Annabeth loads Percy and Grover into a cab and tells the driver to take them to Los Angeles. She uses the Lotus Casino credit card to pay, and it gives them an infinite amount of money for the fare. On the way, Percy explains his latest dream about the presence in the pit and the thief who failed to bring Hades Zeus’s lightning bolt. This missing lightning bolt explains why the Furies were looking for something on the bus in New Jersey but doesn’t answer the question of who or what is in the pit. Annabeth goes pale and refuses to speculate.

They arrive at the Santa Monica beach at sunset the day before the solstice. Percy walks into the Pacific Ocean and meets the Nereid (sea spirit) he spoke to in the Mississippi River. She gives him three pearls from Poseidon. He should smash one when he needs help and remember that “what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea” (273).

The three wander around Los Angeles but can’t find the address for the Underworld they got at Medusa’s. When a gang of kids attacks them, they take cover in Crusty's Water Bed Palace, owned by Procrustes (Crusty for short).