In a Nutshell: Phantasma
Everything you need to remember before reading Enchantra (on sale April 8)
Against all my instincts, I am here to present to you a comprehensive recap without opinion or commentary <cries>, of Phantasma by Kaylie Smith, book one of the Wicked Games series. Book two, Enchantra, is set to release on April 8, and while what follows should never replace actually reading Phantasma, perhaps it can act as a refresher for those of you who don’t have time for a reread.
truly everything you will read below is a spoiler, it is quite literally the entire point of this post. if you keep going anyway and hurt your own feelings, i fear that is on you.
Funerals, Family Drama and Phantasma
Set in an alternate version of New Orleans in the early 1900s, where mortals live alongside a host of paranormal beings, Phantasma opens with the mysterious and unexpected death of necromancer Tessie Grimm. Her eldest daughter, 23-year old necromancer-in-training, Ophelia, performs a sacred rite to carry on the family legacy, as tradition dictates. She inherits her mother’s magic, including a strange locket that turns out to be far more than just jewelry.
Ophelia lives in the family estate, Grimm Manor, with her three years younger, and considerably more outgoing, sister Genevieve. After their mother’s death, the sisters learn that the manor is under foreclosure, due to a loan Tessie took out prior to her death. While some of the loan had been repaid, it was not enough to stop the foreclosure in 30 days.
Ophelia and Genevieve fight about the foreclosure and their family’s legacy, and Genevieve runs off. Alone, Ophelia stumbles upon a strange dark mansion where a disembodied voice who calls her Angel warns her to leave and stay away. She offers to help him, because of the whole necromancer thing, and the voice tells her he is trapped in Phantasma, only a heart and a key would set me free.
Ophelia, who struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and is plagued by an antagonistic internal monologue she calls the Shadow Voice, discovers Genevieve has vanished after their fight—leaving behind only a cryptic note and a diary filled with research into Phantasma, also known as The Devil’s Manor. Phantasma is a mysterious and deadly competition of nine trials over nine nights and takes place inside a haunted mansion that resides somewhere between the realms of the living and the dead, run by a myriad of paranormal beings. The winner may ask for any prize. The losers? Death or worse.
Genevieve’s notes suggest she entered Phantasma willingly, in search of a man named Gabriel. Ophelia follows.
Let the Wicked Games Begin
Inside Phantasma, after learning that she cannot leave her assigned wing to search for Genevieve until after the seventh trial, Ophelia encounters Blackwell, a powerful phantom, the highest class of ghost. She recognizes his voice as the same who asked to be set free, but he is now visible to her. He has no memory of meeting Ophelia, or of how or why he is trapped there, though he continues to call her Angel. He offers to help her survive the trials in exchange for a blood bargain: if she finds the heart and the key that tether him to Phantasma, he’ll help her win. But if she fails, he’ll claim ten years of her life. Ophelia rejects the deal.
Level One: Limbo, a Maze of Sensory Deprivation
Ophelia endures a harrowing trek through nothingness, and while evading a Hellhound to reach the exit, she saves the life of a fellow contestant before completing the level.
Back in the manor, Ophelia argues with Cade, an insufferable fellow competitor. As a defense mechanism against his physical assault, Ophelia’s body begins to disappear before their very eyes. Cade accuses Ophelia of being a demon and attacks her. Blackwell arrives to break up the fight, and together they are ambushed by one of the manor’s illusions. Poisoned by a serpent apparition, she wakes in her room the next day with Blackwell by her side.
Blackwell, ever the charming negotiator, offers the blood bargain again, adding that he will be able to heal her injuries if Ophelia accepts. This time, she does.
Level Two: Lust, a Vampire Orgy Illusion
Contestants are shown an illusion of the person they most desire, and to win they must resist the illusion before it draws blood. Ophelia sees an illusion of Blackwell, but realizes it is an imposter before accidentally summoning the real Blackwell, who helps her find the exit. Ophelia, meanwhile, begins to confront the fact that she may be catching feelings, with alarmingly little experience to fall back on.
Back in the Manor, Ophelia encounters Luci, another contestant, who shares with Ophelia her close friendship with Genevieve. Ophelia is devastated to learn of the vibrant social life her sister hid from her, and how little she knows about her.
Later, while searching for the key to Blackwell’s tether, Ophelia finds herself alone in a secret corridor, and calls to him for help. Though they do not find the key, they do share an intimate moment. Ophelia tells Blackwell, not for the last time, that they cannot fool around again. As they leave, they find the incomplete phrase + Gabriel Forever etched in the floor.
The next day, Blackwell finds Ophelia in her room in the midst of a panic attack brought on by the Shadow Voice. He talks her through it, and she shares her struggles with him. Blackwell begins training Ophelia how to use her magic.
