Rohan reflects on his mind as a labyrinth of stored information, leverage, and unresolved significance. Savannah has just become one of those unresolved puzzles because Rohan hears genuine need in her voice, equal to his own need to claim the Devil’s Mercy, and wonders why someone with her wealth would need to win Avery’s game.

Savannah reads the new riddle on the metal wall: “88 locks / Wait, that’s not right / At least the answer is black and white.” Rohan frames the challenge as a Hawthorne-style riddle designed to mislead, while privately treating Savannah’s motives as a second riddle to solve and exploit.

Rohan interprets the earlier “three paths diverging” clue to mean the teams are no longer facing identical puzzles. The crown, scepter, and empty throne may be clues tied to separate paths, though neither Rohan nor Savannah yet knows how they connect to the current riddle.

Savannah pushes Rohan to focus on the riddle. Rohan observes the rotary phone fixed on the wall and begins circling the chamber, analyzing the phrase “Wait, that’s not right” from multiple angles: wrongness, morality, left versus right, straightening, and entitlement. Savannah asks what the word “that” refers to, prompting Rohan to focus on what exactly is “not right” while his curiosity about Savannah’s need for twenty-six million dollars deepens.