The Inheritance Games, #4
The Brothers Hawthorne
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Contents
CHAPTER 84: JAMESON
Overview
Jameson and Zella continue the final-stage search on the bell, each trying to unsettle the other while racing for the correct key. Jameson discovers that the true key is hidden inside the bell and uses Rohan's concealed handles and footholds to reach it first.
Zella then turns the contest into a moral trap by risking a fall, forcing Jameson to abandon victory to save her. The chapter marks a major shift for Jameson: he chooses a person over the thrill of winning.
Summary
Jameson clings to the bell after his jump while Zella searches above him. Both players scan the hanging keys for the gold one with a maze-like head, and Zella tries to distract Jameson by bringing up whether she read his secret.
Jameson refuses to dwell on his secret and instead needles Zella about Rohan, correctly sensing that there is history between them. Zella responds by exposing how well she has studied Jameson, referencing his need to prove himself to Ian and to his grandfather, and then frames the Game as a contest where the world rewards winners and especially privileged men like Jameson.
When Zella deliberately sends the bell swinging, Jameson hears a second sound beneath the clang: a lighter ting that reveals a key suspended inside the bell. As Katharine enters the bell tower below and Branford shouts from a distance, Jameson realizes Rohan must have planned a way into the bell and finds hidden handles and footholds inside.
Jameson hesitates, aware that the old version of himself would have chased the danger without question, but thoughts of Avery and Ian make the moment feel different. He climbs into the bell anyway and spots the key closer to himself than to Zella, putting himself on the verge of winning.
As Jameson reaches the key and starts freeing it, Zella makes a reckless leap, landing with one hand on the rim and the other over Jameson's hand on the key. Zella calmly tells Jameson she will fall unless he lets her have the key and grabs her arm, forcing him to choose between winning and saving her. Jameson releases the key, Zella secures it, and Jameson catches Zella before she falls.
Who Appears
- Jameson HawthorneRaces for the hidden bell key, then sacrifices victory to keep Zella from falling.
- ZellaCompetes fiercely with Jameson, exploits his psychology, and forces him to save her.
- RohanAbsent architect of the Game stage whose hidden bell design guides the challenge.
- KatharineEnters the bell tower below while Jameson and Zella compete above.
- BranfordCalls from below as Jameson climbs inside the dangerous bell.