Level Three: Greed, a Trial of Ascent over Molten Lava
With Blackwell’s help, she survives—though not without a serious injury and an unintended death on her conscience. In the aftermath, Ophelia and Blackwell share a deeply intimate night. Ophelia asks him to stay with her, and he obliges.
The next day, Ophelia meets Sinclair, a devil long trapped in Phantasma and holding a centuries-old grudge against Blackwell. He offers to grant her a wish and sever her bargain with Blackwell if Ophelia forfeits the game. He warns that Blackwell is hiding a secret. Ophelia declines, but confronts Blackwell.
Ophelia learns Tessie once played Phantasma, and it’s where she met Ophelia’s father, Gabriel White. Gabriel is a specter, a rare paranormal who can shift between corporeal and non-corporeal forms, which is why Ophelia can do the same. Gabriel entered Phantasma twice and lost both times, the second just days before it arrived in New Orleans. It was there that Blackwell made a bargain with him, claiming 10 years of his life when he lost the game.
Level Four: Gluttony, a Deadly Game of Human Chess
Ophelia kills a fellow contestant in self-defense to reach the exit unscathed. Emotionally shaken, she seeks distraction in sex with Blackwell, but afterward declares they must end their physical relationship, resolving to focus only on the game and freeing him. (Breakup #2, for those keeping count.)
The next day Sinclair returns, and after asking Ophelia her most frivolous fantasy, creates an elaborate ballroom illusion while telling her of Phantasma’s tragic backstory. He and the game’s creator, Salemaestrus—the Prince of Devils—were once friends, both imprisoned in Phantasma for treason. Salemaestrus fell in love with a mortal, and his father (the devil King) had the lover executed, then cursed Salemaestrus to rule Phantasma forever.
When asked how Blackwell fits into the story, Sinclair shares only that Blackwell always sabotages his escape attempts. Ophelia realizes that is why Sinclair wants her to forfeit the game, to ensure that Blackwell himself cannot escape. Sinclair traps Ophelia in the illusion, but Blackwell rescues her just in time for the next trial. On the way, she meets Rayea, a devil who has a romantic history with Blackwell, and becomes jealous.
Level Five: Wrath, Murderous Musical Chairs
Cade attempts to kill a fellow contestant to win, much to the ire of the other participants. Ophelia uses her invisibility magic to protect the victim and pass the level. Ophelia and Blackwell kiss and, let’s just say, fully make up.
In return for information about Ophelia’s parents, Blackwell trades three years of his memory to Jasper, the devil who acts as the concierge of Phantasma. Ophelia learns that she was conceived in Phantasma—and that those who fall in love there are cursed to suffer. This curse tore her parents apart. Tessie later made a deal with a different devil to make Gabriel forget them, but the curse undermined it. Gabriel had entered Phantasma again to break the curse and win Tessie back.
Upset, Ophelia flees her room, and is transported through the Whispering Gate to speak with Tessie, who warns her to stay away from Blackwell.
Afterward, Blackwell tells Ophelia they must remain distant—he, too, now fears the curse. (Because of course he does, things were simply not exciting enough without a third breakup.) Ophelia is heartbroken.
While looking for Blackwell’s key, Ophelia runs into Sinclair. Still reeling from her last encounter with Blackwell, she agrees to a brief rendez-vous with Sinclair, but stops it abruptly because it doesn’t feel right (translation: he’s not Blackwell, and don’t we all know it.) They are caught in the act by Rayea.
Level Six: Deceit, a Dangerous Game of Truth or Die
During the game, it is revealed that Luci is in love with another contestant who does not share her feelings. Ophelia passes the trial and witnesses the curse take hold of Luci, who forfeits the game in agony. That night, Blackwell confronts Ophelia; they confess their feelings but agree they cannot act on them any longer. Devastated, Ophelia isolates herself until the next trial.
Level Seven: Violence, a Fight to the Actual Death
Ophelia must defeat Cade to continue. During the brawl, Cade rips the heart locket from Ophelia’s chest, stopping her heart in the process. She retrieves the locket before she dies, kills him using her magic and absorbs his life force. Back in the manor, her Shadow Voice manifests physically and attacks. It chases her through the manor and sets a room on fire, wounding her severely. She calls for Blackwell, predictably, but passes out before he arrives.
She wakes to find Blackwell at her side, having saved her once again. He claims she attacked herself and that the Shadow Voice was an illusion, Phantasma’s way of forcing contestants to face their greatest fear. Naturally, the vow of celibacy is broken and they resume intimacy.
Genevieve interrupts them, now being free to leave her wing of the manor. She shares all that she has learned while in the game, including that Tessie had mortgaged the manor to buy a second, warded house as a fallback. Tessie kept it such a secret that now no one knows where it is. Genevieve reveals she is also a specter.
