The Grandest Game

The players follow Avery and Jameson out to the beach, which is covered with black sand. Jameson mentions that one object is still hidden that none of the players found. He tells them that they have an hour to find it and that they should “[l]eave no stone unturned” (92). Gigi watches the other players scatter to begin examining the rocks on the beach. Brady and Knox argue, and Brady stomps off toward the main house. She realizes that while Knox is occupied on the beach, she has time to return to the main house herself—and steal back the scuba gear he took from her.

During her unsuccessful search of Knox’s room, Gigi recalls how she threw the bag of scuba gear into the ocean and ran, escaping with the knife while he scrambled after the bag. Now, she hears Brady in the shower in his own room and decides to search his room too. She finds nothing except a photo of a teen girl, and she suspects that this is the dead girl that Odette said Knox and Brady were arguing about. She leaves Brady’s room and explores the lower floors of the house. Above her, she hears Brady and Knox arguing. She realizes that they were players in the previous year’s Grandest Game, and she overhears the name “Calla.” Knox claims that Calla “left,” while Brady insists that someone took her. Brady accuses Knox of having forgotten Calla, and the two part angrily.

On the beach, Rohan realizes that Odette has found something. He, Savannah, and Lyra speed toward the older woman. Odette holds a glass box with a button inside. She presses the button and a message appears against the glass of the house: “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, BREAK GLASS” (100). Rohan realizes that the message refers to the hourglass inside the house and runs back inside. Savannah chases after him, but Rohan grabs the hourglass and breaks it, taking out a metal disk. He hides the disk quickly so that Savannah can’t see it and then takes a moment to admire his opponent’s determination.

The players and Grayson Hawthorne assemble in the Great Room. Chimes and bells begin to sound, and the players disperse to track down where they’re coming from. Rohan and Savannah end up in the dining room; the door slams and locks behind them. Rohan hears two more doors slam shut elsewhere in the house. A screen drops down, and Xander announces that the players have until dawn to escape the rooms they’re locked in. They must work as teams with whomever else is in the room. If all players on a team don’t make it to the dock by dawn, the entire team will be eliminated.

Avery then explains that each room has two buttons: a black one to signal an emergency requiring the hosts’ attention, and a red one to request the one hint that each team is allowed. Three blank spaces with blinking cursors appear on the screen, and Jameson’s voice directs the teams to enter their answers to the first puzzle there. The elaborate symbol from their room keys flashes on the screen as Jameson comments that there are three teams; the symbol’s parts reassemble into a heart, a diamond, and a club—one symbol for each team. Savannah realizes that what’s left over is the number eight, not an infinity sign. Avery announces that the game has eight players, not seven.

Lyra is in the Great Room with Odette and Grayson; she regrets choosing the room, realizing from Avery’s final announcement that Grayson is the eighth player and is on her team. He says that he won’t let Avery and his brothers manipulate him and is considering refusing to play. Lyra is furious. She points out that, given the terms of the game, if he refuses to play, she and Odette will be disqualified. Odette tells him that he resembles his grandfather, and he asks how she knew Tobias. Odette tells him she’ll answer this if they make it to the dock by dawn. He agrees to play the game. He points out a lever underneath the screen, and Lyra pulls it. A hidden compartment in the wall opens, revealing a mahogany chest.

Inside the chest are a Styrofoam Sonic cup, a dinner plate, a rose petal, a roll of quarters, a box of magnetic poetry, and a pouch holding Scrabble tiles. Grayson explains that a similar game his grandfather Tobias designed required deducing which object should be the starting point and that all the objects would eventually be necessary. Lyra and Grayson both reach for the magnetic poetry; their hands touch, and Lyra quickly grabs the Scrabble tiles instead.

Gigi is in the study with Brady and Knox, looking over the same odd collection of objects as the other teams. She’s still angry at Knox and tries to ignore him, but when he and Brady start to bicker, she tries to play peacemaker in the interest of keeping them working as a team. Knox turns on her, calling her a liability; Brady’s way of defending her is to remind Knox that Gigi is “just a kid” (117), which is just as hurtful. Brady tells Gigi that Knox is playing on behalf of wealthy sponsors, the Thorps, who are part of a group betting on the game’s outcome. Gigi reveals her value to the team by rattling off detailed observations of the room and offering suggestions about ways to start solving the first puzzle, and Brady acknowledges that she isn’t “a kid.” As they discuss their puzzle-solving specialties, Gigi notices that Knox talks about Brady like one twin might talk about the other. She recognizes what it’s like to be a part of such a close bond and then, suddenly, feel as if it’s broken. Brady cryptically tells Knox, “Severin sends his regards” (122).

