Defenders of the Duat 1, The Storm Tower

In the second Camp Trinity series, the demigods are faced with a new quest requiring them to find the missing orbs of power possessed by the Guardians, ancient deities created by the gods to protect their magic. Facing all sorts of new challenges, they must kill the Guardians in order to take their place and stop the king of the Egyptian gods from taking over the world and destroying the gods.

Estimated age range: 14+ should be okay. The language is relatively bad and frequent, though not too horrible. The violence is considerably more detailed, but not generally in an overly disturbing way. The sexual content is at a minimum with no nudity or sex, though sex is mentioned. There is a potential trigger.​ Reader discretion is advised.

**Summary**

The prologue shows a man climbing up a cliff and using his blood to get into a cave where there are beings known as the Guardians, previously mentioned in Camp Trinity #5, The Golden Dynasty. It is briefly explained that there are six, but only five are there because the sixth died and there was no replacement. The Guardians are explained: Earth, Water, Ice, Storm, Fire, and Power. The monstrous Guardians are described as well, and the man centered on in the prologue orders them to rise and take the orbs that contain their power all around the world to hide and protect. He thinks on how he will soon have his revenge, and then the prologue ends. We jump to the first chapter, narrated by Andy Samson, who talks about how his life is going and he summarizes what's been going on. It is April, a few months after they defeated Tartarus, and he is back at camp and gets a phone call from Autumn. Autumn tells him that Heather has gone missing and that she and Ray need his help to find her. Andy agrees to go with Autumn and Ray, and then he heads off to join them. Switching to Heather's point of view, she explains that she left contact information for her friends so her parents would know that she was okay, but doubts they care. She steals a wallet from a random mortal named Cass Henson, then keeps going. She gets messages from her friends telling her to go home, but she reluctantly goes to Hal's foster home to see him. He lets her in and they have dinner with his foster parents, Lisa and Thomas di Capra, who seem to be nice people. They talk about the periodic table of elements and Hal has no idea what they're talking about. Later, they talk and Heather goes to sleep and has a dream about why she ran away, how a man had come to her dorm room at her demigod boarding school and given her an empty orb and told her that she had to find the rest.

The next day, they discuss made up elements before breakfast and Autumn, Andy, Ray and Libby show up looking for them, and the six decide that they have to leave and go on the quest. The Egyptian god of time, Heh, shows up and tells them that their enemy is Ra, the Egyptian king of the gods. He gives the girls each some gifts, giving Libby a grappling hook and something he calls storm repellent, Autumn molding clay and a book about the orbs, and Heather poisonous perfume and what he calls a storm absorber. They then hang out in a small cabin in the woods and Autumn cooks dinner. They are asleep outside when a snake comes to attack them. They kill the serpent, potentially one of Apophis's, but Hal was bit by it and Libby heals him. Hal goes inside to sleep because he was a bit sick after the bite, and Heather comes in to check on him. They talk for a little while and fall asleep in the same bed. Hal dreams about Apophis and the aquatic shrine and a snake telling him to find the son of Set, and Ra says that he wants to kill all the mortal and the hosts of the gods. Apophis keeps saying to find the son of Set. We switch to Libby's point of view and she talks to Andy and then she has a dream about her mother, Minerva, telling her that the Storm Tower is in Greece. Minerva explains that Heather could not have completed the quest on her own like Ra told her she could, as she cannot touch the storm orb and Andy cannot touch the water orb, as they are connected to that power already. Libby wakes up and then wakes Autumn, telling her that she needs to talk to her and Heather. Autumn cooks breakfast and Libby goes to wake Heather, finding her inside and waking her up, then realizes that she and Hal are asleep in the same bed. Libby accuses them of sleeping together, but Heather protests she is fifteen and Hal is fourteen and they just slept in the same bed, but didn't do anything. At breakfast, the girls discuss that five of them are going to become Guardians, not being aware of the sixth Guardian. Libby says she doesn't think that Ray will be a Guardian, but he will stick around. After breakfast, they leave the cabin and find that Jackson has showed up to join them.

