The trials of Apollo-The Hidden Oracle is the first book of the series, The trials of Apollo, by Rick

Riordan. In this series, Apollo is required to release or ‘save’ all the oracles which have been
imprisoned by Python while battling The Triumvirate- Psychopathic emperors of Ancient Rome who
are also minor gods.

The catch of this quest is that apollo is no longer a god. He was turned into an ordinary mortal, by
Zeus, as punishment for something his descendant (Octavian) did. Apollo is an out-of-shape
teenager by the name of Lester Papadopoulos.

The first thing Apollo remembers is falling into a dumpster in Manhattan, New York, where two
thugs try to beat him up for his cash. A young girl named Meg McCaffrey rescues him and claims
Apollo’s service, binding Apollo to Meg until he completes his trials, which he must do to become a
god again. They find Percy Jackson, who decides to help them to reach Camp Half-Blood. They are
attacked by plague spirits. Meg subconsciously summons a karpos, a tree spirit who defeats the
plague spirits. She names him Peaches who appears whenever Meg is in trouble. Upon arrival, he
realizes that the Oracle of Delphi, in the form of Rachel Elizabeth Dare cannot issue anymore
prophecies and that that the demigods are having communication issues. He also mentions
demigods disappearing into the woods.

At dinner, Meg is attacked by Sherman Yang, a son of Ares and Connor Stoll, a son of Hermes,
because Meg humiliated them when she first got to camp. Meg accidentally summons Peaches
again, believing him to be dangerous. To save Peaches, Meg uses her imperial gold twin scimitars,
that shrink into rings. After Saving Peaches, Meg is claimed as a daughter of Demeter.

The next day, Apollo attends a music class taught by a satyr, and plays a melody on the ukulele that
reduces everyone to tears. Apollo is drained by his musical performance and discovers that he can
hit only one bullseye on the target and swears on the river Styx to never use a bow or play a musical
instrument until he is a god again.

The three-legged death race, which was invented by Harley, a son of Hephaestus, that takes place in
the Labyrinth is scheduled for the afternoon. Apollo and Meg are strapped together and are sent of
to retrieve three golden apples. During this race, Apollo and Meg end up under Delphi, in Greece
and overhears a conversation between Python and The Beast. This encounter terrifies them,
especially Meg. Apollo discovers that Python wants to control all the five oracles, and destroy the
fifth one, The Grove of Dodona. They slip and fall into another dumpster, retrieve the golden apples
and quickly leave the Labyrinth, only to find out that Kayla and Austin (Children of Apollo) have gone
missing.

After the death game, many campers are injured and need medical attention. Apollo tries to go after
Kayla and Austin but is stopped by Meg and Chiron (a centaur trained by Apollo himself and sent
down to camp to teach the campers all that Apollo taught him. Also known as the wisest of all
centaurs). He decides to read two books, one about himself and the other about the Oracles. When
he finishes reading and returns to the outskirts of the woods, he notices that Meg has shown up.
Meg tells him that The Beast killed her father, and that The Beast is in New York.

In the morning, a private helicopter lands outside camp bringing Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They decide
to talk in her oracle cave. Rachel says she trashed the cave because she was irritated about the
prophecy issues. Rachel reveals that she has been investigating the former battles and states that
Triumvirate Holdings paid for the weapons that Octavian bought to destroy Camp Half-Blood and
mortal backing for Luke Castellan. Rachel confirms that the Python and The Beast were indeed
talking about controlling all five Oracles and they want to start with The Grove of Dodona, which is
located inside Camp Half-Blood. Apollo also thinks that the campers that go missing are being drawn
to The Grove. They decide to leave for the grove after a night’s rest.
After entering the woods, they find a dead myrmeke. This terrifies Meg. Apollo comforts her and
tells her not to worry as they journey deeper into the forest. They come across a geyser and meet
palikoi (Geyser spirits). Apollo tries to extract information from the palikos, hut fails because Pete
(the palikos) refuses to say anything. During this exchange, they are attacked by myrmekes. Apollo
fights them off, only to realize that they have kidnapped Meg. After searching around for Meg,
Apollo goes back to the geyser and asks Pete to tell him where he find the myrmekes lair. Pete tells
him and warns Apollo to be quick because Meg only has 24 hours left to live.

Apollo starts going back to camp to tell Will Solace, a healer, to prepare everything for Meg’s
treatment but passes out in the middle of the forest. He is awoken by Rhea, The Titan goddess of
fertility and comfort, who is now a hippie living in upstate New York. She tells Apollo that
Triumvirate Holdings has been waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She also gives Apollo wind
chimes that focuses the voices of the grove when hung on the tallest tree. She tells Apollo to save
her Grove and teleports him back to camp.

The next day, Apollo leaves to find Meg. He gets inside the myrmekes lair. He tries to sway them by
singing, but when that wears him out, he uses his arrows. When he reaches the centre of the lair,
Meg and Apollo attempt to escape, but is stopped by the queen ant. Apollo sings a song about
showing appreciation for Mothers, which sways the queen ant. She lest them go. Meg and Apollo
reach the grove and see the missing demigods and the Palikos, ties up to posts. Apollo tries to free
them to no avail. Suddenly, two Germani, Roman imperial guards, and Nero come out of the ant’s
nest. Nero makes a bargain with Apollo by saying he will let all six who are ties up leave if Meg and
Apollo open the gates for him. Apollo tells him that he will never agree to this idea and attempts o
get reassurance from Meg, who is quietly crying. Nero tells him that he sent Meg to fetch him in
New York. Meg admits that the ‘Beast’ side of him killed her father, but Nero adopted her, and she
still considers Nero her stepfather. Apollo attempts to get Meg on his side but fails. Meg orders
Apollo to open the gates, which he must follow because Meg is his owner.

Once the gates are open, the voices in the grove tell meg that Nero plans to destroy the grove. A
Nero attempts to burn the grove, Peaches attacks Nero, but fails to do any damage. Nero orders his
guards to kill him and Apollo, which makes Meg rebel against her stepfather. Nero uses Greek Fire as
a last attempt to burn the grove. Once the fire started, Apollo goes straight to the hostages to untie
them. Austin, a demigod who went missing tells him to take care of the others. Apollo is unable to
untie anymore and calls out to help. A few dryads sacrifice themselves and consume the Greek fire.
Apollo helps Meg put the wind chimes on the main tree. The trees all start repeating a limerick that
Apollo does not pay attention to. Meg tells him the limerick and runs away. As Apollo was exiting the
grove, he sees an arrow on the floor which he picks up and puts into his quiver.

When the duo gets back to camp, he sees the campers fighting a giant statue of Apollo. He tells
everyone that he is going to shoot the statue in ear with a plague arrow. When he does it, the
statues sneezes his head off and everyone contracts hay fever and needs treatment. When Apollo
recites the prophecy to Percy, who arrived at the battle scene to distract the statue tells him that
this quest needs someone special and when they look up to the sky, he sees Leo, Calypso and Festus
arriving and tells him that they will assist Apollo in this quest. Everyone at camp sees Leo and take
turns greeting him by punching his arm in an orderly fashion. Percy leaves before dinner and Leo,
Calypso and Apollo go to the camp sing-along.
The First Prophecy

Caves of blue.
Strike the hue.
…Westward, burning.
Pages turning.
…Indiana.
Ripe banana.
Happiness approaches.
Serpents and roaches.

The Second Prophecy

There once was a god named Apollo

Who plunged in a cave blue and hollow
Upon a three-seater
The bronze fire-eater
Was forced death and madness to swallow