The Burning Maze

The Burning Maze is the third book in The Trials of Apollo series written by Rick Riordan. It was released on May 1, 2018.

Synopsis
''The former glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg. Thanks a lot, Dad''.

''With the help of some demigod friends, Lester managed to survive his first two trials, one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis, where Meg received the Dark Prophecy. The words she uttered while seated on the Throne of Memory revealed that an evil triumvirate of Roman emperors plans to attack Camp Jupiter. While Leo flies ahead on Festus to warn the Roman camp, Lester and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest. There is one glimmer of hope in the gloom-filled prophecy: The cloven guide alone the way does know. They will have a satyr companion, and Meg knows just who to call upon…''

Development
The cover and excerpt of the first chapter of this book was released on January, 17th, 2018.

Starting on April 11th, 2018, a series of exercise videos featuring Gleeson Hedge were shown to promote the book.

Wandering the Maze
Apollo, Meg McCaffrey, and Grover Underwood have been navigating through the Labyrinth for two days. They come across a narrow passage and barely miss a blast of fire, that means they’re getting close. They were chased by strixes, owl-like creatures who eat human flesh and will curse anyone who kills them. Upon reaching a fifty-foot circular chamber, Meg and Grover manage to hold most of them back with tomato plants but one breaks free and paralyzes Apollo. Grover, who can talk to animals, tries to make peace with the strix. But the bird of ill omen replies that the emperor commanded them to eat them. Meg accidentally kills that strix by sending it flying into the brick wall. She and Grover strengthen the tomato barrier and then duct tape Apollo to the satyr's back. During the climbing Apollo takes the Arrow of Dodona out for advice about the strixes. Meg couldn't summon Peaches to help fight and the strixes break free. The arrow says they can be repelled with "arbutus". Grover suddenly summons Panic which he received from Pan, all the strixes flee. Meg got paralyzed from the waist down but Apollo is feeling better, enough to be put off Grover's back. The top of the chamber is a domed ceiling, and Grover sees that it looks familiar. He and Meg realize that arbutus plants resemble strawberries. The strixes are returning so Meg plants her seeds on the ramp. Grover and Apollo use music to make them explode like fireworks, which the strixes hate. Suddenly, the chamber begins to rumble, the strawberries are breaking the dome. The rocks kill the strixes but the plants continue to grow. Apollo, Meg and Grover use them as a trampoline to get out. Apollo gives Meg Ambrosia for the paralysis, and they reach Grover's base.

In a dream, Apollo sees a young woman handcuffed over a pool of lava. She apologizes to someone and says Apollo must come save her even though it is a trap. After the woman dissolves into flames, the dream transitions. This time Apollo is on a terrace near the Gulf of Naples at night. A young man is approached by a stronger man who calls him Princeps. The strong man has just killed someone with the victim's own pillow, the younger man said the "old pig" deserved it as he's been waiting years for him to die. When stepped into the moonlight, Apollo recognizes this man as one who is handsome yet horribly evil. The stronger man yells, "Hail, Caesar!"

Apollo wakes up on a tarp in the desert near twilight. He and Meg McCaffrey passed out for hours. They are currently on the outskirts of Palm Springs. They come out of a cistern. The nearby ruins are part of Grover and his "others"'s base. There have been lots of abnormal natural disasters happening. Meg is not happy to be here again. Grover brings them to the ruins of an old greenhouse. There they meet, Prickly Pear, Aloe Vera, and Joshua, Dryads, as well as a cloud nymph named Mellie.

Finding Aeithales
Finding the store takes forever, because Grover keeps getting sidetracked. Night falls.The western horizon glows ominously from flames. Smoke blots out the stars. Apollo remembers the wave of flames in the Labyrinth. Despite his fuzzy memories, Apollo was sure that woman was the Erythraean Sibyl, the next Oracle he has to free from the emperors. The heroes stop at a major intersection. Across the boulevard is a warehouse store with a sign: MACRO’S MILITARY MADNESS! The parking lot is empty except for Hedge's car. Apollo, Meg and Grover head into the store.

