What did you have in mind?" Nothing heavy. Just some shadow. And maybe a little mascara for thosebeautiful lashes. Would you mind if we try a few thin...gs?" Laura asked."Not at all!" said Mame. "We have some time." What have you been buying? Oh, this is beautiful!" Laura said, holdingup a plum-colored blouse we had bought to go with one of my flaredminiskirts. "You know, if I could see how she looks in this, it wouldhelp. Mandy, would it be okay if she changed into this outfit?" Of course!" said. I crept out my door and walked into the hall to see if I could make out a voice or see something. As I stepped in front of the adjacent door, my heart stopped. It was a sound from an Edgar Alan Poe poem, and when I realized how loud the creak in the floor was, I dashed back into my room. The moaning stopped and I shut the door leaving a small opening. I quickly began to unpack as if I had been here the whole time. I heard nothing but silence for at least 2 minutes, and then the same creak. "I like the way you think."The formed a circle on the other side of the room, opposite from thearmor. They held hands. Aquarelle noted with distaste that she wasflanked on both sides by demon familiars. Keys, a mini-succubus namedfor the keys she carried, held Aquarelle's left hand - the hand thatNoel's avatar held the amulet in. The demonette placed her hand lightlyon Aquarelle's fist and held hands on the other side with Jenius, themage who was nominally her master. Alley Pin the imp held. They were chiefly between the ages of thirty and fifty. And most of them had a long commute home after work where the stress of travel was rather less if the journey was delayed until well after the end of the rush hour. Nevertheless, in one critical way, his new companions were very different from those he used to know. Once it had been Alex who had to ingratiate himself with better positioned staff members. Now it was they who were trying to curry favour with him. This was a role reversal.