Page 114 of Fool Me Twice

Imagining Roma back at the safe house. What is she doing right now? Has the Sanctum caught up with her yet? Is she fighting for her life even as they argue? Is she using her ax, her magic, another weapon entirely?

Or is she still waiting? Is she pacing the property, guarding the vestiges of their rifts, counting down the minutes until they’re in the clear? Is she sitting in silence on the front step, watching the road and listening for the distant sound of Sanctum vehicles?

Is she glad that Ez and JJ and the rest of them are safe, but still wishing she weren’t so alone?

Because she’s facing down death just like JJ was. JJ was waiting to be burned as a dissident; Roma is expecting to die in combat, but if she survives, the same fate will be waiting for her. Is she scared? Angry? Resigned?

She knows this is going to be a losing battle. She said as much. But‍?—

But is she sitting on the porch right now, wondering if they could’ve won if they all worked together?

All at once, the tight vise of shame and guilt relaxes from around Ez’s lungs. “JJ, you can’t go back there,” she says, and JJ jerks around to face her, his eyes wide and betrayed. “Roma said that the Sanctum is after you specifically, remember? We can’t risk delivering you straight into their hands.”

JJ sets his jaw. “Ez‍?—‍”

“Besides,” Ez continues relentlessly, “you don’t have your Sanctum enchantments anymore, remember? Half-demon or not, you’d be more of a liability than anything else. Roma and I can’t be worried about saving your ass if we’re trying to fend off a full strike force.”

Cass goes still. “What?”

Ez glances at Obie. He doesn’t look surprised. “You’re going back?”

“I’m going back,” Ez confirms, and she lifts her chin. “I know that Roma has double-crossed us twice. Hell, she could be gearing up to double-cross us a third time. But‍—but if she’s about to face down the firing squad, I’m not going to let her do it alone. And she and I‍—‍” Her throat feels tight. She swallows hard and tries again. “We were better together. I don’t think that’s changed.”

JJ presses his lips together tightly. “Ez‍?—‍”

Without warning, Desi swings her legs around, popping off the bench seat to trot over and hug Ez around the middle. “Okay, Auntie Ez. Be safe, okay?”

And Desi doesn’t know about Ez’s history with Roma. Cass and JJ have always shielded her from the nastier parts of this conflict, and with good reason. So Desi doesn’t know about Roma betraying them the first time, and she doesn’t know about Roma betraying them thesecondtime, and she doesn’t know that‍—despite everything‍—Ez is still wrestling with feelings for Roma that she’s not sure will ever completely be resolved.

Desi just knows what’s right and what’s wrong, and in this moment, she knows that her Auntie Ez is doing what’s right. “I will be, kiddo,” Ez says, and she looks up at Obie, Cass, and JJ. “I promise.”

“You’d better,” Obie says, and he snaps open a rift. “Here. One ticket back to Redwater.”

“Come back alive, understand?” Cass orders, his voice catching on the last word.

“Please,” JJ adds softly.

“I will,” Ez says, and when she turns around to stride through the rift, she feels at peace for the first time in what seems like years.

48

Roma glances at the timer on her phone for what feels like the thousandth time, her knee jumping up and down with anxiety.

It’s been precisely nineteen minutes since Ez and Obie rifted out of Redwater, and Roma has spent most of those nineteen minutes wishing the Sanctum would just hurry up and get here already. She knows she should be grateful‍—the longer it takes for them to show up, the easier it’ll be for Ez and her friends to escape‍—but part of her is just itching for the strike force to barrel in and put her out of her misery.

The anticipation is always worse than the battle.

But she’s been utilizing her nervous energy well so far, she thinks. She’s analyzed the house itself from every angle, dragging furniture in front of points of entry and putting up cursory magic blocks along the interior‍—nothing the Sanctum’s spellcasters can’t hack through, but just enough to buy her friends a few extra minutes. After that, she reviewed multiple variations on offensive and defensive spells in her head, Naomi’s memorization drills coming in handy now, and sharpened her ax for good measure.

Now, though, all that’s left to do is wait. Wait until the strike force arrives and she fights for her life, or wait until her timer hits twenty-eight minutes and she can try to make a run for it.

Until she’s sure that Ez and JJ and Naomi are safe.

Idly, she wonders if this is how JJ felt when he stayed behind to let Cass and Desi escape all those months ago. Did he feel this same potent combination of mind-numbing fear and inexplicable peace? Did the adrenaline sing through his veins, preparing him to fight for the people he loved?

Did he feel free of doubts for the first time in his entire life?

All at once, Roma hears a familiar sound‍—the low rumble of several Sanctum-issued trucks approaching. Stomach lurching, she pushes herself to her feet as three utility vehicles round the corner and slow to a stop, two of them blocking the street on either side and the third pausing right across from the safe house.

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