Galaxy Stern

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**Alex Stern** (born Galaxy Stern) is the main protagonist of *Ninth House (2019)*. After surviving an unsolved multiple homicide, Alex gets a second chance at life at Yale University having been recruited by Lethe House due to her ability to see ghosts, also known as Grays.

## Biography

### Early Life

Galaxy 'Alex' Stern was born to a Jewish mother, Mira Stern and a father she has never known. Along with her mother, who raised her in the San Fernando Valley of California in a small apartment in Studio City, Alex had a close relationship with her grandmother, Estrea Stern.

At twelve years old, Alex started going by 'Alex' instead of Galaxy in an effort to seem more normal to her peers. However, Alex was born with the ability to see ghosts, whom she called the Quiet Ones, and she felt unsafe and uncomfortable because of them from a very young age. She would realize they were dangerous when a Gray sexually assaulted her during a school trip. Afterwards, Alex was further ostracized by her classmates, who did not believe her or take her seriously and thought she was seeking attention; Alex's teachers thought she was acting out, while her mother was unable to help her.

Alone and with no friends, Alex met an older girl, Mosh, and her group of friends, including Len Beacon. They introduced Alex to drugs, and Alex quickly learned that alcohol and certain kinds of drugs would prevent her from seeing Grays. While she never got into the harder drugs, afraid what will happen if she lost complete control, Alex kept herself in a modulated haze for years. She dropped out of high-school at age fifteen and lived with Len and his group as Len's girlfriend in a squat apartment on Cedros Avenue, Van Nuys, which they called Ground Zero.

At some point, Alex and Len met Hellie Watson, a girl they met at the Santa Monica Pier who Len eventually invited to live with them at Ground Zero. Alex eventually got a tattoo of the arcane symbols of The Wheel tarot card on her left forearm after pulling that card from Hellie’s tarot deck moments before they’d walked into a tattoo shop on the boardwalk. She sat for the tattoo with no real idea what it meant.

### Ninth House

#### Last Summer

Len Beacon invited Eitan Shafir's cousin Ariel Harel to Ground Zero for a party, intent on getting Eitan to involve him in dealing heavier drugs. Alex protested, only for Len to dismiss her. Alex dragged Hellie out of the apartment and on the bus. Hellie voices her concern about potentially losing Ground Zero, as Len had said that keeping the apartment depended on making Ariel happy. The pair took the bus all the way to UCLA's campus, but Hellie wasn't enjoying herself, and stated she can't be homeless again. Alex tries to reassure her, but Hellie was done talking and takes Alex to see a movie at a theater. Eventually, Alex fell asleep, only to wake up and see that Hellie was gone.

Figuring she went back to Ground Zero for the party, Alex got back to Van Nuys as fast she could, but arrived hours later. She snuck into the party, and after trying to text Hellie, she fell asleep in the back bedroom. She woke up to find Hellie lying down beside her, upset and clinging on to Alex for comfort. Alex woke again at 3 am, Hellie still beside her. Alex realized she was looking at Hellie's ghost and that her real body was laying still on the mattress. Disoriented, Alex grew upset, trying to touch Hellie's ghost only for her hands to pass through, getting glimpses of Hellie's childhood and the moment of Ariel's sexual violence. Alex's screaming caught the attention of Len, who panicked at the sight of Hellie's body.

In shock, Alex tried to process Len's plan to dump Hellie outside of a club to stage it like a simple overdose, along with Betcha's agreement. As the two men carried Hellie's body out of the room into the living room, Ariel observed what was going on, unbothered. Before they could exit, Alex shut the door and—not entirely sure what she was doing—invited Hellie in. Now glowing and hovering in the air, Alex picked up a bat and swung with her left, bludgeoning Len, Betcha, and Ariel to death, and used the remaining pieces of the bat to stake the two remaining occupants of the apartment—two men named Cameron Aust and Dave Corcoran.

Exhausted, Alex allowed Hellie to guide her to LA River to wash the blood off, before going back to Ground Zero. Placing Hellie's body back into the bedroom, the two of them lay there. When she woke up, Hellie was gone. Alex was found naked and comatose by emergency services, with enough fentanyl in her system to mimic a near-overdose, a side effect of Hellie possessing her. When she woke up again at the hospital, Alex was handcuffed to her bed. At some point, Dean Elliot Sandow would visit Alex in her hospital room and showed Alex her school essay titled *A Day in My Life*, that depicted seeing ghosts. After confirming that she continues to see spirits, Sandow makes a proposition to attend Yale University for free, in exchange for joining Lethe House.

Only a day after, Eitan Shafir paid a visit to Alex's hospital room, slipping past the police officers post at her door. He started to interrogate her about the events of Ground Zero, but with no care, Alex immediately confessed to killing all of them. Eitan was shocked and then exasperated, believing her to be a delusional junkie. Dismissing her confession, Eitan states that she owes him six thousand dollars for the fentanyl and leaves. Having a nurse grab a phone, Alex called Sandow's number and accepted his offer, with the provision she gets six thousand dollars. He agreed.

#### Fall

Lethe House provided Alex with a full ride to Yale University, along with a portfolio of paintings and glowing recommendations in order to excuse her academic lapses. Upon Sandow's suggestion, Alex picked up sketchbooks that were enchanted to control Alex's motions in order to create competent paintings, although the images that she painted and drew seemed to come from her subconscious.

During the first day of moving into Vanderbilt Hall, Alex met her roommates (Lauren, Mercy Zhao, Anna Breen). She wore a long-sleeved shirt unsuitable for the hot weather in order to hide her tattoos. As she was settling in, Darlington entered the common room and greeted Alex with familiarity, introducing himself to her roommates as Alex's cousin—a lie which Alex cautiously plays along with. Darlington makes an excuse to pull Alex from the room, telling her roommates that Alex made a promise for a family obligation. Alex relents to this, although before leaving, she gets Darlington to pay for the girls' couch.

As they pass through the buildings of Old Campus, Darlington agrees with Alex assertion that his lie was a test, but was also a convenient excuse for when she has to conduct Lethe business. Alex listens Darlington lectures on the history of Yale and New Haven and the significance in the way it was built. As the pair makes it across the New Haven Green, Alex relaxes as she notices that there are no Grays lurking around. Darlington nods, explaining that Grays tend to steer clear from graveyards and reminders of death. Alex was immediately interested when he told her more methods of protection and warding against Grays, and expressed further interest in getting Darlington to ward her dorms and teach her how to do it too.

When they leave the protection of the green, Alex regains her tension, noticing all the Grays in town. She asks what draws them to New Haven. Darlington goes to explain the scholarly history of New Haven's magic; how people noticed magic at New Haven was stronger, how the magical societies of Yale built their tombs over the town's nexuses, how the societies have built a network of influential, powerful alumna. The pair finally arrive to the front yard of Il Bastone, where Darlington set the Lethe spirit hounds on Alex. Startled, Alex landed on the grass as she tensely told Darlington to call off the hounds. Alex finds out the jackals were spirit hounds, bound to serve the sons and daughters of Lethe. When Darlington inquires after the long sleeves, Alex held out her sleeves for him to push up, only for him to do so and observe her tattoo sleeves. With that, the duo entered the Lethe House headquarters—Il Bastone.

Alex immediately noticed the quiet of Il Bastone, taking a breath as she could sense that it was warded simply by the lack of Grays. She comments how un-tomblike Il Bastone is, and Darlington agrees, emphasizing that Lethe House isn't a society and that individual Dante's, unlike other society delegates, are chosen once every three years. Darlington introduces her to Pamela Dawes, aka Oculus. Pamela, reserved and awkward, makes a short introduction to Alex before leaving the room. Taking Alex upstairs, Darlington and Alex toured around the rest of Il Bastone, taking a stop at the second floor armory, where Hiram's Crucible sat in the middle of the room. Alex listens as Darlington explains its origins and its importance in brewing Orozcerio. Alex likens it to drugs, to which Darlington had no response.

Alex was shown the Dante rooms and took the space in, turning slowly. When Darlington asked when she first saw Grays, she responded that she didn't remember, as at first she thought they were just people. It wasn't until she told a boy from her class who wanted to show her his genitalia that she has already saw a lot of them that her case got reported to CPS and unbeknownst to her, that she was noticed by Lethe's network. Darlington inquired to the events on the Cedros apartment and Alex—realizing he meant Ground Zero—told him she didn't remember what happened.

Abruptly, Darlington takes Alex down the hall to the Il Bastone armory and takes out the address moths. Alex, initially skittish of their resemblance to butterflies, willed herself to stay still as Darlington placed the moths along her arms and sternum, where her tattoos were placed, and as he said a short incantation. Alex stared in awe as the moths darkened and the ink vanished from her skin. Darlington warns Alex that the magic gets reversed when the skin comes into contact with human saliva. When Alex returns to Vanderbilt dorms, she settled in with Lauren and Mercy.

The first Thursday night ritual was with Aurelian. In preparation, Darlington gave Alex two weeks to prep herself, instructing her to read excerpts from Fowler’s Bindings and a short treatise on portal magic from the early days of Scroll and Key, as well as to bring the necessary protection material. That night, Alex waited nervously for Darlington in Il Bastone's parlor next to an occupied Pamela. Darlington and Alex made their way to Beinecke Library and on the walk, Alex stated all she knew about Aurelian, with Darlington filling in the gaps.

At the library, Alex would briefly meet John Zelinski (the delegation president) and Amelia (the rite's Emperor) before Darlington instructs her to guard the southern and eastern gates of the perimeter and warns Alex of the fatal consequences should Grays get through. Alex was skeptical at the seemingly weak solutions to banishing Grays—death words or graveyard dirt. Alex watched as Darlington ingested Orozcerio and, after his full-body shudder, he tells Alex to banish the Gray lurking in the room: Frederic Prokosch. Alex was panicked, but with a push from Darlington she yelled, "*Take courage! No one is immortal!*" Alex was baffled by how easy it was to banish him.

Aurelian began their inspiration spell on Zeb Yarrowman at midnight. Alex was enthusiastic in banishing the Grays but her ease vanished when a Gray was able to touch Alex and knock her over, effectively smudging the chalk markings around the south gate. Overwhelmed, Alex began singing a song her grandmother used to sing in ladino*,* which slowed the Grays down a lot. When she sang all she could, Alex chanted, “*Quien no sabe de mar no sabe de mal*," which caused a wave of Grays to be banished. Inspired, Darlington shouted death words from the real Virgil, which gave him the chance to hastily reinforce the marks of protection. Alex was still shaken as she took Darlington's hand to stand upright. She tried to apologize, but Darlington quickly quieted her.

The ritual over, Zelinski and the Emperor were furious at their ritual's potential ruination. Alex watched as Darlington turned their anger back to them, asserting the ritual almost unleashed a horde of phantoms. He threatened to report Aurelian for putting him and his Dante at risk—to which Zelinski immediately protested. The pair explained that Aurelian was campaigning to get their rooms in SSS Hall back and tried to placate Darlington by saying they'll make a bigger donation to Lethe this year. Darlington dismissed them, doing the same to Alex when she tried to quietly thank him.

The pair cleaned up the chalk markings and checked on Zeb's health before walking back to Il Bastone. Alex followed Darlington as he went to the kitchen, slumping into a chair at the kitchen table as Darlington finished off a glass of wine. He asked what happened. Alex told him she just got startled when a Gray touched her. Darlington was shocked and then skeptical—it was rare for Grays to use enough energy to become tangible. He reproached her preparedness, leading Alex to burst in anger, outraged at the fact no one from Lethe protected her when she was growing up, when she was vulnerable to Grays.

Darlington protested, stating that Grays were usually harmless, only for Alex to grab his wine glass and throw it against the wall in effort to make him see that he knew nothing about what Grays could do. Alex expressed her resentment at being told at how to protect herself only when she became useful to Lethe. Silent now, Darlington rose and opened a cupboard full of glassware and poured another glass of wine, handing it to Alex. The pair then got drunk on expensive red wine and smashed thousands of dollars of glass and china. Darlington blearily remarked on the moment being a metaphor for something, although he didn't know what.

After the night of the Aurelian rite, Alex and Darlington's working and personal relationship improved. They monitored the first transformations at Wolf's Head, a raising at Book and Snake, an unsuccessful portal opening at Scroll and Key, and an unsuccessful storm summoning by St. Elmo's—all without much trouble. She and Darlington would have pen in Wolf's Head member Shane Mackay while he tried to shake off his rooster form. The Book and Snake raising was more successful, especially compared to the failed attempts at magics by Scroll and Key and St Elmo's. Alex compared it to a man's impotence after drinking too much.

On Halloween, Alex and Darlington went to the Manuscript party, intending to supervise the society's culling of magic. As Darlington met her in the alley behind the Hutch, she complained about how cold it was, though Darlington insisted on walking the three blocks to Manuscript's tomb. She went as Queen Mab as part of a group themed costume with her roommates Mercy and Lauren, who she had plans to meet at Pierson Inferno. Her costume consisted of a black cape, heavily lined eyes, big gold earrings, a crown with plastic flowers, and a black sheath dress. The pair passed Kate Masters and the public party, and Darlington warns her of ingesting anything that might be Manuscript magic. Darlington explains how Manuscript uses the energy and delusions of the night's party to power their illusion magic for the rest of the year.

The pair met Doug Far, who was guarding the entrance to the lower levels, and headed downstairs, through the four of the eight secret levels to the fifth floor. At the main party, Darlington pointed out the purple-tongued individuals, explaining to Alex that they've taken Merity, the drug of service. Alex was introduced to the gathering's Lan Caihe, who expressed Manuscript's disappointment in Lethe's chosen Dante. Alex was then confronted by a drugged Darlington, who in his altered state saw her as Queen Mab and was overwhelmed by the power in and around her. Darlington had knelt, pushing up her skirt, bracing his hands on her thighs. Alex snapped Darlington out of the worst of his drugged state by biting his ear hard enough to draw blood.

She began pushing him up the staircase to the ground floor exit. Kate Masters and Mike Awolowo followed them down the street to Hutch, begging her not to report Manuscript to Lethe. Mike explains desperately that Darlington getting drugged wasn't sanctioned by the delegation but was the result of a Manuscript alumna who had ill will towards him and wanted to play a prank. Alex agreed to say the drugging was an accident in her report in exchange for Mike owing her a favor, although later she told Darlington she gave the true, but bare details of the incident.

Alex stayed the night at Black Elm in the narrow bed with Darlington. She had awoken with Darlington spooning her with his hand on her breast, and quickly woke him up. Flustered and embarrassed, Darlington apologizes. Alex easily forgives him and shrugs off the incident. In apology, he made breakfast for the both of them and called a car to drop them off at the Hutch.

Alex and Darlington's working relationship didn't suffer after the Manuscript party. They attended Alex's first prognostication at Skull and Bones in the operating room in SSS Hall. Alex, with ginger candy in her mouth, tried not to throw up at the amount of blood and gore. By this point in the year, however, Alex was struggling to balance the academic demands of her classes with the demands of her Lethe duties.

