Contents
27. The Spartan Ball
Overview
After surviving the crucible, Alexis attends the masked Spartan Initiation Ball. Two wolf-masked men aggressively claim and touch her on the dance floor before Helen intervenes. As Professor Pine approaches her, the wolves threaten him, then Titans attack. Amid the chaos, a jaguar-masked abductor leaps Alexis and Helen to a shed and binds them, revealing a familiar face.
Summary
Two weeks after the crucible, Alexis prepares for the Initiation Ball, exhausted and still thawing from the trials. Helen arrives to style her, insisting on a black gown, flats, and a lion headpiece for the masquerade. Patro and Achilles arrive in animal masks, then leap the group to the grand ballroom packed with incognito Spartans.
Zeus finds Alexis, loudly praising her and hinting at honors after graduation. Overwhelmed and hungry, Alexis tries to sit, but a wolf-masked man with crystal eyes confronts her, soon joined by another with emerald eyes. They force a dance, crowding and touching her intimately while calling her Latin endearments and insisting she “belongs” to them. Alexis resists, but they remain unmoved until Patro and Achilles interrupt and Helen pulls her away.
Helen steers Alexis to dance with Professor Pine, who speaks amicably until the two wolf-masked men reappear and threaten Pine into silence with a dagger at his throat. Suddenly, shouts announce Titans attacking, and the ballroom erupts in panic and explosions. Amid smoke and bodies, Helen tries to reach Alexis.
A jaguar-masked man seizes Alexis and leaps her away. She wakes in a freezing, dilapidated shed at dawn, wrists bound by rope to a wall hook; Helen lies nearby, also tied and unconscious. The captor removes his mask, and Alexis recognizes him with shock.
Who Appears
- AlexisExhausted initiate; attends the masked ball, coerced into an intimate dance by two wolves, then abducted and bound.
- HelenAlexis’s friend and stylist; outfits her, rescues her from the wolves’ dance, later abducted and tied with Alexis.
- Wolf-masked man (emerald eyes)Dominating dancer who claims Alexis with possessive language and intimate touch; threatens Pine.
- Wolf-masked man (crystal eyes)Partner to the emerald-eyed wolf; equally possessive, restrains and gropes Alexis; menaces Pine with a dagger.
- PatroMentor in a boar mask; arrives at the ball and interrupts the wolves confronting Alexis.
- AchillesMentor in a hyena mask; accompanies Patro and helps break the wolves’ hold on Alexis.
- ZeusApproaches Alexis at the ball, publicly praising her and hinting at honors after graduation.
- Professor PineMath professor who dances politely with Alexis before being threatened into silence by the wolves.
- Jaguar-masked captorAbducts Alexis during the Titan attack, leaps her to a shed, binds her; revealed as someone she knows.