Billy was unusually quiet, though the way his cheeks burned indicated that he was still listening. Of course. The odd numbers had thrown him off. The lines had to be placed in a certain way to make a square in the end, and he hadn't quite grasped it. He might've even stumbled on the solution and dismissed it.

He silently drew the bigger square with the tiles, using the time to regroup. If it got more dangerous from here, he'd need to prove sharper than this. Learn, move on, do better. "Thirty-six."