CHAPTER 62: JAMESON

Jameson sees that Branford has reached the cave key first: a gold key set with green jewels. Furious at losing, Jameson leaves the cave quickly and without caution, passing Katharine near the entrance while questioning whether Branford solved the clue or simply knew the estate and the smugglers’ cave from childhood.

Outside, Jameson worries that the Game may already be slipping away if Zella has found another key, but he rejects that fear. Because four of the five players were drawn to the cave first, Jameson and Avery reason that Branford’s key is probably not the one that opens the prize box, though it may still unlock one of the secret boxes.

Jameson and Avery climb back up the cliff while Jameson mentally replays everything Rohan said before the Game began. He focuses on Rohan’s exact phrasing, suspecting that words like “smuggle,” “no rest for the wicked,” “sporting,” “mark,” “condition,” “damage,” “top of the hour,” “bells,” and “let the wheels turn” may all contain clues rather than casual language.

At the top, Avery notices Jameson is deeply analyzing Rohan’s statements, and she connects the phrasing to earlier Hawthorne games built around idioms. Together they list the suspicious phrases, especially “leave no stone unturned,” and Jameson’s attention shifts to the stone garden with its thousands of paving stones.

Jameson and Avery enter the stone garden and confront the daunting possibility that one key or clue could be hidden beneath one of countless stones. Avery points out that the manor also contains stone, but Jameson checks the open gate’s cast-iron lock and finds a message on its back: “HINT: GO BACK TO THE START.”