PHANTASMA BY KAYLIE SMITH
Book 1: The Wicked Games Series
SPOILERS AHEAD...
We kick things off in New Orleans at Grimm Manor — yes, it’s actually called that — where sisters Ophelia and Genevieve find their mom, Tessie, dead on the living room floor. There’s something wrong about how their mother died – Ophelia can sense magic in the air, but she can’t think about that right now. She only has a small window of time to perform the transfer ritual to inherit her mother’s legacy.
As the eldest, Ophelia inherits all the baggage. She performs the transfer ritual and puts on her mother’s heart-shaped locket. The ritual succeeds, and Ophelia’s eyes change to a chilling, grimm blue, signifying her acceptance of the family’s necromancy magic and the ability to see apparitions. The locket, a family heirloom passed down to the eldest Grimm daughter, begins to pulse and beats in sync with Ophelia’s own heart.
The next morning, the sisters take Tessie’s body to the coroner for a death certificate, but on the way home, Ophelia is plagued by the shadow voice, the dark manifestation of her obsessive-compulsive disorder. It hisses threats and urges her toward violence, but she resists. Meanwhile, whispers of Phantasma, a deadly supernatural competition run by Devils and Demons, begin to reach her. The winner is granted a Devil’s Wish, capable of fulfilling any desire.
The following day, two men from the bank show up. They’re like, “Hey, sorry your mom’s dead, but we’re taking your ancestral home and demolishing it.” Turns out Tessie was drowning in debt, and surprise — Genevieve knew about it and didn’t tell Ophelia. The sisters argue bitterly before Genevieve storms off.
While sulking around New Orleans, Ophelia hears a mysterious voice while standing in front of an old cathedral. The stranger feels different from other apparitions she’s encountered, and her static energy reacts to him. He calls her Angel and tells her he’s trapped in Phantasma and needs a heart and a key to be freed. Totally normal conversation.
When she gets home, she realizes Genevieve is nowhere to be found. In her sister’s room, Ophelia finds a letter from Genevieve and evidence that she may have gone to Phantasma. Genevieve wants to fix their financial troubles and is searching for someone named Gabriel.
Determined to save her sister, Ophelia follows her into Phantasma, joining the competition. The price of entry? Your greatest fear. The Devil at the gate tells her the rules: Phantasma is structured around the Nine Circles of Hell. There’s one trial per night. Each trial starts at sunset. If you’re late, you’re disqualified. Contestants can forfeit at any time except within the actual trials themselves. Outside of the trials, you must state your full name and that you “surrender to Phantasma.” Once you begin the level, your only saving grace is the Devil who hosts that level. The last person alive after completing all nine levels wins. And lastly, the most important rule of all: Fall in love within Phantasma at your own risk.
After meeting the other contestants, she’s guided to her room and sees a ghost cat that leads her into a secret passageway where an ornate door awaits. Then a Phantom appears, asking if she needs help. Phantoms are the most powerful type of ghosts. She’s surprised to discover he’s the same person who spoke to her in front of the cathedral, but he has no memory of their brief encounter. Apparently, his memory is wiped clean after every competition. He calls her Angel again and asks how she summoned the door. She says she didn’t summon it, that it just appeared, and he looks intrigued.
The next night, Ophelia experiences her first Phantasma haunt. A Ghoul comes out of a pool of blood, and Ophelia bolts out of her room. Totally creepy. Instead of stepping into a hallway, she’s falling into darkness and hears whispers all around her. After a bit, Ophelia crash-lands into the dining room. The Phantom is there, stunned that she escaped her room during a haunt. When she explains the mysterious doorway, the free fall into darkness, and the whispering voices, he becomes very interested —she somehow traveled through the Whispering Gate, a passage only devils or non-corporeal beings can access. He demands to know what she is. She says she’s a necromancer looking for her sister, who came here in search of someone named Gabriel. At the name, his eyes flash.
He introduces himself as Blackwell and offers her a blood bargain: he’ll protect her, guide her through the trials, and help her find Genevieve. In return, she’ll help him find whatever keeps him trapped in Phantasma. When she mentions the “key and heart” he told her about outside the cathedral, he’s shocked — he has no memory of that, just that he loses his progress and memories every time the competition resets. Her revelation is the first real clue he’s ever gotten that there is something to find.
