Chapter 40 Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Ophelia finally eating a proper meal, partly because her anxiety had suppressed her appetite during the past week of competition, and partly because the dining room is empty except for Charlotte, who ignores her as usual. Ophelia privately hopes Charlotte survives, reasoning that the world needs more people who mind their own business yet speak up when needed. The other contestants trickle in, all looking exhausted and haunted, with visible bruises beneath their eyes. Even Cade seems to have lost some of his fight, though the others still give him a wide berth.

The newest Devil arrives—Phoebe, the shortest Devil so far, with a delicate, swirling gold pattern covering her skin. She welcomes them to level six, “Deceit,” and congratulates them on passing the halfway point. She opens a portal, and the contestants go through the familiar routine of waiting for their clue. The clue warns of a trial of secrets where blood reveals the price, and that false tales won't help because blood knows the stakes.

Names are called, and the contestants pass through the portal one by one. Ophelia mutters that she wants to get it over with. When the setting resolves, she finds herself seated at a round table with her wrists shackled to its top. She uses her Specter abilities to slip out of the cuffs, drawing muttered insults from others who resent her advantage.

Each contestant has a set of buttons before them. Ophelia, Leon, Baker, and Cade have two buttons each (true and false). Luci, Charlotte, and Beau have three: Luci and Charlotte have true, false, and skip; Beau has true, false, and random. The advantages and disadvantages from level four have carried over. Ophelia is thankful she neutralized her own levers before leaving that level, and Cade apparently neutralized his as well.

The center of the table holds a pool of ominous black liquid with seven trenches leading to each person's right hand, ending in a small needle-like spike for pricking fingers. Seven square stone pillars drop from the ceiling, one above each contestant, stopping about ten feet overhead. Ophelia's pillar drops a foot lower than the rest, signaling she goes first.

Ophelia pricks her thumb, letting her blood stream into the pool. The blood forms letters: “Ophelia Grimm kissed a Devil.” She reads it aloud, and everyone gapes at her, scandalized—except Cade, who looks delighted and sneers at her, calling her a “Demon whore” who keeps Devils in her bed. He presses true immediately. Beau tries to follow but his true button won't go down—he can only press random. Charlotte notes someone sabotaged him. Beau reluctantly presses random, and the true button sinks down, to his relief.

The others hesitate, trying to read Ophelia's face. Luci's hand hovers over her false button, but Ophelia rushes to stop her, insisting it's true. Luci balks, but Charlotte, Baker, and Leon press true, and Luci finally does too. Cade boasts, Ophelia gives him a vulgar gesture, and her pillar rises back into alignment.

Baker's pillar lowers next. He offers his blood, and the statement reads: “Baker Broussard is colorblind.” Baker insists he's not. Everyone reaches for false, but Leon stops them, testing Baker by asking the color of Ophelia's dress (red) and Luci's (yellow). Baker hesitates and calls Luci's dress “a light coral color.” Leon reveals he remembers Baker once commenting on “pink apples” that were actually yellow, concluding Baker is yellow-blue colorblind. Baker explains that about two months ago he fell two stories from a ladder, hit his head, and the doctor warned of long-lasting side effects—he didn't realize losing certain colors was one of them. Everyone presses true, including Beau, whose button works this time. Ophelia notes the pattern.

Charlotte's pillar lowers. Her statement reads: “Charlotte Williams is a twin.” Charlotte sputters, insisting she has no siblings. Baker suggests the twist might be that she has a sibling she doesn't know about. Luci and Charlotte both use their skip buttons, which does not bode well for the group. Cade growls about how they're supposed to guess when Charlotte herself is unsure. Ophelia takes a deep breath and reaches for her true button—her locket warms. She tests the false button, and the locket goes cold. She smiles and presses true. Leon and Baker follow her lead, and Cade begrudgingly copies. Beau's random button activates again, and it picks true. Leon notes the disadvantage must alternate rounds. The skip buttons for Luci and Charlotte are now spent—one-time use only.

Cade's pillar lowers, and he looks all too happy. His statement reads: “Cade Arceneaux killed his sister's husband.” Luci makes a face, and Leon locks onto it. Leon asks if the husband is dead, noting Cade is plenty capable of murder. Luci confirms the husband died last year in a motorcar crash, with Cade and Lainie both in the vehicle, and she knows without a doubt Lainie was driving. Cade corroborates: the husband was on the passenger side that hit the tree, Cade was in the back, and he had nothing to do with it. He smiles.

Baker declares he doesn't believe Cade and hits true. Luci cringes at the hasty reaction. Charlotte mutters she doesn't believe him either and hits true. Leon insists he believes Luci and hits false. Ophelia adds that Cade is probably hoping none of them believe him so they all choose wrong, and she hits false. Baker pales as he realizes his mistake and tries to switch his answer, but it's too late. For a long, tense moment, nothing happens. Then Baker's pillar slams down, crushing him to smithereens and splattering blood across the room.

