Page 110 of Fool Me Twice

“It would make sense if you were, though,” Cass says carefully, and Ez turns her glare on him. “After all, she’s Redwater’s most powerful human spellcaster, and you’re used to that caliber of spellcasting. But Roma’s capabilities are theceiling,not the floor.”

“I‍—‍” Ez fights down the anger festering behind her sternum. “Listen, if this spell goes wrong, it’s not just going to affect the human spellcaster. It’s going to affectbothof us. I’m just making sure that no one ends up dead on the other side, and‍?—‍”

JJ’s eyebrows pull together. “But I thought it only affected Roma when it went wrong last time?”

“Will everyone stop bringing up Roma?”

JJ jerks back like she slapped him, eyes wide. Cass shifts protectively towards him, glaring back at Ez, and the rest of the room watches with tense expressions, bracing themselves for the fallout.

Ez’s face burns. “Sorry,” she mumbles to JJ. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

JJ’s shoulders hunch. “It’s fine. I‍—I know you’ve had a really rough few weeks.”

“Still not an excuse,” she says, and she takes a deep breath, meeting JJ’s eyes. “And you’re right. When the spell went wrong last time, it only affected Roma. But that was because we did both halves of the incantation perfectly, and we were perfectly in sync the whole time, and our power levels were perfectly matched, and‍—‍” Ez’s throat feels tight. She looks away. “There were a lot of other factors involved.”

After a moment, Obie says, “So, basically, the answer to my question is ‘yes.’ The problemisthat they’re not Roma.”

Ez’s temper spikes. “You know what? Sure. Let’s go with that. Theproblemis that I spent two months straight finding a seamless spellcasting rhythm with her, and theproblemis that we knew each other’s styles well enough to correct our cadences mid-spell, and theproblemis that our skill levels were so similar that we could distribute the workload evenly.” She nods at Naomi. “Sure, Naomi could get to a baseline where she’s technically able to cast the counterspell. But our power levels would be so mismatched that I’d be shouldering more of the risks myself. Couple that with the fact thatno onein this room is skilled enough to modulate an incantation on the fly, not even Obie, and you can see why I’m not exactly keen to utilize another spellcaster for this.” She glances at Cass. “So yes. Weareback to square one. Any other ideas?”

Sawyer shakes her head. “Nothing on our end. We’ve tried researching the original spell that Roma‍—or Bryant and Chester, I guess‍—used to spark the epidemic, but we couldn’t find another way to reverse it without tapping into the Deep.”

“Nothing from us, either,” Cass says, and when Ez throws him a surprised look, he scowls. “What? Just because spellcasting isn’t my specialty doesn’t mean I’m useless. JJ and I have been diving into everything we know about magic reservoirs in general and the Deep in particular, trying to see if we missed anything relevant. So far, though, no dice.”

Obie’s jaw works. “You said that the power imbalance between you and Naomi would make the spell more dangerous,” he says, shooting Ez a calculating glance. “So what if we used a demon spellcaster who was closer to Naomi’s level? Even if they’re both weaker than you, would it matter as long as they hit the power threshold for the Deep?”

Ez lets out her breath in a hiss, unconvinced. “Thatcouldbe an option, but I still don’t like it. Having less power overall means that the counterspell itself would have to be flawless, and‍?—‍”

Suddenly, Ez is cut off by a loud banging echoing through the room, almost like a flat palm pounding against the front door. Sawyer bolts to her feet, swearing under her breath. “What the hell?” she demands, her eyes cutting to Naomi.

Naomi shrugs hopelessly in response. “Any of you expecting someone?” she asks, her gaze sweeping around the room.

“Nope,” Obie says curtly, a shimmer of black smoke swirling around him. Preparing for a true form transformation. “And no one else should even know this safe houseexists,let alone that it’s occupied now.”

The knocking is louder this time. Without warning, it’s paired with a voice that makes Ez’s heart leap and her blood run cold in the same moment.

“Naomi! Sawyer! I know you’re in there. Open up. This is important.”

Roma?“What’sshedoing here?” Ez hisses, her pulse hammering against her temples. “How did she evenfindthis place?”

JJ’s face is bloodless and his escrima sticks are already in his hands. “Not sure,” he says tightly. “Could she have tracked us?”

“Not with all the warding Ez and Obie put up,” Cass says, “but‍?—‍”

And now the banging just sounds annoyed. “Naomi! Sawyer! Comeon‍?—‍”

All at once, fury blazes through Ez.

No. No, Roma Gutierrez doesn’t just get to waltz in here and ruin their lives again. Not after last time.

Not after the first time, for that matter. “I’ve got this,” she says shortly, and before anyone else can respond, she stridesacross the room, casts a quick shield spell over herself, and yanks open the door. “What the hell do you want, Gutierrez?”

47

Roma almost staggers when the door swings inward, not prepared for it to open so abruptly.

And she’sdefinitelynot prepared to face the woman on the other side.“Ez?”she gasps, horror flooding through her. “What are you‍?—‍?”

Ez stalks forward, forcing Roma to stumble back onto the driveway. The door slams shut behind her with a final-soundingthud.“Answer the question,” Ez snarls, the cold fury in her eyes a sharp contrast to the softness that Roma saw there less than two weeks ago. “What do you want, Gutierrez? How did you even find us?”

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