CHAPTER 34: LYRA

Lyra and Grayson pore over numbers linked to a rose-handled knife’s fake patent in Hawthorne House’s grand library. They test permutations from the file—flower costs and quantities, credit card digits, funeral home address, and Tobias’s notes (2, 3, 90)—against the patent number 1312596375, trying multiple ciphers despite uncertain digit grouping.

Max arrives with a droid, briskly assessing their data and reinforcing the need for a decoding approach. Grayson repeatedly calls his sisters; when Savannah’s phone is finally answered by Rohan, Grayson demands details, then speaks with Savannah, promising, “Say the word, and I am there.”

Grayson asks for Gigi, who recounts in a rush that she encountered coffee, a knife, and drugs. After insisting she slow down, Grayson learns Gigi refused an invitation from the Woman in Red to some kind of test for chosen Candidates and that she was drugged during the encounter. He ends the call strained but focused.

Libby enters, notably out of her usual gothic attire and visibly pregnant with twins, followed by Nash, who brings cupcakes. Grayson summarizes for them: Gigi declined the Woman in Red’s test, Candidates are selected for an unknown purpose, and acceptance has unclear consequences.

The critical revelation emerges: the adversarial organization is called the Gilded Blade. Lyra connects the name to the rose-handled knife illustration and presses that they must crack the patent cipher. Nash removes his hat and joins, signaling the family’s commitment to help decode and act on whatever the knife code reveals.