Blinking out of my trance, I numbly move Violet to my bed and go to grab some of her healing potions from my drawer.

“How did she bring you back?” Damien asks like it’s idle conversation.

Violet rolls her eyes before narrowing them at him, while he pretends to be oblivious to her annoyance. Anna shrugs a shoulder.

“A big hole tore through the third dimension where ghosts go after final decay. I managed to leap through it at the last possible minute during the cosmic upset at the Simpleton gravesite, because Violet told me where to go,” Anna explains.

My eyes move to Violet, brow furrowing, as she allows her eyelids to flutter shut.

Carefully lifting her head, I pour the healing potions down the back of her throat instead of onto the wounds. She’s given us instructions in that damn book as to how to tend to her in moments of crisis.

“That’s ludicrous. Ghosts turn to piles of salt and cease to exist. There is no third dimension,” Damien cuts in, sounding highly suspicious.

“Says you. I’m pretty sure I know more about ghosts than you do, pretty boy,” Anna purrs, running her finger over his shoulder. “Too bad I lost my libido there,” she adds on a putout sigh, as she moves back to Violet’s side.

She barely even spares us a glance, as she plops down on the bed beside Violet. Violet stares at us like she’s daring us to say something paranoid and suspicious toward her…friend.

“We’re going to have to talk about this eventually,” I inform her, as I pour more healing potion down her throat.

“Should have done that five months ago…back when you probably should have first noticed me,” Anna drawls with a devilish grin.

Violet gives me a look that tells me she’s agreeing with the impossible ghost at her side.

“Marta Portocale hasn’t drained you of your life yet?” I idly muse.

“Am I still sitting here? I suppose that answers that question then,” Anna says around a derisive snort.

Clearly I’m not getting any answers about her existence today. Which is fine. Anna is the least of our concerns.

Violet’s body is more damaged than I realized, because her mangled jaw took up most of my attention. Now I’m noticing the bruises as they get more and more defined.

She took Caroline on during a manic rage fit. Bobo once obliterated my entire house and houseguests during one of his fits.

“I’d say you should see the other girl, but Violet didn’t do much damage,” Anna states like she’s annoyed with this, shooting a glare toward Violet.

Violet’s eyes only well up with more tears, and Anna looks away, muttering something about being too soft.

When Violet’s body goes limp, finally succumbing to the exhaustion that was likely caused by the painful damage, I thread our fingers together.

“Caroline did this because of Violet’s hesitance to take us back?” Damien asks Anna when we hear Violet snore.

Anna’s eyes collide with his, as a dark grin emerges on her red lips. “You’re talking to me while she’s asleep? I thought the dead shouldn’t influence the living,” she says with a deepening grin.

“Stop being so terribly creepy and answer the question before I throw salt at you,” Damien states in a bored drawl.

Anna shrugs and rolls her eyes. “It’s more fun when I’m creepy. But whatever. Be a prude. Anyway, yeah. So Caroline has been stalking Violet for a while, whispering through the walls to her, tracking her every single movement. She even hangs out in the walls beside Violet’s room when she sleeps. If you think I’m creepy, you best put her way ahead of me, because that crazy bitch wants to live in Violet’s skin and show her how to be better at beating Idun, at least when it comes to the four of you.”

There was a time when Caroline tried to give us ‘love potions’ to steal us from Idun, simply to weaken the Neopry alpha. We never told Idun about the failed attempt made by the pitiful Simpleton.

My phone rings, and I glance down, finding Arion’s name flashing across the screen.

“Not a word about this. He’ll do something terrible to Caroline, and Violet will possibly never speak to him again,” I tell Damien, who simply grinds his jaw.

“The temptation is unbearable,” he confesses, as he tosses salt at Anna, who curses when she’s ejected from the room.

He takes her spot on the bed next to Violet, as I answer the call.

“Now’s not a good time, Arion. We’re—”

“I’m putting together a fun little Monster Olympics,” Arion says with all seriousness.

I shoot an incredulous gaze to Damien, who looks as stupefied as I feel.

“Monster Olympics?” Damien mouths.

“Violet once told me she’d always wanted to be a team mascot, but she never spent enough time in a town to make friends, let alone become a part of a team,” Arion goes on. “I’ve already secured an appropriate sized stadium, several horses, some of those unnecessary hurdles people now put on tracks just to make running harder, and a few other things. I’m looking for a band. According to my research, all good events have big names headlining for such events.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose and exhaling, I lean forward, closing my eyes, and give him my full attention.

“Arion, what’s brought this on?” I ask on a tired sigh.