Blackwell says yes - help him find the key and heart… but if she fails, he gets ten years of her life. She’s wary and says no to the bargain.
Level 1: Limbo.
A devil named Zel shows up and gives the contestants their first clue, then each contestant is called in one by one. When Ophelia enters, she realizes the trial is a complete sensory deprivation. The goal is to get to the center of a shifting maze where a hellhound blocks their exit. She uses her magic to mark her way on the stone wall, getting to the center of the maze. A contestant named Cade gets there first and wakes the hellhound after he exits, nearly killing her and the other contestants. She’s pissed but manages to escape. Once back in the dining room, she confronts Cade. He grabs her arm painfully, but when he doesn’t let go, something strange happens – her arm slips right through his grasp. Surprise! She has spectral abilities. Cade freaks out, calls her a Demon, and attacks her again, but she summons her magic and blasts him with blue light before he can stab her. Blackwell then appears and throws Cade out of the room before he can attack her again.
Blackwell warns she’s stretching her magic too thin, too quickly, and that she’s going to burn out. And that the only way he can help her is if she accepts his bargain. She finally agrees. Blackwell cuts their palms and clasps their hands together, chanting. Magic contract sealed. He then tells her she can now summon him by saying his name three times - Beetlejuice style, and that she needs to do so at the start of each trial.
After sealing their blood bargain, Ophelia and Blackwell search the manor. He gently asks when her mother died, and after gauging whether he actually cares, she admits it’s only been five days. Ophelia then asks who runs Phantasma — but Blackwell says only the Devils know, and they’re sworn to secrecy. She pushes further, asking how he got trapped here. Blackwell reveals the unsettling truth: he has no memories of his origin, no idea why he’s allowed to roam freely, and his entire existence is just making bargains with contestants before Phantasma relocates to the next unlucky city. When she asks what happened to the people who bargained with him before, he says, “Few have died, some forfeited, but the majority have won Phantasma.”
Level 2: Lust.
The host of this level is a devil named, Dreama. The trial focuses on illusion and desire. Ophelia is offered a tray of drink options. She chooses the red drink, triggering Blood Lust. Then, a bell chimes. While in a daze, she’s almost bitten by vampires, but then Blackwell (so she thinks) shows up, giving her the antidote. He explains the drink was a poison that would slowly kill her unless she broke through the effects and realized she needed an antidote. He tells her there’s a catch to this trial – you can’t get out until you perform a task themed after the type of lust you chose. They need to drink each other’s blood. She tells him to go first, but as he pulls her close, she notices he feels off – cold. She asks him how he knew to find her since she didn’t summon him. He said he came to check on her, worried it would take her too long to figure out the illusion. Then he kisses her. It doesn’t feel right. She pulls away, and he asks, “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” …Blackwell never calls her that, and the locket around her neck isn’t pulsing like it usually does around him. She whispers, “You’re not Blackwell” and the imposter’s mask slips. During this interaction, she unintentionally says Blackwell’s name three times, summoning the real Blackwell and breaking the illusion. The real Blackwell tells her this trial presents you with an illusion of the person you lust after most to trick you into giving in to the theme of the lust in order to keep you here, distracted until the last bell chimes. Together, they find the exit trap door under one of the beds and escape just as the last bell chimes. Blackwell teases her about him being the one she lusts after the most. Ophelia is annoyed, but realizes she enjoys Blackwell's attention and finds he minimizes the intrusion of her shadow voice.
Later, they explore more of the manor and find a secret passageway in the library. She and Blackwell evade a deadly acid trap. Their connection deepens, culminating in an intimate moment. Afterwards, Ophelia finds a name, Gabriel, scratched into the floor, but the name in front has been violently scratched out.
The next morning, the shadow voice continues to plague her, telling her she was embarrassing herself last night. Blackwell interprets her internal argument and soothes her. He tells her he has bargained with the devil, Jasper, to obtain the contestant logs so they can search for the name “Gabriel”.
In between trials, Blackwell trains Ophelia to use her spectral abilities and magical blasts. Much to Ophelia’s annoyance, they discover her spectral abilities manifest as a defense mechanism to protect her. In the middle of training, Jasper interrupts, hands Blackwell the contestant log, and tells him he has 24 hours.
