“Maybe you should get outside,” said Cody, exchanging smirks with Peter. “We were going to go for a walk after this. It might cheer you up.”

“Yup. Nothing like a bright, sunny afternoon to perk up the old spirits.” Peter’s grin grew even bigger.

I leaned my head back against the loveseat. “Okay, okay. What’s the joke I’m missing here?”

“No joke,” said Peter. “We just think it’s a great day.”

“A beautiful, sunny day,” Cody concurred.

“Will you two stop already? I get it. It’s a nice day. The sun is out the, the birds are singing—”

I stopped. I felt my eyes go wide.

I looked at the smirking vampires, then looked at the sun-filled world outside, and then looked back at them. I swallowed.

“How,” I asked quietly, “are you guys out in the middle of the day?”

Their pent-up mirth exploded, and they both dissolved into laughter.

I felt wide awake now. “I’m serious! What’s going on? You can’t be out in daylight, and how—wait. I didn’t sense you guys at the door. I still can’t sense you.”

“I know,” said Cody. “Isn’t it crazy?”

“No! Well, I mean, yes. But it’s not . . . it’s not supposed to happen,” I argued. I didn’t understand how they could find this so entertaining. Something was wrong. Very wrong. All the drama with the Army was gone from my mind. That niggling worry that I’d woken up with turned into a hard knot of fear. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I’d gone cold all over. “How is this possible? The sun should fry you.”

“Hell if we know,” said Peter. “We were in our coffins and then just suddenly . . . woke up. We got out, and there we were. Out and about in the middle of the day. You know what else? I don’t want blood. No desire whatsoever. Not even a drop.”

“And so what, you guys just decide to go stroll around and enjoy the day? You didn’t contact Jerome? You didn’t question the fact that something has seriously altered your immortal existence?”

A mischievous look crossed Peter’s face. “Not just us, Georgina.”

They both watched me expectantly.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I told them. “I’ve always been able to go out in the sun.”

“You don’t have a signature either. We can’t sense you,” said Cody.

I stared at them for several heavy seconds, trying to parse the meaning here. An uneasy feeling began building in my stomach as I recognized their implication—except what they were implying was impossible. Unthinkable.

“You’re wrong,” I said.

Slowly, carefully, I touched my face. It was exactly the same as it had been this morning. My build was the same. My height was the same. I was still me.

I exhaled with relief. “I’m the same.”