What happened in The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan - Recap

The basics

Title: The Lost Hero

Author: Rick Riordan

Series: The Heroes of Olympus #1

- The Lost Hero (2010)
- The Son of Neptune (2011)
- The Mark of Athena (2012)
- The House of Hades (2013)
- The Blood of Olympus (2014)

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Goodreads Summary:

JASON HAS A PROBLEM. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and his best friend is a guy named Leo. They’re all students at the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids," as Leo puts it. What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Jason doesn't know anything—except that everything seems very wrong.

PIPER HAS A SECRET. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out, whether she wants to or not.

LEO HAS A WAY WITH TOOLS. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in The Lost Hero then you’re in the right place.

What happened in The Lost Hero?

• Jason is on a bus to the Grand Canyon, but he has amnesia and can’t remember the people he is with. Piper and Leo are sitting next to him and they tell him they’re his girlfriend and best friend respectively.
• Between them, Piper and Leo explain to Jason that they go to a school for children with behavioural issues called Wilderness School. Piper was sent there for stealing a car, and Leo kept running away from foster homes.
• The bus reaches the Grand Canyon and the students go on the skywalk. Jason still doesn’t know who they are or what’s going on.
• Jason finds a coin with Ivlivs stamped on it.
• Coach Hedge approaches Jason and tells him he is a special package that Hedge has been tasked with retrieving. Hedge said he has come for him and two other half-bloods, but again Jason doesn’t know what this means.
• A classmate called Dylan summons a storm, and it turns out he’s a storm spirit.
• Piper is blown over by a gust of wind and Leo is blown to the edge of the skywalk.
• Hedge reveals he’s a satyr and rescues Leo while Dylan fights off Dylan. Dylan blasts Jason with lightning, which Jason survives.
• Jason turns his golden coin into a golden sword. He fights off Dylan for a bit longer until Dylan is called away by his “mistress”. Dylan tries to take Jason with him, but takes Hedge instead when he gets in the way.
• Jason dives into the canyon to save Piper, who has fallen off the ledge.
• Annabeth and Butch arrive on a chariot. They are looking for a missing half-blood, and apparently Jason is the answer to finding them. Annabeth takes the others back to Camp Half-Blood.
• The chariot crash lands in the lake but it’s all fine.
• Leo is claimed by Hephaestus and is taken to his cabin.
• Annabeth notices that Jason has a tattoo of some straight lines and “SPQR” on his arm.
• Drew takes Jason to see Chiron while Annabeth gives Piper a tour. Piper is drawn to Hera’s cabin and comes across the Oracle, Rachel.
• Rachel and Annabeth discuss Percy before Annabeth introduces Piper to Rachel.
• Piper then gets possessed by a goddess who warns of a fiery giant and tells Piper to set her free.
• Leo spots his babysitter, Tia, in the camp but she vanishes pretty quickly. 
• Will explains that the cabin is cursed and none of their machines are working properly.
• Leo learns that he can manipulate fire because he’s Hephaestus’ son. He may need to use his powers to tame a bronze dragon.
• Chiron wonders why Jason is in the camp. He speaks to Jason in Latin. Jason has a vision of a goddess who asks for his help. He tells Chiron about this, and Chiron thinks he may know who Jason really is.
• Annabeth brings Piper to Chiron for healing after her possession.
• They think it’s Hera who is appearing to Piper and Jason.
• Annabeth takes Jason to Hypnos’ cabin because she thinks this will help his memories return. It doesn’t work, because it turns out that his memories have been stolen by Hera.
• Annabeth and Jason learn that the Greek and Roman gods are the same, just with different names.
• Piper is still knocked out and she dreams of her father briefly before the dream shifts to her being on top of a mountain. She sees a fiery giant who tells her to go on a quest. She also sees her father on a stake.
• Jason realises he is a son of Zeus and can call lightning from the sky. He accepts a quest which requires him to save Hera in the next four days.
