Phantasma
by Kaylie Smith
Contents
Chapter 23
Overview
After discovering Gabriel’s name in the hidden room, Ophelia and Blackwell turn from speculation to action when Blackwell secures a way to inspect Phantasma’s contestant logs through Jasper. The chapter also reveals how deeply the Shadow Voice governs Ophelia’s private life, culminating in a panic spiral that Blackwell interrupts with unexpected tenderness and direct reassurance. By the end, Blackwell makes clear that the next trials will be far more lethal, pushing Ophelia toward a new phase of the story in which she must trust him enough to train her magic.
Summary
On the fourth night in Phantasma, Ophelia paces her room while trying to connect Genevieve’s diaries to the name Gabriel carved beneath the floorboards. Blackwell warns that she will not solve it that night, but he offers to seek out the contestant logs that the Devils keep on every soul who enters Phantasma. When Ophelia begs him to try, he promises he will, then stays in her room until she can sleep.
As Ophelia lies in bed wearing Blackwell’s shirt, the Shadow Voice returns with one of its familiar rituals, ordering her to knock on the headboard in sets of three and name who she wants kept safe. Blackwell notices, and Ophelia awkwardly jokes that she is "pleasing my inner demons." His calm reassurance that nothing will hurt her while he is there, along with the pulsing of her locket and his steady presence, finally helps her fall asleep.
The next morning, Ophelia wakes to find Blackwell gone and Poe beside her. Planning to revisit the secret room alone, she instead gets caught in painful reflection about Genevieve’s secrecy, her fear that she never truly knew her sister, and her desperate wish to speak to her. Her thoughts shift to Blackwell and to how different their encounter felt from her past experience with Elliott, but the Shadow Voice seizes on that vulnerability and hammers her with the word "embarrassing" until she spirals and starts tearing at her hair.
Blackwell returns in time to interrupt the episode, guides Ophelia through her breathing, and firmly tells her there is nothing about her that he finds undesirable. When he asks who the Shadow Voice is, Ophelia panics and refuses to explain, so Blackwell changes course and reveals that he made a deal with Jasper to get them access to the contestant logs within the hour. Their conversation briefly turns flirtatious, but Blackwell then presses a more serious point: the next levels will be far deadlier, and Ophelia must learn to control her Grimm magic and her ability to disappear. Recognizing the danger ahead, Ophelia reluctantly agrees to let him train her.
Who Appears
- Ophelia GrimmTries to connect Genevieve’s clues to Gabriel, suffers a Shadow Voice spiral, and agrees to train her magic.
- BlackwellComforts Ophelia, arranges access to contestant logs through Jasper, and insists she prepare for harsher trials.
- Shadow VoiceTorments Ophelia with compulsive rituals and a cruel panic spiral about shame and undesirability.
- GenevieveAbsent sister whose diaries and secrecy deepen Ophelia’s hurt, worry, and fixation on Gabriel.
- JasperDevil who makes a deal with Blackwell, granting future access to the contestant logs.