The Inheritance Games, #2
The Hawthorne Legacy
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Contents
CHAPTER 76
Overview
The explosion leaves Avery critically injured, disoriented, and separated from Grayson, whose failure to come to Avery heightens the shock and uncertainty. In a near-death state, Avery experiences a vision of Avery’s mother urging Avery to keep fighting, framing survival as one last game with a secret at stake.
The chapter shifts the story from investigation to immediate survival, placing Avery’s life in jeopardy while also reconnecting Avery’s struggle to the emotional pull of Avery’s mother.
Summary
Avery regains partial awareness after the explosion, overwhelmed by pain, deafness, blurred vision, and fire. Across the flames, Avery sees Grayson standing about a hundred feet away and waits for Grayson to run to Avery, but Grayson does not come.
Avery loses consciousness, and the scene shifts into darkness. A voice—Avery’s mother’s—speaks in the language of games and secrets, telling Avery that Avery must play one more time and cannot let go.
As Avery hovers between awareness and oblivion, distant medical sounds break through: a long beep, someone yelling “Clear!”, and repeated shocks tearing through Avery’s body. Avery wants to stop fighting and escape the pain, but Avery’s mother urges Avery to hang on.
Avery recognizes that the mother Avery sees cannot truly be present because Avery’s mother is dead. That realization leaves Avery facing the terrifying possibility that the experience is either a dream or that Avery may be dead, too.
Who Appears
- Avery Kylie GrambsCritically injured after the explosion; drifts into a near-death vision and struggles to keep fighting.
- Grayson HawthorneSeen at a distance through fire; Avery waits for him, but he does not come.
- Avery’s motherAppears in Avery’s vision, urging Avery to survive and promising a secret.