Contents
24. Suffering
Overview
In brutal December cold, Alexis deteriorates under the crucible while haunted by Leo’s death. Augustus fixates on “Charlie,” corners and pins Alexis, declares no one else may have her, and attempts another mental breach. Disoriented, Alexis wanders the menagerie, suffers frostbite, revives the pup, and limps back to study as Augustus seethes.
Summary
In early December, Alexis and her classmates shiver through class, hollowed by the crucible and Leo’s recent death. Titus taunts Alexis until Augustus storms in, accuses her of flirting, and shifts the lesson to leaping’s anchor of “home.” When Alexis nearly names Charlie, Augustus fixates and demands to know who he is.
During the lecture, Alexis frays, hearing whispers and losing time. Later, after a hazy library break, Augustus leads the group to the menagerie but singles Alexis out. In a dark corridor he pins her to the wall, presses his knee between her legs, and growls that no other man is allowed to have her. He invokes his duty as eldest heir and tries to force the answer—pushing at her mind—while Alexis resists through exhaustion.
Augustus abruptly softens, tidies her, and orders her to stay put. Disoriented, Alexis later finds herself sprawled by the frozen lake in the menagerie, bleeding and frostbitten. A cheetah-like beast flees her blood scent, but the pup, Fluffy Jr., returns, chokes on a stick, and Alexis performs frantic CPR to save him.
Augustus calls time, furious to see her injured, but swallows his reaction and marches the class out. Hours later, during Pine’s math lecture, Alexis answers correctly even as she trembles from fatigue. In the library, barely held upright by Drex, she finds an index card as the chapter closes on her ongoing sleep-deprived spiral.
Who Appears
- AlexisExhausted and freezing; haunted by Leo’s death; interrogated and pinned by Augustus; resists a mental breach; suffers frostbite; saves the pup.
- AugustusInstructor fixated on “Charlie”; physically corners Alexis, claims her, attempts mind intrusion; later tends briefly, then fumes at her injuries.
- DrexProtective classmate; challenges Augustus briefly, studies with Alexis, keeps her seated and functioning in the library.
- General CleandroOversees class amid post-Titan tension; his presence reins in Augustus during an early outburst.
- TitusTaunts Alexis in class after Leo’s death; silenced when Augustus intervenes.
- PineMath instructor; quizzes Alexis on zero and praises her quick answer despite her decline.
- PocoAugustus’s creature; hisses at Alexis and rides his shoulder, mirroring Augustus’s agitation.
- NyxSerpent companion in deep brumation; seeks warmth under Alexis’s toga, barely responsive.
- Fluffy Jr.Odd pup who returns to Alexis; nearly chokes on a stick until she revives him.
- AlessanderClassmate shown crawling from exhaustion during study, reflecting the cohort’s collapse.