When I had transformed back to normal and returned to the group at the table, pretty much everyone besides Jonathon and Violet were all getting ready to pay their bill and leave.

"There you are," Violet said, looking at me with a sly smirk stretched across her face. "Didya eat something bad for lunch? No, wait, better question: was it like a running faucet or more like getting that last bit of toothpaste out?"

I looked at Violet with a confused expression, then realized what it was she was alluding to. It also didn't help that, returning from the bathroom, I probably looked fairly sweaty and frazzled. I could feel my face burning as it turned red and I slowly sat back down in my seat, Violet snickering as loud as she ever had. I looked in Jonathon's direction to see if he was in on the joke, and it definitely looked like he was pretending to be interested in whatever it was the other women in the group were saying as they were getting ready to go.

"S-sorry, I just had to step out for a minute," I said to Violet sheepishly.

"Hey, when am I not teasing you? Literally. It's good, those women were bitches anyways, you didn't miss anything."

"Really?"

"That's not true," Jonathon said, doing his best to hide a small sigh of relief as he turned to face us. "We definitely had a good talk about other good restaurants to visit around here!"

"No you didn't," Violet said with a snort. Jonathon opened his mouth as if to say something back, but decided against it and began pouting instead.

"I seriously didn't miss anything?" I asked Violet. "Like, NOTHING happened while I was gone?"

"Why're you lookin' at me like that?" Violet asked, and I realized exactly how close I had moved my face to her, backing up appropriately. "And no, nothing happened, dude. I dunno what you expected at this sorta thing, I told you these 'team nights' were lame."

I let out a sigh of relief and looked back at what little was left of my drink. Glancing around the restaurant I found it was just like the office: there was no evidence that anyone had fought. No spattered paint, no burnt floor, nothing. Everyone went about their daily lives as if nothing had happened, and I wasn't sure what scared me more: that monsters were real, or that they went about their business under everyone's noses.

"Well, then what were we talking about before," I said, trying to find some way to take my mind of things, until I remembered. "Right, Jonathon!" I had said this surprisingly loud and Jonathon jumped in his seat. "Sorry. But, I was going to ask earlier: is there seriously nothing you've dreamed of doing? Wanted to become?"

Jonathon sat there quietly for a moment, and drank the last quarter glass of his beer in one gulp. Wiping his mouth, he said, "Well, I dunno. Maybe? Not really? Sometimes real life just catches up with you, but, maybe uhhh..." he paused for another moment, then shrugged. "I don't know, I figured that there would be time for that if I ever made it far enough in the company, you know? Like, once you're making the money you can just do whatever you want."

"Yeah, like gettin' drunk on the most expensive stuff and showing up to work drunk and nobody can do anything about it," Violet said with a snicker as she sipped her drink.

"I'm pretty sure people can do something about that, even if you're the boss," I said. "Isn't that what a board of directors is for?"

"She's right," Jonathon said.

"Oh shut up, you guys are no fun," Violet said, finishing her drink and trying to steal the rest of mine on the sly, but I was on to her antics at this point in our lives.

"Ma'am, your bill?" I turned to see the waitress had made her rounds with rest of the table and was now to the three of us. One by one we paid our bills and made our way outside. By now the other women had left and it was just the three of us.

Outside, at this hour, I was struck by how quiet and serene it was. Cold, yes, but there were no monsters or demons or grim reapers or whatever flying around at this time. I took a deep breath, and felt myself a little at ease for once in the past couple days.

"Anyways, I'm parked just up the street, so I will bid you two good night," Jonathon said, wrapping his coat around him. "But, we should do something like this again sometime!"

Violet snorted. "Look bud, you're nice? But these team nights aren't my thing. I was only here because of Sue."

"No no, I don't mean a work thing, I just mean, as friends, or something," Jonathon said, trying to find the words. "I don't know. If you don't want to that's fine, but if you're free, you know where to find me."

"Sure, that sounds alright," I said, and Violet shot me a look.

A small, genuine smile crept onto Jonathon's face. "Yeah, okay. Anyways, good night." He waved and continued down the street.

"Seriously? Do we have to?" Violet said. "That guy's like, a dry piece of toast! He's as boring as they come!"

"That's what you said about me when we first met," I said to Violet.

"Yeah, but-- this is different!"

"No it's not, besides, finding adult friends is hard. Maybe he's not so bad? We don't have to become instant best friends with him or anything."

"I know it's just..." Violet growled. "Fine, whatever. But I'm only give you this 'Get Out of Violet-Jail Free' card this once!"

"Sounds good to me," I laughed.

"Anyways, I guess that was kind of fun. My cab should be here soon, so I'm gonna spli--, wait, no," Violet had begun to leave, but stopped dead in her tracks and turned back to see me. "There's something important I gotta ask you."

"Y-yeah?" I said, beginning to stress over what the question could possibly be.

"You could see them too, couldn't you," Violet said, leaning in closer and squinting at me. "Admit it! I saw how you were acting!"

"Th-them?" I asked. Could she see magical creatures too?! "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"C'mon girl, you can be real with me! The wisps, like those colourful ghostly puffs of smoke! At least, I think they're ghosts, or maybe something else? Anyways, there were those three black ones in the bar today, they were real big and giving me these creepy vibes. You felt those too, right?"

"Wisps?"

"I thought there was something off about her aura!" Ping said, coming out from hiding. "She's a curious case, isn't she! I suppose the curse doesn't always work with everyone totally..."

"That would explain those weird ghost shows on public access television," I said to Ping out loud, forgetting Violet was right there.

"Right?! So you can see them!" For the first time in a very long time, Violet looked genuinely excited. Usually she just faked her enthusiasm. "Actually, there's a little mint green one right beside you right now! Though, I guess you knew that. Saw it clinging to you since yesterday! It's definitely a lot cuter than those creepy ones."

"She thinks I'm cute!" Ping said, striking a pose.

"S-sure, yeah," I said. "There was definitely something off in that restaurant."

"Damn! I thought there was something wrong with me for so long!" Violet said, and was about to jump into another rant before her taxi pulled up. "Okay, okay I gotta go, but we seriously need to talk about this! When you're less frazzled by social gatherings! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Definitely, I'll see you tomorrow!" I said after Violet as she climbed into her cab and closed the door. I checked my phone to see when my own cab would get here, and found myself wrapping my coat around me as I needed to wait for another five minutes.

Letting my eyes wander, I looked up at the skyline, and only then did I notice a bright green-blue gleam stuck to one of the glass walls of the sky-scrapers. I squinted, and only then did I realize it was coming from a large eye.

A large eye that pushed from the wall with its many tentacles and glided away into the night air.