This chapter introduces Leo’s perspective. He is surprised that his father is Hephaestus, god of fire, because of his mother’s fate. He also thinks he sees his old babysitter, Tia Callida, in the distance. Nonetheless, everything he sees at camp excites him, even when he hears that Hephaestus’s cabin, Cabin 9, is cursed. The head counselor, Jake Mason, is in a full-body cask after doing battle with a mechanical dragon that has gone awry. In fact, all his half brothers and sisters are at work at the forge, trying to come up with a solution. 

At the forge, Leo learns that children of Hephaestus originally built the bronze dragon that is now on the loose. However, recently, it’s been on a rampage, destroying cabins and trying to eat satyrs. He asks if any of his new siblings have the ability to withstand flames, and is told that such an ability is both rare and a harbinger of danger to come. Leo stays behind and contemplates coming up with his own solution. He practices creating flames in his hand, a power “he’d promised himself never to use […] again” (82).