The Chalice of the Gods

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods is a 2023 middle-grade fantasy novel by Rick Riordan. It is the sixth novel in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the first five of which were published between 2005 and 2009. Riordan, an American author, has written dozens of novels, most of which are about ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Norse mythology. His books are typically aimed at middle-grade audiences. They feature contemporary protagonists who engage with mythological stories in the present day. Riordan’s novels have received widespread positive acclaim, with the Percy Jackson books being adapted into feature films, a television series, and a musical. The Chalice of the Gods is the first in a planned trilogy that focuses on Percy Jackson’s final year of high school and the beginning of his college career.

This guide refers to the 2023 Hyperion e-book edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

Percy Jackson is a 17-year-old boy living in Manhattan with his mother, Sally, and his stepfather, Paul. Percy is a demigod: His father is the Greek god of the ocean, Poseidon. After saving the world and narrowly escaping death on several occasions, Percy is now starting his senior year of high school. On his way to class, he gets summoned into the guidance counselor’s office. The counselor is a Nereid, a sea nymph, though humans cannot tell when they look at her. Her name is Eudora. She intends to help Percy with his application to New Rome University, a college for demigods located in California. Percy’s girlfriend, Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, is also planning to go there. Eudora tells Percy that he can only attend the college if he completes three quests for the gods and gets recommendation letters from them. She launches Percy through a water vortex to Poseidon’s palace under the ocean so that he can get further details from his father.

Poseidon has been more or less absent in Percy’s life. He has told the gods that Percy is available for any quests they might have, but he is otherwise unable to help with his son’s college application. Not all students have to get these letters: Poseidon was not meant to father children—he is too powerful—so Percy always has to work harder than other demigods. Later, Percy tells Annabeth and his satyr friend, Grover, about the letters. They promise to help him with his quests. The next day, when the friends are at a smoothie bar, they meet the divine hero Ganymede. He is the gods’ cupbearer, but his chalice has been stolen. Without it, he cannot serve drinks at Zeus’s next feast, and he might lose his immortality. Any mortal who drinks from the chalice would become immortal. Ganymede proposes two goddesses who might have taken the chalice: Hebe and Iris, both of whom used to be divine cupbearers.

Grover brings his friends to Hebe Jeebies, a huge warehouse and arcade run by the goddess Hebe in Times Square. The arcade is full of games and activities that capitalize on people’s nostalgia. They find Hebe in a karaoke bar deep inside the warehouse. It is full of old people singing songs from their younger days. Hebe, the goddess of youth, has taken the form of a teenage girl; she explains that she always has to be the youngest in any room she occupies. People who come to Hebe Jeebies become younger the longer they stay, though they never regress past the age of around eight. Percy and his friends ask if Hebe took Ganymede’s chalice, unintentionally offending her. Angered, she turns Percy and his friends into eight-year-olds. When they complain, she unleashes a flock of killer chickens (her sacred bird) that chase them through the arcade. Annabeth grabs a baby chick, and all three of them rush back to the karaoke bar. Hebe involuntarily regresses to infancy because of the chick’s presence. Annabeth persuades her to turn them back to their real ages. Hebe tells them where to find Iris, their next suspect. 

Annabeth finds a daughter of Iris and persuades her to introduce them to Iris at a farmer’s market that weekend. Iris denies having taken Ganymede’s chalice but says she will help them gather information on its whereabouts if they clean her herald’s staff in the pure waters of the river Elisson. On Monday, Percy asks Eudora where to find the mythic river. She once again flushes him through a vortex, this time to Yonkers, New York. There, he finds what looks like a very polluted river. He returns the next day with his friends. They follow the river into a massive underground cavern and see hundreds of terrifying serpents bathing in Elisson’s waters. Grover distracts the serpents with his pan pipes, and Annabeth pushes Percy into the river to clean the staff. Furious that his waters have been invaded, the river god Elisson tries to drown Percy. Percy becomes enraged and summons his demigod powers to briefly flood the cavern, overpowering Elisson and cleaning the river and the staff in the process. Elisson lets him go, and the friends barely escape the serpents with the help of Iris’s rainbow-emitting staff. 

The three friends return Iris’s staff to her, and she tells them that she is fairly certain that someone named “Gary” stole the staff. They can find him in Greenwich Village. Grover later learns that “Gary” hangs around Washington Square Park. Annabeth comes to Percy’s house for dinner, and Sally announces that she is pregnant. Percy is shocked but delighted. He researches who “Gary” might be, to no avail. Early on Monday morning, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth head to Washington Square Park. Percy meets an extremely old man by the playground who introduces himself as Geras (“Gary”), the god of old age. He stole the chalice to prevent more mortals from becoming immortal and thereby escaping the aging process. Because Percy once turned down an offer of immortality from the gods, Geras hoped he would understand. Percy insists on getting the chalice back to complete his quest for Ganymede. Geras proposes that they wrestle, though Annabeth warns Percy that Geras is much stronger than he looks. 

The two wrestle, and Percy is no match for Geras. He realizes that instead of fighting against the passage of time, he must instead embrace old age. He hugs Geras, who is moved. Geras gives Percy the chalice just as Ganymede issues a cry for help: Zeus is throwing a feast, so he needs the chalice immediately. Percy heads to the Empire State Building, which houses a secret entrance to Mount Olympus. He arrives at Zeus’s feast just in time and manages to sneak the chalice to Ganymede without being detected. Ganymede gives him a recommendation letter, and Percy returns to Manhattan safely. In an unexpected gesture, Poseidon calls Percy’s school to explain that he will be late for class. He is proud of Percy, even though he does not always show it. Percy will need to get two more recommendation letters before the winter solstice, but for now, he and his friends congratulate themselves on a job well done.