On Tuesday, December 10, Darlington called Alex to meet him at Il Bastone that night for a Lethe emergency. As they left headquarters, Darlington told her that Rosenfeld Hall, the former tomb of St. Elmo's, is causing trouble again. Inside, Darlington handed Alex a pair of rubber gloves and boots. Alex asks why this couldn't have waited, and Darlington goes to explain that the years St. Elmo's spent summoning storms has for some reason caused said weather to return to Rosenfeld Hall once or twice a year. Leading her to a old fuse box, Darlington pulled out a silver weather vane from his bag and handed it to Alex, instructing her to blow on it. Alex did so, and the vane started spinning. As it span faster, Darlington hit all the switches and the pair watched as room flared with bright light and the weather vane went flying against the wall.

After, Darlington prompted Alex to talk about her assignment on Spenser's *The Fairie Queene* as he led her through the basement of Rosenfeld Hall*.* Alex mentioned an annoying kid in her section and his claim about the supremacy of left-handed writers. Darlington refuted the her classmate's claim and Alex idly responded that being left-handed *was* inherently messy; Hellie always had pen marks on her hand when she had been journaling.

When Darlington asked who Hellie was, Alex knew instantly she said too much. Darlington stared at her, deducing very quickly that Alex and Hellie killed those men at Ground Zero. Alex asked what he was going to do, although they both knew that he had to report her to Dean Elliot Sandow and to the Lethe Board. For her part, Alex wanted to explain her actions to Darlington, even though she certainly didn't feel any remorse for what she did. She knew what Darlington feared most was not her abilities, but that she'll be a danger in the future. Alex was willing to lie about her role, that Hellie had possessed her unwillingly, if only to keep her spot at Lethe and at Yale. Darlington refocused to the portal in the corner of the basement; he told Alex that he'll ward it and that they'll talk later at Il Bastone, to Alex's flat agreement. However, as Darlington began warding, something grabbed hold of him, and Darlington tried to tell Alex it wasn't a portal at all. As Darlington was swallowed, Alex was frozen in indecision and was left to regret her own inaction.

That night, Alex informed Sandow about Darlington's disappearance through text. At Il Bastone, Sandow listened along with Pamela as Alex explained how Darlington disappeared. Sandow concluded Darlington must have disappeared through a portal, despite Alex' protests that Darlington said it wasn't. He explained Darlington is probably trapped in a pocket realm, not even perceiving time, and that he would need to be brought back through a retrieval spell on a new moon. Wanting to keep his disappearance quiet, Sandow created a cover story for Darlington's absence, that he was in Spain to study the nexus beneath San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Since then, Sandow has kept Alex and Pamela occasionally updated on his efforts and stalling so that they would skip the new moon in January.

Alex spent her winter break at Il Bastone, watching movies on a laptop Lethe bought for her and skyping her mom from time to time.

#### Winter

Alex Stern was late. After dosing off attempting to write an essay for her Modern British Novel course, she had woken up at half past ten, stumbling out of Sterling Library and booking it to SSS Hall. Tripp Helmuth was there to greet Alex as she entered, slouched near the doors as the rest of the Skull and Bones delegation conducted the night's prognostication. Tripp's eyes were blood shot—indicating that he was high off weed and Alex guesses the elder Bonesmen stuck him for guard duty as a result. As the Haruspex read the entrails of Micahel Reyes, a victima the society picked up from Yale New Haven Hospital, Alex eyed the two Grays in the operating theater. Alex recalled Darlington's shock that she could see Grays in color when even with Orozcerio, Grays appeared devoid of color. She recalled her feeling of smugness, although she's now jittery at the thought that of possibly messing up the protection markings around the rite's perimeter.

Alex started feeling sick, she could smell the parsley that was fed to Reyes before the rite. She then heard the Grays give a low moan, and after surreptitiously glancing at them, Alex was shocked to find the two Grays leaning off the railing in a frenzy. Their moaning became louder as the wood on the railing creaked with the force applied to them. Alex got ready to run in fear, especially as the room shook with the force of something from beyond the Veil when all of a sudden, the moaning stopped. Having caught the room's attention, Alex apologized for the interruption before vomiting on the floor.

Alex cleaned up the vomit with the help of Miranda, a redheaded Bonesman. Michael Reyes was finally sewn back up at 3 am, transported back to the hospital cloaked in obfuscation veils. Alex wondered what made the Grays act that way. Exiting into the main hallway, Alex was again greeted by Tripp Helmuth, who offered to slip Alex some of the stock tips when they get transcribed. Alex responded with irritation, knowing that Tripp came from a wealthy family. When Tripp idly asked about Darlington's whereabouts, Alex smoothly responded that he was in Spain before she left, debating whether to head back to her dorms or spend the night at a Lethe house. Alex knew that if was caught sneaking into the dorms by Mercy or Lauren, they would immediately smell the stink of the Veil.

Checking her phone for the time, Alex swore as she realized that Pamela Dawes aka Oculus had been texting her to call. Alex, knowing that her calling on a Thursday night likely meant trouble from the Houses of the Veil, immediately called back. Pamela informed Alex that there was a body found at Payne Whitney Gymnasium, a possible homicide, and that Centurion is already on site. Alex cut through campus through Grove Street to find the crime scene in front of the gym, where she noticed a group of Grays (including the Bridegroom). Spotting Centurion, aka Detective Abel Turner, Alex texted him and then texted him again when he ignored her, telling him she'd call Dean Elliot Sandow. Walking over to her, Turner asserts he doesn't understand why she's even there and Alex protests that it's Thursday but the detective dismisses her— saying that the victim is a white girl, a *townie* and not involved with the university. He tells that Alex did her job as Dante and that he's giving her the go ahead to go home.

Alex was tempted to just leave the case alone, but she knew that the people most vulnerable to the Houses of the Veil were people considered *town*, people like Alex. Quickly, Alex walked toward the coroner's van, tricking the uniformed coroner into picking up Alex's coin of compulsion. She ordered him to show her the body. The girl was covered in stab wounds centered around her heart where her sternum had collapsed. The coroner tells Alex that Turner thinks the boyfriend did it, having priors in dealing and possessions and that the girl did too. Alex noted that the girl was blonde, like Hellie. The coroner tells Alex that her name was Tara Hutchins and that time of death was sometime around eleven pm; she noticed that time of death was right around the freak out during the Skull and Bones prognostication rite. Telling the coroner to forget ever meeting her, Alex swiftly exited the van.

Alex stopped by the Hutch in the early morning to wash off the stink of the Veil with verbena soap filled with cedar and palo santo. As she was entering the Vanderbilt dorms, Alex receives a text from Sandow, informing her to "rest easy." She felt frustrated, knowing that the dean didn't trust her with her as Dante and that he was just waiting for Darlington to return. While Sandow was in charge of setting up the new moon rite to get him back, Alex was stuck ensuring people didn't know Darlington was missing.

Alex entered the common room to find her roommate Mercy reading. Alex, lying, said that she came in late last night and got up early to run. Mercy handed Alex back her essay that she edited, offering to go over it during breakfast. Alex chose the easiest subjects possible—English Literature, Spanish II, an introductory sociology course, painting—yet she struggled to keep up with the academic demand. Getting ready for breakfast, Alex takes some eye drops of basso belladonna to energize her.

At the dining hall in Johnathan Edwards, Mercy mentions possibly wearing a skirt to the Omega Meltdown party tomorrow night and gets Alex to agree to accompany her. Just as the basso belladonna takes into effect, Alex notices Professor Maguerite Belbalm entering the cafeteria and waving her over for a conversation. Belbalm invites her to talk in her office, calling her as 'Alexandra,' and Alex tries to think of what she could have done wrong. Alex was put on academic probation at the end of the fall semester; Belbalm as head of Johnathan Edwards College informed her of her academic status and was sympathetic to her struggle, assuming that Alex was dyslexic. Alex didn't correct her from that notion.

Outside of Belbalm's office, Alex spots one of Professor Belbalm's two assistants: Colin Khatri, a member of Scroll and Key and a chemistry prodigy. Alex recalled asking Colin if Belbalm knew about the Houses of the Veil, but according to Colin, she thinks they're just elitist bullshit—which Alex thinks isn't entirely wrong. As Alex entered Belbalm's office, she felt relaxed by the peaceful atmosphere. Settled into their chairs, Belbalm tries to ask Alex what she is dreaming for, if only to motivate Alex in her academics. Alex had nothing to say, so Belbalm offers her a job as a summer assistant and suggests her attendance at an composition program during the summer, getting Alex to agree to attend her salon the next week. Alex thinks on this as she exits Belbalm's office, knowing that a summer to recuperate and think on what she wants would be perfect.

Alex attended her Spanish II class, hearing people whisper about Tara Hutchins' murder. After class, she had two hours to rest before her English lecture. Instead of doing so, Alex went to Payne Whitney gym once again to see the crime scene. She supposed Tara would have had to be murdered there, as no one would try to get rid of the body at an intersection. She knew that there was something particular, maybe even familiar, about the scene of crime, taking note of how the intersection cut through the crime scene. Alex spotted the cluster of Grays in front of the gym, and saw the Bridegroom. Alex recalled that he was an actual haunter, able to make his presence felt in the former carriage factory where he killed his fiancee and then himself. When she got back to Vanderbilt, the crash of basso belladonna hit hard, and Alex tried to dismiss her lingering suspicion over the crime scene and Tara's resemblance to Hellie. Decision made, Alex reached over to her dresser for more basso belladonna drops, deciding she'd dedicate one more afternoon to Tara Hutchins' murder.

Alex walked to Il Bastone, intending on searching the Lethe library. The house released a creaky sigh as it opened its doors for Alex, and idly Alex wondered if the Lethe spirit hounds underneath the porch needed food. Alex knew that Pamela Dawes was probably in the first floor parlor, making it easy to sneak into the kitchen for food. On the second floor, Alex flipped to the last entry page of the Albemarle Book and felt a low thrum of electricity, an ever-changing effect of the book as a result of the last entry request. Alex noted the last entry was Darlington's request for the Rosenfeld schematics the last day he was seen.

Alex wrote down her own request, *Lethe protocols. Homicide*. Sliding the book back into the shelf, she waited as the library shook before gripping the shelf's right side and opening the library. Alex saw one shelf with editions of *The Life of Lethe: Procedures and Protocols of the Ninth House*. She was frustrated to find the section on investigating a murder was short, only detailing that a colloquy to decide a course of action must be called between the Dean, Centurion, the active members of Lethe House, the university president, and the president of the Lethe Trust. Alex exited the library and opened the Albemarle Book again only to smell the scent of cigars and hear a clinking of dishes of a Lethe colloquy. Derisive of Lethe's protocols, Alex went to write in a new request: *How to speak to the dead*. Even when Alex reset the library to limit to only English texts, it still took until sunset for Alex to find a possible method of gaining information from Tara's body.

Alex sought Dawes out and recruited her to get information from the morgue. Pamela, initially reluctant to step on Centurion's case, agreed and removed car keys from her backpack. Pamela and Alex drove in Darlington's wine-colored Mercedes to the morgue . After a moment of deliberation, Alex replaced her coat with Pamela's sweatshirt, trying disassociate herself from Yale. Alex texted Turner, demanding he pick up her call, knowing that when she called Turner in front of the morgue's receptionist, he wouldn't pick up—likely indignant Alex would demand his attention. She instructs Pamela to come in five minutes after her and keep a look out.

Alex pretended to be Tara's cousin and claimed to be sent by Detective Turner. For further proof, Alex called Turner knowing it would go straight to voicemail for Moira to hear. When the receptionist relented, Alex had a coroner guide her to Tara's room, manipulating him through her second coin of compulsion. Finally inside the morgue, Alex noted the blonde of Tara's hair, her bruised knees, her old tattoos and the newer tattoo that said, "*Rather die than doubt*." Alex performed a ritual chant to loosen Tara's body from rigor mortis. After which, she performed a rite to reveal harm. When Alex touched the wounds on Tara's chest, in a flash, she saw Tara's boyfriend Lance stab her repeatedly to death.

Just as Alex was about to exit the morgue, Turner showed up, likely having listened to the receptionist's voicemail. Alex uses this opportunity to interrogate him as to what Tara and Lance were selling, and who they were selling to, suspecting Yale students and societies. Turner argues the logic with her, laying out the evidence that implicates Lance and that Alex herself was potentially hampering with evidence. Alex instead asks for a single name of a buyer, arguing that she could still investigate illicit society activity without interfering with his case. Reluctantly, Turner tells her that Tripp Helmuth, a Skull and Bones member, was in Tara's contacts, but warns her off from talking to him before Turner gets his alibi.

Alex parted ways with Dawes near her apartment, telling her that she'd drop off the Mercedes to Darlington's home. Alex returned Darlington's car to his house, Black Elm. She was shocked to see light shining through the Darlington's bedroom, however, when she investigated she only found evidence of Pamela's presence and Cosmo, Darlington's cat. She decided sleep in Darlington's narrow bed. That night, she had a dream of Darlington curled behind her, claws at her abdomen, promising to serve her forever. In this dreamscape, Alex laughed, declaring Darlington's love for her, only for him to dismiss the equivocation.

Suddenly waking, Alex went down to Black Elm's sun room to write up the official report on Tara's murder, including what happened at the prognostication and Tripp Helmuth, but concluding that Tara's death has no connection to the Houses of the Veil. Finished, she called a car to drop her off to a mini-mart near campus. At the mart, Alex was startled as she didn't notice what seemed to be a Gray. He was able to physically attack her. Unlike a regular Gray, his skin felt like glass, and didn't respond at all to death words. Alex's attempts at defending herself drew attention as she was pushed out into the street. The Gray blew red dust (Corpse Beetles) into her face, until he was pushed away and attacked by The Bridegroom. Effected by the dust, Alex ran towards the Hutch. She quickly messaged SOS to Dawes, who managed to get Alex upstairs and classify the attacking entity as a gluma: a spirit raised from the recently dead, known messengers for Book and Snake. Dawes gave Alex a potion of brimstone to burn up the corpse beetles. Despite the pain of the beetles and potion, Alex was grimly satisfied, knowing that this attack was proof that their was something more to Tara's murder and that she'd be justified in not holding back.

Waking up on the couch of the Hutch's common room, Alex realized it was night. Alex reluctantly swallowed Pamela's healing potion, feeling the effects works as the burning sensation eased. Alex gagged when Dawes told her it was goat’s milk and mustard seed thickened with spider eggs. Feeling the pillows placed underneath her, Alex realized that Pamela liked taking care of people and was really good at her job as Oculus. Pamela tells something is brushing up the Hutch wards. When Alex looks, she realized that it was the Bridegroom who, she tells Dawes, saved her life. Dawes was wary of this. They were interrupted by Dean Elliot Sandow's arrival. Alex was annoyed at Pamela for having called Sandow, to which she defensively pointed out that Alex was attacked. Sandow entered the Hutch and was surprised to see Alex conscious.

