Glorious Rivals

During a 12-hour respite in the Grandest Game, between phases one and two, Lyra and Grayson share a kiss on a ruined mansion patio. Lyra immediately regrets it, recalling a warning from Odette that a Hawthorne was responsible for a past tragedy and that there are always three. Lyra suspects she is a pawn in a game tied to her father’s death and to Grayson’s grandmother, Alice Hawthorne, because although she thought Avery invited her, her invitation was, in fact, anonymous. Grayson insists that she is not a weapon and stands between her and the cliff’s edge. He offers his jacket, but she refuses, telling him she doesn’t need his protection.

After the kiss, Lyra runs along the shore. She recalls her traumatic childhood—her father abducted her at age four, and she witnessed his death by suicide—which is why she keeps others at a distance. She feels a connection to the island’s wild terrain and recommits to winning the game to save Mile’s End, her home. At the dock, she senses she is being watched but sees no one.

On the northern shore, Grayson sends a coded message through his player smartwatch to his older brother, Nash. He explains that Lyra’s anonymous invitation poses a threat and that Odette implied that their grandmother, Alice, might be alive. Nash reports that Grayson’s half-sister, Gigi, is missing, along with a boat, and warns Grayson to watch his other half-sister, Gigi’s twin, Savannah. Nash gives Grayson a key to his assigned room.

In Savannah’s room, her temporary ally Rohan wakes to find his room key missing. Deducing that she searched his room for their team’s sword, he searches hers, finding a masquerade mask with teardrop diamonds. When Savannah returns, Rohan pickpockets his key back, along with her personal glass dice. Later, he returns the dice, and they reaffirm their fragile alliance.

Gigi wakes in a stone tower and realizes she has been kidnapped. She recognizes her captor as a man named Slate, who works for Eve, who has a hidden agenda and has sponsored a few participants in the game. Slate claims he is acting without Eve’s knowledge to protect Gigi from her. He also warns her of another, unknown threat on the island.

Lyra wakes from a nightmare about her father’s death, this time with new details: a calla lily, a candy necklace with three pieces, and his amber eyes. Her smartwatch instructs her to don her armor. A hidden closet opens, and she chooses a black outfit. She gathers all the objects she has collected so far: her room key, dice, opera glasses, and a key-shaped pin, then messages the game makers that she is ready.

A map on Lyra’s watch leads her to a hidden beach where she meets Avery Grambs, who asks Lyra not to hurt Grayson. The Hawthorne brothers arrive, followed by Grayson in matching armor. Lyra tells Grayson that their kiss cannot happen again. The other remaining competitors, Savannah, Rohan, and Brady Daniels, arrive. To cut the tension, Xander lifts Lyra for a chicken fight, and Jameson tackles Grayson into the surf to start the game.

Later, at the bonfire, Savannah warns Lyra that Grayson will always choose his family, and especially Avery, over anyone else. Brady introduces himself to Lyra, advises caution with Savannah, and suggests an alliance. Rohan interrupts, attempting to seed conflict by accusing Brady of injuring Gigi in the last phase. Brady dismisses the ploy, and Rohan needles Lyra about Grayson’s absence.

Jameson challenges Grayson to climb the cliff above the beach. At the top, he invokes their childhood rule of On Spake, forbidding Grayson to speak. Jameson warns that Lyra is a threat, possibly tied to Eve, and insists that Alice is dead. He forbids Grayson from saying Alice’s name or investigating further. Grayson refuses to fight and sets an ultimatum: Jameson must fix the situation by the game’s end or tell him everything.

During the bonfire, Rohan studies his competition. Savannah suggests that the game is rigged, but he deflects. Rohan reveals that he took a photograph from Brady’s jacket of a girl with heterochromia, Calla Thorp—Brady’s missing girlfriend, and his reason for playing. He states Calla is presumed dead. When Savannah asks if Brady has a sponsor, Rohan says he does not know but recognizes that it is an important question.

Phase two officially begins in the Hawthorne house’s Great Room with rules for a clue-to-clue race. Rohan and Savannah arrive first to find a vast setup of golden dominoes. All five players gather and take one of five crystal flutes. The dominoes topple in a chain reaction, exposing a hidden compartment with five golden darts.

In the stone tower, Gigi questions Slate, who confirms that a recent power outage on the island was caused by a third party. When she asks his name, he replies with Slate but suggests that the answer is both true and false. When Gigi asks about the 13 marks on his knife sheath, he says they are for bad things he has done and carves another one for her kidnapping.

After the players each take a golden dart, Brady heads out alone. Rohan provokes Grayson by touching Savannah’s face; Lyra steadies Grayson with a hand on his neck. After Rohan and Savannah depart, Lyra and Grayson study the setup. They find an “echo,” a clue that is reminiscent of past puzzles set by Grayson’s grandfather Tobias Hawthorne: Numbers rolled on their dice match numbers on certain dominoes, a known Hawthorne-game signature. Grayson uses a bronze key to open a secret passage to his room.

In his mosaic ballroom bedroom, Grayson and Lyra lay out their game pieces and notice that their room keys share identical inscriptions. Lyra tells Grayson about new details she has remembered in a dream about her father’s death, linking them to puzzle logic. When she asks about Alice, Grayson remembers his vow to Jameson and diverts her attention, refocusing them on the clue. They sample their drinks, identifying pomegranate and elderflower.

Rohan and Savannah move through the library and foyers. Rohan maps potential clue sites to reverse-engineer the game’s path, marking anomalies like a clock that runs 30 seconds fast. Deciding that the next clue is outside, Savannah rejects an obvious golden door. Rohan challenges her to a race to the first place they met on the island.

Savannah and Rohan climb a 50-foot flagpole to view the island from above. Rohan senses Brady nearby, observing them, and posits that Brady tracks players instead of solving puzzles. Savannah confronts Brady, who confirms he plays for a girl named Calla, using the present tense. Prodded by Savannah, he counters that she is nothing like her sister, Gigi.

Gigi presses Slate for information. She recognizes that Eve’s motive is personal and tied to her father, Toby Hawthorne—Grayson’s uncle. Slate warns that he is most dangerous when his intentions are good. This, combined with a secret Gigi keeps about her own father, sparks a realization: She asks Slate if Eve’s sponsored player is Savannah.