64 pages • 2-hour read
Half-Blood
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Part 2, Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Half-Blood”
Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, substance use, addiction, violence, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Alex hides in the warehouse, clutching a titanium garden space and listening as daimons search for her. Titanium is lethal to daimons and kills immediately upon reaching their blood. The only other way to kill a daimon is through decapitation.
Alex hears a scream and runs, but a daimon catches her. They scuffle, and Alex stabs him, turning him to dust. She nearly reaches the door before a male daimon stops her. As a half-blood, Alex can see through the daimons’ glamour to their monstrous true form. A female daimon appears behind Alex, and another daimon’s scream echoes in the warehouse.
Alex fights the female daimon and almost escapes but a wall of fire blocks her path. Aiden St. Delphi, a pure-blood Hematoi Sentinel and Alex’s first crush, walks through the fire and orders her to get down. She spots two other Sentinels, including Kain Poros, a half-blood she knew at the Covenant. Kain kills the female daimon. The male daimon bites Alex. He drinks deeply and questions what she is before being pulled away, leaving Alex with a scar called a “tag.”
Aiden checks on Alex, who is in pain but able to move. He insists they return to the Covenant. Alex fights him and escapes. Aiden catches her and, after a brief confrontation, uses compulsion to put her to sleep.
Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary
Alex wakes with her head on Aiden’s shoulder. She is troubled by his use of compulsion, which is unethical unless used on enslaved half-bloods. She reflects on the Hematoi (also called pures) like Aiden, descendants of Greek demigods who control the elements and turn them into spells and compulsions. Half-bloods like Alex lack elemental magic but possess enhanced speed and strength. Unlike pures, they can see through the daimons’ glamour.
Aiden explains that her stepfather, Lucian, sent them to find her and that her uncle, Marcus, is now the Dean of the Covenant. Alex worries about returning to the Covenant, knowing that expelled half-bloods are turned into servants. Pures skilled in compulsion ensure the enslaved half-bloods’ submission with an elixir made from poppies. They lose all free will, and the pures tattoo their forehead with a circle with a line through it. Only privileged half-bloods are allowed to train as Sentinels or Guards at the Covenant.
Arriving at Deity Island, North Carolina, Alex reflects on her past at the Covenant, where she had been a promising student. Now, after missing three years of training, she faces servitude. Worse, her mother’s death has intensified her desire to fight daimons. She notices her daimon tag, which is now red and angry but will fade to a silvery scar. Unlike pures, half-bloods cannot be turned into daimons.
She questions the Council’s kill-on-sight policy toward daimons, believing it prevents them from learning about daimons and their habits. Aiden is impressed when she admits to killing two daimons. Alex remains frustrated by her attraction to Aiden—relationships between pures and half-bloods are forbidden by the gods through the Breed Order, as their offspring could be dangerous.
In the Dean’s office, Alex is struck by Marcus’s resemblance to her mother. He lists Rachelle’s wrongs—her affair with Alex’s father, stealing her husband Lucian’s money, and running away. Marcus refuses to reinstate Alex at the Covenant. Instead, he offers her a servant position in Lucian’s household. Alex protests, but Marcus declares that her only other option is to leave the Covenant.
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary
A pure-blood Sentinel, Leon, argues for Alex’s potential, and Aiden volunteers to train Alex over the summer to catch up with the other trainees. Marcus agrees, but only if she matches her classmates’ skills by the end of summer.
Exploring the campus, Alex reunites with her best friend, Caleb Nicolo. They hug, and he asks where she has been. Alex reveals that daimons killed her mother. Friends express sympathy when they learn that Aiden is Alex’s trainer, as he is notorious for his strictness.
Lea Samos, Alex’s nemesis, interrupts to mock her. She claims Marcus did not want her back and says that Rachelle left after speaking with the oracle, Grandma Piperi. Lea states that the oracle predicted that Alex would kill her mother. Enraged, Alex attacks Lea, but Caleb intervenes.
Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary
Caleb carries Alex away, preventing a fight. He tells her to ask Grandma Piperi herself if she wants to know the prophecy. Alex is shocked that the old woman is still alive, but Caleb reminds her that oracles live until a successor appears. He warns Alex that Piperi’s hut is deep in the marshes and difficult to find.
Caleb invites Alex to a party at the house of Zarak (a pure-blood friend of theirs) on the main island later that week. Alex complains that she is grounded, and Caleb suggests she sneak out.
Later, they raid the supply room for clothes, but Aiden catches them. Caleb leaves, and Aiden scolds Alex for disobeying orders. They discuss Alex’s ambitions, and Aiden warns her about fighting. She admits that Lea’s words hurt her, and Aiden tries to comfort her.
Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary
Training begins the next day. Alex reaches for a weapon, but Aiden denies her, saying she must earn it. Training is grueling—eight hours daily with Aiden plus additional stamina exercises solo in the gym. Aiden sets strict rules: no smoking, drinking, or leaving the Covenant unsupervised or without permission. She struggles with basic maneuvers, improving only after hours of repetition.
During lunch, a pure-blood medic administers Alex’s mandatory birth control injection—half-blood females must take it regularly. Back at training, Alex repeatedly fails to recover from being knocked down. Aiden bans her from the gym until she adjusts to the regular exercise.
