Ophelia enters Phantasma and is overwhelmed by the manor’s lavish, macabre interior. An Apparition checks her in, tells her she is the last arrival in her group, and explains the basic rules: dinner comes before dusk, the first level begins the next evening, and leaving the assigned wing before completing the seventh level means disqualification. When Ophelia looks for Genevieve, she learns only that she cannot ask about contestants outside her group.

As the group is led to the fourth floor, Cade singles Ophelia out and mocks her, but his cousin Luci intervenes. Luci recognizes Ophelia’s name, confirming that Ophelia’s reputation precedes her, but Ophelia keeps her distance because her only goal is finding Genevieve. At the doors to the group wing, another Apparition assigns rooms and reveals there are nine groups in total, with some contestants already having quit before Ophelia arrived.

In room 426, Ophelia finds unexpectedly comfortable quarters instead of a prison-like chamber. While examining the room, she triggers a hidden bookcase passage and notices a ghost cat on her bed. Although she mistrusts the animal, her locket seems to guide her forward, so she lights a candelabra with her magic and follows the narrow passage.

Inside the passage, the bookcase closes behind Ophelia, the Shadow Voice turns more hostile, and a monstrous figure with red eyes and sharp teeth begins chasing her through the dark. Ophelia runs blindly, crashes into the end wall, finds a door, and barely escapes as the creature claws her arm. To break free, Ophelia releases some of her stored magic, shocking the attacker long enough to lock the door behind her.

Shaken and bleeding, Ophelia realizes Phantasma may be able to make the horrors in her mind real, raising the danger far beyond what she expected. The ghost cat leads her to an exit back into the main hallway, but when she looks back, the room she escaped through has changed into a broom closet, proving the manor itself is unstable. Then a new red-paneled doorway materializes in the hall, her locket heats again, and despite what just happened, Ophelia chooses to follow where it seems to be leading.