Level 3: Greed.
The host of this level is a devil named Devon. In this level, the contestants must ascend over a pit of molten lava while in a gilded cage. They must haul gold weights from the cliffside and attach them to the chain to raise their cage. Ophelia summons Blackwell, and while she does make it through the level, she suffers an injury to her hand and causes the unintended death of another opponent, which weighs on her conscience. The shadow voice mocks her, telling her to knock on the rocks over and over again to be forgiven for murder. Following the trial, Ophelia is mortified that Blackwell saw her listening to the shadow voice. She asks Blackwell to distract her from the trauma of the last trial, leading to intense physical intimacy.
After waking, Ophelia and Blackwell are training her abilities again when the devil Sinclair appears and makes a lewd comment about Ophelia. He gets immediately punched by Blackwell—who is then teleported out of the room, leaving Ophelia alone with Sinclair. He offers her a tempting deal: forfeit the competition, and he’ll take her straight to Genevieve.
Ophelia quickly realizes Sinclair knows far more about Blackwell than he should. When she confronts him, he smirks and reveals that Blackwell is hiding things from her. He tells her to check page 882 of the contestant logs. After Sinclair leaves, Ophelia confronts Blackwell. What she finds in the logs is a bombshell: Gabriel White and Tessie Grimm both competed in Phantasma. Gabriel even came back for a second round and was the last person to make a blood bargain with Blackwell. Blackwell confirms the truth: Gabriel is her father and isn’t human but a Specter, which explains Ophelia’s invisibility party trick. Ophelia is furious that Blackwell kept this from her.
Level 4: Gluttony.
In this trial, hosted by Jasper, Ophelia enters a stone chamber that transforms into a deadly grid filled with hanging gold bars, keys, and levers on the back wall. The contestants are chained by collars, limiting their movement. Cade rushes ahead and grabs a gold bar, triggering swinging pendulum blades that nearly kill another contestant.
Cade reaches the lever wall first and pulls Ophelia’s X lever, freeing himself. Ophelia summons Blackwell, then uses her spectral ability to turn invisible and slips out of her collar just before a blade hits. When Eric accuses her of cheating and lunges at her, she vanishes again—causing a blade to strike him instead, killing him.
Though she survives the trial, Ophelia is shaken by another death on her hands. Back in her room, she summons Blackwell and, overwhelmed by guilt and fear, asks him to distract her—leading to another intense, intimate moment.
Afterwards, Ophelia is conflicted and stifles her feelings for Blackwell. They get into a fight over whether to distance themselves from each other. Ophelia runs off and bumps into Sinclair again. He tells her about Phantasma’s mysterious creator, Salemaestrus, the Prince of the Devils. He reveals that Salemaestrus fell in love with a mortal and chose her over his father, the King of the Devils. As punishment, the king killed his lover, and forced Salemaetrus to run Phantasma as a lesson. Sinclair reveals he helped Salemaestrus hide his lover, so now he’s being punished as well. He and Salemaestrus are the only two devils forced to be in Phantasma, while the other devils are there of their own volition. Then Ophelia ends up falling for one of Sinclair’s illusions, where she’s trapped in a ball, almost making her late for the start of the fifth level. Luckily, Blackwell rescues her in time.
Level 5: Wrath.
This level, hosted by Rayea, requires the contestants to deny someone an exit pedestal unanimously. Ophelia, still mad at Blackwell, doesn’t summon him. She uses her invisibility and stops Cade from murdering Edna, but Edna ultimately forfeits anyway. After the level, Sinclair appears and tells Ophelia that Blackwell went off with Rayea, the devil from this level, and that they used to be lovers, making Ophelia jealous.
Ophelia goes to her room. While taking a bath, Blackwell shows up, demanding why she didn’t tell him she got out of level 5. She counters with why he didn’t show up when she summoned him when she was trapped in Sinclair’s illusion. He said he couldn’t hear her through Sinclair’s magic because Sinclair is too powerful. She asks him why he was with Rayea, and Blackwell says she owed him a favor that he called in to pay Jasper back for the contestant log.
