Cover of The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)

The Inheritance Games, #1

The Inheritance Games

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes


Genre
Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Year
2021
Pages
335
Contents

Chapter 38

Overview

Jameson reacts intensely to the revealed middle names, believing they may point to the Hawthorne brothers' unknown fathers, and takes Avery through hidden passages to confront Skye. Avery questions whether Jameson sees Avery as a person or merely a piece in Tobias Hawthorne's puzzle, but Jameson insists Avery is central to the mystery. Skye dodges Jameson's question about the name Winchester and raises the stakes by demanding time alone with Avery before revealing anything.

Summary

Avery finds Jameson drunk and shirtless in the solarium, staring up through the glass dome and repeating the four names revealed by the red film: Westbrook, Davenport, Winchester, and Blackwood. Avery suggests they may be the last names of the Hawthorne brothers' fathers, but Jameson explains that Skye has always refused to discuss the men or even answer questions about the boys' middle names, which is why the discovery has unsettled him.

Jameson decides that the next step is to confront Skye. He leads Avery through the hidden passage in the foyer coat closet, and Avery pays close attention to the mechanism as they enter a dark network of corridors. Jameson guides Avery through the passages and then through a rotating wall, heightening Avery's awareness of both the house's secrets and Jameson's pull on her.

Before Jameson knocks on Skye's door, Avery challenges whether Jameson truly needs Avery or is using Avery as another tool in Tobias Hawthorne's game. Avery repeats Nash's warning that she may be a knife, a fishing hook, or a glass ballerina to Jameson. Jameson insists that Avery is not merely a tool but the puzzle itself, and he frames their investigation as a choice: Avery can walk away from answers or seek them with him. Avery chooses to continue.

Jameson and Avery enter Skye's suite and find Skye in an enormous bathtub, covered in bubbles and drinking champagne. Skye needles Avery by calling Avery a prude and suggesting Avery has stolen Skye's birthright, but Jameson redirects the conversation to his middle name. Jameson asks whether he was named after his father and where the name Winchester came from.

Skye deflects by musing about what she would have named Jameson if Jameson had been a girl and mentioning that Toby was named after her father. When Jameson presses for a real answer, Skye agrees to answer only after Jameson gives Skye a moment alone with Avery.

Who Appears

  • Avery Grambs
    questions Jameson's motives but continues investigating the brothers' middle-name clue with him.
  • Jameson Hawthorne
    drunk and unsettled by the names; leads Avery to confront Skye about Winchester.
  • Skye Hawthorne
    Jameson's evasive mother; deflects questions and demands private time with Avery.
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