he has; instead of blaming others, such as Styx, for his troubles, he has learned to take responsibility for his actions. Styx asks him to hold on and floats away. Apollo thinks Styx probably means he must hold onto both the lesson and the ledge. He begins to pull himself up, noting his arms seem more golden and bigger than ever. He faints.

Apollo wakes up on a Greek-style reclining sofa in a large, airy room on Mount Olympus with his twin, Artemis, attending to him. He hugs Artemis in relief and notes he has his perfect immortal form back. Artemis tells Apollo he has been unconscious for two weeks. Apollo fears his friends would be worrying he is dead, but Artemis says she sent them omens of his success and ascent into Olympus. Apollo asks Artemis for clothes as he is dressed only in a sheet. Artemis reminds him that as a god he can simply wish himself into clothes. Apollo tells his twin his powers are rusty. What he does not tell her is that he feels more like a human or a demigod than a god now.

When Apollo enters the throne room of the Olympian gods, for the first time he notes it is unnecessarily big. Being a human has made him realize such displays are designed to make others feel weak and small. He sits in his place and looks at all his siblings. Hermes, god of travel and messages, tells Apollo that Ares, the war-god, is upset because he lost the bet that Apollo would perish. Athena won the pot as her wisdom made her foresee Apollo would survive.

Apollo’s stepmother, Hera, is upset because of the death of Jason Grace. Hera was the guardian of Jason, her stepson in a roundabout way, since Jason was sired by Jupiter, Zeus’s Roman counterpart. To Apollo’s surprise, she does not blame him for Jason’s death; instead, she is angry with Zeus for treating everyone’s life with callousness. Apollo realizes that Hera has had a hard time being the wife of arrogant Zeus. Zeus announces that it appears Apollo has ended Python as Delphi is now free. Apollo is puzzled at Zeus’s use of “appears.” Zeus praises Apollo, tells him he has done Zeus proud, and welcomes him home. Apollo observes that Zeus’s compliments are more about himself than Apollo. He tells his father he plans to visit his friends on Earth.

As a god, Apollo can split himself into several selves to take multiple journeys. So, he visits his horses in the Helios palace and sends one part of himself on a ride on his horse-driven chariot through the sky, creating a perfect, sunny day for everyone. He also visits Camp Half-Blood to an “uproarious” (371) welcome. He meets all his friends and his children Will, Kyla, and Austin. Meg is not in camp but at Palm Springs, her biological father’s old home, with Lu and her foster siblings. Nico tells Apollo he can still hear someone calling him from Tartarus. Nico senses the voice is not Jason as Jason is at peace with his sacrifice. The voice could belong to Iapetus, a.k.a Bob, a Titan stuck in Tartarus. Bob helped Nico in The Heroes of Olympus series. Nico might go down to Tartarus to help Bob. Rachel is back as Apollo’s Pythia or priestess at Camp Half-Blood. When Apollo heads to meet her with Nico and Will, she mutters a prophecy. When Apollo leaves it to Nico and Will to decode the prophecy, he indicates his part in the story is done for now. Apollo heads to the Grove of Dodona and praises the arrow to the tree. He tells them when he meets his grandmother Rhea, the goddess who had planted the grove, he will tell her Dodona sent him their best arrow.

Apollo’s next stop is the Waystation, the safe house run by former immortals Emmie and Jo (the Waystation featured prominently in The Dark Prophecy, the second book of the series). He meets Leo Valdez, the demigod who has chosen to settle in the Waystation with his girlfriend, Calypso the sorceress. Calypso is at high school right now, living as normal a life as possible. Apollo next heads to Camp Jupiter where he surprisingly runs into Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, the demigod heroes of the Percy Jackson series. Together, they grieve Jason’s death. Apollo cheers up Annabeth and Percy by teleporting a plate of warm cookies freshly baked by Sally, Percy’s mother.

In Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Percy meets Piper McLean, Jason’s demigod former girlfriend. A daughter of Aphrodite, Piper lives with her former Hollywood-actor father in the McLean family mansion. After commiserating with Piper, Apollo heads to his “last and hardest reunion…Meg McCaffrey” (390). Meg is at Aeithales, the home of her late father, the botanist Dr. Philip McCaffrey. Meg has turned the home into a green sanctuary. The dryads rescued from Nero’s household and some of Meg’s foster-siblings are busy at work in the gardens. Lu has prosthetic hands now, fitted by the Hephaestus cabin of Camp Half-Blood. Meg is overjoyed to see Apollo and hugs him. She asks him if he can stay; Apollo says he cannot, so she asks him for a unicorn. Apollo conjures one, complete with gold and pearl hooves. Apollo tells Meg he will always return to meet her because “the sun always comes back” (395). Apollo thanks the reader for staying with him through his trials. He has run out of unicorns to give, but he will always be silently guiding readers when they sing or write or play music.