Purdy was inside the kitchen since that was where the real excitement happened in a restaurant. There, she began to explore around like Curious George.

It was chaotic inside since it was dinner rush. The demands from the head chef and the owner of the restaurant, and the noises from the utensils in the kitchen while cooking.

Humans were doing the cooking, and two cosmic citizens with six tentacles had to make the dough for the pizza, pasta noodles, and bread.

Watching the creature kneed and roll all at once was the ghost's favorite thing to see. It was thrilling that she had such access without being seen, like being in the front seat.

The moment was entertaining just watching the process of how the food was prepared, until it stopped all of a sudden. Wondering what was wrong, Purdy noticed the tentacled cosmic citizen got distracted as he turned his head towards the door that led to the owner's house at the back of the restaurant.

A thin old woman with messy hair and a wrinkled, loose, floral dress, looking disoriented, just stood there. She had a blank stare, and her mouth was half open.

Anyhow, one of the human cooks saw her. "Boss, your tia is here again?"

The head chef darted towards the door. "Oh, no," he grunted, then stopped cooking. "Where the hell is my sister? She's supposed to keep an eye on her. Can someone please take over the pot? I'll just have to put my aunt back in her bedroom."

While waiting for someone to take over, the old woman began walking towards the cosmic citizen. The one where Purdy was standing. Her weary eyes seemed to be looking right at the ghost.

Suddenly, from weary eyes turned intense. "C'è lo spirito," she said, speaking Italian. "C'e lo spirito. C'e lo spirito."

The woman kept repeating those words, and the cosmic citizen started to be weirded out by her. "What is she saying?" he asked.

"She's saying there's a spirit," a cook translated with a bit of a laugh at the thought that there was one in the room.

The staff reacted and froze, that there was a presence in the kitchen. As for Purdy, she was stumped that the old lady could see her, and she didn't seem to be happy about it.

"A spirit?" the cosmic citizen gasped.

"THERE'S NO SPIRIT!" the owner yelled at his employees once he got to his aunt. "GET BACK TO WORK! I'll be right back, and those risottos better be done."

The old woman kept repeating those words and even pointed towards Purdy with her trembling fingers. "C'e lo spirito."

"Come on, tia. I'll take you to your room," the owner said with a gentle tone, and held his aunt's arm side to guide her back to her room.

"C'E LO SPIRITO!" the old woman shouted. She pulled away from her big and tall nephew and grabbed a rolling pin from a table, then, swinging it around that she accidentally hit the head chef's face, and he fell over behind her.

Purdy began to get scared, so she decided to leave. "Uhm... time to go."

Unfortunately, the staff went to the owner since he was in pain on the floor, and the old lady followed the ghost to the dining area.

Meanwhile, Purdy rushed to her sister, who was getting another drink by the beverage counter.

"There you are," Perfida said. "I was starting to get worried. Where have you been? I just turned around and you're gone."

"I got bored, so I went to the kitchen to just see what's going on in there," Purdy stammered. 

"Next time, let me know that you're going somewhere." The "Uhm... by the way, there's one teensy problem."

"And what's that?" The teenage girl got to the counter and poured herself another drink.

Afterwards, Perfida turned around and was startled when the old lady was there in front of her with those deranged eyes. "Oh, my crapolai," the girl reacted. "I mean, sorry, I didn't see you there."

"La strega," the old woman grunted.

"I'm sorry?"

"Peachy, you have to go. NOW," Purdy warned quickly.

"Why? What's wrong...?" Perfida happened looked away for a second. All of a sudden, her face was struck by the old lady's palm. "AAhhh... Did she just slap me?!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you," Purdy told.

There were gasps scattered from the nearby customers, including Mr. Hawkes, who saw it. Yet it did not stop there, the old lady grabbed a bowl of hot tomato soup from a table. "La strega!" she screamed, then threw it to the teenager.

"It BUUUURRNNSSSS!!!!" Perfida shrieked at the top of her lungs and bent down, suffering from the blistering heat of the soup. The liquid splashed onto her face, but it also got onto her clothes, and there were some of it was on her hands. She kept screaming and tried to wipe the hot soup with her hands.

Perfida's family and March quickly went to her aid. "Peachy!" her mother gasped, helping her daughter up along with March. The waiters even handed them tablecloths to clean her up.

"Oh, crap!" Holden reacted, seeing how his sister looked, and soup was dripping from her. "Are you okay?"

Perfida's eyes were closed. "My eyes are on fire! I can't see."

"I'll take that as a no."

"Who did this to you?" Hector asked in anger.

"That lady did," Perfida answered, then felt the burn from the broth in her skin. "Oh, crap! That's really hot."

"She did this?" The stepfather glared at the one at fault.

"What are you talking about? What did you do to my aunt?" the niece interrogated in anger, thinking that her frail, elderly aunt was the victim.

"I didn't do anything. I was just minding my own business, and then your aunt...." Perfida pointed the wrong way since her eyes were still shut, so March had to help her by moving her arm to the correct direction. "...Did this to me."

The niece didn't seem to believe what the young lady was saying. "What? My aunt couldn't have done that."

"There you are!" the head chef rushed towards them and was stumped to see that something was going on. "Oh Dio mio, what happened here?"