Blackwell confesses he’s drawn to Ophelia and that he knew the moment she stepped into Phantasma, even though he couldn’t remember their first meeting. They end up tangled up in bed again. In the middle of it, Jasper shows up, interrupting them. Apparently, Blackwell made him an offer he couldn’t refuse in exchange for news of Ophelia’s parents. The price? He gave up three years of his own memories. Ophelia doesn’t know how to feel about this.
They go to join Jasper in the drinking parlor where he confirms her parents fell in love in Phantasma and triggered the curse. Ophelia shares what Sinclair told her about Salemaestrus and why he’s trapped in Phantasma. She guesses that’s why romance is forbidden there— it’s literally what doomed its creator.
Jasper says her parents both forfeited the competition and explains the curse twisted their relationship: her father became more obsessed every day, while her mother grew more emotionally numb. About two years after Ophelia’s birth, while Tessie was pregnant with Genevieve, she made a bargain with a Devil in New Orleans to make Gabriel forget about the three of them. But over time, Phantasma’s curse eroded the devil’s magic, and Gabriel began to remember. That’s when Gabriel re-entered the competition to try and win the Devil’s prize, break the curse, and get Tessie back.
Ophelia panics, realizing she and Blackwell are repeating the same doomed pattern. She flees out the room and walks straight into the Whispering Gate, where her mother’s spirit is waiting for her. Tessie apologizes for the burden she placed on Ophelia and warns her to stay away from Blackwell, insisting that loving him will destroy her. Ophelia is eventually yanked back out of the Whispering Gate and lands in Blackwell’s arms.
She tells Blackwell what happened with her mother. Blackwell surmises that because Ophelia is both a Necromancer and a Specter, she’s tied to life and death in a way that makes the Whispering Gate accessible to her—especially when someone on the other side calls to her. He agrees they’re in dangerous territory and ends their romance abruptly, insisting they must be responsible and not repeat her parents' tragedy. He says their relationship needs to become professional. Ophelia is furious, hurt, and haunted by the shadow voice whispering that she’s completely alone.
Ophelia continues to search for Blackwell’s key but finds nothing. Sinclair interrupts again, pushing her to accept his bargain and claiming she’d rather give up ten years of her life than make a bargain with him. Though angry at Blackwell, she defends him—then, in a moment of denial, kisses Sinclair to prove she feels nothing for Blackwell. The kiss is empty and cold, which Rayea witnesses. Rayea taunts her, accusing her of real feelings for Blackwell and promising to comfort Blackwell herself. And just like that, Ophelia has to face it: she’s falling for Blackwell—and that’s exactly the curse she’s supposed to avoid.
Level 6: Deceit.
In this level, hosted by Phoebe, the contestants are strapped to tables and forced to reveal their darkest secrets through drops of their own blood. Each secret rises in a pool of black liquid, and the group must vote True or False, with some contestants having a skip or random option. The wrong answer means a stone pillar crushes the contestant.
Ophelia goes first, and the trial exposes that she kissed a devil, causing immediate shock. She’s forced to admit it’s true before Luci votes incorrectly.
More secrets follow:
Baker is colorblind — harmless, and confirmed true.
Charlotte might be a twin — Ophelia’s locket guides her to choose true.
Cade allegedly murdered his sister’s husband — the group votes false, but Baker votes true and is crushed.
Lucy is secretly in love with Leon — true, and when Beau’s “random” vote lands on false, he dies.
Leon does not return Lucy’s feelings — also true.
By the end, the group is shattered. Cade faints, Lucy is cursed for her forbidden love, and when Leon tries to comfort her, the curse physically hurts him. Heartbroken, Lucy surrenders to Phantasma and exits the competition.
When Ophelia returns to her room, Blackwell is waiting—and furious that she let Sinclair kiss her. His jealousy spills over as he admits she’s the only thing that’s ever given him hope, and the thought of anyone else touching her is unbearable.
Despite the intensity between them, they both acknowledge the truth: their feelings are dangerous in Phantasma. They agree to end their romantic involvement, even though it hurts them both.
Before the next level starts, Charlotte and Cade are the only 2 in the dining room. Charlotte reveals Leon forfeited during the night.
Level 7: Violence.
This level turns out to be a zero-sum game of tokens.
If all the contestants take one token, they all go free.