Macro’s Military Madness
As predicted, Gleeson Hedge was in the firearms section, whistling as he stuffed his shopping trolley with rifle scopes and barrel brushes. Naevius Sutorius Macro, praetor who served an emperor that likes being called Neo Helios (New Sun), tricks Apollo into telling him that he is Apollo. Macro wants to capture Apollo so that he gets into the emperor’s good graces, he was the stronger man in the dream who killed emperor Tiberius. Then it turns out that all the employees are automatons. Macro reveals that the emperors name is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Upon hearing this Apollo tells Grover and Coach Hedge to run. Gleeson Hedge of course charged at Macro in an attempt to kill him, luckily Apollo pulls Hedge away and they ran down an aisle trying to escape. Grover gets separated in the confusion. They try to get out the front doors after Coach Hedge executed a perfect roundhouse kick at Macro, but the front doors are locked. Grover knocked over a canoeing display and temporarily immobilizes the Praetor. They head to the back room and barricade the door and try desperately to open the back door. Grover notices more automatons and tells Apollo to activate them. When they are all online Apollo "accidentally" activates Plan Twenty-Three, and, as soon as Macro breaks down the door, the automatons surrounds him and his employees and start to steam and heat up. Grover realizes the automatons thought he ordered a different plan and start to self destruct. The two satyrs get the door open and pull out Apollo before the store explodes.

They land in a Dumpster, and after eavesdropping on Incitatus (a English speaking horse belonging to the third emperor), learning of some new guards: strixes and Big Ears. After hearing "the New Sun" in the conversation, Apollo figures out that the third emperor is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, remembered by history as Caligula.

Recruiting Piper McLean
Grover drives Apollo and Meg in Hedge's mustard yellow 1979 Ford Pinto coupe to Malibu, where they hope to find friends who know how to get through the maze: Piper McLean and Jason Grace. Upon arrival at Piper's mansion, they see moving trucks parked outside, and Tristan McLean, looking bedraggled and stunned, pacing at the end of their driveway. Apollo and his friends engage in a short conversation with him, then enter the mansion. They find Piper at the end of the fireplace, then as Piper recognizes Grover and hears the recounting of their previous adventures, she invites them to the terrace for a private conversation. She fills them in on what she knows about the maze and the previous attempt she made with Jason to find the heart of the maze. From the way she says Jason's name, Apollo and Meg deduce that Jason and Piper have broken up, and Piper verbally jabs them about it, explaining that "things change." Meg peeks at the legal documents covering the desks, and Piper proceeds to explain how the third emperor has been working for years, spending tens of millions of dollars to ruin her dad, destroying everything-her dad's credit, assets, reputation, all the studios, etc. She mentions how Mellie spotted the trouble and tried to prevent it but was too late. After some more chatter, they get to the subject of how Meg's life was also ruined by and emperor, and Piper embraces the younger girl. Finally, Apollo gets to the point of why they're here, and Piper grabs her weapons - Katoptris, and a blowgun with poison darts, "borrows" a car, and they set off for the the maze.

Battling Medea
Piper takes them to the downtown L.A. entrance to the Burning Maze. At the sign of a Big Ears, Piper warns them to get down, then shoots the guard with a blowdart with her Grandpa Tom's family secret poison recipe. The guard topples, paralyzed. They make their way into the maze, until they find Agave and Money Maker, who are nature spirits from Aeithales, a search party sent by Grover. They are both very weak Money Maker more so than Agave. Grover helps them back out to tend to them with sunlight and water. Apollo, Meg, and Piper continue on into the maze. They talk about how Piper and Jason were separated the last time they came here, and speculating that Jason found the Oracle. Piper and Apollo bounce thoughts off each other, confirming that the sorceress in the Maze is in fact, Medea, the sorceress who they have encountered in Chicago during The Lost Hero.