We switch to Jackson's point of view and learn where he has been the past few months. He spent some time with Brandon Louis's family, but was being abused by Brandon's cousins, which resulted in his left leg and knee being messed up, so he has a permanent limp. He leaves to go and stay with Artemis and Sally in France. He talks to Set who says that he would have been safer at Brandon's, which Jackson argues about. He later gets a call from Heather's mother looking for her. He then decides to go and try to find Heather. When he gets to the cabin and Hal angrily tells the girls that they can't keep having meetings just the three of them when they are now a team. He then tells them that if a demigod kills their godly parent, they might be able to take their power and become a god in their place. Heather likes the idea because they always have to go on quests and their godly parents are useless. When they realize Jackson is there, Heather asks him to leave before he is too involved, but he refuses to go and she admits that Ra wants them to find all the orbs and he decides to help her. She notices his limp and asks how he got it, and when he says she could just read his mind, she promises she would never read his mind. She asks if he is at least okay, and he says he is. Heather then tells him what's happening and explains that Apophis is now supposedly going to be on their side even though he is an evil chaos god, because he hates Ra. They are flying over the Mediterranean Sea when Ocean's wings disappear. Then he disappears and all of the horses are gone, and the seven demigods fall on to the deck of a ship. They realize that there are seven thrones on the ship, one for each of the six Guardians, designed to represent what they represent, and a throne for the Navigator. Ray is revealed to be the Navigator when he is possessed temporarily to tell them that they are the future Guardians of the Gods. Andy takes over control of the ship because they are on the ocean and he is the son of Poseidon, but he feels like it is fighting him. Andy notices that there is a cabinet with dressing rooms that comes out of the deck with pedestals to hold each of six orbs and then the Navigator's room with his uniform. He notices that the sixth of the seven stalls is labeled for the Guardian of Power.

The group discusses there being a sixth Guardian and that the orb that Ra gave Heather might be the sixth orb. Heather explains that the sixth orb is worthless until the other five orbs are back where they are supposed to be. They arrive in Greece and head to a secure base where they think they will find the key to the Storm Tower. Heather and Jackson break in. They explain that their powers won't work inside the building and Jackson says he can shut it down. They hack into a computer and Jackson shuts down the system so they can use their powers, and they are about to leave the office when the Voice of Prometheus tells them the key is there, so they look for it and Heather finds the key. They head out and are stopped by the guards, and Heather is shot on her way over the gate with a poisoned bullet. She starts acting strangely from the poison and Ray asks her to give him the key once they get back to the ship, but Heather says that she won't give it to anyone because it releases electric sparks, so only she and the Storm Guardian can touch it, and they don't know who that is yet. Later, Autumn is watching Heather when she wakes up and asks for food, so Autumn goes to make burgers. When she brings Heather her dinner, she finds that Heather is up and acting like a mental patient, muttering about dying and poison, and then Autumn treats her wound while she eats. Heather tells Autumn she has an empty orb in her backpack and that it belongs to the leader, but they don't know who that is. Autumn promises not to tell anyone and then leaves her with Hal, instructing him to give her ambrosia if she gets too bad, but she won't eat it unless he puts it in her favorite ice cream, and that he is not allowed to stay with her all night or do anything funny. Hal goes to sit with Heather and Autumn goes to the girls' room and has some ice cream with Ray, who she asks if he loves her. He says he does, and Autumn tells him goodnight and then he leaves and she goes to sleep.

Heather is acting a bit out of it when Hal attempts to talk to her, and he tells her that he has Asperger's Syndrome and that is why he can't communicate how he feels or understand emotions like everyone else can. Heather mostly manages to pay attention while he's talking about it, then goes to sleep. Hal leaves when the ship keeps lurching and he goes up to the deck where a monster created by Tartarus called Barelis is attacking them. Hal uses shadows to destroy the monster and the storm it created. Libby checks in on Heather and then accidentally burns her hands trying to steer the ship. Andy explains that as the son of Poseidon, he can steer, but he isn't supposed to use it. Libby makes dinner while Autumn is busy. They go back to camp to get some supplies and Hal tries to attack Andy for rudely pointing out that if Camp Trinity were his home, he wouldn't have left it, but Ray stops Hal. Libby tries to make them calm down, and Jackson stays on the ship with Heather. She tells him that something is his fault and she tries to stab him and tells him he is pathetic and that he is supposed to be able to manipulate fears but he won't. She says the weak don't survive and in her insanity, sing-songs about how one of them isn't five and that it's one of the two of them, referring to the sixth Guardian being one of them and one of them will die. Heather starts screaming at Jackson to kill her as she beats him up, but he knocks her out and when she wakes, she doesn't remember what happened. She goes to sleep and Jackson decides to go into the camp, and he finds the Garvok, a creature that the girls killed in Camp Trinity #1 when they were in the museum. He takes the ink poison and stores it for a later use. Autumn, Libby, Ray and Andy get supplies and Libby and Andy talk. He has a dream about the Guardians and a grave. Heather dreams about breaking into a large house and robbing it before she knew she was a demigod, and how she would give the money to those who needed it like Robin Hood. She wakes up and goes to camp feeling better and Autumn tells her to go back to the ship, but Heather says that they should hurry up. Then a boy about ten or so comes over and tells them that he is going with them, but they tell him no. He reads Heather's mind and communicates with her and asks her if she thought that she was the only one and he reveals he is the son of Zeus.

