Phantasma

Three Nights Until Phantasma

Ophelia Grimm stares down at her mother Tessie Grimm’s corpse before she steps closer to take the locket off Tessie’s neck. Ophelia places it around her own neck before kneeling next to Tessie’s body, as Ophelia’s younger sister Genevieve watches in silence. Ophelia takes a blade and slices her inner arm. She lets her blood drip onto the floor before she lights the candles that surround Tessie’s body.

Ophelia was the one to find her mother’s body first. She initially thought it was a nightmare, or a vision conjured by the Shadow Voice, a manifestation of Ophelia’s obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Shadow Voice frequently taunts Ophelia, telling her that if she does not perform certain actions, often knocking three times, terrible things will happen to her or to those she loves.

When Genevieve saw their mother, Ophelia realized that the corpse was real and sprang into action, quickly gathering the necessary materials to perform the spell to take over her mother’s magic. She is more than an orphan; she is now the heir apparent to her mother’s legacy. As the eldest Grimm daughter, Ophelia is now responsible for taking over the Grimm family’s necromancy magic.

Ophelia finishes the magic ritual, and as the magic enters her body, she screams in agony as she feels like her entire body is engulfed in flames. When the pain passes, the flames of the candles around her turn blue, but not just any blue: a specific shade known as Grimm Blue. When Ophelia opens her eyes, they are no longer a soft turquoise; they are also Grimm Blue. She can feel the magic crackle beneath her skin, and when she touches the locket around her neck, tapping it three times, she feels it pulse with a heartbeat.

Two Nights Until Phantasma

Death is not unfamiliar to the Grimm sisters; as a necromancer, their mother Tessie often had visits from clients hoping to commune with their lost loved ones. No day was usual for Ophelia: Corpses were dragged in and out of Grimm Manor, Tessie complained about Demon-viruses raging through their city of New Orleans, or Tessie drilled her in lessons about their magic and the other paranormal creatures that dwell among them, like witches, vampires, and shapeshifters. Ophelia is accustomed to this strangeness, but when she wakes up the morning after the ritual, she is still shocked to see ghosts lurking in her bedroom, as her magic now allows her to see the ghosts that normal people cannot.

Ophelia and Genevieve prepare their mother’s obituary and then go to the coroner to obtain their mother’s death certificate. There will be no funeral, as funerals are not customary among necromancers. As they walk through the city, Genevieve tries to cheer Ophelia up by talking about the humidity, which she jokes is even worse in New Orleans than in Hell. Ophelia has always found Hell intriguing; her mother’s lessons about the Nine Circles of Hell and the Devils, Demons, and Wraiths that live there fascinated Ophelia. When she cannot sleep, she often reads dark romance novels about Hell’s residents.

When they reach the coroner, Genevieve despairs that the dress their mother chose to be buried in makes her look ghostly. Ophelia does not care, as she knows her mother has already passed over to the Other Side. If her ghost lingered, Ophelia would have seen it by now. She also sewed her mother’s eyes closed to prevent any other necromancers from resurrecting her. Looking down at their mother’s body, the sisters refuse an autopsy. As they stand together, the Shadow Voice tells Ophelia that she and Genevieve will die if they do not make it back home before sundown. Ophelia tries to ignore the voice, but it has constantly tormented her since she was a child, telling her that horrible things will happen or encouraging her to commit terrible acts of violence. Ophelia thought she was possessed, but her mother explained that the voice is something she must learn to live with.

Genevieve tries to tell Ophelia she doesn’t have to be perfect, but Ophelia feels the pressure of her Grandmother’s legacy, as she brought necromancy to New Orleans, and Tessie’s legacy, as she made necromancy an attraction to all the residents of the city. Ophelia snaps at Genevieve that she doesn’t have to bear the burden of the Grimm name and legacy in the same way as Ophelia, but she softens and tells her that she wouldn’t wish that on her. The Shadow Voice gets louder, and Genevieve notices. The girls leave to head back to Grimm Manor.

As they walk home, Ophelia tells Genevieve that she feels the city is too quiet. She wants to rush home, but Genevieve sees some friends in a cafe and stops to talk to them. Ophelia feels jealousy, as Genevieve had the freedom to make friends when their mother was alive, while Ophelia was trapped in Grimm Manor learning about magic and necromancy with their mother. The Shadow Voice taunts her about her loneliness. As she waits for Genevieve, Ophelia hears men behind her talking about some sort of competition. She overhears that a man named Farrow Henry—who once stood Genevieve up when they had a date to attend a ball together—plans to enter. Genevieve finishes talking to her friends, and Ophelia tells her they need to get home before dark. Ophelia sees a spirit who seems to think she’s Tessie, and she ushers the ghost away. Genevieve feels bad that Ophelia is now plagued by ghosts, but she finds her Grimm Blue eyes difficult to look at.

The sun starts to set, and the girls pick up their pace. Ophelia thinks back to her mother’s warnings: If the dark looks at you, do not look back, as it can summon a devil, and if a devil appears, do not make a deal with them. Ophelia gets a carriage to get them home faster.

