Three nights before Phantasma, Ophelia Grimm finds her mother, Tessie Grimm, dead on the floor of Grimm Manor. Sensing lingering magic, Ophelia realizes she still has a narrow chance to complete the hereditary ritual that transfers Grimm family power, so she removes Tessie’s heart-shaped locket, puts it on herself, cuts her own arm for blood, and builds a spell circle around the corpse while her younger sister, Genevieve, watches in shock.

As Ophelia prepares the ritual, she battles panic, grief, and the obsessive need to be certain she has done nothing wrong. She recalls her bedtime compulsions and insists to herself that her mother’s death cannot be her fault. Although Genevieve softly begs her not to continue, Ophelia feels bound by duty and fear of failing her family line, especially as the Shadow Voice in her mind urges her to hurry before the magical window closes.

Ophelia recites the spell she has practiced all her life, lights the seven black candles, and marks a blood sigil over her heart. After an unnerving pause in the cold, silent dark, the ritual suddenly takes hold: agony tears through Ophelia’s body as her mother’s magic floods into her. Genevieve can only touch her back and watch while Ophelia endures the transfer.

When the pain passes, Ophelia tests the darkness with a spoken command, and the candles reignite in silvery Grimm Blue, confirming that the ritual has succeeded. Looking into the window, Ophelia sees that her eyes have changed from warm cerulean to the pale Grimm Blue shared by her mother, grandmother, and every Grimm woman who accepted the family magic.

With the new sight that comes with the transfer, Ophelia can now see Apparitions lurking in the shadows. Pride at inheriting the power is immediately tangled with grief and fear, because the successful transfer proves Tessie is truly gone. The chapter ends when the locket at Ophelia’s throat pulses like a living heartbeat, hinting that her mother’s death and the magic she inherited may not be as simple as they seem.