As they figure it out, Medea herself rides around the corner of a passageway on a chariot pulled by her Sun Dragons - Phil and Don. Piper and Medea charmspeak battle, Medea trying to persuade them to give up, Piper countering her. Medea taunts Apollo until he discovers that Caligula has had the same goal since his rule during the Roman Empire: to literally become the New Sun, replacing Apollo as the new god of the sun. Apollo also comprehends that the flames in the maze are actually the essence of Helios, summoned and controlled by Medea. Medea uses charmspeak, trying to get Meg to give up Apollo, but Piper again counters, telling Meg to decide for herself. Meg's stubborn personality wins over, and she denies Medea. Medea charges, but Piper throws her dagger into the left dragon's eye. This causes the dragons to veer off, dragging Medea away and gives them time to quickly discuss how to defeat Medea. In the distance, Medea gets her dragons under control, turning her chariot around to reengage. Meg gives herself earplugs by growing bluebonnet seeds in her ear canals. Medea tries charmspeak again but Meg ignores it. Piper's charmspeak causes one dragon to stop while the other is urged on by Medea's charmspeak. The result is chaos, as Meg beheads both Sun Dragons, releasing an intense blast of heat. Medea incapacitates Apollo with a ventus and throws Meg against a wall, knocking her out. Piper stalls, buying time for them to recover, and challenges Medea to a battle, "woman to woman". They taunt each other some more, then Medea accepts her challenge, on the condition that they only get one weapon. Piper chooses Katoptris, and Medea announces that she chooses Helios, the Titan of the Sun. She unleashes a maelstrom of fire and heat, forcing Piper back. Meg becomes conscious, and yells at Apollo to consult the Arrow of Dodona, which tells them to use the blowgun. Apollo relays the information to Piper, and while Medea is occupied by Meg, Piper snipes Medea, scoring a hit, and Medea laughs and the blowgun, ridicules the poison, then topples over, warning them that she wasn't summoning Helios-she was holding him back. Apollo understands what that means, and yells for them to run. A few moments later, the parking lot goes supernova. They make it out, and Grover uses healing tunes to keep them alive until they reach Aeithales, where Aloe Vera finishes healing them.

Meeting up with Jason Grace
After a conference in Aeithales, the heroes settle on a plan: Steal Caligula's shoes so they can navigate the maze. The problem being that they don't know where Caligula is. Piper recalls that Jason knew, and they set off for Edgarton Day and Boarding School. Piper charmspeaks the teachers and staff, letting Jason out of class and they discuss things in his dorm room. Jason reports that the facility has been infiltrated: he has already slain a Blemmyae who was his AP Calculus teacher, and he believes the humanities teacher is an Empousa. Apollo proceeds to explain everything since their time in Indianapolis.

Prophecy
In the Labyrinth, Herophile guided Apollo to where she was being held through a series of word puzzles. Herophile spouted multiple word puzzles that, combined with the ones leading to her, say the following:

Apollo faces death in Tarquin’s Tomb unless the doorway to the soundless god is opened by...

Upon solving the word puzzles, Grover, Meg and Apollo reached Herophile in her chains. After Meg tried to free her, Apollo began spouting the following lines:

Bronze upon gold

East meets west

Legions are redeemed

Light the depths

One against many

Never spirit defeated

Ancient words spoken

Shaking old foundations

Destroy the tyrant

Aid the winged

Under golden hills

Great stallion’s foal

Turn red tides

Harken the trumpets

Enter stranger’s home

<p style="text-align:center;">Regain lost glory

While those words illuminated the floor tiles, Meg noticed that they were an acrostic that spelled out "Bellona's Daughter" making the full prophecy the following:

<p style="text-align:center;">Apollo faces death in Tarquin’s Tomb unless the doorway to the soundless god is opened by Bellona's Daughter

Unraveling the prophecy
Bellona's daughter refers to Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, the senior praetor of the Twelfth Legion. It is believed that Apollo would die in the tomb of Tarquin Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the final king of Rome, unless Reyna releases some silent god.