• Rachel gives a prophecy which says a son of Hephaestus and a child of Aphrodite must go with Jason. Leo and Piper volunteer once Piper is claimed by Aphrodite. Rachel warns them to beware the earth.
• Piper learns that Drew is a bit of a bully and uses her powers on other camp members. Drew puts newbies through an initiation in which they have to make someone fall in love with them and break their heart.
• Piper disagrees with Drew’s reasoning that breaking hearts is what love is about. Piper doesn’t know what it’s really about though.
• Leo fixes the bronze dragon and names it Festus. Leo is able to attach wings to it so the quest members can use it to fly.
• Annabeth suggests they go to the wind spirits as they might know something about Hera. The master of the winds, Aeolus, probably knows more.
• Jason asks Annabeth about Thalia, and while Annabeth is talking Jason seems to remember something. Jason reveals to Annabeth that his surname is Grace and Thalia is his sister.
• The quest members go to Boreas’ penthouse and speak to his children. Piper convinces the sons to let them in. Leo fancies Boreas’ daughter Khione.
• Leo has to stay behind with Festus while Jason and Piper go to speak to Boreas. Piper speaks to him in French as it’s the language of love. Boreas reveals that Aeolus is angry with the gods for defeating Typhon in the war. Boreas and the others have instructions to kill any demigod that asks them for help.
• Jason reveals himself to be a son of Zeus and Boreas has to listen to him. Jason gets a bit nervous so Piper has to speak for him. 
• Boreas tells them to head to Chicago, before Jason’s tattoo turns Boreas into his Roman form. Boreas (now Aquilon) lets the group depart.
• The trio head to Chicago. Piper has another dream about the fiery giant, who says his name is Enceladus. He tells her to go to him at noon on the Winter Solstice. He wants her to betray Hera.
• Festus falls from the sky and crashes to the ground in Detroit. Leo discovers that Festus’ control disk has frozen, which is weird because it should have been scorching hot. 
• While Leo is fixing the disk he sees the figure of a woman who once appeared to him when his mother died. The woman tries to get Leo to leave the group but he hits the woman instead and grabs a hammer to leave.
• Leo returns to Jason and Piper, who have been captured by some Cyclopes.Leo saves them using his fire powers. The group flies off to Chicago.
• They follow wind spirits into the sewers. Festus stays behind. The group finds an elevator and ride it to a shopping mall. They meet the Princess of Colchis there.
• The princess invites them in, but Piper finds this sus. The boys follow her, though, because the princess uses charmspeak.
• They find Coach Hedge frozen in a cage.
• Piper figures that the princess is Medea, a sorceress. Medea tries to get the boys to fight but Piper intervenes and snaps them both out of it. Medea sets Sun Dragons loose, but Festus arrives and defeats them.
• The group escapes with Coach Hedge and fly to Aeolus’ fortress.
• Hephaestus appears to Leo in a dream and tells him that Zeus has closed off Olympus in order to distance themselves from the mortals. Hephaestus tells Leo something about everything being reused.
• Festus starts to malfunction as the weight becomes too much. Leo takes Festus away to be fixed but is shot down by lasers. Jason and Piper luckily save Leo but Festus is destroyed.
• Hephaestus takes Festus’ head and neck to Bunker 9.
• The trio enter the house and come across King Midas, who threatens to turn them to gold, or just kill them. Midas turns Leo and Piper to gold, and Jason fights off Midas’ son, Lityerses. Jason wins, and Midas accidentally turns Lityerses into gold.
• Jason strikes the roof with a lightning bolt.
• Jason and the others then escape to a mountain cave. Piper takes the opportunity to tell the others about the dreams she has been having. The others promise to help rescue Piper’s father.
• Lycaon attacks the group with his werewolves. Then the Hunters appear and save the group with silver arrows. Thalia, Jason’s sister, is leading them.
• Leo now fancies Thalia, of course.
• Thalia talks to Jason about their mother and how she started acting erratically to get Zeus’ attention after he first visited her. Thalia recalls their mother taking Jason away and then returning without him.
