Lore

Tidebringer tells Lore and Athena she was captured at the Agon’s start and given a choice—to die or lend her power to Wrath as needed. She agreed to lend her power in hopes she would survive the Agon to take action in the next one. She fills them in on Wrath’s plan to crush any opposing gods through war once he wins the Agon and awakens his full power. Lore argues he can’t win without the poem, and Tidebringer tells her that Wrath’s had the poem for years. He’s spent this Agon putting his plan into motion and is “within days—hours—of winning the hunt” (353).

The unconscious guard wakes and makes a run for it. Athena goes after him. As soon as the goddess is gone, Tidebringer warns Lore to get away from Athena. Hermes saw Lore the night she stole and hid the aegis, and he told Athena everything. Before Lore can make a move, Athena returns and kills Tidebringer.

Lore breaks into the Kadmide property where the aegis is kept. The building is a restaurant, and the shield is in a secret room beneath a walk-in freezer, encased in glass. In the process of retrieving the shield, she sets off alarms, but she manages to escape with the aegis and runs for it. At first, she is giddy with the idea the Kadmides will never forget who bested them. As her adrenaline wears off, she realizes her face was probably caught on camera. The Kadmides will know she stole the shield, as well as “who to blame and who to punish” (360). She hides with the shield to figure out what to do next.

Horrified, Lore realizes Athena killed her family, not the Kadmides. The goddess knew Lore took the aegis and came to get it back, using the window Lore left open to gain access to the house. When Lore’s family didn’t know where the shield was, Athena kept tabs on Lore for the next seven years, even as Hermes protected Lore and, by extension, the aegis’s location.

Lore fights Athena, but she’s no match for the goddess. Athena shatters Lore’s hand and embeds a spear in her thigh. With Lore subdued, Athena reveals Artemis wasn’t crazy—that Athena promised to deliver Castor to Artemis so the other goddess could destroy him. Athena demands Lore bring her to the aegis, threatening to destroy everything and everyone Lore loves. Lore can’t let Athena get the shield, and refuses by declaring, “The choice is mine” (367). She breaks off part of the spear embedded in her leg and stabs herself through the chest.