The Hawthorne Legacy

Grayson and Avery leave the mock interview with Landon feeling tense. Grayson proposes they let off some steam by practicing sword fighting. Avery is awed by the longswords he shows her, thinking, “This is what it meant to be a Hawthorne. This should probably be in a museum, but my brothers and I like to hit things with it instead” (237).

Avery and Grayson have the televised interview, which goes well until the end. The interviewer displays photos of Toby/Harry and Avery playing chess together; clearly, someone in Hawthorne House has stolen and leaked them. Avery tells the interviewer that the man is “my friend. Harry” (245). However, the interviewer suggests that it may be Toby. Grayson sees that Avery will crack under the interviewer’s pressure. The interviewer asks, “What is your connection to Toby Hawthorne?” (246). Avery starts to answer, “I’m his—” but is cut off by Grayson: “Before I could get the word daughter out, Grayson leaned his head down and crushed his lips to mine. He kissed me to save me from what I’d been about to say” (246).

Alisa and Landon are angry that Avery didn’t tell them the truth about Toby/Harry. Grayson defends Avery’s secrecy, telling Alisa, “We couldn’t be certain where your loyalties would lie” (249). Alisa is hurt by this insinuation.

Max saw the footage of Grayson and Avery kissing and teases Avery about it. Avery is confused by her mixed feelings for Jameson and Grayson. She asks Max, “Why did I feel like I’d betrayed him [Jameson]?” (252). Avery stays up late, troubled and unable to sleep. Jameson comes by her room. Jameson doesn’t bring up the kiss, but Avery wonders if he saw the footage, thinking, “What were the chances that I was just another prize to be won? Territory to be marked” (254). When Avery asks Jameson why he’s come there, he tells her to check her phone: Libby and Nash found something and are on their way back.

Oren tells Avery that Eli has been fired because she leaked the pictures of Avery and Toby.

Avery, Jameson, Grayson, Xander, Oren, and Zara gather to meet Libby and Nash. Libby and Nash reveal what they found at the Hawthorne holiday home in Costa Rica: Jake Nash, Nash’s father. He’s the man in the photo with Skye and Zara at True North. Tobias got rid of Jake by giving him a job as a caretaker of the property in Costa Rica. Nash tells Zara: “The old man gave him strict instructions that if you ever came to call, he was to give you this” (263). Nash is referring to a small vial of powder. Avery realizes that with this powder, they’ll be able to find out what’s written (in invisible ink) on the “blank” paper from the picture frame at True North.

Avery, Libby, Zara, and the Hawthorne boys use the powder that Libby and Nash brought back from Costa Rica to reveal what’s written on the “blank” page from the picture frame at True North. It’s a letter from Tobias to Skye and Zara. In the letter, Tobias confirms that Toby is still alive and urges his daughters to find him; to help, he includes a list of locations where he’s traced Toby since he went missing. Looking at Tobias’s list of locations, Avery realizes that she recognizes many of the names from her mother’s postcards. Avery realizes the postcards came from Toby—and that they aren’t blank but written on with invisible ink.

Avery uses a black light to view the invisible ink on the postcards. Avery discovers that her mother and Toby were in love. Each postcard starts the same way: “Dear Hannah, the same backward as forward” (269). Avery knew her mother as Sarah, but Toby addresses Avery’s mother as Hannah—and Avery remembers the tabloid that claimed her mother was living under a fake name. Through Toby’s letters, Avery comes to suspect that her mother was the sister of Kaylie, the girl who died in the Hawthorne Island fire—the fire that Toby allegedly started. Toby tells Hannah in one letter: “I will never stop being sorry about your sister” (274). Toby also tells Hannah, in another letter, “Go to Jackson. You know what I left there” (271). For now, Avery thinks Toby is referring to a city called Jackson; she will later learn Toby is referring to a person.

Avery tries to confirm the information she’s learned from Toby’s letters through an internet search, but she doesn’t find any evidence that Kaylie had a sister. Avery remembers allegations that Tobias hid the results of the police investigation into the fire. Avery suspects that the investigation results are in Tobias’s safe deposit box—she needs access to it.