The boy, Henry Asher, explains he is the child of Zeus and that he is Heather's half-brother, but they refuse to let him come with them. Autumn starts talking about fashion and Heather makes a joke about Libby being the one who talks about clothes. Autumn calls the storm throne Heather's, but Heather says it probably isn't hers. Autumn then goes to touch the ship's wheel, but Andy tells her not to because it might hurt her like it hurt Libby. They hug and Ray sees, so Autumn rushes off to try to tell him that it wasn't what he assumed it was, but he yells at her that Andy is his best friend and Autumn cheated on him with Andy. He says he hates her and she is the worst girlfriend in the world, then storms off. Autumn goes into the girls' room and Libby and Heather try to make her feel better. We switch to Hal's point of view and he explains that he talked to Mr. Crowe about how they are fighting Ra, who Hal has a particular hatred for. Crowe says that what happened to Neal wasn't his fault, but Hal says he knows that, because it is Ra's. Later, they have frozen pizzas because Autumn is upset about Ray breaking up with her, and then they head back on their way. Hal asks how they are supposed to find the tower, but Heather acts out of character and says Jackson should be the leader because she doesn't want to be and it means being responsible for everybody dying and Jackson protests that she is supposed to be the leader, but she says she doesn't want it and leaves. Andy starts trying to boss everyone around and Hal asks who put him in charge, as Heather had just passed the leadership over to Jackson, and Ray says it should be him, and Andy argues that Hal can't get involved because he would be a terrible leader and they keep arguing until Jackson tells them all to shut up and that they need to stop picking fights or leave, then he leaves the room too. Then Libby leaves and Andy asks why they were arguing and Hal opts to pretend not to remember either, saying they were mad at Ray, which Andy agrees to because Ray hurt Autumn. They leave Ray with the dinner mess.

The locate the Storm Tower and ride towards it, and Autumn and Hal talk about Heather. Autumn touches Hal's shoulder and is surprised when he pulls away and he awkwardly tells her he doesn't like being touched. He thinks about how he actually does care about Autumn and hopes that the black eye Heather gave Ray stays messed up for a while to punish him for hurting Autumn, but he still doesn't feel close to her or like he can talk to her about his Asperger's Syndrome or anything. Hal changes the subject and quickly asks where the tower is, but Jackson says it doesn't exist like how the camp doesn't. They exist within a separate reality that only gods, monsters and demigods can find. It's how the camp stays hidden. The Bermuda Triangle is part of it. They use the key to locate the tower, which appears, and they notice a giant serpent in the tower. Libby uses her grappling hook to get up into the top of the tower so that they can get to the orb. Libby kills the Guardian and she and Heather use the storm abosrber and storm repellent to help Libby get to the orb so that she can become a Guardian. Once she gets the orb, she finds herself in a new outfit to match and they head back to the ship for dinner while Libby tries out her throne at the top of the mast. Heather and Jackson talk and Heather says that she is losing her mind and there is no cure that they can get to in time, and she asks him not to tell anybody that she is going to go crazy and die. She asks Jackson to kill her before she goes. In the final chapter, a storm that Heather and Libby can't stop even working together shipwrecks them. Autumn explains that there is definitely a sixth Guardian and that Heh gave them a blanket that is entirely heat and flame resistant, some clay to make a shabti to trap the soul in. Jackson explains that Heather is poisoned and dying, but leaves out that she will lose her mind, then they go to check the damage to the ship and learn that they are trapped on this deserted island with no way of getting off because Ra has trapped them.

**Narrated by**

Heather Green (Jo Grayson)

Hal James (Jo Grayson)

Jackson Stevens (Jo Grayson)

Autumn Stone (Eryn Kosinski)

Libby Rogers (Eryn Kosinski)

Andy Samson (Eryn Kosinski)

Ra (Jo Grayson)

**Trivia**

* This book has 49,863 words.
* This is the first book to include chapters from the perspective of Andy Samson.
* Jo Grayson no longer co-writes the majority of Libby's chapters, only about 2 in the entire series.
* Ocean is said to have wings in this, though in the past has been said to just be a horse.
	+ This was either a mistake or magic was used to give Ocean temporary wings. It is likely that they were temporary wings because they are mentioned to disappear before Ocean is teleported back to camp, whereas the other Pegasi are just teleported back with no mention of wings vanishing.
* Libby is the first of the demigods to become a Guardian.
	+ She became the Storm Guardian.
* Heather is poisoned and will lose her mind and die if they can't find a cure.
* This is the first book to contain chapters from Andy's perspective. This is also the first book in a series that will regularly have chapters from the perspectives of Hal and Jackson, who both had point of view chapters in Camp Trinity #3, Immortal Death.
* Ray is a major character in this series, but does not have chapters of his perspective.