Lyra works with the Scrabble tiles while Grayson examines a roll of quarters on a glass-strewn marble coffee table. Instead of simply eliminating letters, Lyra treats the tiles like a real Scrabble game and builds multiple high-scoring boards, noticing that the words power, crown, and adage keep recurring.

Odette observes Lyra’s discovery and points her toward an adage involving power and a crown. Lyra identifies the phrase Heavy is the head that wears the crown, while Odette and Grayson refine it to Shakespeare’s original, Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, from Henry IV, Part Two. Lyra tries several Shakespeare-related answers on the screen, including variations with Roman numerals, but every attempt fails.

Grayson argues that Lyra has likely found a clue rather than an answer. He reports his own discovery: thirty-eight quarters are from 1991, while the remaining two are from 2020 and 2002. Lyra notices the repeated digits in 2020 and 2002, and Grayson notes that 1991 is a palindrome, but he concludes that the coin pattern will probably matter later.

Following the clue’s reference to a crown, Grayson searches the black granite fireplace, while Lyra checks the heavy marble tables and Odette studies the wood-paneled wall. Lyra and Grayson bicker over the danger of the broken glass, revealing Grayson’s protective, risk-calculating instincts and Lyra’s resistance to being treated as fragile.

Odette announces that she has found signs of hidden compartments in the wall, drawing on her years cleaning houses and learning how to read rooms. She identifies a subtle shift in the wood grain, and when Lyra and Grayson press the spot, a wall section depresses. Gears turn, and the chandelier descends from the ceiling but stops out of reach, prompting Odette to instruct Grayson to lift Lyra up.