Hours after the confrontation at the bank, Ophelia wanders New Orleans alone, assuming Genevieve has already made her way home and wanting to give her space. At a newspaper stand, Ophelia overhears two men discussing Phantasma, a deadly competition opening the next night, and reads an article calling it the Devil’s Manor. The rumor suddenly seems more plausible, especially after what she overheard in the motorcar earlier, and Ophelia hurries toward Grimm Manor through the dark.

As Ophelia walks, she tries to steady herself with memories of her mother’s rules about the dark, but she sees a ghostly blue flash near where the old cathedral should be. Drawn toward it, she approaches the gates and finds them opening under her touch. Inside, Ophelia hears a small unseen voice asking whether she has come to entertain it. Although she cannot see the speaker, she recognizes it as some kind of spirit and becomes increasingly uneasy.

A second unseen presence arrives, this one deeper-voiced and far more powerful. Ophelia’s locket pulses as the stranger explains that wards on the grounds prevent her from going farther without permission. Their exchange turns flirtatious and unsettling as the stranger teases her, asks her name, and warns her that names carry power. Ophelia refuses to answer, which earns the stranger’s approval and confirms that she is dealing with something dangerous and knowledgeable.

When Ophelia asks where they are and why she cannot see the stranger, the stranger instead tells her the real question is how to escape from there. That remark makes Ophelia realize the missing cathedral, the wards, the crowds, and the rumors all point to the truth. As she retreats beyond the gates, the illusion clears, and she finally sees the vast black Gothic estate with its iron sign: Phantasma.

Now knowing she has trespassed at the Devil’s Manor itself, Ophelia lingers instead of fleeing immediately because the stranger’s presence relieves her loneliness and stirs her curiosity. She asks whether the stranger is trapped and whether she can help, invoking her duty to assist spirits. The stranger implies that helping would endanger her, then gives a cryptic answer before sending her away: a heart and a key would set the stranger free, and Ophelia should hope they do not meet again.