One Night Until Phantasma

The Grimm sisters wake to a pounding on the door of Grimm Manor. When they answer, two men from the New Orleans City Bank introduce themselves and tell them that their mother has some loans that they need to discuss with them, as they are equal shareholders in the Grimm Estate. Ophelia is stressed, but Genevieve tries to reassure her that it will be fine. They are interrupted by the arrival of a woman who had an appointment with Tessie. They inform her about Tessie’s death before leaving with the two men in their car. As the men drive the girls to the bank, they discuss the appearance of something mysterious, though Ophelia does not fully pay attention. They arrive at the bank.

The bank men inform the Grimm sisters that before her death, Tessie had fallen behind on her loans. The bank tried to keep the foreclosure of Grimm Manor at bay for as long as they could, but there are now only 30 days before the bank takes ownership of the house. Ophelia is baffled that her mother would have taken loans out and put the Manor up for collateral. The bank men tell them that the demolition date for Grimm Manor has already been set, as the city wants to use the land for either modern housing developments or a hotel. Ophelia is distraught as they leave the bank, but Genevieve tells her that it may be an opportunity for them to start over and leave the pressures of the Grimm legacy behind. Ophelia tells Genevieve that Grimm Manor is their home, and their legacy is important. She calls Genevieve childish and reminds her that their mother is no longer there to clean up her messes. Genevieve is hurt and runs away from Ophelia, upsetting her.

Ophelia wanders the streets for a few hours, as believing that Genevieve took a carriage home and wanting to give her some space after their fight. As she walks home, she hears people talking about the opening of a competition that led to the prior deaths of 27 people. Ophelia finds a newspaper and reads an article titled “October 23: Phantasma, the Devil’s Manor, arrives in New Orleans” (38). Phantasma is a competition run by Devils. The stakes are horrifying, but the prize seems to be worth it to her. Ophelia always thought the Devil’s Manor was just a rumor, but she remembers the conversation she heard the bank men having and realizes it may be true. She feels terrible for yelling at Genevieve and encouraging her to go home alone when there are likely many Devils in the city.

As she walks home, she stops where the old cathedral usually is, but there’s a strange fog around it. She breaks her mother’s rule and looks into the dark. She enters past the gate around the foggy area and hears a ghost, seemingly that of a child. She then hears the disembodied voice of a man who flirts with her but tells her to leave. She looks up at the building in the fog and realizes it says Phantasma: The building is the Devil’s Manor. The disembodied voice of the stranger tells her that he’s trapped in Phantasma and can only be freed by “a heart and a key” but that he hopes they do not meet again, calling her “angel” (44).

Twenty minutes later, still on her way home, Ophelia cannot shake the stranger’s words and warning. She grows nervous, and the Shadow Voice tells her that if she does not arrive home within five minutes, Grimm Manor will crumble. Though she tries to tell herself the Shadow Voice is not real, it taunts her by repeating “tick tock” over and over. Ophelia breaks into a run back to the manor, cutting her hands on the roses that cover the wrought iron gate. She makes it inside before the Shadow Voice counts all the way down. She scrubs at the blood on her palms, desperately wanting it off due to her fear that the Shadow Voice’s influence will lead her to hurt herself. She searches for Genevieve but does not find her. When she looks in Genevieve’s room, she finds a note addressed to her from Genevieve, explaining that she’s gone to find a solution to their debt problems. Ophelia then snoops in Genevieve’s diary and finds newspaper clippings about Phantasma and entries about her desire to find a man named Gabriel. Realizing with horror that Genevieve has entered Phantasma, Ophelia goes to pack for herself.

Night One of Phantasma

When Ophelia arrives via carriage at Phantasma, she pushes through the crowds of tourists to reach the gate. She asks the man at the entrance if Genevieve has entered, but he says he cannot provide her information about other participants. She asks about the name Gabriel, and again he gives her no information. She agrees to enter, and the man tells her the price of entry: She must reveal her greatest fear. She consents, and he uses magic to enter her mind and find her greatest fears. The man tells her he’s never seen someone with so many great fears, and that the competition will be hellish for her. She enters anyway.

In the manor, Ophelia marvels at the beautiful architecture and decor of the building. She runs into an Apparition, which appears nearly disemboweled. She calmly asks the Apparition where she should go, and the Apparition is shocked that Ophelia stayed calm, as others vomited and fainted upon seeing the Apparition. The Apparition does not answer her questions about Genevieve but takes her to her group. None of the groups can talk to other groups, so Ophelia is still separate from Genevieve. Ophelia meets Cade, who seems adversarial, and Lucinda, or Luci, who seems friendly. Knowing that Phantasma is a competition, Ophelia keeps her distance. The Apparition announces that once the contestants pass through the set of doors, they cannot leave until the seventh level of competition or until they forfeit. The Apparition assigns the contestants their bedrooms, and Ophelia quickly finds hers.

In her room, Ophelia accidentally finds a bookcase that opens to a secret passage. A ghostly cat appears and beckons her to follow it down the secret passage. When she goes down the passage, she finds a monster that chases her back to her room. The cat tries to lead her to a new door she didn’t notice before, which worries Ophelia, though she feels called to follow the cat after she taps her locket three times.