CHAPTER 87: JAMESON

Jameson finds Katharine and Rohan outside near the cliffs, where Katharine presents the silver ballerina and demands the Devil’s Mercy mark. Rohan refuses because the game’s final instruction required the winner to tell him what was in the third box, not merely bring him the object.

Jameson steps in and clarifies the wording of Rohan’s challenge. When Katharine guesses that the answer is the ballerina, the figurine, or the silver itself, Rohan rejects her answer and turns to Jameson.

Jameson answers that the true thing in the box is silence. He explains that the silver chest is a music box: normally music would play and the ballerina would turn, but this time there is no music. Silence, the ability to keep secrets, is more valuable than secrets themselves.

Rohan accepts Jameson’s answer and declares Jameson the winner of the Game. Jameson receives the smooth black-and-white stone mark and feels a surge of triumph because he has won on his own terms, apart from the Hawthorne name, Tobias Hawthorne, and Avery.

Rohan gives Jameson one day to decide what to trade the mark for, but Jameson refuses to wait. Aware that Katharine and Bowen might use the delay against him, and noting Zella’s satisfaction and Branford’s connection to Vantage through blood, Jameson hands the mark back to Rohan and says he likes Vantage, implying that he wants the estate itself.