Rohan and Savannah banter about Grayson’s inclusion in the game and whether the chain and lock Savannah still wears has any further importance in the game. Rohan notes that Savannah is deliberately heightening the sexual tension between them—to toy with him, he supposes. When he spins the disk he pulled from the hourglass, the lines on it blur together and they can read the message “Use the room” (125). They discover a decanter containing an orange liquid and use it as a filter, holding it up to a mural of the sunrise. Through the liquid, they see the message, “TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE, FOCUS ON THE WORDS” (127).

Rohan and Savannah study the magnetic poetry tiles. They decide that one possible combination of words suggests burning the rose petals. Rohan wants to immediately try it, but Savannah is more cautious and points out that, in any case, they have no source of fire. Rohan says they do: a mirror and a beam of light.

Lyra tries arranging the Scrabble tiles into the highest-scoring game possible and memorizes the resulting words. She tries several variations and notices that the words “[p]ower, crown, adage” (131) keep appearing. She thinks of the adage, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown” (131). They try entering words related to this adage into one of the spots on the screen, but none of the answers are correct. Grayson tells them that all the coins bear the dates 1991, 2002, or 2020. Odette points out two hidden compartments in the wall, but they can’t figure out how to open them. She finds an anomalous area in the paneling, and when Grayson pushes it, it triggers a mechanism that lowers the room’s chandelier.

The chandelier is still high enough that the only way to reach it is for Grayson to lift Lyra up. She resists the idea, but he says that the chandelier is obviously important: He explains that his grandfather’s last game likewise involved an adage, a girl, and a chandelier. Lyra steels herself, deciding not to let Grayson’s touch make her feel anything at all. When he lifts her, however, the sensation is electric, reminding her of being lifted in a ballet. Clearly, the contact affects him too. She finds a loose crystal with a sword etched into its surface. Lyra enters the word “sword” on the screen: this time, the answer is correct.

Gigi asks Knox and Brady about their relationship. Knox tries to make her hand over the knife she’s keeping strapped to her thigh, saying that since they’re on the same team now she should share any clues with them. Brady tells Knox to leave her alone. Gigi assures Knox that soon he’ll see her as a charming little-sister figure. She climbs up and begins investigating the tops of the bookshelves; when she falls, Knox catches her, and she thinks, “His rehabilitation [has] officially begun” (143). Knox climbs up in her place, and while she waits, she peppers Brady with ideas about what to investigate next. She apologizes for being “A Lot,” and Brady tells her that he likes “A Lot,” making her smile (144). Brady warns her that Knox doesn’t let people in easily and she won’t succeed in befriending him.

Savannah and Rohan are unsuccessful in burning the rose petal, so they compare the poetry magnet words to those they can make with the Scrabble tiles. They can arrange the leftover letters to spell the word “power.” As he watches Savannah, Rohan forces himself to remember that though he admires her, his intention is to use her to win the game himself. Rohan thinks about how his background prepared him to be a fearless adult. He tells Savannah they’re overcomplicating things; this leads to an epiphany for him, and he quickly rearranges the cup, plate, coins, and other objects into pairs. He reminds her, “Focus on the words” (148), and he’s pleased when he recognizes that Savannah now sees what he sees.

Lyra sees from the scoreboard that another team just got two answers correct, one right after the other and realizes that all the answers share a pattern. Grayson tells her that because of how he was raised, he always works hard never to be wrong and struggles to admit when he is. He has been trying to change, however, and admits that he was wrong about the nature of this puzzle. He no longer thinks the items form a sequence, agreeing with Lyra that they’re all part of one pattern. Odette comments that he’s “[v]ery much a Hawthorne” (152), leading Lyra to repeat his question about how Odette knows the family. Again, Odette says she’ll answer if they make it to the dock by sunrise. Watching her reaction, Lyra reveals that she found notes with her father’s name on them; Odette seems surprised, and Grayson is furious. Lyra explains that she didn’t really know her father, a somewhat shady figure who told her mother many different stories about his background, and her mother left him when Lyra was just a few days old.

When they return to the game, Lyra realizes that their first correct answer is an anagram of “[w]ords,” which describes the Scrabble tiles and the poetry magnets. With this clue in hand, she groups the other four items, explaining that the items in each set are anagrams: plate and petal, Sonic and coins. The team quickly deduces the other two correct answers: “pleat” and “scion.” When they enter the answers, a song plays and a section of wall opens, revealing a sword. Lyra pulls the sword out, and another section of wall moves, creating a doorway.