Sitting down, Sandow informed the pair that everything was ready for the new-moon rite to retrieve Darlington. He also introduced the possibility Darlington won't ever return—much to their dismay. When Sandow spots the *axtapta*, the potion Pamela's used to cure her, Alex tells Sandow her theory that the societies sent the gluma after her in connection to Tara's murder. Sandow tries to raise the possibility that Alex's presence—with her ability to see Grays—might have attracted the gluma to attack, only to be thoroughly shut down by Pamela. When Alex tried again to convince him, Sandow only showed her the video tape of what happened outside the mini-mart, which showed Alex being dragged around by an invisible figure, and told Alex that the Lethe board wouldn't take her seriously if she made these serious accusations now. Sandow goes to convince Alex and Pamela to leave the investigation to Detective Abel Turner's trusted hands.

Only half-listening now, Alex notices the old map that illustrated the New Haven colony above the Hutch's fireplace mantle. Alex realized why the Tara Hutchins' crime scene looks so familiar; it mimicked the wedge-shape of the original New Haven colony plans. As she looked at Sandow, Alex understood that he truly didn't care what happened to her. Sandow leaves Il Bastone, telling them he'll send Alex's original report to the Lethe board and that he will see them on Wednesday for the ritual.

When Sandow leaves, Alex immediately involves Dawes in her plan to speak to the Bridegroom. The next day on Sunday, when Alex Stern asked to use their tomb, Salome Nils had Alex meet her at Wolf's Head that Sunday morning with the Remus and Romulus statue, which was stolen by Scroll and Key last year. Alex did so, and prompted her to let them into their temple. Salome refused, reneging on her deal with Alex, and insultingly dismissed her and Pamela. Alex grappled at her, wrapping Salome in a choke hold and pulling on her earring in a threatening manner. Dawes and the Bridegroom reacted with shock and dismay. Released momentarily, Salome backed away and called her insane. Alex then slammed her coat-covered hand into the glass display case, shattering the glass, and Salome relented, giving the key to the temple. After, Alex warned her that if she reported what they were doing Alex would only come back to smash her teeth in with the statue. Salome left soon after they entered and in the end, did not report them.

Alex, Pamela and the Bridegroom entered the temple located at the heart of Wolf's Head's tomb, which had a stream of water bisecting the room and Ancient Egyptian paraphernalia. Alex expresses her dismay when she finds out she actually has to *die* to get to the borderland between life and death, which were always marked by rivers. With the Bridegroom standing on the western shore, opposite of the girls, Dawes held Alex's head underwater firmly as she began struggling desperately. Suddenly, Dawes' hands were gone and Alex was in the Egyptian borderlands. Composing herself, Alex entered the river from the eastern shore and walked until she met the Bridegroom in the middle.

Alex asked the Bridegroom to look for Tara Hutchins in the afterlife and she'll do something in return. The Bridegroom tells her that he'll need something with her *effluvia*. Alex agrees, and tells him to find out who killed Tara, and what exactly she was doing with the Ancient Eight societies. The Bridegroom assents and tells her to investigate who killed his fiancee. Annoyed at Alex's immediate skepticism, the Bridegroom claims his innocence and that he cannot find her anywhere in the afterlife, believing that she blames him for her death. Alex then noticed murmuring voices rising in the western shore; she could slightly pick out hear them say *Jean du Monde.* Refocusing, Alex asks why he thought she could solve an unsolved cold case. The Bridegroom tells her that he saw Darlington investigating the old crime scene, taking notes. He believes that Alex can figure out what Darlington found. Alex, surprised, asked if he knew where Darlington was, only to hear the Bridegroom's denial.

To close the deal, the Bridegroom and Alex clasped each other's hands and spoke their true names, which was when Alex found out his name was Bertram Boyce North. Gripping her hand, North recites an excerpt of "Idylls of the King" and Alex recognizes that Tara Hutchins had a tattoo of a line from the poem—*Rather die than doubt*. "Idylls of the King" was inscribed all over the walls of Scroll and Key. Finished, North bowed and informed Alex to bring an object of Tara's to a body of water and he will come to her. Alex bit down into a carob pod, and went toward the eastern bank, only for the river to yank her underwater and force Alex to swim her way back to shore, and back to life. Struggling, Alex yelled out *Hell!* to get the sky to flash with lightning, lighting her way to shore. Alex seemed to drown once again, only to wake up choking up mud back in the temple room with Dawes.

Back at the Hutch, Alex described what she saw in the borderlands to Dawes. Despite the bizarre details of the borderlands, Pamela only protested at the notion of Alex breaking into Tara's apartment to get an object of Tara's, arguing that if anything, Turner won't let her get close to wherever Tara lived. Alex asked whether she knew anything about a 'Jean Du Monde' or a 'Jonathan Desmond,' only for Pamela to say she didn't know. Alex informs her that North claims Darlington isn't in the borderlands, much to Dawes' relief. Alex inquires how Pamela got into Lethe—remembering that Darlington had told Alex how, when he was seventeen, he woke up at the hospital and Dean Sandow made the same fateful offer. Pamela tells Alex she was chosen because of her dissertation, how being Oculus was boring work until Darlington befriended her. Upset at the topic, Pamela rushed back into the Hutch.

Alex reflected on Tara's connection to Scroll and Key. Even if she was dealing drugs to undergrads, Alex wondered how that somehow involved her with the Ancient Eight societies. Knowing that Tara last saw Lance's face as she died, Alex speculated that whoever killed her might have used a glamour.

Alex walked to Hopper College dining hall and found Tripp Helmuth sitting with his friends. Agreeing to talk, Tripp followed Alex up the stairs to the reading room. Tripp reacted defensively when Alex started asking about his connection to Tara Hutchins. After some pressure from Alex, Tripp reveals that Tara and Lance did deal weed to him, describing their product as the "lushest, greenest shit,"; he reveals that he did hook up with Tara a few times, always meeting at Tripp's place. Tripp reluctantly tells Alex the students he knew dealt with Tara and Lance. Alex left for the New Haven Police station, borrowing Tripp's bike.

Outside the police station, Alex contacted Turner, intent on extracting Tara's address and exploring her apartment. As she waited for him on a bench at the Union train station, Alex researched Bertram Boyce North on her phone. She found the portraits of North and his fiancee Daisy Fanning Whitlock, how their bodies were discovered by Daisy's maid Gladys O'Donaghue at the North & Sons Carriage Factory office and how the maid screamed and ran into the streets. Alex scrolled through various theories and read society columns that described Daisy.

When Turner arrived, Alex feigned a desire to talk to Lance Gressang, taking on a privileged tone of voice she heard from Tripp and Salome. Although she was embarrassed when Turner mentions the video of her gluma attack, Alex prods Turner again and lies to say that she already investigated Tara's apartment. Turner drops the calm facade, ordering Alex to never go near Woodland St. again. Alex meekly agrees and gives Turner the names Tripp Helmuth saw with Tara: Kate Masters and Colin Khatri. Satisfied, Turner went back to the station. Alex, in the meanwhile, knew she couldn't snoop through Tara's apartment at Woodland St. on a Sunday morning and went back to her dorms.

Alex returned to the dorms find Mercy crying and Lauren comforting her. She was handed Mercy's phone, pulled up to a text chain from Blake Keely with a video. Lauren, pulling her to another room, tells her that Mercy went to Omega Meltdown party, where she was drugged with Merity and subsequently raped by Blake Keely and another frat member, with her violation recorded on Blake's phone. Alex resolves to set the situation right.

Alex decides to call in her favor from Mike Awolowo, though he is reluctant to comply. Alex argues that Manuscript is only able to perform magic right now because of her as well as the fact that a Manuscript-controlled substance is involved. More concerned now, Mike tells Alex that the society's supply of Merity is on strict lockdown and obtaining it is incredibly difficult, as it only has one supplier from China. Alex promises to look into the matter. Agreeing to the terms, Mike explains that he can possibly gather enough people to perform a ritual to reverse the Full Cup. Alex gives her approval of the ritual, despite being in violation of Lethe protocols. Wanting to ensure that Alex finds out where Keely got Merity, Mike gifts her with some Astrumsalinas, or Starpower.

Alex then went to the Omega fraternity house on Lynwood St., compulsed 3 fraternity brothers, one of which was Blake Keely. Blake revealed after some questioning that he didn't kill Tara Hutchins and that he regularly used Merity to sexually assault women. Alex finds out that he got the drug from Tara and Lance, thinking they were from the Yale forestry school. Alex deleted his camera album filled with videos of him sexually assaulting drugged women, and in a breach of Lethe House protocols, used Starpower to make Keely literally eat shit out of a clogged toilet. Alex recorded it on his phone and sent it to his numerous contacts.

When night fell, Alex tried to convince Mercy to go to dinner with her and Lauren, confiding that she experienced something similar when she was really young in California. Mercy, reluctantly convinced, let Alex and Lauren escort her to the JE Dining Hall. Suddenly the cafeteria was abuzz with new gossip and Evan Wiley sat on the girls' table to talk about the news as Lauren and Alex's phones buzzed with notifications. Lauren gasped in disgust, prompting all of them to watch the video of Blake eating from a dirty toilet. Mercy and Lauren stared at Alex, incredulous as they recalled how she went to mysteriously fix the situation, but Alex kept silent on her methods. After a beat, Mercy gave her blanket approval over Alex' actions and happily dug into dinner. After dinner, the trio had a peaceful evening in their common room, holding in their laughter as they heard Anna Breen speculate on the phone that they might be witches. When North appeared outside her dorm window to search Tara's apartment, Alex promised to go search tomorrow.

On Monday morning, Alex skimmed Il Bastone's library for ways to defend against gluma. She found two sources, one of which needed a translation stone to decipher Hebrew, that mentioned the use of a watch to distract the gluma with its ticking. Entering the armory, Alex grabbed a pocket watch and grabbed the mirrored compact. Then, Alex went to Spanish class, and even spent two hours in SSS hall doing the reading on Shakespeare. After lunch, Alex and North made their way to Tara's apartment on Woodland St., which she picked out from the uniformed officer posted at the entrance.

Alex waited further along the street when a man wearing a Patriots jacket exited Tara's building. After capturing his visage, Alex and North approached the officer outside the apartment, and held up the compact like a badge, easily slipping through. Alex found Tara's apartment on the second floor, marked by police tape and in disarray. Entering her bedroom, Alex looked through the window, where she could see Yale's greenhouses a few blocks away. In the bathroom, Alex found Tara's retainer and dropped it into water-filled sink so that North could grab it from his side. Alex turned to go, only to be met with a huge man wearing mechanic overalls. He slammed her against the window, strangling her. Desperate, Alex reached for a golf club with her right hand, and with left hand extended, Alex split her consciousness to hook North's spirit to her own. North struggled but Alex easily overpowered him and she quickly felt North's limber strength through her own body. Swinging the golf club, Alex struck Lance's hand, breaking it. Despite her strength, the man continued using portal magic to fight her, with only North's energy to keep her conscious. Turner then arrived, pointing a gun at the man only for him to seemingly vanishing into the mantel. North then exited from Alex's body and stared at her with fright and resentment. Alex shortly told him to take the retainer and find Tara.

Turner was looking for a secret passage, only for Alex to assert that the man was using portal magic. Turner, sensing Alex didn't know, informed her that the man was Lance Gressang. With North out of her body, Alex felt the pain of her broken ribs. She stopped Turner from calling an ambulance and prompted him to grab the basso belladonna drops from her pocket and put them into her eyes. Although it energized her, it also made her injuries incredibly painful. Alex climbed out the fire escape and met up with Turner and his car on Tilton Street. As Turner drives, Alex explains Scroll & Key's specialization in portal magic and how Lance was demanding to know what happened to Tara when he was attacking her. In turn, Turner tells her that Kate Masters claims she was at a Manuscript party until after 3 am the night of Tara's murder and that Colin Khatri skipped a Scroll & Key meeting to serve at Professor Belbam's salon. As Alex processed this, Turner made a call on the radio, falsely reporting the cause of the damage to Tara's apartment.

Turner helped Alex out the car and Il Bastone opened its doors to him as Centurion. Her injuries caught the attention of Dawes, who asks Turner to get goat's milk from the local market. As Pamela lugs Alex to the armory, Alex asks about Scroll and Key's magic. Dawes explains that Lethe speculates that the society's portal magic is so disruptive it’s eroding the power nexus their tomb is built on. As Alex leaned against the crucible, Dawes gathered ingredients from the armory's cabinets, explaining they're performing a reversal rather than true healing magic. After being placed in Hiram's Crucible filled with goat's milk and Dawes' enchantment, Alex was submerged for a long time, leading to Turner and Dawes to yell Alex's name. Alex soon emerged and the milky waters of the crucible slowly turned more clear and watery as the crucible reversed the state of her body. Done with the situation, Turner left for the station.

Left alone in the Crucible, Alex startled as she saw North's reflection was staring up at her from the water's surface. At her surprise, he reminded her that they can communicate through any pool of water. Behind North, Alex could see another borderlands, dark and shadowy. North asks how she was able to harness his strength and Alex told him she didn't know. She didn't know anything about where her ability had come from. North informs her that, in doing so, he was able to see when Alex killed Len Beacon, Ariel Harel, and the other men at Ground Zero. North had met them in the afterlife. She reproached him, but *they* had found North, using the scent of Alex's power and the deepened the bond between them to find him. Alex, in a false gesture of peace, apologizes for taking over at the apartment, but North dismisses her apology, and says it wasn't entirely a bad experience. Alex, although hesitant, invites him in if only to get a glimpse inside North's head as well. North is persuaded, especially as Dawes drops off food.

When Alex's hand clasps North's hand through the water of the Crucible, she was immediately in North's memories, holding the perspective and feelings of North himself. In the North & Sons Carriage Factory, Alex-as-North watch as North interacted with Daisy, who was mischievous, beautiful and intelligent, idly noting her maid in the background. The pair flirted, and Alex experienced North suddenly being possessed by a spirit. Panicked, the spirit grabbed North's gun and shot Daisy, and in its frenzy for his soul to be safe, he shot himself through the gut.

At the experience, Alex staggered back out of the vision into her present body. North oblivious to what Alex saw, was still using her body to eat. With her will, Alex expelled North out of her body and Il Bastone. It was still the afternoon, and Alex went to the bathroom sink to spit—only to see North's blood and bits of parsley. The spirit that possessed North was clearly a victima of a prognostication gone wrong. Alex figured that Skull and Bones was unable to stop a random Gray from interfering with the rite—causing the stray magic to make the victima's spirit to fly wild. Alex wondered if North and Daisy were simply at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and if Darlington wondered the same thing. Climbing to the third floor, Alex found the Virgil bedroom and searched, only to find nothing significant. Alex then went downstairs again and opened the Albemarle Book. She searched Darlington's entries, which largely focused on New Haven land deeds and city planning. But there, early in the fall semester, Alex saw that Darlington requested books on *Bertram Boyce North* and *Daisy Whitlock*.

