Gigi realizes that if someone besides the players and game makers is on the island, the knife she found could signal real danger. She tries to press the emergency button and tell Avery and the Hawthornes, but Brady stops her, and Knox warns that reporting the threat could get the second annual Grandest Game canceled.

Knox argues that Brady cannot afford to lose the opportunity because Brady’s mother needs help and Brady does not have a trust fund. Brady gently reinforces that the best way Gigi can help is to stay quiet for now, reasoning that any outsider would avoid the house and that an unknown sponsor would likely be trying to win a wager, not hurt anyone. Gigi decides to keep playing until morning, when she plans to speak privately with Avery and make sure Brady’s mother is helped.

Gigi returns focus to the wall riddle and says she has realized that a horse named Lily or Rose would be a mare. Knox then asks about the bugged necklace, and Gigi admits she tucked the bug away instead of destroying it. Although Knox worries someone may be listening, Gigi refuses to crush it, partly because she believes it may not have been intended for her and because keeping it intact could help trace its source.

The team works through the riddle line by line. Brady notices the importance of directional modifiers such as “before,” “after,” and “in front of,” leading them to search for one word that combines with fall, mid, good, mare, and shade. They identify the word as “night,” forming nightfall, midnight, good night, nightmare, and nightshade.

Brady gives Gigi credit for unlocking the answer and tells her to make the call. As Knox questions Brady’s sudden kindness, Brady replies that he is being human. Energized by the solution and Brady’s smile, Gigi picks up the pay phone and gives the answer: night.