• Thalia tells Jason their mother ultimately died in a drink driving accident.
• Thalia takes the group to Aelous’ palace. Leo realises Hera is being kept in the Wolf House. He gets excited, bursts into flames, and then melts the ice bridge before Thalia gets a chance to cross with them.
• Thalia says the Hunters will go to the Wolf House while the group saves Piper’s dad.
• Aeolus’ assistant, Mellie, escorts the group up the mountain to Aeolus.
• Aeolus reveals he gets his commands from the gods and that’s why the weather is always changing. Aeolus says he knows lots of secrets from the winds.
• Aeolus reveals the location of Enceladus, who is at Mount Diablo. Aeolus gives Leo a crayon drawing that Leo lost when he was younger.
• Someone speaks into Aeolus’ ear piece and tells him to kill the group. Aeolus sends harpes to kill them all.
• Mellie helps the escape and together with Jason controls the winds to help cushion their fall off the mountain.
• The group appears back at Medea’s shop. Aphrodite is there and she tells Piper that some of her children are destined for greatness. Aphrodite gives Piper a potion to erase memories, and reveals that Gaea is their true enemy.
• Aphrodite transports the group to San Francisco. They head to Mount Diablo. Piper frees her dad while Enceladus is distracted. Hedge is knocked unconscious. 
• There’s a massive fight and Enceladus keeps getting healed by the earth. There’s a massive explosion when Jason’s lance is destroyed. Jason asks Zeus for help, and so Zeus hits Enceladus with a lightning bolt. The only way for a giant to die is if a god and a hero kill it together. Enceladus falls into a crevice.
• The group flies to Oakland Airport by helicopter. Piper gives her father the memory potion so he’ll forget what happened to him. Hedge takes her father to safety.
• The rest of the group travel to Wolf House and crash lands.
• Hera is stuck in an earthen cage and seems to be having her power drained by Prophyrion.
• Leo realises Hera is his babysitter. He tries to destroy the cage.
• Khione appears and reveals that she’s the one who ordered Aeolus to kill them. She also trapped Hera in Wolf House. She says Wolf House is a sacred place for demigods, and she’s trying to make it look as though the Greeks conspired with the giants in order to create a rift between the two lines.
• Khione asks Leo to team up with her but he refuses. He fights her instead.
• There’s a massive fight and Khione is forced to flee.
• Porphyrion rises while the group is still trying to destroy Hera’s cage. Jason has to fight him while Piper and Leo free Hera. 
• Hera is released and enters her divine form to destroy all the monsters. Porphyrion escapes. Jason looks at Hera in her divine form and passes out. He literally dies a bit but Piper uses charmspeak to bring him back from the dead.
• Hera congratulates the group. Thalia insults her a little. But then HEra takes them all back to Camp Half-Blood.
• Piper challenges Drew to a duel, and Drew backs out so Piper is able to become Head Counsellor for the Aphrodite cabin.
• Leo reveals Bunker 9 and his fire abilities to Chiron. In the bunker they find blueprints for various inventions. Leo thinks this bunker was once a command centre during the war, although the map looks older than a few months so it was likely not the Titan War.
• Chiron says the map is from the Civil War, which was a battle between the two demigod groups.
• Leo finds blueprints for an aerial warship and they’re similar to the art he drew when he was a child. Festus’ head is also the masthead for this ship.
• The Hephaestus cabin plan to build the warship and Leo becomes Head Counsellor for the cabin. The future ship is named Argo II.
• The trio plan to head to Greece to stop the giants.
• Juno visits Jason and promises to watch over him.
• Jason reveals that the Roman demigods stormed Mount Othrys during the Titan War, and he was involved in defeating Titan Krios.
• The council decide to build Argo II and go to find the Roman camp in San Francisco.
• They realise the missing half-blood was traded with Jason in the Roman camp, and they need to go and save Percy Jackson.

That’s what happened in The Lost Hero! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

Other recaps for this series:

• The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2)