Percy, Frank, and Hazel return to the boat and continue to sail north. The “farther north” (257) they go, the more Percy worries that he is losing what few memories he had. He tried to send a message to Annabeth but was unsuccessful. However, Hazel’s attempt to communicate with Camp Jupiter worked and they now knew that Polybotes’s army was coming. Percy asks a whale to pull the boat so that he can sleep. When he sleeps, Percy sees a boy and a girl arguing over how long it is taking for a giant warship to be repaired. Percy also sees a cyclops and a dog making their way west. Then the dream shifts, and he hears Gaea, then Alcyoneus mocking him. When Percy wakes, he discovers they have made it to Portland. He tells Frank and Hazel about his dreams, including the clue he noticed from Alcyoneus: he is camped on a glacier.

Percy, Frank, and Hazel find downtown Portland deserted because of freezing rain. They find Phineas among a group of food trucks, fending off starving harpies with a weed whacker. Phineas is blind, lashing out at the harpies by sound and mostly missing them.