I study the door, taking in the fact it’s a bookcase that’s been left opened. A hidden room in Sanctuary? She really does love horror movies. There’s always a hidden room in good monster movies.

As I descend, it starts garnering a dungeon theme rather quickly, given the thick stones layered with some black tar-like stuff. A dungeon with fluorescent lighting, also.

Sure. Why the hell not?

Dwarfed, green apple trees are growing in small pots, nothing more than tiny sprigs tied to poles to help support the weight of the many apples.

It occurs to me that the stench of Idun’s fear is now completely absent.

“My senses have had a few cosmically empowered moments here and there where they’ve been heightened to somewhat match yours, I think,” Violet tells us, smiling tightly. “Nothing really to help me out, since it was just fleeting tastes that slowly gave me a little insight into you.”

She looks nervous again.

“You were frozen in this state,” Violet says, and then eyes Emit. “Only you got a few perks post-immortality,” Violet notes. “I was frozen the day my head came off. Your senses are only better than mine, because my senses adapted to be less sensitive to the more polluted world I was born into,” she carries on.

She gestures around. “That’s why you live in small, woodland towns, isn’t it? It’d be easier to keep a low profile and anonymity in larger cities. However, your senses are too sensitive to live too close to bigger cities.”

“Why are we discussing our senses and location?” I ask, unable to follow her confusing directional shifts.

She decides it’s the perfect time to turn and lift Clyde’s head. His eyes are just as frozen wide as Idun’s…which brings my gaze over to the head on a shelf.

How did I not notice Idun’s head on a shelf the moment I walked in?

No…not just a shelf. Is that a display case?

Sure enough, Violet closes the glass door in front of Clyde’s face, and then she turns to gesture to the body parts.

“Do you want to help me put these on the other shelves?” she asks, acting like this is obviously the next thing on the agenda.

It’s like speaking to the bloody Vampyre, only the exact opposite.

“Violet, please focus on one thing at a time,” I cut in, as our…very complex little Simpleton monster wrings her hands very nervously.

“Well, my apples sort of level the playing field where senses are involved, is what I was getting at. I didn’t realize I was doing that. I just really like growing apples and oranges. I favor the apples, but it’s not a deliberate power move to make your heightened senses an irrelevant advantage,” she rushes to explain. “Please believe me.”

For the first time, I feel my lips twitch, and I struggle to resist the urge to smile.

Damn her.

“We believe you,” the four of us state in a dry, humorless, somewhat incredulous tone, as well as in perfect unison.

Violet looks surprised, for whatever reason, that we don’t find her to be some sort of sinister mastermind.

“You really should be a little more suspicious of me after the events of the evening. Clearly, I’m not as sweet as all of you have claimed,” she carries on, actually looking somewhat irritated with us.

It’s just now that I’m realizing this sweet accusation has come off as a bit insulting to our prideful little monster, who clearly thinks she’s far more devious than she is.

“It’s definitely Violet,” Damien says, elbowing me with a growing grin. “I already knew that, but now it’s indisputable.”

Arion struggles to smother his laughter, and she cuts a chilling glare toward him, as the room chills a few degrees.

His laughter only doubles, as Violet struggles to not posture, fidgeting nervously, even as her jaw tics with some subtle ire.

“How have I not noticed how much that bothers her?” Emit asks, the words minced with some suppressed laughter.

Damien finally loses it, his laughter slipping out, and he gives up the fight to restrain it. It sets off a chain reaction, with all of us following and joining in on the hysterical fit.

Violet very angrily starts heaving Idun’s body into the case by herself, which only elevates Arion’s laughter into a wheezing sort of state.

“You’re more damaged than I even realized,” Violet mutters, as her ghosts float around her, helping her load Idun in.

“Anyone else getting a mental image of birds helping Cinderella get dressed…only not?” Anna asks as she takes a seat between us, watching Violet just as we are, while the other ghosts help Violet cram the rest of the body parts in their respective cases.

That sobers us just somewhat, only because…how do we even begin handling this new complication?

Violet’s monster has been having a lot of conversations with us.

Since the beginning.

“No?” Anna asks, smirking. “Just me then?”

“I swear, she’s not really reading my thoughts like a diary. I do not think like that,” Violet is assuring us, while finally managing to get the case shut.

“Should someone tell her she’s swapped the torsos or just leave it be?” Anna stage whispers.

Violet turns, darts a gaze between the cases, and presumably sees the father’s torso resting on the shelf between the daughter’s head and legs…

I scrub a hand down my face when Violet’s cheeks heat like this has embarrassed her. She’s trying hard to look like she’s not frazzled and has a problem with being called sweet.

Over and over, I struggle to keep my lips pressed in a respectable line. Steadily, that weight starts to lift from my shoulders, this surreal new reality slowly setting in.

January Violet Carmine.

We knew she was fucking special. None of us saw this shit coming, though.

“I’ve been alive too damn long,” Emit decides, lips twitching, as he sags to take a seat on the floor, landing roughly.

He sighs, a slow smile curving his lips, while he watches Violet get the right body-parts where they belong.

“Isn’t this the best date-night ever?” Anna muses.

“Damn it, Anna. Stop saying shit like that. Now that they know you’re just some leaky section of my subconscious, it’s mortifying every single damn time you open your mouth,” Violet gripes.

The case door swings open, and Idun’s legs fall out, landing on the ground with a hard thud.

Violet cuts her eyes to Idun, who I swear looks ten times more terrified than ever.

“Chill. The weight was just poorly distributed,” Anna says around a bored sigh. “Honestly, you can’t function without me.”

“What the hell did I do with that salt?” Violet says as she starts patting down her bra.

“I’ll give you some time alone. No need to get so salty,” Anna says, grinning. “Get it? Salty?”

Violet glares. Anna’s smile falls.

“That joke is always funny, and you never laugh. You’d think the girl who calls her fuck-hot boyfriends the monstar quad would have a better sense of humor,” Anna chides.

Then she grins and disappears, along with all the other ghosts. I can’t help but find it all terrifyingly fascinating, and stare at Violet with some admitted fresh intrigue.

It’s like seeing her for the first time all over again, only this time, I’m already in love with her, so I notice much more.