Chapter List

 * 1) Once was Apollo/ Now a rat in the Lab’inth/ Send help. And cronuts
 * 2) Now I'm a suitcase/ Duct-taped to a satyr's back./ Worst. Morning. Ever.
 * 3) Strixes do sucketh/ Yea, verily I tell you/ Much sucking is theirs
 * 4) Welcome to my base/ We have rocks, sand, and ruins/ Did I mentions rocks?
 * 5) First-aid succulent/ Heal me of my many cuts!/ (But no slime trail, please)
 * 6) Random plumes of fire/ Ground squirrels nibble my nerves/ I love the desert
 * 7) Family fun packs/ Should be for frozen pizza/ Not for frag grenades
 * 8) We blow up some things/ You thought all the things blew up?/ No, we found more things
 * 9) Collect call from Horse/ Do you accept the charges?/ Nay-ay-ay-ay-ay
 * 10)  Cute kid you got there/ With the itty-bitty boots/ And murderous grin
 * 11) No touchy the god/ Unless your visions are good/ And you wash your hands
 * 12) O, Pinto, Pinto!/ Wherefore art thou puke yellow?/ I'll hide in the back
 * 13) Don't move the gas grill/ Meg is still playing with it/ We are so KA-BOOM
 * 14) Bedrossian Man/ Bedrossian Man, run as/ Fast as ... yoga pants
 * 15) Grover leaves early/ Grover is a smart satyr/ Lester, not so much
 * 16) Let's charmspeak battle/ You are ugly and you suck/ The end. Do I win?
 * 17) Phil and Don are dead/ Bye-bye, love and happiness/ Hello, headlessness
 * 18) Whoa, there, Medea/ Don't be all up in my face/ With your hot granddad
 * 19) In my underclothes/ Slathered with grease. Really not/ As fun as it sounds
 * 20) O muse, let us now/ Sing in the praise of botanists!/ They do plant stuff. Yay.
 * 21) When life gives you seeds/ Plant them in dry rocky soil/ I'm an optimist
 * 22) For my school project/ I made this pagan temple/ Monopoly board
 * 23) It's a beautiful/ Day in the neighborhood- Wait/ Actually, it's not
 * 24) Ah, Santa Barbara!/ Famed for surfing! Fish tacos!/ And crazy Romans!
 * 25) All in the same boat/ Wait. Two of us disappeared./ Half in the same boat
 * 26) Oh, Florence and Grunk/ La-di-da, something, something/ I'll get back to you
 * 27) I can kill you all/ Or I can sing you Joe Walsh/ Really, it's your choice
 * 28) Apollo, disguised/ As Apollo, disguised as.../ Nah. Too depressing.
 * 29) A horse is a horse/ Of course, of course. and no one/ Can- RUN! HE'LL KILL YOU!
 * 30) I'll never leave you/ Love will keep us together/ Or glue. Glue works too
 * 31) I give you my heart/ I mean metaphorically/ Put away that knife
 * 32) Don't make me do it/ I'm crazy, I'll do it, I'll-/ Ow, that really hurt
 * 33) No good news awaits/ I warned you right at the start/ Turn away, reader
 * 34) Surfing accident/ My new euphemism for/ Worst evening ever
 * 35) If you give a pan-/ dos a ukelele, he/ Will want lessons. DON'T.
 * 36) A suspended fourth/ The kind of chord you play just/ Before suddenly-
 * 37) Want to play a game?/ It's easy. You take a guess./ Then you burn to death.
 * 38) I sing to myself!/ Though Apollo is cooler/ Like way, way cooler
 * 39) Noble sacrifice/ I'll protect you from the flames/ Wow, I'm a good guy
 * 40) Congratulations/ You finished the word puzzle/ You win... enemies
 * 41) Meg sings. It's over./ Everybody just go home/ We are so roasted
 * 42) You want prophecy?/ I'll drop some nonsense on you/ Eat my gibberish!
 * 43) Favorite chapter/ Because only one bad death/ That is just messed up
 * 44) Ha-ha-ha, dryads?/ That's straight from the horse's mouth/ Good-bye, Mr. Horse
 * 45) Desert flowers bloom/ Sunset rain sweetens the air/ Time for a game show!
 * 46) Second prize: Road trip/ With Bon Jovi on cassette/ First prize: Please, don't ask
 * 47) In-flight beverages/ Include the tears of a god/ Please have exact change

Trivia

 * While The Hidden Oracle does not complete any prophecy, and The Dark Prophecy completes the Limerick Prophecy, The Burning Maze does not complete a prophecy. It merely sees the completion of the second and third verses of the Sonnet Prophecy.
 * The book is dedicated to Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, with the quote “I hope you’re pleased with yourself”