The demigods arrive in Athens, and Piper is on guard duty, while the others prepare their weapons. The part man, part snake (gemini) founder and first king of Athens, Kekrops, arrives with two attendants and asks for permission to board. The demigods suspect a trap but allow him aboard. Kekrops warns them that all roads to the Acropolis are guarded, and they’ll be destroyed if they attempt to travel aboveground. He offers them safe passage through his underground lair but can guarantee safety only for three. Jason distrusts Kekrops when he insists that the demigods split up. Percy questions why Gaea’s forces would destroy them when she needs the demigods to come to the Parthenon for her ceremony.

Annabeth and Piper believe that Kekrops is hiding something. Piper remembers her father telling her that they chose her name because her grandfather believed that she’d have a powerful voice, even learning “the song of the snakes” (291, italics in original). She begins singing one of her father’s favorite songs, which puts Kekrops into a trance. He reveals his intention to lure them into the tunnels and destroy them, on Gaea’s orders. Although he chose Athena over Poseidon as the city’s patron, she betrayed his people, forcing them underground.