Fate or Free Will?

Reyna recognizes the legionnaire as Bryce Lawrence. Bryce is working for Octavian and has been instructed to arrest Reyna. Reyna does not like that idea but Bryce summons undead soldiers to to fight them. A skeleton restrains Reyna and Bryce cuts her face with his weapon. Nico exploded with rage, he killed everyone and collapsed in exhaustion. When Nico wakes up, Coach Hedge gives him Gatorade and tells him there are good and bad news. The bad news were that Nico had been unconscious for three days. Reyna is also upset that he killed Bryce because it reminds her of her father. Reyna to Nico that they are friends and that she still trusted him. Nico could no longer shadow-travel so Coach Hedge called a fleet of Pegasi.
The Argo II arrives at Delos to find the physician's cure. The island is deserted except for two gods: the twins Apollo and Artemis. Apollo ays that he can't help them but Artemis takes Frank and with her and tells Leo that he might be able to convince her brother. Leo strikes a deal with Apollo by bribing him with a brand new instrument he had invented. Apollo says that he does not have the physician's cure but that he has the last ingredient: the Curse of Delos which turns out to be a daisy. Apollo tells Leo that if he takes the ingredients to his son Asclepius, he can make the cure for them. Leo regroups with Frank and Hazel at the docks, Artemis has told them that Octavian plans to wipe out Camp Half-Blood with giant catapults. Leo come up with a plan that involves lots of sacrifice. Leo takes the Argo II airborne and they fly over the temple of Asclepius. Jason Piper and Leo go down and reach Asclepius' waiting room, where they are attacked by a statue of Hygeia. Leo manages to reprogram the statue to destroy itself and the door to Asclepius' office opens to them. Dr. Asclepius gives them the physicians cure. They go back to the Argo II and agree that Piper should hold the vial with the cure, but Leo gives Piper a fake vial generated by Hazel. Leo hides the real cure in the engine of the ship.
In order to avoid being shot down by the catapults Reyna leads her herd of Pegasi to a nearby ship, where Nico can sense that the two owners are asleep. They thought they were safe until a small motorboat with some of Octavian's soldiers approaches their ship and boards. Another legionnaire, Micheal Kahale attempts to arrest Reyna but Tyson, the cyclopes, boarded the ship and knocked out Micheal Kahale. Tyson and Ella, the harpy, take Coach Hedge to Camp Half-Blood so he can see his wife and let them know that Reyna will bring the Athena Parthenos in at sunrise. Reyna got Dakota and Leila, who accompanied Michael onto the ship, to sabotage the attack on Camp Half-Blood, Nico goes with them to assist with the sabotage. Reyna is left alone in the ship and gets time to think, when suddenly an arrow pierced her Pegasus' side, then another the second one with an explosive attached to it. Orion had caught up to Reyna, he tells her that her sister and the Hunters are alive but that she won't be so lucky. The fight begins, Reyna stabs Orion in the chest and then dives on top of the explosive arrow. Somehow her cloak absorbs the blast and a voice tells her that she has proven herself a hero of Olympus. The voice transformed her cloak into a piece of Athena's mantle which will protect her. Orion recovers and shoots an arrow at Reyna, which she deflects with her now-magic cloak. Reyna twists the cloak and strangles Orion with it. Reyna heals the pegasus and wanders about what happened to Octavian's attack, when she sees an explosion which signifies the first volley. The Argo II docks in the outskirts of Piraeus, and as everyone is getting ready to hike to the Acropolis, a snake man shows up. He introduces himself as Kekrops, the original king of Athens, he says he will help them get to the Acropolis without being detected by Porphyrion. Piper is suspicious of Kekrops and uses her charmspeak to force him into telling the truth, and they find out it is a trap. The group decide to send Annabeth, Percy and Piper through the underground tunnels, with Piper singing the whole way to keep the snake people hypnotized. Piper, Percy and Annabeth reach the Acropolis safely. Frank who took the form of a swarm of bees and communicated their safe arrival to the crew in the Argo II. Hazel uses her Mist to transform all three of them into monsters and they split up to storm the Parthenon. Piper took every opportunity she had to kill monsters and disable weapons. When she arrives to Porphyrion's throne she realizes that Porphyrion had taken Percy and Annabeth hostage. The giants are so focused on Percy and Annabeth that they don't notice Piper. She takes advantage of that and chops a giant's hand. A huge fight breaks out. Annabeth is badly injured and he bleeds into the ground. When they were starting to be overwhelmed their friends show up.

"The doctor's expression said I am so, so sorry." (Riordan 353)

When the crew of the Argo II went to visit Asclepius he told everyone that they were going to live a long and nice life except for Leo. Asclepius knows that Leo's fate is set and that he cannot do anything about it. Knowing when a person is going to die or knowing about your own death is a very interesting concept. Different people would react in different ways but they almost always focus in "what do I want to do before I die". Leo has been told numerous times that he will always be different from the other members of the group, that he will always be different, he has a plan involving lots of sacrifice maybe the sacrifice is him. Leo doesn't seem very afraid about his death he is taking a calm approach to that issue. Even though Asclepius might thing that Leo's fate is set, leo might be able to make his own future and survive whatever is coming at him.

"Don't hurt him or bind him. I have a feeling Michael's heart is in the right place. He just had the bad luck of being sponsored by the wrong person." (Riordan 374)

Reyna chooses not to blame Michael for what he did. She blames his leader, Octavian. Micheal never seemed to agree with Octavian he just did not have the will to stand up to him. Reyna believes in the possibility of peace because she has seen that most roman soldiers do not agree with Octavian's leadership but have no one else to follow. A leader has to be approved by the majority not conformed with. Octavian seems to be somewhat of a Megalomaniac and wants to abuse any amount of power he receives. A true leader should promote free will inside his ranks not discourage it.

We are approaching the end of the book and I have enjoyed it so far. I think the book deals with daily conflicts a regular young adult might face and therefore creates a connection. Even though the event sin the book are much more heroic. I like the comic reliefs in the book as well.