Key Events

Phoebe introduces level six, “Deceit,” and the blood-based true-or-false trial.
Level four advantages and disadvantages carry over: Luci and Charlotte get one-time skip buttons; Beau is stuck with a random-only button that alternates rounds.
Ophelia's secret is revealed: she kissed a Devil. The group answers true, and her pillar rises.
Baker's colorblindness is exposed through Leon's memory and a quick color test; Baker reveals a recent head injury from a two-story fall.
Charlotte's statement claims she is a twin; she and Luci burn their skip buttons, and Ophelia's locket guides the group to answer true.
Cade's statement claims he killed his sister's husband; Luci confirms the husband died in a crash with Lainie driving.
Baker answers true against the group's consensus, and his pillar crushes him to death.

Character Development

Ophelia demonstrates growing leadership and trust in her instincts. She stops Luci from answering false on her own secret, uses her locket to verify Charlotte's statement, and correctly reads Cade's manipulation. Her Specter abilities give her a practical edge, but her emotional intelligence—knowing when to trust Luci's knowledge and when to distrust Cade—proves more valuable in this trial.

Baker is the chapter's tragic figure. His revelation that he's been living with undiagnosed colorblindness after a head injury shows how the competition has already taken a toll on the contestants before this level even began. His impulsive decision to answer true on Cade's statement—driven by distrust rather than evidence—costs him his life.

Cade continues to be the antagonist, using the trial to needle Ophelia with insults and then smiling through his own revelation, seemingly hoping the group's distrust of him will lead them to answer incorrectly. His strategy backfires for Baker, who refuses to believe him.

Leon proves observant and level-headed, recalling Baker's earlier comment about “pink apples” to expose the colorblindness, and trusting Luci's firsthand knowledge about the crash.

Luci shows her value as an ally, confirming the details of Cade's sister's husband's death with certainty.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Blood as truth: The trial literalizes the idea that blood reveals truth. Each contestant's blood forms their secret in the black pool, making the body itself the witness against deception.

Deceit and trust: The level's name, “Deceit,” frames the trial as a test of both personal honesty and group trust. The contestants must decide whether to believe each other's claims, and the consequences of misjudgment are fatal.

The locket as moral compass: Ophelia's locket warms over the true answer and goes cold over the false one, functioning as a supernatural guide that reinforces her intuition.

Carried-over consequences: The level four advantages and disadvantages persisting into level six emphasize that choices in this competition have lasting ripple effects. Beau's random button and the one-time skip buttons shape the group's options at critical moments.

Crushing truth: The pillars that hover above each contestant and crush wrong answers literalize the weight of truth and the fatal cost of error.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter delivers the first death of level six and raises the stakes dramatically. Baker's death—caused by his own distrust of Cade rather than by any actual evidence—shows how the trial punishes not just wrong answers but emotionally driven decisions. The chapter also deepens Ophelia's role as a leader, as her locket-guided confidence and her ability to read the group's dynamics keep the others alive through three rounds. The revelation of Ophelia's kiss with a Devil adds another layer to her complicated relationship with the supernatural world, and Cade's continued hostility reinforces the personal tensions simmering beneath the competition. The trial's design—forcing contestants to rely on each other's honesty while knowing some of them are liars—creates a pressure cooker that will likely define the rest of the level.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Baker answer true on Cade's statement, and what does this reveal about the trial's design?

Baker answers true because he doesn't believe Cade's claim that he had nothing to do with his sister's husband's death. He assumes Cade is lying and that the statement is true. The trial punishes him for acting on distrust rather than evidence: Luci's firsthand knowledge confirmed Lainie was driving, and Cade's account was consistent. The trial is designed to test whether contestants can separate their personal feelings from the facts presented.

2. How does Ophelia's locket function in this chapter, and what does it suggest about her connection to the supernatural?

When Charlotte's statement is revealed, Ophelia's locket warms when she hovers over the true button and goes cold when she tests the false button. The locket acts as a truth-detection device, guiding her to the correct answer. This suggests her supernatural connections—likely tied to Blackwell—give her an edge in the trial, though she chooses to rely on it selectively rather than for every answer.

3. What do the carried-over advantages and disadvantages from level four reveal about the competition's structure?

The fact that Luci and Charlotte's skip buttons and Beau's random-only button persist into level six shows that the competition tracks and enforces consequences across levels. Choices made in earlier trials have lasting effects, meaning contestants cannot treat each level as a fresh start. This also creates strategic depth: Beau's random button alternates rounds, and the skip buttons are one-time use, forcing the group to conserve their limited advantages for the most uncertain moments.