Gigi’s team is discouraged when they realize that another team has just finished the first puzzle. They examine the knife and its sheath. Knox mocks Gigi for so easily trusting Brady. He offers to tell her the “real difference” between them, but Brady interrupts, saying that the “real difference” is who loved Calla. Knox protests that it has been six years since she disappeared. Brady says he tried to give Knox a second chance last year. As their anger escalates, Gigi interjects, asking what makes them happy. Brady says his mother’s dog, and Knox says constellations, which makes Brady go unnaturally still. Gigi shows them the words on her belly. Brady touches her stomach, sending a thrill through her. He says to rearrange the letters, and they realize the words are an anagram of the word “anagram.” Gigi instantly figures out all three correct answers to the first puzzle.

As Rohan and Savannah enter the answer to the first puzzle and the music plays, Rohan has a flashback of a woman humming, darkness, and the feeling of drowning. As the wall opens to reveal their team’s sword, the two teammates race toward it. Rohan gets there first and claims it. A trapdoor opens. Rohan reads the quote on the sword: “From every trap be free […] For every lock a key” (163). Angry that Rohan beat her to the sword, Savannah delivers a scathing speech telling him that she sees through his attempts to flirt with her and draw her in. She warns him that she wants to win even more than he does. Her harsh words bring back the memory of the woman and the sensation of darkness and drowning.

Lyra’s team descends a dark staircase beyond the door in the wall. When they reach the bottom, lights flare on, and they see that they’re in a small metal chamber. In the room are a telephone and a monitor. The walls shift, sealing off the stairs. The monitor displays a message that the three teams will now face different puzzles. The message continues in cryptic, rhyming couplets mentioning “[a] crown, a scepter, an empty throne” (167) and instructs them to use the phone to call in their answer when they’re ready. When the screen goes blank, the walls of the room begin to move again.

Gigi’s team, in a similar metal chamber, has just finished the video message, and the walls of their room begin to move. When they stop, they reveal a new layer of wall, which bears a riddle. Before they begin trying to solve it, Brady comments on how small the space is and gives Knox a look of concern. Knox offers some ideas about the riddle, and Gigi chimes in with her ideas. She suggests that the part of the riddle that mentions “IN FRONT OF A HORSE” (169) may refer to the phrase, “Putting the cart before the horse” (170). When she expresses hesitation about whether her idea has merit, Brady offers support. She cautions herself to focus on the game instead of fixating on Brady and his feelings for the mysterious Calla.

After Savannah’s comments about how badly she wants to win, Rohan realizes that she’s another puzzle for him to solve. Given her sizable trust fund, he doesn’t think that money is her motivation. Savannah and Rohan read the riddle on their wall and begin puzzling over what its mention of “88 LOCKS/ WAIT, THAT’S NOT RIGHT” (173) could refer to.

Lyra’s team has been given a riddle about something “YOU MIGHT FIND […] IN A CAVE” (174). Grayson admits that he often lost family games involving riddles, and Lyra realizes from his tone how difficult growing up as Tobias’s grandson must have been. She thinks of her father’s final words to her, a riddle: “What begins a bet? Not that” (175). Grayson realizes what she’s thinking about and gently calls her attention back to the present riddle. He politely asks to look at their team’s sword, which Lyra has been carrying. He finds the sword’s inscription, which is identical to the inscription on the other teams’ swords.

Gigi’s team realizes that each line in their riddle might refer to a common cliché, but as they try to make this solution work, Brady comments that they’re stretching too far and that this isn’t how good riddles function. Knox reacts irritably, and Brady realizes that the tight space of the room is affecting him. Gigi is touched by Brady’s compassion for Knox. Knox picks up the phone and tries their answer but is unsuccessful. He slams the phone down repeatedly. Brady says they must take their team’s hint, now, and get out of the small room. Knox refuses this idea, not wanting to waste the hint. They argue, Brady telling Gigi to press the red button and Knox telling her not to. When Knox lunges at Gigi to stop her, Brady intervenes and the two men physically fight. Knox tells Brady that even if he wins, he won’t find Calla, because no amount of money can help him find a woman who doesn’t want to be found. Brady says he’s playing because his mother has cancer and he needs money for her treatment. This news devastates Knox. He repeatedly hits the metal wall. Gigi makes a quick decision and presses a button.