Page 28 of Fool Me Twice

Roma tries to keep her body language casual as she jogs down the stairs to the prison, swipes her ID card, and shoulders her way inside. Non-interrogator hunters aren’t forbidden from entering the prison, but it’s not generally encouraged‍—hence why she usually has Chester escort her, just for appearances.

But she’s only here for a spell book. Nothing suspicious at all. Roma slows her pace the slightest bit as she passes holding cells and interrogation rooms, surreptitiously glancing into each one. She doesn’t recognize any of the demons, not even the ones from Lakeside.

She pointedly doesn’t wonder where they are now. Doesn’t wonder if they’re even still alive.

She’s just starting to hope that her instincts were wrong when she hears a familiar growl up ahead. Heart plummeting, she strides past a cell with a demon who looks like an enormous housecat‍—green-and-orange fur, black fangs, three tails‍?—

And an honestly terrified expression on her face.

Swallowing hard, Roma stops just out of sight next to the door, grabbing the chain-of-custody binder. According to herpaperwork, she was brought in roughly two hours ago by one G. Ricci.

A G. Ricci who, as far as Roma can tell, doesn’t exist in any Sanctum in the continental United States.

Roma’s legs feel unsteady. Carefully, she replaces the binder, ducks her head, and continues towards the restricted spellcasting library, trying to ignore her stomach twisting itself into knots.

What the hell is she supposed to do now?

13

Ez has been impatiently waiting all week to see Roma Gutierrez.

Honestly, she’s not sure what irritates her more‍—the fact that Roma continues to evade her, or the fact that Ez iswaiting for herlike a high school human on the lookout for their crush. A few more mega-rifts have been opened since that fateful night on the corner of East and Mayfair, and Ez has been responding to them without fail, but thus far, she’s been forced to work with other hunters‍—other hunters who, she thinks sourly, are nowhere near as powerful or professional as Roma.

Sighing, Ez picks at her sushi, trying to muster up a modicum of enthusiasm for her spicy tuna rolls. Right now, she’s sitting at one of the picnic tables dotting the path that leads from Redwater up to the Sanctum, cloaked in an invisibility spell while she watches for her wayward hunter. She doesn’t have Roma’s routine memorized, of course, but it’s hard to ignore that Ez usually can’t finish a meal without her showing up‍—with a mega-rift usually close behind.

And six days with no contact is strangely foreboding. At this point, she has the sinking feeling that the Council probablypunished Roma for letting Ez take custody of the neophyte demon, and Ez is irrationally concerned about that prospect.

Not that she’s concerned aboutRoma,of course. Not at all. It’s just that, since Roma is currently unavailable, Ez’s rift-closing exploits aremuchmore burdensome.

And, above all, she wants to know whether Kathleen ended up in the Sanctum’s prison.

That’s the human name the neophyte chose for herself, apparently. Kathleen. Ez triple-checked all the transfer-of-custody paperwork when she dropped her off at the Chain, claiming that she just wanted to do her job correctly, and she’s casually touched base with the Education Department twice since then, innocently asking for updates on their dimension’s newest demon.

According to the Education representative, Kathleen was transferred to Oregon with the full support of the Portland Chain. Ez doesn’t know if it’s suspicious or not that they refused to give Ez any way to contact her.

So that’s the big question, isn’t it? Is Kathleen in Portland or Redwater? If Roma’s hunch was wrong, then Ez can assume Kathleen is happily adjusting to her earthly life in Oregon, but if Roma was right‍—if that poor, terrified demon is locked in a cell where she’s going to be experimented on and eventually killed‍?—

Well. Ez doesn’t even want to entertain that possibility.

And she could avoid entertaining the possibility entirely if Roma would just show her stupid face in town again. Ez shoves another piece of sushi into her mouth, glowering up at the cult on the hill. She’s spent breakfast, lunch,anddinner posted up here for the past week; would it kill Roma to leave her fortress every once in a while?

And then, like the hunter was summoned by Ez’s thoughts, she catches sight of a familiar figure coming down the path. She straightens in her seat for a better view, her sushi forgotten.

Namely because Roma looks exhausted. Shoulders slumped, eyes downcast, arms hugged across her chest‍?—

Honestly, she looks like a puppy that someone decided to kick. A pang twists through Ez at the thought.

But there’s nothing she can do about that right now‍—and, in any case, they have bigger issues to deal with. Taking a deep breath, Ez drops the invisibility spell and lets out a quiet whistle.

Roma glances over. Immediately, she trips over her own feet and stumbles with surprise, eyes widening.

Ez doesn’t know whether to laugh or be worried. She settles for slapping an imperious expression onto her face and waving Roma over.

Roma only hesitates for a second before obeying, a scowl creeping across her face. “I’m not a dog, you know,” she snaps, slowing to a stop on the other side of the table.

“Really? Because you Sanctum lackeys already have the ‘purebred’ and ‘mixed breed’ titles built into your vocabulary.”

“That’s‍—‍” Roma’s jaw twitches. “That’s just a bloodlines thing, okay? You wouldn’t understand. Those are just the phrases we’ve always used.”

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