Soon enough, Turner returned to Il Bastone with a laptop and the files on the Tara Hutchins' case. He and Dawes scanned footage of the inmate cells, spotting where Lance portaled to escape and discovering that Lance had portaled back into his cell. After Pamela grabs the whiteboard, Alex grabs a blue marker and explains her investigation so far. Skull and Bones is linked through Tripp Helmuth's drug dealer-slash-hook-up relationship with Tara. Alex reminds Turner that Tripp saw Tara deal to Kate Masters of Manuscript. She hypothesizes that Tara and Lance were growing Merity for Manuscript and then also dealt that Merity to Blake Keely. After describing how Merity works to Turner, Alex then explains that along with dealing to Colin Khatri, Tara also had words from *Idylls of the King* tattooed on her arm, and that text is all over Scroll and Key's tomb. Dawes peers over the autopsy photos to see the tattoo, but gets distracted over a photo of Tara's bedroom. Looking over the photo as well, Alex saw Tara's jewelry making tools and spots a small golden dish. Dawes confirms that the dish is a crucible.

Alex suggests Tara might've used it for Merity, but Dawes rejects that, saying Merity was used in its raw form. Dawes informs the pair that psilocybin, or mushrooms, were used for the opening of doorways. It was possible that whatever Tara and Lance made with the crucible could facilitate portal magic. Lance was using portal magic at the apartment. Dawes tells them that the Houses of the Veil considering the sharing of information and magic with outsiders *Nefandum*, unforgivable and that said society would be stripped of their tomb and disbanded entirely. Alex and Turner agree that it's strong motive for Scroll and Key. Alex tells them that she'll go to Belbalm's salon and figure out Colin's real whereabouts the night of Tara's murder. Pamela hesitantly suggests that Scroll and Key might be responsible for Darlington's disappearance. Alex reminds them they couldn't rule out Manuscript's role or how the gluma, conventionally controlled Book and Snake, is involved.

Frustrated, Turner told them that there was no credible connection between the societies and Tara that he could present to the Chief of Police. Alex, who plans to investigate the greenhouses to see if anyone saw Tara working there, agrees and says its better if Turner's investigation doesn't make it back to Sandow. Alex wants to know why he tried so hard to stop the investigation, thinking that perhaps Sandow valued the societies' funding too much, especially because four of the seven funding societies (not counting Berzelius) were involved with Tara. Dawes informs them that Sandow is perfectly compensated as a tenured professor. When Turner prods for financial problems, Dawes slowly says that Sandow has been in court for two years after a nasty divorce with his ex-wife. Yet Dawes protests that the dean wouldn't endanger Lethe. Turner disregards this, knowing that he could have done it for the right price, just like Turner did when he took the job as Centurion. As Turner goes to leave, Alex notes the streetlights coming on, heralding the dark.

Alex put on the clothes Dawes retrieved from her apartment. She walked to Belbalm's house on St. Ronan Street. As Alex entered Belbalm's yard, she felt a sense of calm come over her, the same as when she entered Belbalm's office. Belbalm spotted Alex at the entrance and directed her to the kitchen. Relieved that she was working the party as staff rather than be a guest, Alex walked to the kitchen, spotting Sandow talking to people and quickly slipped past his attention. Alex helped Colin Khatri and Isabel Andrews arrange the platters of hors d’oeuvres. Alex asked the two if Dean Sandow was at the salon last week. As Belbalm entered the kitchen, she confirmed Sandow's presence last Thursday. She invites Colin to do a reading, much to his excitement. According to Isabel, Colin bitched the entire night at how crowded it was the last salon and how they had to stay until 2 am. Alex felt relief that Colin had an alibi and asked Isabel if Sandow stayed the whole time. Isabel affirmed, saying Colin had to clean up his mess in bathroom after Sandow got too drunk to aim. Alex stayed until 1 am with Colin and Isabel cleaning everything up.

The next Tuesday morning, Alex woke early to have breakfast before going to the Marsh Botanical Garden. Spotting North, Alex went to the JE common room bathroom and filled up the sink to talk. North grimly said he couldn't find Tara anywhere. Alex confirmed Darlington was investigating his case and that she'll check for his notes at Black Elm tomorrow. North prodded Alex on what she saw in his head the day before. Alex didn't answer fully, but asked if he ever found Gladys O'Donaghue behind the Veil. North was surprised, saying that the maid was interviewed by the police, but that Gladys didn't even witness the crime. Alex knew that he was right, even though North probably wouldn't have noticed a girl like Gladys anyway. North pushed further for what Alex saw in his head, but Alex simply pulled the plug on the drain.

Alex walked to the Marsh greenhouses, and made a phone call to get an update from Nurse Jean Gatdula on Michael Reyes, who was recovering well and will be transported to a shelter after two days. At the Botanical Garden, Alex was able to discern which greenhouse Tara worked in by the permeating smell of the uncanny surrounding it. Alex suspected the greenhouse was glamoured, perhaps by Manuscript, so that Tara and Lance could grow without suspicion. All she found inside were empty planters and a dying remnant of a plant that might've been Merity. When Alex questioned another student, she said that Sveta Myers worked in that greenhouse along with her cousin who matched Tara's description. Meeting Turner at Ingalls Rink, Alex told him about Sveta Myers and informed him of her desire to talk to Lance Gressang. Turner is reluctant, knowing that they can't talk to Gressang without his lawyer around. Alex convinces him that even if what they found out isn't admissable in court, they'd at least have answers. Turrner agrees to follow Alex's lead and they set to work ironing out her plan.

The next day, Alex borrowed a black pantsuit from Mercy to blend in at the jail. Meanwhile, Turner went to the courthouse to capture the visage of Lance's lawyer. Lethe's mirror compact would be able to fool the guards, and Dawes provided the Alex and Turner with tempests in a teapot to ensure the jail cameras don't cause them any trouble either. The pair watched as Dawes made the tea, using dried leaves from a tin with the St. Elmo's logo on it. Alex recalls that St. Elmo's has been campaigning for a new tomb. Dawes confirms this, but says that without a new nexus to power their magic, there's no use to build a new tomb. Confused, Turner says that they're performing magic just fine without a nexus. Dawes and Alex refute this, stating this was much smaller magic than what St. Elmo's and the rest of the societies perform. Handing Alex the tempests in a teapot, Dawes explains that it would short out the cameras for around two hours.

Entering the conference room, Lance immediately protested to being interrogated without his lawyer, but turned sheepish when Turner mentioned his use of portal magic. Turner informs him that he knows Lance is innocent, at least on Tara's murder, and that the only way he and Alex could help him is if he talked. Alex asked Lance about when he and Tara started working with Sveta Myers. Lance states that Tara met Sveta two years back, and that they started growing weed together at the greenhouse. When Alex asks how this connects to Blake Keely, Lance explained that Kate Masters had approached him and Tara to grow Merity. Believing it was bad weed, Lance sold it to Keely, who kept coming back for more. Keely then introduced them to Colin Khatri, who commissioned Tara to grow mushrooms and, with the golden crucible he gifted her, distill it into portal tabs. Lance told the pair that Tara demanded to know why Colin wanted the tabs, while Lance was more hesitant. When Tara threatened to stop producing the tabs, Colin brought Lance and Tara to the Scroll & Key tomb, and bolstered by Tara's portal tabs, were able to successfully portal throughout the world. Turner asks Lance why didn't he use the portal tab to escape out of the country. Lance told them that one couldn't portal big distances from anywhere but Scroll and Key's nexus.

As Alex and Turner drove back to campus in Turner's Dodge, they contemplated the motives of each society. Alex says that any member of Manuscript would've been able to glamour themselves to look like Lance. Turner states any Scroll and Key member might have felt pushed to kill Tara, especially if they cracked Tara' formula to make portal tabs.

Turner drops off Alex in front of the Vanderbilt Hall dorms. It was the night of the full moon rising, and only a matter of a few hours before the ritual at Black Elm at 8 o'clock. Alex went to her dorm, putting on her silver hoop earrings and applying dark plum lipstick. She makes an excuse to Lauren and Mercy that she's going on a date with a town man—to delight of her roommates. The trio make plans to hit the last Feb Club party that coming Friday.

Alex takes a cab to Black Elm. She finds Dawes in the kitchen preparing Avgolemono, Darlington’s favorite, which made Alex feel momentarily sheepish at her own outfit. Before the others arrived, Alex went to search the office and bedroom. Flipping through the books by his bedside, Alex paused at the old carriage catalogue protected by plastic. In the margin next to an announcement of a new North & Sons factory, Darlington scrawled, '*the first?'* to Alex's confusion. Hearing people come into the driveway, Alex looked down the window to spot Sandow and Michelle Alameddine, along with Josh Zelinksi and Amelia from Aurelian.

Alex made her way downstairs as introductions were made and the group shifted to the dining room. In the following conversation, Michelle nixes the possibility Darlington is dead, sure that he'd be a Gray if he was. Turning to Alex, Michelle prompts whether she's seen Darlington, to Alex's denial. Amelia and Josh express their amazement at Alex's ability while Michelle muses that Darlington must have been baffled by it. When Amelia prompts her to continue talking about Darlington, Michelle only says he was less an attention seeker and more someone who took Lethe's mission very seriously. Alex felt irked at Michelle and Sandow teasing an absent Darlington for his dedication.

Moving to the second-floor former ballroom, the group performed a hound-dog casting in an attempt to summon Darlington back from his location, using the deed to Black Elm. During the rite, Alex stood at the northern compass point, facing Sandow, as Pamela and Michelle stood at the others. As the Veil's layers thinned, Black Elm came alive with Grays not normally present, such as Daniel Tarbor Arlington III and a ballroom party of the first Daniel Tarbor Arlington. The four of them rung the silver bells in effort to summon Darlington, however, this ritual would instead summon something demonic. The demonic presence yelled out *Murder* in Darlington's voice. Sandow saved the group from the supposed hellbeast with a chanted incantation.

Alex comforted an inconsolable Dawes, as Michelle explains that it was a hellbeast who stole Darlington's voice, that someone must've summoned it to consume him that night in Rosenfeld Hall. Sandow states that no soul can survive a hellbeast, that the voice they heard was merely an echo. Sandow asks Alex to call a car for her and Pamela to Il Bastone, stating that he'll join the pair later to plan what Lethe House will do next. As they were waiting for their ride, Michelle informed Alex she was able to be found at Columbia University if she ever needed help.

At Il Bastone, Alex desperately conjectures to Pamela that perhaps Sandow messed up the ritual on purpose. When Alex asks what incantation Sandow used, Pamela told Alex that Sandow essentially barred the presence— the echo of Darlington—from ever entering Black Elm. Dawes dismisses Alex's theories and asserts that only a demon could've survived a hellbeast. Dawes goes to prepare for the dean's coming arrival and informs Alex she wants to get work done on her dissertation first. Agreeing, Alex goes upstairs to order pizza and shower.

Halfway up the stairs, Alex was startled to hear someone knock at Il Bastone's door, only to hear an order to be let inside. As Dawes unlocked the door, Blake Keely slammed the door open, throwing Pamela against the banister and hitting her head against the wall. Alex quickly realized that Black Keely was armed with Starpower and a silver knife. Alex threw on Dawes' headphones and ran to turn on the house's sound panel to counteract the compulsion. Punching Turner's number in her phone, Alex ran to the armory to find some defense as Morrissey played from the sound system. Eventually, Blake grabbed hold of Alex and ordered her to be still and quiet. As he strangled and hit her, Keely revealed that he killed Tara because she tried to stop him from using Merity.

Sandow then showed up, and Blake ordered him to stab and kill Alex, who was still trapped by the order to be still and not speak. Alex, taking advantage of the loophole, whistled for the Lethe spirit hounds. The jackals burst in the door, tackling and biting Sandow off of Alex and overwhelming Blake, who was bitten and bleeding from his biceps and his thigh. When jackals retreated, Blake, although injured, crawled over to Alex. He began slamming Alex's skull into the floor, only for Pamela to smash his head in with the bust of Hiram Bingham III, ultimately killing him.

In response to her call, Turner brought in emergency services to Il Bastone. At New Haven hospital, Alex woke to see her side covered in bandages and Jean Gatdula as her nurse. Alex quickly sent her away for juice so she could go into Pamela's room. The pair realized that Lethe and the societies were going to cover up what happened that night. Later, Turner pushes Sandow in his wheelchair into the girls' room.

Sandow apologized for not looking into the societies' illicit activities. Turner explains that the murder charge against Lance Gressang will be dropped and brought up against Blake Keely. The police had searched his phone, there was a voicemail from Tara where she threatened to go to the police about his activities with Merity. Alex argues that Keely didn't kill Tara, which she knew from her interrogation. Sandow explains it away, saying that Blake might've believed his own innocence or had been made to forget by whoever sent the hellbeast after Darlington and the gluma after Alex. He reassures Alex that there'll be an investigation to see who is behind everything, as well as into the societies themselves. Sandow credits Alex for continuing to investigate the societies despite his inattention and—with Dawes' prompting— promises Alex that she'll have a 3.5 GPA for the semester. When Alex demands to know how the societies will be punished, Sandow tells them they will be fined, blaming Lethe's dependency on the Ancient Eight for the lack of stronger action.

Sandow leaves and Gatdula notifies Alex and Pamela of the arrival of Pamela's sister. Pamela is staying with her sister in Westport for a while. Although Pamela invites Alex to meet her sister, Alex rejects the offer, wishing her a good rest. Alex leaves room and the hospital entirely, angry that there will be no real punishment for the societies because too many powerful people depend on the societies' magic. Exiting the hospital, Alex spots North, and grows irritated with him too. Half-dead and disillusioned, Alex makes her way to the Hutch and closes herself from the world.

#### Early Spring

Alex spends three weeks at the Hutch, not returning to her dorms or classes. Her wounds from the Lethe hounds were healing badly. She found herself reading the *Suggested Requirements for Lethe Candidates* pamphlet. Alex was startled when a rock came through the window. Looking down, Alex found Mercy and her mother Mira Stern on the street. As Mira tidied up the apartment, Mercy confessed to following Alex a couple of times to the Hutch. Alex tried to be annoyed at Mercy calling her mom, but sighed as Mercy pointed out that she basically disappeared. The pair made Alex shower and book an appointment with the university's health center to get antibiotics, though Alex refused to show them her injury. Mira went to the market for food, and later got Alex new clothes. Alex then took Mira to visit the campus. When it was time for her to head back, Mira hugged Alex, expressing regret at not being a better parent. Before she got into her car, Alex tentatively asked about her dad. More serious now, Mira tells Alex that being with her father was like being an arsenic eater. Making Alex promise to text her, Mira left.

Returning to the dorms, Alex gives a vague answer to Mercy's concern and Mercy accepts Alex's mystery, revealing to Alex she played softball in high school—much to Alex's surprise. Mercy then tells her how she heard Blake Keely was reportedly dead after attacking a couple in their home and how he had a knife that matched the one that killed Tara Hutchins. She tells Alex about having to endure visiting her mean 103 year old grandmother, and coming out a little tougher. When Alex responds with what her grandmother Estrea Stern was like—superstitious and tough—Mercy supposes that's what you have to be to survive to get old. Looking out the window, Alex notices North outside.

