“Who’s that?” asked Cody. Just like with Tom, Cody could sense neither the identity nor even the type of this immortal. But I needed no such clues.

“Tawny,” Peter and I said in unison.

“How do you guys know?” asked Cody.

“The clothes,” said Peter.

“The whine,” I said.

Tom was standing there, mouth half-open. A moment later, he recovered himself. “Well, it was nice meeting you all. I hope you’ll come talk to me if you have any questions or concerns. I’m very eager to get to know you all better.” He scurried off just as Tawny reached us. We stared.

“What the hell happened to you?” exclaimed Hugh.

Tawny pouted. “Well, there was this really nice guy that I wanted. Really pure and—”

“Tawny,” I interrupted. “I’ve told you a hundred times. Stop worrying about the good ones.”

She shook her head. “No, no. He was into me. Well, he was into this.” She gestured to her body. “I figured out that he had these weird fantasies his wife didn’t know about. So, I put on this shape, and we did it. And the energy . . . it was amazing.”

I couldn’t hide my astonishment. Tawny had managed to score a decent guy. She’d used a strategy that, while basic, was also highly effective: exploiting secret desires. It could shake the unshakable soul. “Wow,” I said at last. “That’s great. I . . . well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m proud of you.”

She sighed. “But I didn’t get to enjoy the rush. Like, ten minutes after it happened, it went away. Everything went away. I started feeling sick and—”

“Yeah, we know the rest,” said Cody, not unkindly.

“And I was wearing this body, and now . . . now I’m stuck with it.”

Under normal conditions, this would have provided hours of hilarity. For now, I actually felt bad for her. “Well, hang in there. They say this won’t last for long.”

Tawny nodded unhappily. “Yeah. Here’s hoping.” Then, unexpectedly, she brightened a little. “Oh, but hey, you were totally right about the blow-job thing.”

Hugh’s head whipped around to stare at me. “What?”

Before I could say anything, Mei thankfully shouted for everyone’s attention. And when I say shouted, I mean it. She used her power to amplify her voice, so it rang painfully through the whole room, making a lot of us wince and cover our ears. Several people backed away, giving us a clear view of her and Grace.

“We want to thank everyone for coming,” Mei said, returning to her usual flat, emotionless voice.