Gigi rides a speedboat toward Hawthorne Island with Savannah and another Grandest Game player. Gigi notices every detail, from the Outerlimits SL-52 to the island ahead and Xander Hawthorne driving, because she knows details can matter in a game like this.

The boat ride highlights the strain between Gigi and Savannah. Gigi expects Savannah to offer a hair tie, as Savannah might have done before college and before their relationship changed, but Savannah does not. Gigi privately hates keeping the truth from her twin: their father is not in the Maldives but dead after trying to kill Avery Grambs, and his actions involved a cover-up, a plane explosion, and two deaths.

The other player offers Gigi a hair tie, and Gigi immediately declares him her new best friend. He introduces himself through conversation as Brady Daniels, a twenty-one-year-old former physicist and current third-year doctoral student in cultural anthropology. His explanation of islands as “closed systems” suggests both his intellectual bent and the isolated stakes of the competition.

As the boat reaches the dock, Savannah warns Gigi not to trust Brady or anyone else in the game. Savannah identifies Brady as a prodigy and frames him as a threat rather than a friend. Gigi recognizes Savannah’s cold composure as her game face and understands that Savannah has come to the island determined to win.