Contents
28. The Slayer
Overview
Alexis awakens bound in Theros’s kill site and learns he is the Zeus heir who murders House mutts by luring Titans. She maims her hands to free herself and Helen, cripples a charging Titan, and executes an unprecedented group leap to the Dolomite Coliseum. Before the gathered Houses, Alexis storms toward House Zeus, forcing a public reckoning that will upend political power and expose Theros’s crimes.
Summary
Alexis wakes bound in a bone-strewn shed, facing her kidnapper in a lion mask. He unmasks as Theros, heir of House Zeus, who boasts he alone deserves the crown and has been murdering Zeus “mutts” by tying them for Titans to kill. He denies killing the siren or Maximum, implying a second stalker.
Theros bangs metal to attract a Titan and then flees via leap when Nyx attacks, leaving Alexis and unconscious Helen to die. With a Titan closing in, Alexis shatters and dislocates her hands to slip her bonds. Helen wakes and directs Alexis to a hidden thigh-knife; despite excruciating pain, Alexis saws Helen free.
A Titan bursts in. Alexis blinds it by driving the knife into its eye and repeatedly slams the shed door on its head to buy seconds. With no weapons and the Titan rising, Alexis focuses on home and attempts an impossible solution: a group leap.
In an explosion of darkness and pain, Alexis, Helen, and Nyx materialize on the sands of the Dolomite Coliseum before graduation. Kharon and Augustus rush forward in fury at Alexis’s injuries, demanding a name. Alexis ignores them, scans the gathered Houses, and stalks toward House Zeus, bloodied and enraged.
As Zeus frowns and questions the disruption, Alexis rips off her lion head and lunges, initiating a public confrontation that threatens to expose Theros’s murders and destabilize House Zeus amid the assembled Twelve.
Who Appears
- AlexisKidnapped by Theros; maims her hands to escape, frees Helen, blinds a Titan, and performs an unprecedented group leap to the Coliseum.
- TherosZeus heir and serial killer of House mutts; lures Titans to murder victims, abducts Alexis and Helen, then flees via leap.
- HelenAbducted with Alexis; provides hidden knife, is freed, and survives the Titan attack and leap.
- NyxSerpentine companion; attempts to attack Theros, is stunned, then survives Alexis’s group leap.
- KharonFinds Alexis on the Coliseum sands; furious, demands the assailant’s name.
- AugustusAt the Coliseum; draws a gun in rage upon seeing Alexis’s injuries.
- ZeusPresent at graduation; becomes Alexis’s public target as she charges House Zeus.
- TitanMonstrous attacker drawn by Theros; is blinded by Alexis and briefly trapped by the shed door.