Back in her dorm, Caleb updates her on Covenant gossip. He says that he kissed Lea and mentions a Guard, Kelia Lothos, who had a romantic relationship with a pure-blood in defiance of the Blood Order. The Council will most likely strip Kelia of Guard duty and make her a servant, while the pure-blood will face only mild reprimands. They discuss the unfairness of the system but accept it as reality.
Caleb suggests that Alex hold a funeral for her mother for closure. She snaps at him, and he comforts her before leaving. Alex resolves that she will be okay because she must be.
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary
Training continues, but Alex struggles. Marcus watches, making snide remarks. Frustrated, Alex challenges him to a sparring match, ignoring Aiden’s warnings. Marcus easily defeats her. After he leaves, Aiden reprimands Alex for not listening to him. He tells her that Marcus was formerly a Sentinel. They continue their practice, but things are tense between them.
That night, Caleb reminds Alex of the party. They sneak out to Zarak’s, where friends and acquaintances greet her warmly. She interrupts a pure who she thinks is Zarak but realizes too late that it is someone else.
Part 2, Chapters 1-6 Analysis
Half-Blood explores the theme of The Injustice of Social Hierarchies through Alex’s experiences and growing awareness of her place in Hematoi society. Alex’s initial reaction to Aiden and the Sentinels rescuing her is not gratitude but anger—Rachelle was left to die, and she sees their intervention as too little, too late. This resentment highlights the systemic injustice in the Hematoi world, where protection is prioritized for pure-bloods who belong, while half-bloods like Alex and deserters like Rachelle are considered expendable.
Lucian, Alex’s stepfather and a powerful Hematoi, offers a characterization of a typical, powerful member of Hematoi society with his self-absorption and lack of actual care for Alex and Rachelle. He ordered the Sentinels to retrieve Alex, but only after Rachelle’s death, which subtly suggests that he had little concern for Alex before this event, raising questions about his true motivations that amplify tension. The Sentinels themselves offer another example of this phenomenon, as the Hematoi Council dictates their actions. They are reactive rather than proactive; they hunt daimons when necessary but make no effort to understand them nor cull them before they have attacked a pure-blood. This approach underscores the pure-bloods’ insular, self-serving nature—rather than eradicating daimons or preventing their attacks, the Hematoi remain focused solely on their own survival. As a result, the mortal world remains in constant danger from daimons, a problem the Hematoi refuse to acknowledge.
The fact that Lucian specifically ordered Sentinels, including Aiden, to retrieve Alex foreshadows later revelations about her significance. Alex notes the inherent prejudice against half-bloods, reflecting, “Who cared if a half-blood went down in battle? To the pures, we were a dime a dozen” (99). However, the effort made to recover her suggests that she is more than just another half-blood. The daimon attack in the warehouse further hints at this mystery when a daimon, after drinking her blood, demands to know who she is, suggesting that Alex is not an ordinary half-blood, even if she does not yet understand why.
Alex’s return to the Covenant represents more than just a shift in setting—it symbolizes her confrontation with the rigid social structure that defines her existence, developing the theme of The Struggle Between Fate and Free Will. She is painfully aware that, given her history and expulsion, she is likely to be forced into servitude. She dreads this prospect, recognizing that “[a] lifetime of servitude most likely waited for [her]—a future [she] couldn’t face. Being subject to the pures’ wills, having no control or say over anything—the possibility scared the crap out of [her]” (97). The fact that Alex faces such a fate solely because she followed her mother’s decision to leave the Covenant highlights the arbitrary and oppressive nature of the Hematoi hierarchy. Half-bloods have little to no autonomy, and their worth and future paths are determined entirely by pure-bloods.
The novel draws a clear parallel between servitude and enslavement, making it evident that half-bloods experience systematic oppression. Alex describes the fate of those who do not train as Sentinels or Guards:
They were rounded up by the Masters, a group of pures who excelled at the art of compulsion. An elixir had been created out of a special blend of poppy flowers and tea. […] [T]he refined poppy made them compliant and vacant, giving them a high they never came down from (94).
This passage starkly exposes the exploitation and systemic control that pures enforce over half-bloods. The use of the words “servitude” and “servant” are euphemisms for what is enslavement—half-bloods are stripped of their autonomy, forced into subservience, and chemically subdued to prevent rebellion. Thus, when Marcus informs Alex, “I spoke with Lucian this morning. He has offered you a place in his home” (106), the offer is not one of kindness but a thinly veiled threat. Lucian’s household is a prison where Alex would be controlled.
The novel consistently presents these power dynamics to emphasize the oppression within Hematoi society, positioning Alex as a character who must challenge these structures. Her resistance to submission, both physically in combat training and emotionally in her refusal to accept her fate, sets her apart from other half-bloods who have resigned themselves to their circumstances. When she returns to the Covenant in Part 2, Alex begins to question her outsider status in Hematoi society, introducing the theme of The Journey to Self-Discover and Belonging. Alex’s growing awareness of these injustices and hints about her unusual status lay the groundwork for her eventual rebellion against this system. The early conflicts in the novel not only develop Alex’s character but also criticize the rigid and oppressive nature of Hematoi society, suggesting that true change will only come from challenging these long-standing traditions.
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