Ophelia convinces Genevieve to forfeit and leave the game.
Level Eight: Fraud, Guess Who? with Fatal Consequences
Ophelia must identify the real Genevieve out of two illusions—if she chooses the wrong one, the real one dies. Ophelia realizes this same trial was Gabriel’s downfall. He chose the wrong version of Tessie during his own game, causing her death in the real world just days before Phantasma reappeared in New Orleans. Ophelia realizes neither Genevieve is real, rejects both illusions as fake and clears the level.
After the trial, Ophelia decides to confront Salemaestrus by opening the portal to the end of the game early. Sinclair attempts to stop her to no avail.
Level Nine: Treachery, Blackwell is a Big Fat Liar (kind of)
Ophelia opens the door to meet Salemaestrus. Once inside, she summons Blackwell, who arrives and reintroduces himself as Salemaestrus Erasmus Blackwell, Prince of the Devils—or Salem for short.
The Devil You Know
In a flashback 500 years earlier, Salem returns to the devil realm of Noturnia to rescue his mortal lover, Angel. Sinclair, once a friend whose betrayal led to Angel’s imprisonment, is also held captive. Salem’s father, the King of the Devils, is angry with his son for choosing love over Noturnia, and commands Angel’s death as his punishment. He uses Salem’s True Name—Blackwell—to bind him and make him watch as Angel is killed. Her soul is trapped in the golden heart locket.
Salem is cursed to rule Phantasma until someone brings him the locket and key. He bargains that if he is ever freed, all who knew him will forget his True Name. Angel’s soul is to be reborn in 500 years, and the only chance for Salem to free himself is to find her. Angel’s soul is placed into the care of necromancer Hestia Grimm, and the locket passes down the family line—to Ophelia.
Back in the present, Salem reveals that he never remembers who he is during Phantasma. He only remembers his true identity in the brief liminal space between Phantasma cycles. Sinclair’s job is to keep him tethered and sabotage his freedom.
Ophelia hands over the heart locket, fully aware that doing so will kill her, and confesses her love for Salem—much to his horror. As the curse begins to consume Ophelia, Salem regains his full power and is freed. In doing so, Phantasma begins to crumble.
Salem offers Ophelia three choices to break her curse:
He can give her a new heart and life, but to break the curse would require she sign over her soul to him.
She can tether herself to him for eternity. He will control her life force while leaving her soul intact, and they can stay together (forever.)
She can walk away. She’ll live a normal mortal life but be cursed to feel unbearable pain whenever near him.
Ophelia chooses to tether herself to him.
Two months later, Ophelia and Salem are restoring Grimm Manor. Salem has taken care of the debt on the manor and is sending Genevieve on vacation. He and Ophelia will join her soon.
Players Still on the Board… Who Will We See in Enchantra?
Genevieve Grimm – Ophelia’s younger sister and fellow specter. Entered Phantasma to learn the truth about her parents. Still alive, currently on vacation in an undisclosed location.
Ophelia Grimm – Necromancer, specter and now immortal. Tethered to Salem for eternity. Has absorbed power from multiple sources and is now bound by a curse-breaking deal. Still alive, currently at Grimm Manor.
Salem Erasmus Blackwell – Phantom, Prince of Devils, and ruler of what was once Phantasma. Formerly cursed, now freed. Tethered to Ophelia and living among mortals. Still alive, currently at Grimm Manor.
Sinclair – A devil trapped in Phantasma. Former ally-turned-enemy of Salem. Last seen in Phantasma shortly before it crumbled. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.
Jasper – A devil who acts as concierge and barterer of information in Phantasma. Took three years of Blackwell’s memories in exchange for information. Last seen in Phantasma shortly before it crumbled. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.
Rayea – A devil who acted as host for one of the trials inside Phantasma. Former lover of Blackwell. Last seen in Phantasma shortly before it crumbled. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.
Tessie Grimm – Ophelia and Genevieve’s mother. Necromancer who died before the book’s events but appeared via spiritual connection. Currently on The Other Side.
Gabriel White – Ophelia and Genevieve’s father. A specter who played (and lost) in Phantasma twice. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.
Luci – Contestant in Phantasma and friend of Genevieve. In love with another contestant. Forfeited the game after succumbing to the curse. Last seen leaving Phantasma prior to the end of the game. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.
The King of Devils – Ruler of Noturnia. Killed Salem’s lover, created Phantasma, and orchestrated the 500-year punishment. Still at large and powerful.
Poe – The King’s personal spy who roams Phantasma as a ghostly white cat. Last seen in Phantasma shortly before it crumbled. Status and whereabouts currently unknown.