Page 16 of Fool Me Twice

And, as Chester leads the way back out of the prison, Roma keeps her eyes fixed straight ahead and determinedly tries not to wonder if the other two demons from Lakeside ended up in these cells, too.

8

Cass skims over Ez’s revised contract from the Chain, his eyebrows approaching his hairline. “Wow. Theyreallywant your spellcasting skills, Ez. You go, girl. Get that bread.”

Grinning, Obie reaches across the table to high-five her. Ez snorts out a laugh as she complies. “Yeah, Maggie says they’re getting more desperate by the day,” she confirms, adding a generous helping of hot sauce to her chili. “This entire situation is completely unprecedented‍—not to mention just plain weird.”

“It really is,” JJ says, a frown pulling at his lips. The four of them‍—plus Desi, of course‍—are sitting around Cass’s kitchen table, chowing down on chili and cornbread. One of their twice-weekly get-togethers, moved out of the public eye to avoid getting caught up in yet another mega-rift snafu. “And it doesn’t even make sense‍—I mean, a spellcaster of your caliber should be able to close a rift to Tamaros easily, right?”

“Generally speaking, yes,” Ez says, and she scowls. “But these mega-rifts‍—thanks again for the name, Desi‍?—‍”

“Welcome!” Desi says through a mouthful of cornbread.

“‍—‍these mega-rifts are either more powerful than standard rifts or use a spell with different mechanics,” she finishes. “I’mnot sure which, but only the combination of a demon-magic disconnecting spell and a human-magic blocking spell seems to get rid of them.”

Obie rests his chin on his fist, scrutinizing Ez closely. “Have they been getting more difficult to close?”

Ez shakes her head. “About the same, I think. I ended up closing one with Gutierrez yesterday, and we pretty much have it down to a science. Why?”

Obie grimaces. “Just trying to figure out this summoner’s goal. Hell, calling them a ‘summoner’ feels like a misnomer‍—they’re not actually dragging demons through from Tamaros. And if the mega-rifts aren’t getting more difficult to close, that means the spellcaster isn’t even refining their spell. It’s like they’re just opening these rifts and…” He gestures vaguely with a piece of cornbread. “Leaving them there.”

“Leaving them there for us to deal with,” Ez agrees dourly, slumping in her seat. “And not even trying to stop us from closing them, either. I mean, what kind of summoner doesn’t stick around to watch their handiwork and, like, gloat and monologue?”

“Maybe they’re maintaining the rifts from a distance?” Cass suggests. “Hiding somewhere out of sight?”

This time, Obie is the one who shakes his head. “I’ve been going back to all the mega-rift sites to make memoryscapes of them. Even if I wasn’t physically present when they were opened, I can still pull enough memories from the ground and the air to recreate each scene. I usually search at least a hundred-foot radius, but I haven’t seen anyone hiding. No repeated faces, either‍—or none besides us and a few select hunters.”

“Do you‍—‍?” JJ hesitates. “Do you think the spellcaster could be using an invisibility spell? Or maybe a glamour?”

Instantly, the friendly atmosphere chills by a few degrees. Ez pauses with her spoon halfway to her mouth, eyes narrowed;Obie’s head tiltsever-so-slightly to one side in a way Ez has come to associate with danger; Cass stiffens noticeably, shoulders tense like he’s braced for a fight‍?—

Desi keeps munching on her cornbread, blissfully oblivious to the rising tension.

It’s not an unreasonable point, obviously. Since casting a spell from over a hundred feet away is extraordinarily difficult, the person creating these mega-rifts clearly has to be disguised somehow. An invisibility spell or a glamour would be the logical conclusion, but‍?—

Well. Summoners might be almost exclusively human, but humans can’t use those particular spells. Their magic isn’t equipped for it.

Demon magic is, though. And it justfiguresthat the one ex-hunter in their midst would try to pin the blame on his old enemies.

Obie’s voice is even. “You think the summoner might be a demon?”

“I’m not‍—‍” JJ takes a deep breath, meeting his eyes. “Look, this isn’t a hunting bias, okay? But demon magic is typically stronger than human magic, and demon spellcasters are typically stronger than human spellcasters. And I can’t think of a single human who could maintain a mega-riftanda cloaking spell against multiple offensives‍—especially when one of those offensives is from Ez. But a demon maintaining a mega-rift and an invisibility spell?” He shrugs uncomfortably. “It just seems more plausible.”

Ez blinks at him, surprised. Much as she hates the idea of her own brethren being responsible for her current irritation, she has to admit that JJ brings up a valid point. Some human spellcasters have impressive skills‍—in fact, Ez can grudgingly admit that Roma is one of them‍—but the level of power required for the simultaneous spellswouldbe more suggestive of ademon. “Well, look at that,” she says, glancing at Cass. “You picked a smart one.”

“Of course I did,” Cass says defensively, and he leans over to press a kiss against JJ’s cheek.

JJ ducks his head, grinning. Ez doesn’t know whether to gag or say “aww.”

Obie drums his fingers against the table, considering. “And it doesn’t seem like any neophyte demons are actually being summoned, right? Hypothetically, a demon spellcaster might be opening these mega-rifts for another purpose entirely. Testing different spells to try and make a closure-proof rift, measuring our people’s reaction times to shut them down…” He hesitates. “Seeing if they can make a rift that’ll take them back to Tamaros.”

Cass frowns. “We can’t go back to Tamaros, though. The gods literally put a curse over this entire dimension to prevent Nostringvadha from returning home after they banished him‍—and trapped the rest of us here by extension.”

“True,” Obie says, “but that doesn’t mean no demon has evertriedto go home.”

With a pang, Ez wonders if Obie was one of them. He’s still cagey about precisely when he was summoned to Earth, but if he was among the first demons in this dimension, he might’ve still had hope he could return to Tamaros someday. “So it might be more about the mega-rifts themselves than the circumstances around them?”

“Exactly.”

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