When Alex goes to Spanish class the morning, North follows her. Knowing he still hasn't talked to Tara from beyond, Alex tells him that the deal is off. In her English class, Alex felt a bolt of pain and saw flashes of North's life, and realized that North was possessing Alex. When she came to, she saw that her nose was bleeding and that she wrote down: *1854 1869 1883*. Angry and a little frightened, Alex left class, swearing at North. As she reach the New Haven Green, she was stopped by Tripp Helmuth, who thanked her for keeping his name out of the investigation, which she flatly accepted even though she didn't.

Alex hurried to Il Bastone to sever the connection between herself and North. She picked up the Albemarle Book only to reconsider, knowing that Darlington was investigating North's case. Although she knew that one of the dates written (***1854*** 1869 1883) was the year of North and Daisy's death, she realized that she would need Darlington's notes on the case to narrow her research parameters. Alex checked the Albemarle Book for Darlington's request entries, the last being the schematic for Rosenfeld Hall and the penultimate being the Daily New Havener newspapers. When she entered in 'Daily New Havener' into the Albemarle Book, the library was filled with an archive of newspapers.

Alex then requested the Rosenfeld Hall schematics and the Library then produced a single book. Inside the book was a sheet of yellow legal paper, where Darlington wrote a series of dates, names, and causes of death, the last three corresponding to the dates North wrote on her book. Alex knew that Darlington thought that Daisy's death was the first, marking an event which lead to the deaths of all these other girls, which all had different causes. Alex realized that the cluster of dates matched the way the societies had been founded, with a flurry of foundings in the 1800s and no new tombs until Manuscript in 1952. The death dates on the list didn't match up with the years the societies were founded, but then Alex noticed that the dashed names on the list weren't a part of the dead women's surnames but were names of the trusts and associations that funded the construction of the societies' tombs.

Alex requested the *Deed for land acquired by Russell Trust on High Street, New Haven, Connecticut* and inside found Lethe ledgers, all containing deeds of acquisition for land that would one day house every landed House of the Veil, each one built over a nexus of power created by some unknown force. Filling the bathroom sink with water, Alex drew blood from her forearm. Summoned, North revealed that he couldn't find Tara anywhere despite her retainer, similar to how he couldn't find Daisy or Gladys O’Donaghue. North posits that whatever big thing happened in Daisy's death, happened again with Tara. Alex wonders at this, knowing that Tara was killed on an empty plot of land that resembled the New Haven colony. She sends North to find the other girls on the list beyond the Veil.

Alex knew that if Darlington discovered this connection, he would have told Sandow. Alex realizes that Sandow was never directly harmed by Keely. Searching the second floor hallway, Alex found a coin of compulsion beneath an empty wicker planter, and she realizes that Sandow must have used it to control Blake. When Alex calls Sandow's home, she finds out through his maid Yelena that he is attending a welcome back party hosted by the university president. Although briefly motivated to leave it alone, Alex collects her evidence and goes to confront him. Before she leaves, she texts Turner to come to the university president's house.

Alex stops by her dorms to put on the cream wool sheath dress her mom got her and a black cardigan, wanting to blend in at the party. North checked in, telling her that none of the lost girls could be found beyond the Veil. She tells him to be ready, and North readily offers his strength. At the party, she was surprised to be greeted by Colin Khatri, who showed no sign of being angry at her for her investigation. Alex darted in the powder room, grappling with the lack of repercussions the societies faced. Gauging her appearance in the mirror, she felt angry trying to do things the 'right way.' Impulsively, she licked her knuckles, reversing the work of the address moths. In a few seconds, her tattoos decorated around her sleeves and sternum.

In her confrontation of Sandow, Alex left the office door open and prepared her recording device. She didn't notice Sandow filling his tobacco pipe with Starpower. Sandow told Alex of his plan to get money in exchange for preparing a site for St. Elmo's new tomb. However, although Sandow prepared the site, no death occurred and no nexus formed. Alex found out that Sandow then planned to kill Tara in ritual homicide, as he knew her involvement with the societies all along, and that her death would eventually be dismissed as she was a drug dealer and criminal. His plan was complicated when Darlington told Sandow his theory of young girls' deaths and their connection to a nexus creation. This lead Sandow set a trap in the Rosenfeld Hall basement that December night. Sandow summoned a hellbeast, intending for it to consume both Darlington and Alex, however, Alex survived.

Alex got Sandow to confess that he alone killed Tara Hutchins. When Sandow asks Alex what she wants in exchange for her silence, Alex instead curses him out. Dumping the Starpower in his mouth, Sandow attempted to halt Alex's movement. However, Alex had the strength of North with her, and was able to resist.

Right as Sandow was attempting to enchant Alex, Belbalm enters the office and, to their confusion, is able to resist magical compulsion. Belbalm reveals that she can see North within her and that she has the same powers as Alex, as they are both Wheelwalkers. Her familiarity with North clues Alex in to the fact that Belbalm is actually Daisy Fanning Whitlock. Bebalm reveals what actually happened that day at the factory and how she survived by eating Gladys' soul. Belbalm was the one who killed all those girls and unintentionally created nexuses. Sandow realizes that the reason why Tara's death didn't create a nexus was because Belbalm was planning to consume Alex's soul.

Disliking Sandow's smug tone, Belbalm consumed Sandow's soul, resistant to his attempt to banish her with death words. Belbalm does the same to Alex, magically hooking herself to her consciousness and creating a wheel of blue fire around them, possessing her in a manner that seemed to consume Alex's memories. Alex was immobile as she watched her memories slip away.

However, Alex was able to summon Grays across New Haven to come to her aid, making herself a beacon of strong emotion and life to summon them. Confused, Belbalm witnessed as Alex called out the names of the girls she consumed: “*Sophie Mishkan! Colina Tillman! Zuzanna Mazurski! Paoletta DeLauro! Effie White! Gladys O’Donaghue*!” and as the Grays surrounding them did the same. Harnessing their energy, Alex pulled them one by one from Daisy and as a result, the body was already decaying. Despite North's protests, Alex pulled Daisy's soul out of the body, casting the soul out. Doing so left Daisy as a normal Gray. In a second, the Grays surged towards Daisy and as the blue Wheel of fire spun around them, all the spirits except North vanished from the office.

#### Spring

Alex brought her recording of Dean Elliot Sandow's guilt to the Lethe board, and it was agreed that Blake Keely would continue to be blamed for Tara Hutchin's murder. She also kept Marguerite Belbalm's involvement in her confrontation of Sandow to herself, knowing that she had to keep her own status as a Wheelwalker a secret. Without a body to be found, Belbalm had been declared missing and Sandow died of a heart attack. When she agreed to meet him at Il Bastone, Detective Turner demanded to know what really happened at the president's party. Alex stuck to Lethe's official story, claiming Sandow died of a heart attack, but was glad to tell the truth to Turner when she said she didn't kill him.

After confronting Belbalm, it was hard for Alex to be away from Lethe's wards, as she could now *hear* Grays, where they were once silent. Nevertheless, the day of Sandow's funeral, she and Dawes walked the perimeter of land Tara Hutchins was murdered at. As the pair made their way to Grove Street Cemetery, Alex glanced at Book and Snake's tomb, and resolved to see whether she could find Tara's lost soul and hopefully put her to rest.

At the funeral of Sandow, Alex and Dawes would signal Michelle over to talk. In a secluded area between two sphinxes, Alex bluntly tells Michelle that Darlington isn't dead, but turned into a demon when he was consumed by the hellbeast. At Michelle's skepticism, Alex explains how she heard the phrase, 'Gentleman Demon' in the borderlands, and believes it to be referring to Darlington. Michelle argues there's only one sin that allows someone to be survive a hellbeast and transform into a demon: murder. Alex reminds the pair it is entirely possible and that in any case, all of them were going to get Darlington back, attempting to rope Michelle into a mission to rescue her former Dante from hell.

### Hell Bent

#### Last Summer

After Sandow's funeral, Alex, Michelle and Pamela went to Blue State cafe to talk further. Reluctantly convinced that Darlington is trapped in hell, Michelle tells Pamela and Alex the existing Lethe knowledge of possible gateways to hell. Michelle tells them of the Gauntlet, a secret passage that consists of a series of steps, a symbolic pathway to Hell. Michelle mentions Darlington's project to create a magical map of New Haven, how he speculated that some society boys built a Gauntlet in New Haven on a dare.

Alex, along with Dawes, spent the summer researching gateways to Hell. However, progress was slow. Michelle's actual participation in the research was small—the one time Michelle did visit New Haven to help Alex and Pamela, the three girls spent the time looking through society records and had a quiet, stilted lunch before Michelle left. Two weeks after, Alex and Pamela found a Lethe Days Diary entry from Nelson Hartwell in 1938, stating that a Gauntlet was built on hallowed ground. After this discovery, Alex had been sent to map New Haven's numerous churches, cemetaries, synagogues built before 1938.

Besides her searching New Haven and the Lethe library, Alex spent her day reading her future course list and other paperback books, making a nest in Hiram's Crucible to take advantage of the Lethe armoury's climate control, and relaxing. Then, one Thursday, Alex received a call from Eitan Shafir, Len Beacon's boss and drug-dealing gangster. Eitan invites Alex to come to his mansion in California for a conversation and Alex reluctantly agrees to meet with him on Sunday. Anselm connected Alex Stern to his assistant to help her get a plane ticket and ride to Los Angeles.

#### October

Alex, along with Lauren and Mercy, moved into the residential college of Jonathan Edwards. She and Mercy shared the double, while Lauren won the single room. Alex felt ready for the year, having got ahead of her readings and being prepared for Thursday rites. The first rite of the semester was with Manuscript—where the scant delegation rolled a old news anchor into a ditched lined with rosemary and hot coals for two hours to make him look ten years younger.

Eitan had texted Alex that Thursday and sent her to use her powers to collect money from one of his drug runners, Chris Owens aka Oddman. First stopping by at the Taurus Cafe a few doors down, Alex summoned a Gray dressed in a parka and a beanie to her aid. Earlier Alex used the mirror compact to capture the image of pro football player Tom Brady for a disguise. Stunned at the sight of Tom Brady, Oddman let Alex into his house, after which Alex told him he owed Eitan 12k and used the Gray's strength to push him around. In the midst of doing so, the Gray in Alex took control and spoke to Oddman using his own voice and appearance. Oddman was shocked to recognize the Gray possessing Alex as Derrick, whose funerary wake he attended. Alex quickly ejected Derrick from her body and used death words to banish him.

Shaken, Alex walked quickly back to campus, wondering how the Gray managed to take control so easily. She stopped near Sterling Library to send a confirmation text to Eitan and after deleting those messages, called Dawes. Pamela informed her that the new Praetor was chosen—the Lethe position that Elliot Sandow had before his death—and that the Praetor wanted a meeting with her. Dismayed at the news, Alex convinces Pamela to stall the meeting to which Pamela reluctantly agrees.

Stopping by the Hutch, Alex picked up her bag containing graveyard dirt, bone dust chalk, and a Phantom Loop before making her way to Book & Snake.

Knocking on the door, Alex was greeted by Calista, Book & Snake's new delegation president. At her prodding, Calista hesitantly revealed that Book & Snake reserved this specific Thursday because they knew months ahead that the subject of their ritual, Jacob Yeshevsky, would die the day before. Alex drew the protection circle expertly, leaving one gate open at a compass point to let magic flow in. She dismissively ignored the flirting of the high priest— the Book & Snake alum conducting the ritual of the night— and soon enough the military general present gruffly called the high priest's attention back to the matter at hand. Observing the proceedings, Alex watched as the naked corpse of Yeshevsky was reanimated to answer the general's questions by crab-walking over Greek letters.

The ritual wasn't finished until 2 am. Even then, they had to wait until Yeshevsky's body had to tire from spelling gibberish. Curious, Alex asked Calista what Yeshevsky was saying, to which Callista responded, 'Something about mother's milk or Milky Way.' The high priest, out of his ceremonial robes, tried again to engage with Alex, only for her to make a swift exit back to the Hutch.

At the Hutch, Alex was greeted by Dawes waiting for her with her index cards and an inquiry as to how the ritual went. Alex told her about it, mentioning the last nonsense messages of Yeshevsky's corpse. As Alex went to shower to get the stink of the uncanny off, Dawes informs her that the meeting with the new Praetor was pushed back a week. Worried about what a new Praetor might mean, Alex suggests giving up on finding the Gauntlet and redoing the hound-dog casting to retrieve Darlington from Hell that Sandow intentionally botched last year. Much to Alex's surprise, Dawes agrees to the plan. Dawes quietly tells Alex that the Greek word for Milky Way was *Galaxias*, that it must be Darlington trying to reach them.

Dawes tells Alex that they'd need the table at Scroll & Key to open a portal to hell. Alex promises to take care of it. Friday morning, Alex attended her Modern Poets and Electric Engineering 101 class with Mercy. That night, Alex went with Mercy and Lauren to a party on Lynwood St. and was there the morning after in Jonathan Edwards dining hall to eat breakfast with the two girls.

Alex met up with Dawes in front of the music school and they both walked to Scroll & Key, where the new delegation president Robbie Kendall was waiting. With Alex's excuse of needing to perform an inspection, Robbie reluctantly let the pair in alone. Entering the ritual room, Alex and Dawes set out pouring salt in a Solomon's Knot formation, got ready silver clamps and the gems to bind a hell beast, and made sure to pour more salt lines down the hall as a safeguard. Dawes takes out the tiny toy trumpet (as the ritual calls for an instrument of alarm) and Alex sets the bottle of Argmagnac Michelle had gifted Darlington into the center of the knot. Starting the ritual, Dawes annoints the ritual table with sesame oil, chanting in Arabic. The ritual table and the skylight above the pair goes dark, and Alex burns Michelle's good luck note into the darkness of where the table used to be. Dawes blew into the toy trumpet and the pair were soon overwhelmed by a stampeding horde of black horses, which were only prevented from totally escaping by the salt line coated with the girls' blood. The stampede quickly turned around to the temple room, where Dawes yelled another Arabic chant, blew the trumpet, and then threw said instrument into the dark portal below, which the horses followed. As Dawes closed the portal, Alex heard a voice plead for them to *Wait,* but it was too late and the portal closed with an enormous force that knocked both girls off their feet.

Robbie Kendall barged into the room, and Alex was barely aware that everything in the room was covered in black soot and that Scroll & Key's ritual table was cracked down the middle. Anselm was called to the scene and he was soon fielding calls from Scroll & Key alumnus, promising the use of Hiram's Crucible to restore the society's portal table. Alex preemptively defended that she and Dawes only just cast a revelation casting to investigate any unsanctioned rituals, but Anselm dismissively told Alex and Pamela that he'd meet them at Il Bastone.

