Lore

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021

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Part 4, Seven Years Earlier-Seven Years EarlierChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “Dark Rivers”

Part 4, Seven Years Earlier Summary

Just before the start of the previous Agon, Lore can think of nothing but Aristos Kadmou’s ultimatum and her fear that her father will agree to give her to the Kadmides. Not even training with the Achillides helps clear her mind. During a break, one of the other kids taunts her with her fate, and Castor attacks the boy. They scuffle briefly until the instructor pulls them apart. The bully backs away, but Castor falls, convulsing.

The healers see to Castor, but there’s nothing they can do. Lore promises Castor that, if he dies, “I’ll follow you to the Underworld and drag you back” (323). Castor demands she swear not to rescue him from death but falls asleep before he can extract the promise.

Part 4, Chapter 38 Summary

Numb with shock at Castor’s death, Lore finds a group of Odysseides across the pond. Among them is Iro. The group is armed with “weapons they had taken from the Kadmides, at Lore’s insistence” (325). Fury builds in Lore. She engages Iro in battle, letting loose a lifetime of anger into the fight. Iro finally manages to get a hit in and gain some distance. She uses her weapon to keep Lore at bay, but the spear heats, turning into molten metal. Castor is alive and responsible for Iro’s ruined weapon.

Part 4, Chapter 39 Summary

Iro runs for her life. Castor reprimands Lore for killing one of Iro’s companions, but before they can get into an argument, Athena demands Castor tell the truth of what he is—how he can be alive after clearly dying. Castor claims he doesn’t know, but Athena doesn’t believe him. She’s sure his supposed memory block is “a convenient lie to cover the truth of how a god might escape the hunt” (330). Lore sides with Athena. Feeling betrayed, Castor leaves them.

Lore and Athena leave the park. As they reach the street, Lore hears a sound like thunder. A massive wave of water rolls down the street, swallowing everything in its path and “drowning the city whole” (331).

Part 4, Chapter 40 Summary

The water rages, seemingly unending and unstoppable. Athena watches it gravely, finally understanding what it means: “The false Poseidon lives, and she is allied with our enemy” (333). When the wave finally subsides, Lore and Athena track a Kadmide hunter to a hotel and settle in to keep watch.

While they wait, they discuss the puzzle of the Agon. Between Hermes posing as Gil and Castor’s inability to die, they know they’re missing something, but neither is sure what. Athena confesses that she’s unsure if she can fight and defeat Wrath alone. Lore considers giving Athena the aegis. The goddess knows how to use it, and letting Athena claim the power may not be such a bad thing, especially “if it meant that the Agon would finally end” (338).

The hunter finally emerges from the hotel. Lore and Athena follow her to a Kadmide safe house, where she meets up with hunters who come up from a hidden sanctuary underground.

Part 4, Seven Years Earlier Summary

During the previous Agon, Lore’s parents return home before the hunt’s end, even though they said they wouldn’t return until the seven days were over. Aristos Kadmou has ascended as Wrath, and it is no longer safe for Lore’s family in the Agon’s world. Her parents announce they will leave the city and that the Perseides “will hunt no more” (342).

Furious at the news, Lore curls up in bed. She refuses to run like a coward and to leave Castor to die. She knows if her parents just had a reminder of who they are, they would change their minds. She decides they need “what was rightfully theirs” (345), the aegis. Lore sneaks out to steal it.

Part 4, Seven Years Earlier-Seven Years Earlier Analysis

The flashback chapter offers insight into Lore and Castor’s relationship. Lore offers to retrieve Castor’s soul from the Underworld, which mirrors Orpheus and many other heroes who journeyed to the realm of the dead. Castor’s death in Chapter 37 mimics the fall he took after the brawl during practice. Both times, Castor didn’t truly die, and Lore’s reaction is the same, showing she hasn’t changed and will still do whatever it takes to get him back. Following his fall in the flashback, he ascends to godhood. After he’s shot on the waterfall, he rises healed in the next section, even though the arrow pierced his heart. His resurrection is the first sign there is something different about his godly power.

Iro’s betrayal fleshes out the brutal reality of the Agon and offers insight into Lore. Though Castor is an ally, Iro and the Odysseides have no problem betraying him because they believe having a god in their house will strengthen them against Wrath. They don’t yet realize the severity of the situation and that the Agon is changing. The betrayal also changes Lore. Up until now, Lore has lost herself in a fight due to past emotional triggers, such as the boy kissing her in Chapter 1. Here, Lore loses herself in the present, joining the two halves of her personality. She is still part of the Agon and the hunt, but she doesn’t fight for kleos or power—she fights for the people she cares about. Lore’s pieces coming together foreshadows how the Agon will truly be over at the end of the book.

Athena solidifies her web of lies in these chapters. Castor’s resurrection unintentionally helps Athena’s cause. Lore knows Castor is keeping secrets, and he refuses to tell her what they are, which makes Lore trust Athena because she believes the goddess is more truthful. Athena uses this to her advantage, painting Castor’s lie in a mistrustful light and further isolating Lore. In response, Lore starts to think she should give the aegis to Athena. Later, she realizes the stupidity of this idea, but at the time, this piece of Athena’s will feels like a natural course of action for Lore to take. Lore keeping the secret of the aegis’s location also helps Athena complete the web. Lore doesn’t trust anyone with the secret, and since Athena shows the most concern, Lore’s misdirected mind translates this as a desire to help, rather than a bid for power. Lore gets lost in the memory of why she took the shield. Since she believes the Kadmides killed her family over the shield, she doesn’t see how giving the aegis to Athena completes what the goddess started seven years ago.