After blotting out the soup from her eyes with the table napkin, she darted to the man in charge. "She slapped me," Perfida responded by pointing her fingers at the old lady. "And threw tomato soup at me, and called me... What did she call me again?" 

"... La strega," Purdy told.

"La strega. Whatever that means. What does it mean anyway? Oh! My eyes! I feel like I put Vicks in it.  Why couldn't that have been gazpacho?!"

"Because it's not Italian," March responded.

"I think that question was rhetorical," Holden said dryly. 

"Mi dispiace. I mean, I'm sorry, signore," the owner apologized sincerely.

"What are you doing? She's lying," the niece claimed.

"She's not, Elena. Tia Mia wrecked havoc a while ago in the kitchen because you left her alone!"

All eyes were on the niece as she felt very embarrassed about being truly at fault. Even Purdy scowled at her, but she did feel like it was partially her fault, too, since she led the disoriented lady to the dining area and somehow led her to her twin.

All these things were happening right in front of the ghost girl, and yet she could not do anything to help with the situation.

"Oh, so you're to blame after calling my sister a liar," Holden scoffed.

"I... I'm sorry," the middle-aged niece apologized reluctantly.

"I'll handle this," the owner whispered to her, then turned to the Ruderos. "I'm sorry, my tia... she's sick... in the head, you know."

"LA STREGAAA!!" the old lady screamed again, freaking everyone once again.

"Per carita! Get Tia Mia out of here." 

"Right, sorry." The niece just nodded and quickly took her elderly aunt away, with some assistance from a waitress, to the back of the kitchen.

"Well, that changes things," Perfida remarked, starting to pity after listening to the poor old lady's condition.

"Not really. No," her stepfather said bluntly. 

"Even so, my daughter got hurt because someone didn't keep an eye on your sick aunt properly," Ophelia added.

"I know, and I am truly sorry about what happened. I'll make it up to you. What about no charge for what you ordered?" The owner suggested. "And I'll throw in a cake of your choice."

"Fine by me," Holden interjected nonchalantly.

"Same," March and Perfida said at the same time.

"Me too," Hector agreed. "We'll take it."

Later, once the farewell dinner was over. They all stood outside the restaurant, waiting for their cybercar to be driven to the front by a valet. Even though it started from a normal evening, it ended as a disaster.

Perfida had to come out smelling like a tomato soup with some Tabasco in it. She tried washing it off in the restaurant's restroom, but to no avail. Her hair was matted and sticky, and there were red sauce stains on most of the top part of her outfit.

So, while the grown-ups were talking and Holden chatted with his friends, the Sweeney sisters had a private conversation at the side. "What a night," she exasperated. "Good thing, I didn't wear my favorite sweater."

"Sorry, Peachy," Purdy apologized as she appeared, standing next to her sister. "It's because of me that I put you through all that."

"It's alright. Regardless, I blame that Elena lady."

"Yeah... Yeah... I agree, it's definitely all her fault."

Somehow, Perfida began to think about the whole situation. "So that being said, what happened?"

"I was just watching the cooks make pizza, and that old lady came. She hit the chef, and after that, she started chasing me outside the kitchen," Purdy explained.

The teenage girl was taken aback by that one little detail that her twin said. "So that means she can see you? She can see ghosts, too?"

"Yup."

"That's stellar. Also, I wonder what she was calling me back there?"

"From how she said it, it doesn't sound like a compliment," Purdy responded.

"Gee... That did not occur to me," Perfida exasperated. "I'll just look it up later after getting a shower."

"Hey." Holden approached her with his two friends. "You okay, sis?"

"Yeah, aside from smelling like a spicy spaghetti, I'm stellar. I'm gonna need a long, lather, rinse, and repeat shower to get this smell off of me." 

"At least you didn't get burned that badly. I mean, that was hot soup."

"My skin does sting a bit, but it's not that bad," Perfida said.

"That was really crazy back there," Jake remarked. "I mean, she just attacks you for no reason."

"Tell me about it," Perfida chuckled nervously. "I feel bad that the dinner is ruined."

"Don't worry about that," Winn, another of Holden's close friends, said. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, it's that owner's sister's fault anyway," Holden reminded. "So, there's nothing to feel bad about. Besides, we have free cake to eat later once we get home."

"Good point," Perfida replied.

One of the guys' parents called out to them. "Let's talk later," the stepbrother told.

Once they left her alone, March walked up to her. "I know there's something you couldn't tell them. So, what really happened?" he questioned. 

"Long story short, my sister went to the kitchen, the old lady could see her, and chased her to the dining area. She saw me talking to my sister, and the rest is history," Perfida answered.

"Back up." The best friend looked around to make sure that no one around them could hear, then got closer to Perfida. "All this is because that crazy old lady can see your sister?"

"Yup."

"That means she can also see... you-know-what?"

"Afraid so," Perfida replied.

"So she's not crazy after all. She just can see... You know... them," March said.

"Yeah... too bad she's not up to being friends with me after all this. Damn, why couldn't she have thrown me a cold juice instead?"

"Just be glad it wasn't a mace." March cringed just glancing at how she looked again, then he heard his father calling him because his ride was there by the driveway. "I have to go. Our ride is here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night. I would hug you if I didn't smell," Perfida sighed. 

As the twins watched their friend leave with his family, Mr. Hawkes had his eyes on them through the glass window of the pizzeria without them knowing.