Jameson Hawthorne pilots a helicopter carrying four Grandest Game competitors toward the game site while Grayson rides in the back with them. Lyra tries to focus on the competition instead of Grayson, using Rohan’s position beside her as a partial screen from him.

Lyra studies the other competitors. Knox Landry appears polished but rough-edged, and when he dismissively appraises Lyra, she welcomes being underestimated. Odette Morales, an eighty-one-year-old woman with long silver hair tipped in black, immediately reads Lyra’s curiosity and gives Lyra the impression of a predator rather than someone harmless.

The flight takes them over the Pacific and toward an island. As the helicopter nears, Lyra recognizes the charred stretches of forest and realizes they are going to Hawthorne Island, the site of an old fire in which people died and blame fell on a local girl rather than the Hawthornes. The sight reinforces Lyra’s belief that tragedy leaves marks and connects the place’s history to her own unresolved grief.

Lyra catches sight of Grayson and remembers his cold phone manner, but she forces herself back toward her purpose: she has come for her family and for Mile’s End, not to be distracted by the Hawthornes or by her father’s last accusation. After Jameson lands smoothly, the players disembark.

Jameson announces that the game begins in one sense that night, but in another sense immediately. Until sunset, the players may explore the island for hidden hints and useful objects, but anyone who fails to reach the newly built house on the north point by sundown will be eliminated.

Lyra moves at once, passing Grayson. When Grayson warns her about a drop-off, Lyra coolly says she does not fall because she has good balance. Grayson is visibly struck by her pushback, Jameson notices the charged exchange, and Knox and Rohan have already left while Odette faces the sea. Jameson, amused, predicts that the game will be fun.