Contents
14. Alliances
Overview
Exhausted after relentless training, the initiates get a brief study reprieve before General Cleandro forces a surprise circuit led by Fox when Leo sleeps. Drex helps Alexis survive the run, and Kharon pointedly menaces her at the Styx. Back in the library, Alexis fights off Titus and his cronies; Cleandro pointedly overlooks punishment while Augustus warns her to protect herself as a rare Chthonic. Alexis then formalizes an alliance with Drex, agreeing to tutor him.
Summary
Professor Augustus denies a real break but grants five hours in the library, warning the class—especially Alexis—that talent alone won’t save them. In the stacks, Drex proposes an alliance, seeking Thagorean help; Alexis, wary of him and overwhelmed, refuses. Titus taunts her relentlessly as the room falls into silent study.
General Cleandro interrupts class when Leo dozes off and summons Fox, heir to Athena, to run the circuit. Fox drags them into a brutal mountain ascent and a Styx swim. During the climb, a distant Titan’s scream rattles the group; Drex physically steadies and drags Alexis to keep her from falling. At the riverbank, Kharon appears, silently threatening Alexis before gliding away, unsettling everyone.
After the swim, back in the library, Titus escalates to grabbing Alexis. Triggered, Alexis punches him, knees him, and kicks him down; Alessander charges and she drops him with a chair. Leo rushes in, but Drex intercepts. Cleandro arrives with Augustus; under threat of extreme punishment, Titus claims it was an accident. Cleandro accepts the story and orders everyone back to study.
Augustus privately warns Alexis that Chthonics are rare and she must protect herself or he will “take action.” After he leaves, Alexis reconsiders and agrees to an alliance with Drex, offering to tutor him in the necessary math. As they study, she clings to fragile hope with two weeks left in the summer and only seven initiates remaining after Dimitrios’s disappearance.
Who Appears
- AlexisExhausted initiate; resists Titus, survives the circuit with Drex’s help, defeats attackers in the library, and forms an alliance with Drex.
- DrexHuman-raised initiate; seeks alliance and tutoring, helps Alexis on the mountain, fights Leo, then studies with Alexis.
- TitusPrimary antagonist initiate; taunts and grabs Alexis, gets beaten, then lies to avoid group punishment.
- Professor AugustusHarsh instructor; grants study time, fixates on Alexis’s rarity, privately warns her to protect herself.
- General CleandroEnforcer; triggers circuit due to Leo’s sleep, later accepts a cover story and forces everyone back to study.
- FoxHeir to the House of Athena; leads the brutal circuit, drags Leo, and pushes the initiates through run and Styx swim.
- NyxInvisible snake companion; urges violence against Titus, comforts and banters with Alexis throughout.
- LeoInitiate who falls asleep; triggers the circuit, later brawls with Drex and ends with a black eye.
- AlessanderTitus’s crony; menaces Alexis, then is knocked out by her with a chair and covered in vomit.
- KharonFerryman; appears at the Styx, silently threatens Alexis, heightening dread.
- MaximumExhausted initiate; present studying, earlier alone in the front row after Dimitrios’s absence.
- CassiusInitiate; tries to answer Cleandro before being cut off, observes the library fight aftermath.
- Professor PineInstructor; continues marathon lectures and meditation sessions during the grueling schedule.