After showering off the stink of the ritual, Alex goes down to the kitchen of Il Bastone where Dawes was preparing food. Quiet and withdrawn, Alex tries to reassure her but Dawes cuts in, lowly telling Alex how the security system alarm Lethe set up at Black Elm went off in the ballroom. Interrupting, Anselm asked if he could speak to Alex alone in the parlor. Anselm informs Alex that he downplayed the incident to the new Praetor, before asking as to what really went on in Scroll & Key, knowing he smelled sulfur in the tomb. Alex tried to lie and say she broke the table on purpose, using a stink bomb from an old Lethe Days Diary entry. Anselm was unconvinced, and posited that Alex and Pamela were trying to open a portal to hell to reach Darlington. Alex gives into her anger then and insultingly tells Anselm that Lethe owes Darlington *some* effort to rescue him. Anselm expresses his sympathy, but firmly states that there is too much risk in trying to get Darlington—or whatever Darlington turned into—out of hell. He warns Alex that the next time she and Pamela tries something, they will no longer have their positions at Lethe. Anselm left Il Bastone, but not before he connected Alex and Pamela to his assistant, who had them call Scroll & Key alumni and members of the Lethe Board so that the two could explain and apologize.

It wasn't until midnight Alex and Dawes were able to start driving the Mercedes car to Black Elm. When they pulled up to the driveway, the pair was alarmed to see a soft flickering light peeking from the boarded-up windows of the second-story ballroom. Opening the kitchen door, the pair were startled by a screeching Cosmo running past with one side of his white fur singed. Despite smelling sulfure, the girls continued up the stairscase. Opening the door the ballroom, Alex and Dawes saw the remnants of the broken ballroom from the botched new moon ritual last Winter, including the chalk circle they created. That circle now held Darlington, who sat in a meditation pose, naked, glowing, and with two horns that curled back from his forehead. Alex choked out his name, but there was no response from Darlington who was bound by the circle. Dawes reached out to free Darlington, but when her hand crossed the golden perimeter of the circle, her finged were singled black. Alex tugged Dawes away from the ballroom, convincing her to treat her wound rather than risk any more harm trying to get whatever Darlington was out.

Exiting the manor with Dawes, Alex got a text from Detective Turner to call him. Driving the mercedes away, Alex snidely texted back to call *her* if he remembers how, still a little resentful after months of no contact. Calling almost immediately after the text, Turner asked Alex to meet him at the medical school to check out a dead body, and after a moment, Alex agreed. Dawes wonders if the potential murdered body was the result of their ritual. Alex didn't consider that, but reassured Dawes that she doubts it and also rejects Dawes' suggestion she came to the crime scene too.

After making a curative for burns under the guidance of Pamela, who insisted she was fine, Alex called a car to take her to the address Turner texted her for the Department of Psychiatry building. Having arrived, she waited until Turner came outside to wave her in to enter the building, telling her he just needed an expert opinion on hocus-pocus before he writes off the death of Yale psych professor Marjorie Stephen as due to natural causes. Alex entered the small office space, noting the women lying face foward at her desk, with graying dark hair and eyes a milk gray. Spotting the Bible in her hand, Turner shares his suspicion it might've been staged, mentioning she marked the spot in Judges. On the desk calendar, it read, *Hide the outcasts* on the Saturday of Marjorie's death. That line was from Isaiah. After Turner urged her to look closer, Alex spotted how her rings fit loosely around her and commented she looked like an old dead woman. Turner reveals that the woman was a healthy fifty, had hiked everyday, and certainly didn't look almost eighty years old. Thinking, Alex tells Turner that she'll check the library for any connections and to get her a tox report to see if there's any easy evidence of society activity and tries to manuever a favor out of him in return.

Alex called a car to get to her dorms, unwilling to walk back from the medical school, and managed to get in bed by 3 am. Sleeping, Alex dreamed of climbing the stairs of Black Elm, entering the ballroom, and pushing past the chalk circle to enter the warm golden circle where Darlington awaited. Now awake, Alex took in the fact she was outside in front of Black Elm, dressed in the tank and shorts she slept in, and her feet bloodied and covered in mud. She had sleep walked all the way to Black Elm. Remembering the security system, Alex caught the attention of Dawes after waving her arms in front of a camera. Deciding to wait inside for Dawes to pick her up, she took the key from the hydrangea pot and entered inside. Alex was desparate for warmth and quickly took an old sheet from a dining room table to wrap around herself. Feeling herself pulled, Alex couldn't help herself and mimicked the motions of her dream: climbing the stairs and opening the ballroom door.

There, sat Darlington, only now his eyes were open. Hearing his greeting *Stern*, Alex was moved to hear that it was really him, albiet his voice had a slight echo as if speaking from a cave. Darlington requested for Alex to get him some books to read to relieve his boredom. Alex asked if that's why he dragged her to Black Elm and he responded that he didn't drag anyone anywhere. Alex protested, knowing that she felt pushed to walk here, almost compelled but not quite. She exited the ballroom and went up the stairs to Darlington's round tower room. Eventually, she picked up a book on modernism in urban planning, a biography of Bertram Goodhue, and a paperback of *Dogsbody* by Diana Wynne Jones.

Returning to the ballroom, she slid the paperback through the golden circle at Darlington's urging. The paperback reached him with no harm. According to Darlington, stories exist in all worlds, immutable like gold, and that's why it wasn't burned to bits. Running a clawed hand on the cover, Darlington murmured, "“Would that I might make thee love books more than thy mother." Bewildered, Alex slid the two remaining books across the circle's boundary. Considering the three books, Darlington disregarded the *Dogsbody* paperback and tossed it towards Alex. Alex instinctually reached out her arm to catch it, and winced when she realized her arm will strike the boundary.

However, she successfully caught the book and her arm remained uninjured. Alex stared at her arm and how her tattoos glowed and became animated. She dropped the book and looked toward Darlington, wary. He assured her he can't get out of the circle, but was unwilling to prove it to her, saying that exiting the circle made him feel less human. Alex questioned what he was, but in turn Darlington questioned what she was, *Wheelwalker*? Alex was taken aback and guarded, and Darlington told her his host was so happy to welcome Sandow to his realm in Hell. The pair heard Dawes enter from the bottom floor. Alex asked how to get him out of the circle and help him. Darlington directs her to find the Gauntlet and she asks if he knows where it is. Letting out a desparate laugh, Darlington said he was "just a man, heir to nothing" and repeated his direction to find the Gauntlet and make the descent.

Alex ran, down the hall and steps and into Dawes, who scolded Alex for entering the ballroom. When her feet hit the gravel outside of Black Elm, Dawes stopped and handed a pair of white socks and Tevas sandals to wear. Dawes drove them back to Il Bastone and made Alex a cup of tea as Alex explained everything Darlington told her. She tells Dawes that he has no reason to lie about not knowing where the Gauntlet was, but Dawes points out that, depending how much demon he's become, he could have been limited to only giving out hints and clues, as if giving them a puzzle to solve. For example, Dawes points out he could've named his host which welcomed Sandow, but only hinted that its some god of greed instead.

When Dawes asked for more details, Alex paraphrased, saying that he just wanted some books and told her the quote he mentioned. Recognizing it, Dawes said the Egyptian quote suited Darlington. Sitting up, Alex tells Dawes that Darlington said that 'stories were immutable' and remembered a time when Darlington showed Alex the four stone scribes in front of Sterling Library, one of which was Egyptian. Alex asked Dawes when the library was built and from the kitchen, Dawes responded 1931, describing public reception to the building as poor because people thought it looked too much like a church. Realizing that Sterling Library could be the 'hallowed ground' Bunchy meant, Dawes considers aloud how John Sterling, a former Bonesman, donated money for the library and when the architect died, he was replaced by James Gamble Rogers, whose first last name Gamble can also mean *Punter*. *“Johnny and Punter’s friends built a Gauntlet. On hallowed ground."*

When Alex woke up that Sunday morning, she found herself on the floor of Il Bastone's living room and found a note from Dawes saying she went to Beinecke, there's bad news, and breakfast was on the table. Considering the wide array of breakfast foods prepared, Alex knew the news was really bad. Tucking a few chocolate chip pancakes in her bag for later, Alex made her way back to the JE dorms. Halfway there, she received a text from Dawes saying to meet her at Sterling at noon and that they needed four murderers. Alex answered when her phone rang and listened as Dawes explain four are needed for the ritual once the Gauntlet is activated, four pilgrims to walk the path. Alex reluctantly agreed to the number and hung up the phone.

Opening the door to her apartment, she was surprised to see Michelle Alameddine sitting with Mercy on the couch. After quickly changing out of her sweats, Alex led Michelle out of the apartment to the JE library, and when she saw it was too crowded, followed Michelle to the sculpture garden nearby. The older girl reveals to Alex that Anselm called her, asking if she or Dawes told Michelle of any plans to get Darlington back. Michelle reassures her that she didn't snitch to Anselm. Alex goes to tell Michelle about the Gauntlet, but Michelle stops her. She stresses that both she and Alex couldn't afford to break the rules and risk their position and privilege they have at Lethe. The older girl berates her recklessness, asking Alex if she knows what's ahead of her. Michelle reveals that the Gauntlet requires the four murderers to die, revealing her own suicide attempt and her subsequent unwillingness to risk her life. She urged Alex to at least read *Kittscher's Daemonologie* before sighing and telling Alex that it was Darlington who once showed Michelle the sculpture garden and the plaque nearby detailing its history. When Alex asserted that Darlington would've gone to hell for them— for—Michelle brushed the statement aside, as Darlington would've gone to hell to take note of the weather. Michelle left her there, needing to catch the train for dinner with her boyfriend's parents.

When Alex got back to her dorm, Mercy was waiting in the common room. When Mercy asked who that person was, saying that Michelle told Mercy that she was Darlington's cousin, Alex debated what to tell her. Deciding to disregard Lethe's demands for secrecy, Alex starts off telling her some truths: Darlington isn't her cousin, he isn't in Spain, and that she knows more about what happened to Mercy last year. Preparing herself at this relevation, Mercy states that's she's hungry. Alex gifts her the chocolate chip pancakes and, as she prepares coffee for them both, tells her about the societies, Darlington, and everything that happened their first year. Slowly processing the fact that magic is real, Mercy offhandedly mentions she's been praying and going to therapy a lot over the summer. Alex asks if it helps, and Mercy says it does, but she's still having trouble being sorry that Blake is dead. Alex admits she doesn't know how to forgive like that. When Mercy asks to tell her how he really died, Alex does so and expresses empathy when Mercy tears up and confesses her continuing anger towards him.

Mercy continued to ask Alex questions about Lethe for an hour, before Alex had to leave to meet Dawes in front of Sterling Library. The redhead was armed with a copy of the *Gazette* which listed the descriptions and explanations for features of the old library. Dawes tells Alex she only found less than five stories of people who walked the Gauntlet, all of them ending with people going mad or vanishing entirely. Dawes explains the eight scribes enshrined in stone, pointing out the Egyptian one whose hieroglyphs were chosen by former Locksmith Dr. Ludlow Seguine Bull. She tells Alex that once they find the first step of the Gauntlet, they have to annoint it with blood. As they pass through the entrance, Dawes tells Alex about the design and history of the library, including the fact that Goodhue was the original architect and that all the rooms coordinated to a specific theme.

Listening idly, Alex spots the mural above the receptionist's desk and connects it to the quote Darlington cited, *Would that I might make thee love books more than thy mother*. Dawes confirms this, as the mural is *Alma Mater*, aka the 'nourishing mother.' Alex and Dawes consider their pathways from the mural (left, right, or up the elevator) and notice the branches of the Tree of Knowledge featured in the mural echoed in the stone over the archway to their right. Above the archway there was a quote that read, *There studious let me sit and hold high converse with the mighty dead*. Further down the corridor, Alex noticed a particular stone grotesque next to a glass case. This particular stone decorative figure was one of Death, whose skeletal hand was resting on a student's shoulder, mimicking the quote on the archway. On a hunch they were being led down the corridor, the two girls continued.

Stopping before they reached the next archway that Alex described to be strangely bare of decoration, Alex noted the two doors and the panel of stained glass that looked like pub windows. Dawes flipped through the Gazette and tells Alex that they are woodcuts by Jost Amman. As Alex recalled Darlington's phrase, *Would that I did. But I am **just a man**, heir to nothing*, she knew that they were in the right place. Yet when she and Dawes considered the doors which lead out to Selin's Courtyard, they were stumped to realize that there was no way for all four pilgrims to complete the circuit without leaving the building.

Dawes sighed, frustrated with the lack of solution and the sense they were running out of time. She tells Alex that she thinks the ritual needs to be completed on Halloween and that they were still missing the right number of murderers plus a person to watch over their bodies during the ritual. When Alex's phone rang and she saw who it was, she swore and immediately apologizes about forgetting about the Bible quote, but Turner interrupts her. The detective tells her there's another body at Morse College and to come immediately.

Hearing this, Dawes tells Alex to go and she'll stay, but Alex takes another moment to look around. She voices her doubt to Dawes that the secret of the Gauntlet was kept entirely unknown. Dawes echoes the sentiment, suggesting hesitantly that maybe Bunchy got it wrong and that Lethe was the one who built the Gauntlet into Sterling; after all, the societies *never* work together, but instead have historically hoarded their power. Dawes reminds Alex that Edward Harkness of Wolf's Head was one of Lethe’s founding fathers. He's the one who tapped James Gamble Rogers to build half of Yale, particularly the library. Alex expresses her skepticism that the supposed oversight body of the societies would hide a gateway to hell on-campus and then never use it to find out more about what lies beyond the Veil. Both girls were disquieted at the notion of missing something big.

When she arrived at the murder scene of Dean Beekman, Morse College was surrounded by police cars and officers checking student ID's. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Turner was waiting for Alex and quickly sheparded her into Beekman's office. The office itself was a mess, with mud tracked in the entryway, books scattered, and the dead professor lying back on the ground, still sitting in his chair. Unlike Majorie Stephen, Dean Beekman's neck was broken and his eyes had no milky cast. However, on his desk was a typed note that read, *Bewray not him that wandereth,* which completed the Isaiah verse from Stephen's own murder scene. Alex and Turner agreed that this scene was too theatrical and staged. Turner tells Alex there's no connection between the professors, and that they're still waiting on Stephen's tox report. As much as she didn't want to, Alex had to admit that the murders were the result of magic; she knew she was missing something, some clue, from these murder scenes. Making a decision, Alex bluntly asks if Turner ever killed someone, and after receiving his non-answer as a *yes*, tells the detective she needs to show him something.

The next day, after her morning Modern Poets class and witnessing the campus-wide mourning for Professor Beekman, Turner picked her up in front of the newer hotels on Chapel St. On the way to Black Elm, Alex gave Turner a bare-bones summary on her theory on Darlington she had since last spring and everything that had happened since. Since Alex texted Dawes that they were on their way, the redhead was standing at the front door looking disaproving when the pair arrived. She greeted Turner by his Lethe office, but Turner dismissed the ceremony and told the evidently-tired woman that Lethe wasn't paying her enough.

