Leo and Piper have enough memory of the shopping mall to ask Piper where her father is imprisoned. Piper insists they find Aeolus first. Leo dreams, and speaks to his father, Hephaestus, who has built an illegal radio to communicate with demigods. He tells Leo that he has always watched him. He explains that gods and demigods need to work together, and that the giant being reborn is a child of Gaea and Ouranous, bred to take revenge on the gods for overthrowing the Titans. He affirms that Leo is special, and tells him, “‘Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines. And everything can be reused’” (333).

Leo wakes up to find himself and his friends hurtling through the air again. This time, they find themselves on a snowy lawn in Omaha. Festus is destroyed, and Leo realizes his father’s words were a warning and consolation. Leo cries, but is determined to finished his quest, “for his friends, for his mom, for his dragon” (338). Together, they approach a large white mansion.