Oren checks the room above the hidden play area and warns Avery that climbing the pole could pull her stitches. By mentioning Avery's injury in front of Nash, Oren prompts Nash to ask what happened. Oren tells Nash someone shot at Avery and pointedly asks whether Nash knows anything. Nash denies involvement indirectly, saying that if Nash knew anything, the matter would already be handled, then leaves to question the household staff.

Avery realizes Oren expected the staff to talk more readily to Nash, especially after Avery has already told others about the shooting. Despite Oren's warning and the absence of a visible desk upstairs, Avery insists on going up. Unable to climb the pole because of her wound, Avery uses the slide instead.

In the small final library, Avery finds children's books, then notices a breeze coming from a crack between shelves on the back wall. Avery pulls on one shelf and discovers a hidden hinged opening, her first secret passage found without help. She enters and descends a dark, winding staircase, knowing she should retrieve Oren but continuing anyway.

At the bottom, Avery finds Grayson with a flashlight, already standing near a Davenport desk. Grayson says he has been waiting, likely for Jameson, because he believes the game concerns the Hawthorne brothers: their names, their wing, and their grandfather's clues. Avery tells Grayson that Nash knows about the shooting, and Grayson remarks that Nash will now want to save Avery.

The conversation becomes tense and personal when Grayson asks to see Avery's wound and apologizes that Avery was shot. Avery asks whether Grayson knows who attacked her, but Grayson swears that he does not. Avery lays out how her death or departure would redirect the inheritance, including the foundation ultimately benefiting the Hawthorne grandsons, and Grayson admits Tobias Hawthorne should have left the fortune to the family while also acknowledging he does not know what Avery is.

Avery and Grayson compare progress on the numerical clues: both have two numbers, and Grayson identifies Blackwood as Xander's middle-name clue, West Brook as Nash's, Winchester as Jameson's, and Davenport as Grayson's. Avery searches the Davenport drawers and desktop compartment, then finds a hidden side panel. Inside is a plastic keychain shaped like the number one, revealing the next clue.