Alex Stern, #2
Hell Bent
by Leigh Bardugo
Contents
Chapter 7
Overview
After placating Lethe and Scroll and Key leadership, Alex and Dawes race to Black Elm and discover Darlington alive but transformed, horned, and bound inside Sandow’s glowing chalk circle. The barrier burns on contact, forcing a retreat. As they withdraw, Detective Turner calls about a suspicious body at the med school, pulling Alex back into duty.
Summary
After Anselm departs, Alex and Dawes endure a late-night cascade of apology calls to Scroll and Key alumni and Lethe board members. Near midnight, they take Darlington’s Mercedes to Black Elm, unsettled by a flickering light upstairs and the scent of sulfur.
Inside, Cosmo bolts past them, half-singed. Following the heat and glow to the boarded ballroom, they find a golden, shimmering version of Sandow’s chalk circle containing Darlington—naked, horned, marked, and radiating heat, eyes closed in stillness. The sight confirms he survived but is altered and possibly dangerous.
When Dawes reaches toward the barrier, it burns her fingertips black, echoing Cosmo’s singed fur. A low growl from Darlington underscores the threat. Concluding the circle binds and bars him per Sandow’s banishment, Alex pulls Dawes away, deciding they lack the means and certainty to free him safely.
As they leave, Turner calls with a body at the med school, asking Lethe’s help. Alex, still Dante, drives Dawes home to recover and heads toward campus, torn between the horrifying revelation at Black Elm and her duty to investigate the new death.
Who Appears
- Alex SternProtagonist; discovers Darlington bound and transformed; restrains Dawes, retreats, and answers Turner’s call about a body.
- Pamela DawesLethe Oculus; attempts to free Darlington, burns her fingertips on the circle, and withdraws shaken.
- Daniel Tabor Arlington V (Darlington)Appears alive, horned, marked, and radiating heat; bound within Sandow’s glowing chalk circle; growls but does not speak.
- Detective Abel TurnerCalls Alex about a suspicious body at the med school, pulling her into official Lethe-Centurion work.
- CosmoBlack Elm’s cat; fur is singed, suggesting the circle burns on contact as he tried to cross to Darlington.