She pulled out her phone. “We’re about to find out. Go get Cas.”

As Athena watched, Lore typed a message to Iro.

I need your help. Come to pond in Morningside Park ASAP.

But there was no reply.

Morningside Park served as the narrow boundary between Morningside Heights, poised high on its hundred-foot cliffs, and Harlem below. Lore and Miles had walked the length of it from 123rd to 110th Street any number of times; she sometimes met him there after he finished classes, or for the promise of lunch on his dime.

It had always unsettled her to see this piece of Manhattan’s original landscape standing defiant in the face of the modern buildings around it. Its rough terrain had refused to be tamed by developers. Dark cliffs interrupted several streets, and the only way to directly continue from one part of a road to another was to pass through the park on foot and use its many staircases to ascend or descend the sheer drop.

As they walked to one of the park’s entrances, Lore spotted a security camera nearby and pointed it out to the others.

“I looped the feeds in all of the park’s cameras,” Van told her. “We’re covered. For now.”

High in the distance, the pale cathedral of St. John the Divine was just visible through the gloom. Lore thought it was as scenic a place as any for a deadly confrontation.

Even considering the impending storm, the park was eerily quiet. She finally understood why when they came across the first body just inside the gate. A woman, with an arrow in her back.

“What news from the Odysseides?” Athena asked.

“Nothing,” Lore said. “But I don’t want to wait any longer. If they come, they come.”

Castor nodded, steeling himself as he rose from his crouch. “Let’s go.”

Then dogs began to howl.

Lore slowed as the realization set in.

“Oh no,” she said softly.

“What?” Van asked. “What’s happening?”

“Wrath isn’t the one who set the trap,” Lore choked out.

“It is my sister,” Athena said, holding her dory firm. “Artemis.”

“INCOMING,” VAN WARNED.

Dozens of dogs, their fur matted and mud-splattered, bounded down the path, barking and yelping. Some were strays, others had seemingly escaped their owners and still had leashes attached to their collars. Saliva foamed at their mouths.

“Bay hounds,” Athena said in disgust. They had armed themselves with the superior Kadmides weapons, and while Lore had chosen a dagger, the goddess had taken a small knife and dory, the latter of which she now used to keep the dogs back.

Bay hounds were used by hunters to chase, then circle up, their prey. They’d bark and howl to keep them cornered until the catch dogs, or the hunter, arrived.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lore caught a certain darkness gathering in the trees just behind Athena’s head. Birds and squirrels packed the branches, perched side by side in unnatural stillness, their eyes glowing gold with Artemis’s power.

They couldn’t even run. The chase would get the hounds’ blood up, and they would tear them apart.

“Ideas?” Castor asked the group. “Anyone?”

All at once, the dogs fell silent. Lore’s scalp prickled and tightened at the feeling of the unseen gazes around her.

Cats began to gather on the grass, the fur on their backs sticking up like knives.

Lore should have known Artemis’s instinct would be to hide amongst the wild things, even within the boundaries of a concrete-and-steel city. They’d be lucky if they even heard the whisper of the arrow before it pierced their hearts.

The dogs circled them. The ones at the back edged forward, closer, while those in front of them turned and started down the trail. Not to guide them, she realized, but to keep them from escaping.

“Are we just standing here like assholes and waiting for her to come kill us?” Lore said, removing the knife from the sheath strapped to her leg. “Come on.”

Her breath was loud in her ears as they followed the trail south. They were surrounded by full-bodied trees and a thick border of shrubs. As the path narrowed, it became claustrophobic. There were more bodies—men and women who had gone out for runs, others clearly coming and going from work or school. Lore’s whole being twisted at the sight of them, feeding her anger.

Artemis would answer for their deaths. Athena had been right all along. Her sister was beyond reason. Castor could try, he could hope, but Artemis would never ally with them, and now Lore would never accept the goddess’s help even if it was offered.

“This is your last chance to turn back, imposter,” Athena warned. “I will waste no breath protecting you from her.”

Lore looked to Castor. “Maybe you should . . .”

He wouldn’t hear it. “I’m here for Miles, and I won’t leave without him.”

“How did she even know he was involved in this?” Lore whispered.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Athena asked. “She has been watching and tracking our movements. She needed a way to draw us out.”

“Is there really no way to get through to her?” Van whispered. “She’s your sister.”

Looking at Athena now, though, Lore wondered if she had made a mistake in bringing her here. Athena wouldn’t do anything to endanger Lore’s life, as it would mean endangering her own, but . . . she hadn’t bound her fate to Castor’s. What was to stop Athena from serving Castor up on a platter to her sister to reignite their partnership?

Me, Lore thought, watching the powerful muscles of Castor’s back work with each step he took.

“She is not a beast to be soothed,” Athena warned. “When Apollo fell, her mind frayed and she became half a soul.”

Castor said nothing as he gazed into the dimly lit park.

By the time they reached the pond and its waterfall, the faint drizzle had picked up into a punishing rain. It slashed down onto the spread of green-tinged water, sending the surface into a frenzied dance. At the very center of it, positioned on his knees and slumped forward until his face was nearly in the rising water, was Miles.

Lore darted forward, but Castor held her back, forcing her to take cover with the others behind a nearby park bench.

She scanned the area around them, searching for any sign of movement. The dogs fell back to line the water’s edge. They sat, obedient, waiting for their next command. Lore followed their gazes across the pond.