Following Turner up the stairs to the ballroom, Dawes hissed to Alex that Turner was definitely going to snitch. Alex tried to reason that he could help Darlington and in turn, they could help with the murder of Dean Beekman. Dawes was shocked that Beekman died. As Dawes was telling Alex about how she had him as a professor, Turner took a hard step back from his position at the doorway of the ballroom as he processed Darlington's state. After a beat, Darlington's eyes opened bright and golden, and told Alex and Turner they reeked of death. Alex explains Darlington is trapped and needs his help, and after listening to Darlington speak, has to admit Darlington was more human than monster. Still reluctant, Turners declares he can solve the case himself without Stern, starting with the *Hide the outcasts* clue. Hearing this, Darlington completes the verse and, after Turner hesitantly reveals that a professor and dean of Morse College were killed, Darlington faintly smiles and says there'll be a third. Turner pushes Darlington to explain, but he only murmurs, 'I always admired virtue, but I could never imitate it.' Turner gave up, exasperated.

The three were startled when they heard the doorbell ring from the first floor. Peeking at the security camera on Dawes' phone, Alex was confused at the well-dressed couple at the door. Dawes reveals it's Darlington's parents. As Turner notes their dread, Alex quickly runs downs stairs to take care of them, waving away Dawes' concern at what she's going to do. She needed to find out more information about the parents who never featured in Darlington's stories in order to lie effectively. As she yanked on a sweater to cover her tattoos, Alex quickly summoned the spirit of Darlington's grandfather, who was sitting in Black Elm's sunroom with Cosmo by his feet. Flipping through the Old Man's life, Alex was overwhelmed by his memories, seeing his early life, the losses he experienced, the hopes he placed in Darlington, and how he urged Darlington to give him a fatal injection of morphine at the end of his life. In his last memory, Alex watched as the Old Man, now dead as a Gray, fruitlessly tried to stop Darlington from drinking his failed attempt at Orozcerio. Alex physically threw up on the dining room floor and just managed to put herself together enough to act bored when greeting Darlington's parents at the door.

The woman—*Harper*, the Old Man supplies—questioned who Alex was, and nonchalantly stroking Cosmo where he lay in her arms, Alex apathetically answered that she, Alexandra, was house-sitting for Darlington while he was in Spain and that he certainly doesn't want the two of them there. Both Harper and Daniel Arlington IV are affronted by this. Daniel tries to lie and say that Danny always answers their calls, but Alex dismisses this with her own lie about their son wanting to set boundaries. Harper tells Alex that she'll be hearing from their attorney and marched back to the couple's Range Rover. Daniel stayed behind to get in the last word, but had provoked Darlington's grandfather to manifest himself in front of his son and curse him out. Daniel stumbled back in fear and followed his wife to the Ranger Rover, where it sped off. Controlling the Old Man once more, Alex set Cosmo free from her arms and shoved Daniel Arlingtion III out of her mind. The Old Man growly demanded to know where Danny was, but Alex ignored him to find Dawes and Turner.

On the ride back to campus, Dawes fretted about what the Arlington's might do. Alex dismissed her worries, knowing from the Old Man's memories that the couple doesn't have enough of the money or power. She explains it's why the couple keep pressuring Darlington to sell the house. They don't want anyone to investigate them too closely after they basically abandoned their son and then kept Daniel III a prisoner while he was sick with cancer. Dawes warns that they'll still be back. Changing the subject, Alex ponders aloud how they're going to get the fourth murderer for their ritual. Dawes says she has a plan, but they need to get into the basement of the Peabody Museum and its under lockdown for renovations. Alex says that they could avoid cameras by uses a tempest like they did last year, and convinces Pamela that involving Turner could be helpful if they need to pull official records.

As Alex was getting lunch in the JE dining hall, she got a notification for a six hundred dollar deposit and knew that Oddman managed to get the money to Eitan as the six hundred was Alex's five percent. Sitting down next to Lauren and Mercy, Alex noted how subdued the two girls were as a result of Beekman's death. Mercy tells them she knew his wife, Mariah Leclerc who was a French Literature professor, and how Beekman put her in touch with other first-gen students. When Alex brought up never hearing any criticism of Beekman, Mercy said some professors in the English department tried to warn her off from switching her major and accepting Beekman as her faculty advisor. Alex tried to fish for names, but Mercy could only provide the name of a past professor Ruth Canejo.

Lauren soon left the lunch table, telling the girls she's going to take a nap before practice and reminding them they have to talk about what they were going to do for Halloween. With Lauren gone, Mercy wonders at Alex's questioning. Alex tells Mercy about the possible connection between Beekman's death, the death of Majorie Stephen, and the potential for magic to be involved. Mercy is distraught and encourages Alex to get the whoever is responsible.

That night, Turner joined Alex and Dawes outside the Peabody Museum. Since Turner was still reluctant to help Darlington, Alex convinced Turner to come by telling him that she'd leave him alone for a while when they managed to get the two murderers they need. The tempest in Dawes' thermos took care of the cameras and the trio managed to slip past the security guards and make it to the basement level. Alex ran their flashflight over shelves stacked with jars and Dawes explains the jars were filled with pond water from all over Connecticut from different years. Looking at the floorplan, Dawes went to the left-hand side of the room and reached behind the shelf of pond water. With a clink, the shelf swung out to reveal a huge room with nothing but a cloth-covered table.

Dawes pulled at the table cloth to reveal an amethyst model of New Haven. As she chanted a Latin incantation and sprayed some mist from a Windex bottle—activating the model so that red spots began to appear in stone—Dawes explained the red dots were locations of anyone who has committed homicide. Disbelieving, Turner asks if the map could locate anything and Dawes replies that the spell can only locate people who broke a specific law. Fixated on its function to only reveal locations, Turner was outraged when Dawes revealed the amethyst map was created to track runaway slaves, growing incensed as he realized the extent to which the societies benefited those in power. Alex proposes that the trio could leave, abandoning this method of finding the fourth murderer, and destroy the table completely. Turner only urges them onward, not wanting to be in its presence any longer.

Along with the three dots that signify the trio underneath the Peabody and a few others around New Haven, Alex is able to spot a single red dot where the Skull & Bones tomb was located. With Dawes remarking that it is a Monday and there'd be no ritual sanctioned, they exit museum and drive to the tomb. Turner and Dawes urged Alex to come up with a plan, but Alex opted to knock on the tomb's door, demanding it to open.

To her surprise, Tripp Helmuth opened the door. With authority, Alex tells Tripp that he's going to have to accompany them and Tripp despairs, believing he is in trouble for trespassing on account of him having graduated the year before. In Turner's car on the way to Il Bastone, Tripp grows more nervous with the presence of a police detective and he admits that he didn't actually graduate with a degree and he's been saving up on money so he could fund another semester, while evidently stealing from Skull and Bones' kitchen. Alex gives Tripp the choice of being reported to the Bonesmen or doing a job with Lethe. Enthused at a new opportunity, Tripp agrees.

On Tuesday, after Alex attended her morning Modern Poets class, she answered Dawes's call about her summons from the new Praetor: Professor Raymond Walsh-Whiteley. Alex fishes for more information from a reluctant Dawes and laughs when she realizes that Walsh-Whiteley, who has been faculty for more than 20 years, was definitely Lethe's last resort for Praetor. Dawes tells her that she'll be there at JE afterwards to work on the Gauntlet and urges Alex to dress nicely and be polite. Before the meeting, Alex attended the Electrical Engineering 101 class with Mercy and Lauren, using most of class time to plan to serve tequila shots and gummy worms for Liquor Treat. After class, Alex got ready for her meeting with the new Praetor and Mercy expressed disapproval at how Quaker-like her outfit looked. As a solution, Lauren lent Alex a dark red velvet headband.

Professor Raymond Walsh-Whiteley invited Alex to sit down in his office in Linsly-Chittenden hall. Walsh-Whiteley, after dismissing the death of Dean Beekman, bluntly addresses his reputation as a reactionary on campus. He unashamedly reveals his view that women should have never been allowed at Yale University and so too be able to hold the Lethe offices of Dante or Virgil for fear of distraction for male students, going further as to accuse his colleagues for being fools and prattlers to disregard truly great literature and art. In effort to gain his approval, Alex readily agrees that the death of Western canon is a concern of hers too. Taken aback for a moment, Walsh-Whiteley moves on to tell Alex that he also considered Elliot Sandow to be a spineless prattler and that there'll be no mischief under his office as Praetor. From now on, Alex will need to promptly send over ritual reports and do additional assigned readings. The old professor declared that he himself told Anselm it is a wonder Anselm and the Lethe Board allowed her to stay on after the Scroll and Key debacle. Alex quickly caught on to the fact that nobody at Lethe is listening to Walsh-Whiteley's complaints. When she ventured to ask about Darlington, Alex soon realizes with relief that the professor wasn't notified by Anselm of his hunch toward Alex and Dawes' motivations for the Scroll and Key incident.

Alex notices the professor's eyes looking over a photo with two young men on a sailboat, before asking about her ability to see the dead. Nodding in confirmation, Alex realizes that the professor is desparate to make contact to whoever he lost when he was young. She lies to the professor that there is a young handsome male Gray in the office now; at her indication that the Gray was to his left, Walsh-Whiteley held out his hand in a vulnerable gesture. Alex briefly thinks about how her grandmother Estrea Stern would handle her own fortune telling, before telling Walsh-Whiteley that the Gray seems comfortable watching over him while he works. Containing himself, the professor nods before dismissing Alex. Alex exits the room thinking about the possibility of the new Praetor having murdered Dean Beekman.

Alex meets with Dawes in the JE reading room and finds her hunched over a blueprint of Sterling Library and *Kittscher’s Daemonologie*. Dawes asks Alex how her talk with the professor went. Alex informs her that he's clueless about the true reason they destroy Scroll and Key's tomb and that it'll be best if they both played dumb while they try and rescue Darlington. Dawes goes on to tell Alex the plan: on Halloween, after somehow finishing running the Gauntlet, the four murderers will mark the threshold of their respective doors with blood. The door to Hell will open and their souls—not their physical bodies— will make the descent. Alex questions if there was a chance they'll turn into demons as well, and Dawes gives a hesitant no, sending their souls should be a protection from that but the ritual will attract Grays and their physical bodies will need protection too. The thought of roping another person to watch over their bodies gave Alex a headache but she firmly told Pamela that Michelle Alameddine was never going to help, no matter her connection to Darlington.

Pamela tentatively suggests magically compelling someone to protect their bodies before Mercy suddenly interjects, offering her own services for their plan. Alex immediately denies her. Dawes is appalled that Alex told an outsider about Lethe, but Alex quickly snaps at Dawes that she owed Mercy a truthful explanation. Mercy notes that they don't have anyone else to spare for this ritual before she and Dawes introduce themselves to each other. Alex points out that they still haven't figured out how to complete the circuit in order to do the Gauntlet. Looking at the blueprints of Sterling Library, Mercy states that they could go through the University Librarian's office where they was a door right behind the librarian desk, not shown in the blueprint. Dawes notes that if it does take them to Linonia and Brothers reading room like Mercy says, that would bring them around the courtyard where they could finish the Gauntlet. Mercy grins and states that she *is* very helpful and Alex exasperatedly welcomes her friend to Lethe.

On the Wednesday before Friday's Halloween, Lauren, Mercy, Alex, and another girl from the field hockey team set the common room of their apartment to look like a gloomy garden for Liquor Treat. Mercy whispers to Alex about her anticipation for Halloween. Alex reminds her that college, Liquor Treat, classes were real life, while Lethe was just a distraction. Alex suddenly received a text from Eitan—an address in Old Greenwich, almost an hour away from Yale. Mercy distracts Alex for a moment, talking about potentially taking a Shakespeare theater class with her next semester, before Lauren repulses at the mention of Shakespeare.

Alex takes Darlington's Mercedes from Il Bastone on the I-95 to Old Greenwich. When she got there, Alex felt trepidation at the sight of the surrounding rich neighborhood and the grand house belonging to, according to Eitan's text, a Linus Reiter who owed 50 thousand. Reaching for her coat pocket, she put on the Knuckles of Shimshon, which she snuch out of Lethe's armory, and parked the Mercedes a few blocks away before using the golden knuckles' power to pull herself over the ﻿﻿huge wrought iron gate set into a high wall. Alex felt reluctant to break a window to get in, knowing that if she were caught in this wealthy neighborhood, Eitan wouldn't bail her out.

A voice broke Alex out of her concentration and startled her. There, was a man in a spotless white suit, who asked Alex if she came up to his house on a dare. Quickly, Alex mentally scoured the area for a Gray and found comfort in that she could summon one roaming a nearby middle school; she stated that she was sent by Eitan and that he owed him his money—to Linus Reiter's mild surprise. Reiter goes inside his house and Alex is forced to follow him. There, she notes the luxurious quality of each item in his vast living room. Reiter tries to get Alex's name out of her, but she changes the subject to her not wanting to threaten him but he needs to transfer the money to Eitan. Instead of refocusing, Reiter asks how long Alex has been working for Eitan, if she's an addict, if she's doing it for money—admitting that he's fascinated by her puzzling circumstance. Lounging on his couch, Reiter declares that he's never going to give Eitan his money and, not wanting to hurt a man who wasn't interested in fighting back, Alex decides to threaten him by knocking a vase of its table.

Reiter caught it and Alex took a step back; he moved too fast for a human. Idly, Reiter tsked and revealed he bought that vase for himself from China in 1936. Gripping the golden knuckles, Alex made a fist and swung. It was for naught, Reiter was already behind Alex and put her into a hold where he was gripping her skull. He reveals there was no debt owed and that Eitan Harel and him were competitors; he wonders at what Eitan was thinking sending Alex in the first place. His fangs sank into her neck and Alex shouted with pain—she quickly summoned the Gray schoolteacher into her—and immediately Reiter unlatched his fangs, hissing that she tasted like a grave. Alex managed to get two punches in before Reiter regained his speed and started levitating. Menacingly, he wondered aloud as to what Alex was.

For her part, Alex was terrified that even with her strength and the golden knuckles, Reiter remained unfazed. Highly aware he was only shaken by the thought of his valuables being destroyed, Alex threw a porceline figurine toward the porch doors and quickly smashed nearby bottles, knocking candles into the liquor. Taking off her hoodie, she soaked it in the inflamed liquor, making a makeshift torch, which she used to make the curtains catch on fire as she hurled through the French doors. Running to the Mercedes a few blocks away despite the aching pain of her neck and the cut of glass, Alex grimly realized she left the keys in her hoodie. She ran until she reached a highway exit and a nearby gas station, fearful that Reiter could somehow track her.

