Phantasma

Ophelia and Blackwell land in the dining hall. Blackwell teases Ophelia for wanting to kiss him. He notices the mark on her face where Cade slapped her and insists that she tell him who hurt her. He then disappears. Ophelia goes to the library and finds Luci, who apologizes for Cade’s behavior. Ophelia realizes Luci is falling for another contestant, Leon, which is against the rules of Phantasma. Luci also reveals that she was friends with Genevieve before Phantasma. Jasper arrives and offers Ophelia a deal of his own—one that won’t cost her a decade—but she refuses. The Devils Drima and Zel crash through into the library while being intimate. Ophelia goes to leave but presses a button on the wall first, which takes her to a hidden room. She gets stuck, and as the Shadow Voice terrorizes her, she summons Blackwell. When he appears, she hugs him tightly. He summons light, and she sees he’s covered in Cade’s blood, but she thinks whatever he did, Cade deserved it.

In the small room, Ophelia and Blackwell work together to solve a puzzle that opens more of the stone corridor hidden behind the library. When they get deeper into the bowels of Phantasma, they are attacked by an acid trap. Blackwell shields Ophelia, but the acid gets on her clothes. Before it can burn her skin, Blackwell undresses her, leaving her in only a chemise. Blackwell flirts with her, and Ophelia asks him to show her what it would really be like to be with him and not the imposter from the Lust level. He kisses her and touches her intimately. Afterwards, she tells Blackwell it cannot happen again, then she sees two names on the floor, one crossed out followed by “And Gabriel Forever” (180).

Night Four of Phantasma

Ophelia and Blackwell discuss the significance of the name Gabriel, as Genevieve was fixated on the name in her diary. Blackwell plots to steal the contestant logs that document every participant in Phantasma’s history. Ophelia needs to sleep, and Blackwell offers to stay until she falls asleep. She begins to drift off, but the Shadow Voice appears and forces her to knock three times on the headboard, telling her over and over that Blackwell won’t want her again and that she’s embarrassing. Blackwell notices and guides her through a breathing exercise. He then offers to teach her to wield her magic to help keep herself safe.

Blackwell guides Ophelia through using her necromancy magic. He wants to find out what motivates her body to turn incorporeal. Ophelia tells him it was Cade threatening her with a knife, so Blackwell throws a knife at her. She turns transparent again, demonstrating that her power is linked to danger she faces. Blackwell demands that Ophelia summon him immediately when she enters the challenge levels. After training, Ophelia reunites with her group for the next challenge, which is Greed. The Devil Devon gives them their hint: “Above a fiery abyss, your gilded cage must rise, but when it does, others will dive. Golden weights, around your chains, greed’s alluring song, a dangerous game. A sea of temptation, a choice to unfold, decide if your life, is worth its weight in gold” (196). Ophelia steps through the portal and finds herself in a gilded cage above a pool of lava.

In the challenge, Ophelia burns her hand by trying to tug a chain, then summons Blackwell. He tells her that she must reach between the bars of the cage and pull weights out of the stone wall, then attach them to the chain behind her to have her cage magically pulled up. Blackwell can’t heal her hand, since he’s incorporeal and doesn’t have access to his full magic. Ophelia begins the challenge, and as others’ cages fall into the lava, she feels guilt, which is exacerbated by the Shadow Voice’s taunts. Blackwell asks again who the Shadow Voice is as he encourages Ophelia to keep going. She looks up and sees Cade keeping the weights: The weights are made of solid gold, and the contestants are allowed to keep them if they survive. Ophelia shreds her hands as she continues with the challenge, making it to safety and fainting.

Ophelia wakes to Blackwell healing her. He tries to talk to her about the Shadow Voice, but Ophelia feels judged and tells him she doesn’t need help to fix herself. Blackwell tells her that she doesn’t need fixing, but she can reach out for help if the voice gets too loud. Ophelia feels misunderstood because of the Shadow Voice and her family’s legacy, and Blackwell tells her that she’s not alone. She tells him that she wants to feel good again, and he offers himself to her. He kisses her and touches her intimately again but stops before she climaxes.

Blackwell transports them to Ophelia’s bedroom. She touches him intimately but stops before he climaxes. They then have sexual intercourse. A haunt starts in the room with a rainstorm of blood, but they continue anyway. When they finish, Blackwell offers to stay the night, and Ophelia agrees. She worries she will fall in love in Phantasma and break the rules.

Ophelia wakes to Blackwell in her bed, reading through the contestant log. He tells her that he’s found several Gabriels and to go back to sleep. The screams of another haunt interrupt them, though Blackwell already banished the haunt in her room. He transports them to the quieter drinking parlor. He offers Ophelia a drink, and she progressively gets drunk. She confesses her frustration about Genevieve entering Phantasma, as she always avoided the more macabre elements of the Grimm family’s legacy. She wants to kiss Blackwell again, but he won’t touch her while she’s drunk. He tucks her in on the couch to sleep more.

Night Five of Phantasma

Ophelia wakes up hungover. Blackwell offers her water, then they begin their magic training again. Blackwell reveals he’s never slept with another contestant, nor have any contestants tried to get to know him. They are interrupted by the arrival of the Devil Sinclair, whom Blackwell seems afraid of. Sinclair makes a lewd comment about Ophelia, so Blackwell punches him. Sinclair removes Blackwell from the room and tries to make a deal with Ophelia. She rejects him, and Sinclair tells her that Blackwell is hiding something from her. He leaves, and Blackwell returns. He asks if Sinclair touched or hurt her, clearly concerned. Ophelia demands to see the contestant log and sees the names Gabriel White and Tessie Grimm.

Ophelia feels hurt by her mother’s betrayal. She gave Ophelia many warnings, but she never mentioned participating in Phantasma. She also feels hurt that Genevieve seems to have known, based on her obsession with Phantasma. She is most hurt by Blackwell keeping the truth from her. He explains that he was drawn to Ophelia immediately, though he did not know why. He realized that the last contestant he made a bargain with was Gabriel White, Ophelia’s father. He chose Gabriel because Gabriel was a Specter, a type of paranormal being capable of turning incorporeal and invisible. Despite these gifts, Gabriel was a bad contestant, and he lost. Blackwell did not want to tell Ophelia about it until he fully understood their connection, but Sinclair is using Blackwell’s secrecy to try to stop him from escaping. Blackwell tells Ophelia to summon him when she enters the Gluttony level, then leaves. Ophelia cries herself to sleep.