The Inheritance Games

Avery calls Max, giving her the update. Max responds with her characteristic slew of coded curses (“Mother-faxing elf”) (48). After the phone call, Oren—who is now constantly keeping watch over Avery—announces that Grayson is there and wants to see her. He assures her it’s safe. Grayson accuses Avery of scamming herself into the fortune somehow. After Grayson leaves, Avery opens the letter she received from Tobias before the reading of the will. She expects it will hold an explanation. Instead, it simply reads: “Dearest Avery, I’m sorry. –T. T. H” (51).

The next day, Avery discusses her security with Oren. He notes that Avery will be a target for kidnapping, stalking, and other threats. Alisa assures her that the law firm is keeping the news of her inheritance a secret. Oren tells her, “The second this news gets out, you will be on the cover of every newspaper […] To some people you’ll be Cinderella. To others, Marie Antoinette” (53). As Avery discusses the logistical details of her new life with Alisa, she coins a new game: “The Uprooting Avery’s Life in an Instant game” (53). The one thing Avery wants to do with her newfound fortune is to pay for a home for Harry, her homeless friend. She instructs Alisa to take care of the arrangements. Libby has gone to get the girls’ things from their home, using Avery’s private jet, so they can move into Hawthorne House. When she returns, she has a black eye—from Drake.

Libby and Avery make the move to Hawthorne House. Drake leaked Avery’s story to the press after learning it from Libby. The paparazzi are now following Avery. At Hawthorne House, Alisa gives Avery an envelope of keys. The Hawthornes are legally required to give Avery the key to the property, but they’ve neglected to designate which key is the right one for the front door. Jameson greets Avery through the intercom but doesn’t tell her which key to use to get in. There are about 100 keys of different sizes and with various designs on the handles. Avery realizes this is a puzzle. She quickly finds the correct key. Libby, impressed, asks how she knew which one it was. Jameson responds via the intercom that “[s]ometimes, things that are very different on their surface are actually the same at their core” (59).

Alisa introduces Avery and Libby to Hawthorne House and to the Laughlins, the elderly couple who take care of domestic tasks, like the cooking. Libby and Avery are astounded by the mansion’s extravagance, which includes private chefs, masseurs, a pool, and a bowling alley. Nash arrives and, seeing Libby’s black eye, invites her to give him a name, implying that he will track down the person who gave it to her and exact vengeance. Libby is surprised by the attention from the “Motorcycle cowboy” (61). Avery notes Nash’s interest in her sister. She also learns that Nash and Alisa were once engaged.

Avery follows Nash into the library, where Grayson and Jameson are brawling. It seems to be a tradition between the brothers. Xander arrives from school and joins in. Watching the four brothers wrestle and tease one another, Avery feels even more distinctly how she’s an outsider in Hawthorne House. Jameson informs his brothers that “Avery solved the keys. Faster than any of us” (66). Jameson also tells Grayson, “I told you she was special,” to which Grayson responds, “And I told you to stay away from her,” indicating friction between the brothers (67).

Xander takes Avery on a tour of the mansion, and they start with the kitchen, where they eat scones. He explains the intricacies of the house, noting that Tobias added wings and rooms every year. They stop in front of a portrait of Tobias, and Avery examines it, concluding that she’s never met this man in her life. Xander tells her: “Maybe you’re blameless. Maybe you’re the evil genius that Gray seems to think you are, but at the end of the day, even if you’d thought you’d manipulated our grandfather into this, I’d guarantee that he’d be the one manipulating you” (70).

Avery explores Tobias’s office. It’s a shrine to the Hawthorne grandsons, holding trophies, medals, and accolades the boys have won. Libby finds her and they talk about Drake. Libby reveals that she has a history of abuse, as her mother was likewise violent toward her when she was a child. Libby also reveals that she overhead Zara and her husband planning to run a DNA test to see if Avery is Tobias’s illegitimate daughter. If so, Libby and Avery technically won’t be half-sisters anymore. Avery reassures Libby that even if they are not related by blood, she will still want her by her side at Hawthorne House.

That evening, Avery is lying in bed when she hears Jameson’s voice from the other side of the wall, telling her to pull a candlestick. She does, and a door to a secret passage opens, allowing Jameson in. Jameson is flirtatious, telling her it would be a shame if the DNA test were to show they’re related, but Avery’s guard is up. She’s convinced that if Jameson is flirting with her, it’s for a reason. Jameson tells her how his grandfather loved riddles and games: Every Saturday, since the boys were young, their grandfather would sit them down and give them a “riddle, puzzle, impossible challenge—something to solve” (80). He believes Avery is such a puzzle: “You are a riddle, a puzzle, a game—my grandfather’s last” (79). He leaves his letter from Tobias with Avery before departing.

Avery reads Jameson’s letter from Tobias, a string of adages:

Jameson,

Better the devil you know than the one you don’t—or is it? Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. All that glitters is not gold. Nothing is certain but death and taxes. There but for the grace of God go I. Don’t judge.

– Tobias Tattersall Hawthorne (82).

Avery is convinced there is a clue in the letter and in her own—but she doesn’t get the meaning yet. The next morning, she’s distracted by figuring out logistics with Alisa, who has enrolled her in Heights Country Day school.