Sitting on the curb, Alex relinquished the schoolteacher and felt overwhelmed by her fatigue and fear. Alex looked up as the Gray comforted her and as she revealed that Grays have been avoiding that house for a very long time, sensing the hundreds of bodies buried there. Knowing she had to deal with her neck wound, Alex allowed the Gray to enter her, finding comfort in her presence as she shopped for supplies. After cleaning her wound and sipping on her coke, Alex took out her phone and called Turner, who after hearing the uneasiness of her voice, agrees to pick her up from the gas station in Darien. Feeling her anger fester, Alex dialed Eitan's number, who immediately picked up. Her anger grew as she heard Eitan's disappointment that she wasn't able to get rid of his rival drug dealer, who he had already sent seven men after. Hanging up, Alex knew that she was going to have to get rid of Eitan without putting Mira in danger.

Alex gratefully slipped into Turner's car when he arrived. Turner tried to ask what happened but Alex shifted the topic to his case. Turner states they finally found a connection between Professor Stephen and Dean Beekman; they were both involved in ruining the professional reputation of a fellow Psychology professor, Ed Lambton, who Stephen had reported for fixing data on one of his papers. However, Lambton has an airtight alibi and there were others in Stephen and Beekman's lives who could have motive. Furthermore, Beekman was a member of Berzelius. Alex scoffs at the thought of Berzelius being connected to a magical murder conspiracy, but Turner informs her that Michelle Alameddine was in town that night he was killed and had previously participated in a psych study with Stephen. Alex admits that she met with Michelle, that the older girl had left to catch a train ride that Sunday night to meet with her boyfriend; at this, Turner states that cameras saw her leave on a train Monday morning.

Silent for a moment, Alex tells Turner that she's reluctant to go back to the amethyst table, but they still need their fourth murderer. She is then surprised when Turner agrees to be their fourth. He has no obligation to Darlington and certainly holds a disdain for Lethe. When Alex questions why, Turner professes his belief in God and in turn the devil. Rescuing Darlington from Hell is a way to make sure the forces for evil don't gain a soldier. Alex laughs at the thought of being the good guys in Turner's view, which makes Turner confront Alex as to what really happened at Ground Zero. Alex briefly debates confessing to what Turner already suspects, but she ultimately refrains. Instead, she dismisses the concept of Hell being a pit of sinners headed by a horned evil, but Turner remains steadfast.

Grateful that Il Bastone was empty, Alex walked up to the armory for the healing balm Dawes used on her feet when she sleepwalked. In the Dante bathroom, she peeled back her bandage and saw that her neck had healed unnaturally fast. Still, she rubbed the balm into the wound before replacing her clothes with Lethe sweats she found in the Virgil bedroom closet, which despite the bigger size, were cleaner sweats than hers.

Next, Alex made her way to the Albemarle book which led to the Lethe library, knowing she couldn't just write 'vampire' for fear of summoning all the vampiric mythos Lethe has, she instead searched up 'Linus Reiter.' Although there were dozens of books on the shelves, Alex soon realized most were about the Reiter family and their grand home in Old Greenwich, Sweetwell. There were records of Sweetwell being passed from one Reiter heir to the next, though Alex suspected that they were all one person. Looking around, Alex was surprised to see one of Arnold Guyot Dana's *Yale: Old and New* scrapbooks. As she was flipping through it, she spotted one black and white photo of young men at Mory's with Linus in the backrow.

*Kittscher's Daemonologie* was also on a shelf and Alex was dismayed to find it as Dawes described: a series of debates on hell between Ellison Nownes, a divinity student, and Rudolph Kittscher, an atheist and member of Lethe. Nownes argued that no matter what forms Hell takes, its purpose is clear: to eternally punish those who are sinful. Kittscher disagreed; hell is one of many interdimensional realms which enable the use of portals and furthermore, heaven and hell are a compromise between humanity and demon-kind. In exchange for our souls being consumed in the manner of eternal torture or paradise, demons are bound to remain in their realm and feed only upon the dead. While Alex was doubtful of Turner's thoughts of the afterlife, she was unsure about Kittscher's version as well. Looking through the index, she found one mention of *Vampire.* In that section, Kittscher argues that the variety of stories surrounding the vampire are proof that demons remain in this world as well—whether the demon feeds on fear or despair or lust, the demon takes on the form most likely to elicit that reaction.

Alex thought about Reiter as a drug dealer, how if he fed on desperation, all the drugs and money were just guarantees if he would have easy access to the souls most fearful and desparate. She wanted to figure out how to deal with vampires, before hesitating and looking at the list of attendees written at the back on the book where Lionel Reiter was listed under Skull and Bones. Alex's mind raced; it was a different name but undoubtedly him, was Reiter mortal then? Noting the date—1933, a year after Sterling was built—she wondered if the first pilgrimage to hell already took place or were the debates just intellectual preparation for the trip. After more researching and a creation of a list on how to kill demons and vampires, Alex calmed down. She now knew most weapons that worked against them were made of salt, and that stakes, fire, beheading worked as well as the wards around Il Bastone. In the armory, Alex picked up a lacy collar made of tiny salt pearls from the colonial times which she could tuck into her shirt.

Laying down in the Dante bedroom, she dreamed she was in the frontyard of Linus Reiter's home. As she dreamed, Reiter turned into Darlington's demon form and Sweetwell turned into Black Elm. Drifting inside the manor, she climbed the stairs into the ballroom where Darlington stood, looking human with his dark coat and jeans, although she could still see the golden horned version of him standing on the lawn through the windows. Alex admits that she saw him as a child through his grandfather's memories and in turn, Darlington reveals he heard his parents yelling at Alex earlier, although he doesn't mind Alex getting rid of them, only that he could learn to not love them. Alex asks him if he was the voice Skull and Bones heard earlier this October and Darlington, with his eyes flashing gold, tells her he's been calling out to her since the beginning.

The next morning, Alex walked to her dorms and tried to look presentable. She was surprised when she called Anselm and he agreed to meet with her for a late lunch after a meeting. Alex had called Dawes earlier and told her she couldn't bring back the Mercedes; Dawes was furious at her for losing Darlington and now this. Alex was stung and told Dawes that she wouldn't have been able to do anything either causing Dawes to go on a string of curses, which caused Alex's mood to lighten. Alex apologizes and promisees to get the car back eventually and Dawes calms down and apologizes for being rude, which Alex forgives with a laugh.

Alex meets Anselm at Shell and Bones, a restaurant right on the water of the harbor. Anselm greets Alex easily and invites her to order as he has already finished lunch. Alex is surprised to hear that he is middle-aged after suspecting he was in his 30s. Anselm tells her that he's in Connecticut for meetings semi-often, which is why Lethe appointed him to oversee things in the interim, but he wanted to this meeting to be a check-in after Dean Beekman got murdered. Alex asks if Anselm knew him, but quickly dismisses her question to be a habit left from last year. Anselm is sympathetic and easy-going which makes Alex relax. She cites the "*Hide the outcasts"* quote when he talks about meeting with some underdog lawyers and Anselm recognizes the quote as one being relevant to New Haven history. Alex realizes that Anselm reminds her of Darlington without his love of New Haven or dedication to Lethe.

## Personal Attributes

### Personality

Alex Stern is cunning, smart, and has a 'take-no-shit' attitude. She has a keen understanding of people and their nature, as well as how they perceive her which Alex uses to her advantage. Alex also has an instinct in knowing when following protocol, or even being cunning or clever, isn't enough and often ruthlessly uses her rough strength, bluster, and magical ability to accomplish her goals.

After years of trauma surrounding death, poverty, sexual violence and drug abuse, Alex has fostered a priority of self-preservation. She tends to be aggressive towards those who question her, and she doesn't trust easily. As soon as she starts enjoying the company of someone, however, she wants to protect them. Alex tries to find a balance between her desire for self-happiness with her drive to protect the people she cares about *and* those vulnerable to the exploitation of the societies. Although she could not accomplish this by becoming the ideal Yale scholar, Alex finds she can get things done her own way, no matter the disapproval of others.

### Physical Description

Alex has dark eyes and hair that is long and straight. She has brown skin and tattoos on her arms and collarbones. Her tattoos include black rattlesnakes on her collar bones whose tails trace down to her arms, a peony, the arcane symbols of The Wheel at the crook of her elbow, two koi circling each other on her left biceps, a skeleton on one forearm. She also has tattooed snakes on her hips to match the ones on her clavicles.

## Powers & Abilities

### Wheelwalker

You thought you saw me. See me now.

Alex has the ability to see Grays without any magical aid due to her being a Wheelwalker. Even as a young child, Alex was able to see flashes of Grays' memories when she had to physical pass through them. After the events of Ground Zero, Alex could also take the strength of Grays to amplify her own physical and magical ability. She can call forward spirits to her aid, although this doesn't depend on the spirit's cooperation so much as their presence. This aid includes increased physical strength and the ability to resist magical compulsion.

## Relationships

Family

Mira Stern is Alex's mother. Alex and Mira have a fraught mother-daughter relationship as a result of Mira being unaware of Alex's innate ability to see Grays. She didn't know how to parent or help Alex through her experiences and her fondness for pseudo-scientific 'magic' and "alternative lifestyles," was at times a point of frustration for Alex. Neverthless, both Mira and Alex have a deep care and love for each other as mother and daughter. As Alex attends Yale, Mira is sure to regularly text her. When Mercy Zhao calls in conceren for Alex, Mira drops everything to see her at Yale.

When she was alive, Alex was close with her grandmother, Estrea Stern. Estrea's death when Alex was 9 felt to Alex like a loss of that link to her cultural past. Estrea's influence on Alex despite her early death is not insignificant and Alex thinks of her fondly.

Darlington

Alex and Darlington work as Lethe's Dante and Virgil respectively; as Virgil, Darlington helps Alex navigate the Ancient Eight societies. Their relationship is at first clouded by Alex's distrust of magic and people who come from privilege, believing both to be rarely good or kind. For Darlington's part, he at first thinks her undeserving and is envious of her magic. Despite their differences and the secrets they keep from each other, Alex grows to admire Darlington's chivalry and genuine compassion that separate him from the privileged students at Yale, as well as his dedication and capacity to protect. After his disappearance, Alex continues to regularly think of Darlington and could even admit to missing him. Both are also attracted to each other.

Pamela Dawes

Due to Dawes’ reserved nature and Alex’s reluctance to let people get close, Pamela and Alex’s relationship during the fall of Alex’s first year was largely based on their jobs within Lethe. It was only until they began working together to solve the murder of Tara Hutchins that the two women became close and fiercely protective of each other. Alex let herself be cared for by Dawes, who has a naturally nurturing nature. In turn, Dawes became more assertive and more willing to break the rules. Both women have a lot riding on their position at Lethe, but are united in their equal desire to protect the ones they care about and do what's right.

Abel Turner

Alex has a keen understanding and underlying respect towards Turner, stemming from her assurance that he'll always do the right thing. Both are reluctantly associated with Lethe and the magical world and both are aware of their outsider-status in the social classes they interact with. While aware that she was different from the other privileged Yale and Ancient Eight students, Turner was ready to dismiss Alex entirely as an upstart Lethe lackey, often using his usual genial detective facade with her. This point-blank distate changes as Alex works with Turner to solve Tara Hutchins' murder.

Hellie Watson

Hellie Watson joined Alex in living at Ground Zero with the rest of Len Beacon's crew. Alex quickly grew to love Hellie despite Len's original intention of making her jealous. In Alex's eyes, Hellie was kind, magnetic, and made life at Ground Zero better all around.

Leonard Beacon

Len Beacon was Alex's ex-boyfriend and also a drug dealer. She meets him through a senior named Mosh when she was twelve. Later they get into a relationship. He was very abusive towards her. He is now dead.

## Quotes

* "Mors irrumat omnia. Death fucks us all." (Ninth House Prologue, Chapter 31)
* “The Queen of Pointlessness, a girl with a cleaver over her head. The Debtor, a boy crushed beneath a rock. The Student, Dawes herself in a cage of her own making.” (Ninth House, Chapter 9).
* “*Did she seem depressed? She was distant. She didn’t make many friends. She was struggling in her classes.* All true. But would it have mattered if she’d been someone else? If she’d been a social butterfly, they would have said she liked to drink away her pain. If she’d been a straight-A student, they would have said she’d been eaten alive by her perfectionism. There were always excuses for why girls died” (Ninth House, Chapter 17)
* "I want to survive this world that keeps trying to destroy me." (Ninth House, Chapter 28)
* “She’d been hiding from the Grays, hiding behind … Darlington, his name was Darlington … Darlington in his dark coat. She’d been hiding the way she had her whole life. She’d sealed herself away from the world of the living, for the sake of being free of the dead. Let all become mid-ocean"
* “Lies came easy to Alex. They always had. She’d been lying since she’d learned she saw things other people didn’t, since she’d understood how easy it was to slap the words crazy or unstable on a girl and make them stick. She could feel all those friendly lies ready to unfurl from her tongue, scarves from a cheap magician. That was what Lethe and the societies demanded. Secrecy. Loyalty. Well, fuck them." (Hell Bent, Chapter 11)

## Gallery

### Fan Art

by PhantomRinby PhantomRinby PhantomRinby missescaraby PhantomRinby meliescribblesby lalalaurenboyleby drawingllamasby oblivionsdream

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 *Ninth House* Chapter 1 (Winter)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 5 (Winter)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 4 (Last Fall)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 *Ninth House* Chapter 7 (Winter)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 29 (Early Spring)
6. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 30 (Early Spring)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 19 (Last Summer)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 *Hell Bent* Chapter 21
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 *Ninth House* Chapter 2 (Last Fall)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 3 (Winter)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 *Ninth House* Chapter 6 (Last Fall)
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 *Ninth House* Chapter 25 (Winter)
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 10 (Last Fall)
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 15 (Winter)
15. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 13 (Last Fall)
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 18 (Last Fall)
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 20 (Winter)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 11 (Winter)
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Ninth House Chapter 8 (Winter)
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 9 (Winter)
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 12 (Winter)
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 14 (Winter)
23. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 16 (Winter)
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 17 (Winter)
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 *Ninth House* Chapter 21 (Winter)
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 22 (Winter)
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Ninth House Chapter 23 (Winter)
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 24 (Winter)
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 26 (Winter)
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 27 Winter
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Ninth House Chapter 28 (Early Spring)
32. ↑ *Ninth House* Prologue (Early Spring)
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 31 (Early Spring)
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 32 Spring
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 *Hell Bent* Chapter 2
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 *Hell Bent* Chapter 3
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 1
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 5
39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 6
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 *Hell Bent* Chapter 7
41. ↑ *Hell Bent* Chapter 8
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 *Hell Bent* Chapter 10
43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 *Hell Bent* Chapter 11
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 44.4 *Hell Bent* Chapter 12
45. ↑ *Hell Bent* Chapter 13
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 14
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 15
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 *Hell Bent* Chapter 16
49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 17
50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 *Hell Bent* Chapter 18
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 *Hell Bent* Chapter 19
52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 *Hell Bent* Chapter 20
53. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 7 (WInter) “She hated going through them. Sometimes she got flashes of memory, but this time she just felt a blast of cold.”
54. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 21 (Winter) “I gave you my strength,” said North. *No*, thought Alex. *I took it*."

TBA