Page 122 of Fool Me Twice

“She wasn’t the only one,” a new voice says, and Roma looks up in surprise to see Naomi strolling towards them, a box of cinnamon rolls balanced on one arm.

Desi gasps with delight, immediately forgetting all about Auntie Roma. “Cinnamon rolls!” she cheers, and she races over to Naomi. “Can I have one, Miss Naomi?Pleasecan I have one?”

Looking amused, Naomi pulls out the smallest and hands it to her. “There you go, little one,” she says, and her eyes flicker up to meet Roma’s. “Hey, Roma.”

Roma’s throat feels dry. “Hey, Naomi.”

JJ pushes himself to his feet and brushes the sand off his jeans, stepping up next to Roma. The two of them aren’t completely comfortable with their former mentors yet‍—Roma thinks that old sting of betrayal is going to take a long time to disappear‍—but for now, they’re all trying as best they can.

It helps that both RomaandJJ now have experience leaving people they care about behind. Roma’s chest aches at the thought. None of them have had contact with Bryant or Chester since Roma defected, but that hasn’t stopped her and JJ from frequently discussing how to get them out of the Sanctum.

So far, they haven’t had any realistic ideas, but they’re still brainstorming.

“We didn’t know you were stopping by, Naomi,” JJ says evenly. “Is that Roma’s new glamour spell?”

Naomi glances down at herself. While the human-magic glamour spell that Roma and Ez cobbled together can’t fully disguise someone’s appearance like the demon-magic version, it does a surprisingly decent job of changing skin tone, hair color, and other large-scale features.

Two days ago, Naomi was sporting pale skin and the worst blonde pixie cut Roma had ever seen. Today, it looks like she tried to copy Sawyer’s dark brown skin and tight black curls with moderate success.

Either way, it’s enough to throw the Sanctum off the scent, and right now, that’s all they really need. “Yeah, I’m trying to get it perfect,” Naomi says, and her lips twitch. “After all, my little sister invented it.”

“Your little sisterandyour little sister’s girlfriend,” Roma corrects, but warmth curls through her chest anyway. “So where’s Sawyer?”

“Researching with Micah and Gregorio,” Naomi says. “Thanks for the updates about the Sanctum’s testing program‍—and Operation Thirteen‍—but we still don’t know what they’re up to down in the prison.” Her jaw tightens. “Or what Operation Thirteen evenis,much less how it relates to both soul magic and the Deep.”

Roma nods, more disappointed than surprised. JJ and Cass finally telling her the full story about the prison’s purebred spellcasters ripping Cass’s soul apart‍—and the soul bond they went through as a last-ditch attempt to save Cass’s life afterward‍—was a shock, but it definitely filled in a few gaps in Roma’s understanding.

Like what the prison’s testing program actually is, and why the Council seemed ready to forget about JJ until they found out he was affected by the corrosion spell, and what the Sanctum has been doing with all those neophyte demons from the Chain.

It still left them all with more questions than answers, though. Why is the Sanctum experimenting with demons’ souls in the first place? Why are they preferentially targeting JJ instead of Cass?

And why is all this soul magic so important to them?

Not for the first time, Roma wishes she could ask Chester for more details about what he heard near the purebred-only wing in the prison. She wishes she could talk to him again for a lot of reasons, really. Bryant, too.

“And anyway,” Naomi continues, “I wanted to be here to see how your counterspell went. And to make sure no one died.”

“Well, it worked,” Ez says, walking over to join them and falling into place next to Roma. Her smile is hesitant‍—Roma isn’t the only one with mixed emotions about the Conspiracy Fam‍—but it’s still there. “And no one died. So that counts for something, right?”

“It does,” Naomi agrees, and her eyes slide back to Roma. “And I’m‍—I’m proud of you, kiddo. You know that, right?”

She sounds uncertain, like she’s not sure she still has the right to say the words‍—or that they’d be welcome. But even if Roma still has some complicated history to work through with Naomi, there’s still a sixteen-year-old girl in Roma’s heart who’s twirling with happiness at her big sister’s approval.

This time, Roma lets that girl win. She smiles back. “Proud enough to give me a cinnamon roll?”

Snorting, Naomi opens the box. “Of course. They’re for you. All of you,” she adds, widening her gaze to include the rest of them. “Take your pick.”

Cass and Obie immediately jog over, grabbing their proffered pastries. “Thanks, Naomi,” Cass says, tearing a huge bite out of his. “You want a rift back home?”

“Depends,” Naomi says, and she arches an eyebrow at Roma. “Have you figured that one out with human magic yet?”

“Still working on it,” Roma says. “The interdimensional quirks are a lot more complex without demon magic.”

“Then I’ll pass. It’s a nice day, anyway. Might as well take the walk back home.”

“Mind if I come with you?” Obie asks. “I have some heirloom tomato seedlings for Gregorio.”

“Oh, he’ll be thrilled.”

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