If 2 contestants take 1 token and the 3rd person takes "all," the one who chose "all" walks free while the other two must fight.
But if 2 contestants take “all” and the 3rd person chooses 1, the third person will be free while the other 2 have to fight.
Blackwell appears to provide Ophelia with intel on what Cade and Charlotte chose. Ophelia learns that Charlotte has taken one token and Cade has taken both, meaning she must choose between letting Cade go free or letting Charlotte go free. Ophelia chooses Charlotte and decides to fight Cade.
She enters a circular arena with Cade. He expresses his hatred for Ophelia and her kind. Ophelia and Cade engage in a brutal fight. Cade rips off Ophelia's locket, causing her heart rate to slow and weaken. Ophelia has just enough strength to grab the locket, then makes it and herself invisible long enough to put it back on. Her heart begins pounding again, and her strength returns. She defeats Cade by blasting him with her magic. Ophelia realizes that she has just stolen Cade's life force with her magic, recharging herself with it.
Ophelia returns to the manor to find it drenched in shadows and the atmosphere treacherous. The manor then terrorizes her with a physical manifestation of the Shadow Voice. It physically attacks her, leading her to tear at her own flesh, wounding herself. She breaks free of the illusions by telling the Shadow Voice she is not alone because she has Blackwell.
Blackwell arrives to rescue Ophelia, finding her injured and unconscious in the mirror room. Blackwell admits that their link from the blood bargain has been weakening, but he could still feel her. Blackwell heals her, and they teleport back to her room. They share another intimate moment, reaffirming their connection, when Genevieve walks in and interrupts them. Apparently, Sinclair found her and told her where to find Ophelia. The sisters catch up, and Genevieve reveals that she is also a Specter. Ophelia insists that Genevieve leave the competition before the next challenge, since there must be a reason Sinclair wanted Genevieve and her to be reunited at this moment. Genevieve agrees and forfeits the competition.
Level 8: Fraud.
This level is hosted by Sinclair. Ophelia steps through the portal and finds herself entirely alone in a white room. She’s confronted by two Genevieves, forcing her to determine which one is real. Blackwell reveals that if Ophelia chooses the wrong Genevieve, the real Genevieve will die outside of Phantasma. Ophelia realizes that her father's failure in Phantasma led to her mother's death, as Tessie was the one used in this trial when Gabriel reached level 8. She asks the Genevieves about a memory only the real Genevieve would know, but they both give the same answer. She then asks the Genevieves how many people they have kissed, and their answers reveal the truth - neither of them is the real Genevieve. They both dissolve into clouds of smoke.
After this level, Ophelia summons the door to Level 9, defying Sinclair's expectations. She steps through the portal and is greeted by Phantasma’s creator, the Prince of the Devils. And plot twist: It’s Blackwell who now has all his memories. Yup. Our broody ghost boyfriend is the literal Prince of Devils, Salemaestrus Arasmus Blackwell. Apparently, the Blackwell persona is the fractured piece of his memories. The real Salem only shows up with his full memories intact when a contestant reaches level 9, so he can grant them their prize.
We learn that after the King of the Devils killed Salem’s mortal lover, Angel, he trapped Salem in Phantasma and then placed Angel’s soul inside a locket to be reborn later. The locket was then given to the Grimm family.
Ophelia realizes she’s the reincarnation of Angel and that she can free Blackwell by confessing her love for him and giving him the locket. She does, the locket opens, and Blackwell’s full powers are restored, breaking his tether to Phantasma. As Ophelia’s heart slows, he offers her a new heart to save her, and she agrees. Phantasma’s curse is coursing through her body, and Blackwell tells her he needs a significant amount of power to balance out what’s being destroyed – he would need a permanent tether. He says his powers were tied to Phantasma, and now that Phantasma is falling apart, he’ll need another tether or he’ll have to return to the Other Side. Ophelia chooses to become his new tether, binding them together for eternity.
Epilogue: Now free from Phantasma and the curse, Ophelia and Blackwell rebuild Grimm Manor (debt-free thanks to magic), the shadow voice chills out, and the sisters reunite. Together, they set out to travel the world — one haunted, morally gray destination at a time. Because once you’ve survived Hell, what’s a little sightseeing?
Phantasma Storyboard
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