Then she understands. Her mom tells her that words define and create them. That Scrabble, of everything in this world, is a game of connections. And that is the key. She wants to reach into whatever world comes next and hold her mother’s face and tell her, I get it now, Mom. Rest.

She’s not sure how much time passes before she gains consciousness again, voices filling her head.

“I’ll leave her for now. She may be out for a while. Probably for the next hour before Mr. Elysian returns.”

She’s still lying on the metal bed frame but is no longer tied down. A glove of grating pain covers her left hand and a headache throbs like a band around her forehead. The memory and Lynell’s understanding pierces through it all. It’s a light, a weapon, and hope for her to seize.

“She’ll crack soon. There’s no more fight left in her,” someone says, and the straps holding Lynell down release.

Daniel once told her that she would never stop fighting, that it was built into the core of who she was.

“You’re strong, resilient, and kind. You amaze me not because you’re a product of your environment, but because you overcame it,” he said.

Eli fell in love with Elizabeth because she could beat him at Scrabble.

Daniel fell in love with Lynell because she could beat life.

The door closes, and Lynell focuses on her breathing and listens to the guards shuffle and scratch their faces. One clears his throat and sighs, probably bored with his job of guarding an unarmed, unconscious girl.

A dozen locked doors. However many guards with guns, who aren’t afraid to shoot. A wounded and exhausted body. No one to save her this time. Her options are limited. She has her life and the key to figuring out the code. That’s it.

The code that unlocks a world of possibilities. The code that Eric so desperately wants. That Eli built a red-herring letter around just so he could pass it on to his child.

She needs time. Eric will do whatever it takes to figure out the code. He’s probably playing a game with her. Giving her a countdown clock to her death. Letting her watch her breaths tick away before they’re snuffed out completely. The last member of a family she finally let herself believe she could have.

Suddenly Zach’s voice fills her memory. “It’s easy to get mistreated men on your side with a little kindness.”

Eric isn’t invincible. His power comes from nothing more than a name and fear.

Well, Lynell has the same name.

Keeping her eyes closed, Lynell asks, “What if I ran at you?” She hears clothes ruffle, and one of the men takes a step. She lets out a deep breath, smirks and opens one eye to peek at the guards.

There are still only two. They’ve switched out since she was conscious. One is tall with wide shoulders that stretch the seams of his shirt. His face is square and smooth, nose flat, and he’s frowning at Lynell. The other is shorter, and his muscles are smaller but still straining against his shirt. When she sees the scar on his face, recognition sparks. He was here last time. He was the first guard she spoke to before she was brought to this room the first time.