While Lyra studies the vault wall, Grayson discreetly answers a message on his watch, telling his brothers that Toby’s information concerns a woman named Alice, not Eve. Lyra spots invisible writing on the wall, and Grayson recognizes the surface as a sliding puzzle. The timer expires, and the deadbolt unlocks. They finish the puzzle, which reveals a clear directive emphasizing that actions outweigh words.

On a cliffside, Rohan and Savannah examine the compass riddle. Rohan tests her by standing near the edge; Savannah pulls him back. He returns the glass dice he previously stole from her, then kisses her. They realize the riddle’s lines mirror common proverbs, picking out can’t see the forest for the trees and pairing it with not within but without. They conclude the next clue is in the island’s burned forest.

In the locked room, Eve claws at Gigi’s duct tape. A hidden wall opens, and a woman in red enters. She cuts Gigi free but leaves Eve and Slate restrained, saying Eve’s interference made their containment necessary. Gigi correctly identifies her as Brady Daniels’s sponsor. The woman in red says she needs Gigi as bait to draw out her real target and warns her not to free Slate before exiting.

At the forest’s edge, Grayson activates the compass, which leads them to a massive Douglas fir with handholds. A brief climb yields nothing. Rohan and Savannah approach. Lyra confronts Grayson about his need to protect Savannah, and he reveals that their father was a murderer who planted a bomb on Avery’s jet. Brady Daniels watches from the shadows, meets Lyra’s gaze, then directs her attention to the ground, indicating something is buried there.

Savannah arrives and climbs the tree. Grayson follows her up, insisting that there is no clue and that Eve is using her. He tells her the full truth about their father’s crimes against Avery. Savannah rejects his account, blames him for destroying their family, and claims he would always choose the others over her. She climbs down, declaring she is completely alone.

While Grayson and Savannah are in the tree, Rohan and Lyra dig where Brady indicated and unearth a plaque etched with an 11-line riddle. Grayson returns as Rohan finds a tiny hole on the plaque’s edge, sized for a golden dart, but doesn’t tell anyone. Realizing Savannah will likely accept Brady’s offer, he decides he needs his own dart in hand and leaves to retrieve it.

Rohan returns to his room to find Brady holding his golden dart. They square off, and Rohan notes Brady’s unexpected strength. As Brady leaves, Rohan engineers a brief brush past him and slips a photograph from his pocket. In the bathroom, he warms the photo, and invisible ink surfaces with a short directive: “one of three, it’s time” (237).

Back in the locked room, a second figure in a red cloak enters, silently knocks Slate unconscious, and declares herself the true Lily and Watcher. Lifting her veil reveals one blue eye and one brown eye. Gigi recognizes her as Calla Thorp. The woman denies the name, saying Calla is gone, and explains she has questions for Gigi and Eve.

Lyra and Grayson run the island perimeter, working through the silver plaque’s riddle and its play on the words two/too/to. A glint from two boulders draws Lyra’s eye. Between them, she finds a hidden stone staircase. They descend until Grayson shouts for her to stop. Lyra freezes, her eyes open to a venomous snake coiled on the step within striking range.

Grayson holds Lyra still until the snake leaves. The jolt triggers his memories of past failures to protect Avery and a girl named Emily Laughlin, who died when he was young. He guides Lyra down the path to a vine-draped cavern containing an antique, wrought-iron bed. Grayson recognizes the bed as a deliberate clue and laughs, realizing the riddle is a straightforward code.

Rohan returns to the Douglas fir and finds Savannah. He explains the dart-sized hole on the plaque. Savannah produces her golden dart and slots it in, but nothing happens. She hands the dart to him. Rohan examines it and subtly slips it up his sleeve, telling Savannah to come with him.

Rohan leads Savannah to the ruins of the old Hawthorne mansion, where her cousin died in a fire. He pushes a new plan: Get Brady disqualified. The exchange turns personal. Savannah says her father blamed Toby Hawthorne for her cousin Colin’s death and accuses Avery’s family of covering up what happened to her own father. Rohan acknowledges her pain but cuts their alliance to advance his position.

The woman in red interrogates Gigi and Eve about the number three. She rejects the name Calla and explains she is not a biological Thorp. Eve cuts in, linking the Omega, calla lilies, and Alice Hawthorne. The woman in red seems satisfied and prepares to leave.

Inside the cavern, Lyra solves the plaque’s code: The first letters of each line form the message “Only at Night” (316). They conclude they must return to the tree after dark and that the bed is a directive to rest. Back at the house, Grayson proposes they sleep. Lyra admits she rarely sleeps but agrees to try, saying if they fail, they fail together.

In Grayson’s bedroom, they use a visualization exercise to sleep. Lyra has a nightmare that is a repressed memory of her father’s death: A woman in a black cloak and veil gave her a liquid and promised no one would know she was there. Lyra wakes Grayson, panicked, and recounts the memory, suspecting the woman was Alice. Grayson’s watch buzzes. Lyra senses he is lying, seizes his wrist, and demands to see the message.

Confronted, Grayson shows the alert: O.M. located. Lyra scrolls back and finds secret messages with his brothers about Alice. She realizes Alice is the primary threat and that she and Odette are liabilities. Grayson says he is trying to protect her, but Lyra refuses. She declares she has a game to play. When Grayson insists they have a game to play together, Lyra says he will always choose his family over her, and she leaves.

At dusk, Rohan spots a rattled Lyra running alone. He taunts her about Grayson’s history of broken relationships, then heads for the ruins and provokes Brady by mentioning Calla. Brady swings, and Rohan allows several blows before locking him in a chokehold. Rohan searches Brady and pockets two golden darts. He notices a spiral tattoo on Brady’s arm and deciphers a hidden message telling him he must lose, realizing a powerful figure has targeted him for months.