Page 68 of Fool Me Twice

Roma swallows hard. Looks down at the spell book to avoid her friends’ eyes.

Yes. Yes, Ez trusts Roma at this point. That’s what makes betraying her trust so difficult. “That… might be a good idea,” she says haltingly, flickering her gaze up to meet theirs. “Thanks for your help, guys.”

Bryant beams back at her. “Anytime,” she says, and as she and Chester start discussing how Roma can best convince Ez, Roma realizes with a sinking heart that not even Bryant and Chester should trust her at this point.

She’s lying to every single person in her life right now, and frankly, she’s afraid to face the fallout when her house of cards comes crashing down.

30

You found the original spellalready?”Ez sputters, gaping down at the piece of paper on the picnic table in front of her.“How?”

Roma fidgets uncomfortably with her hands, looking away. “I put the Sanctum’s spellcasters on the job. They, uh, might not be as into the nerdy details of magic as we are, but they can still get things done when they need to.”

“And how did they ‘get things done,’ exactly?” Ez asks, sketching air quotes around the words. “Because if they’re right, if thisisthe original rift-opening spell, then our work is already half done. All we need is the reversal‍—and to activate it using the Deep’s magic‍—and we’ll be finished. The epidemic will be over.” She snaps her fingers. “Likethat.”

Roma grimaces. Right now, the two of them are sitting across from each other in a quieter corner of the Courtyard, taking advantage of a longer break to pore over the spell that Roma inexplicably whipped out halfway through lunch.

It’s only been two days since they confirmed that the Deep is even involved. How could the Sanctum have figured out the original spell already?

“It won’t be quite that easy,” Roma says now. “They, um. They found the original text of the spell inThe Magic-Weaver’s Companion, so it was written before the WMSA. No printed counterspell.”

Ez lets out her breath in a hiss. “I almost expected that, actually. No one seems to be trying to exploit the chaos for personal gain, so it had to be a mistake. It just figures that someone was stupid enough to use a pre-WMSA spell without understanding the consequences.”

Roma winces. “Yeah. Looks like it.”

She seems unusually uncommunicative today. She’s not exactly a chatterbox under normal circumstances‍—talking with her about anything besides spellcasting can be like pulling teeth‍—but normally, she would be a lot more animated about something involving magic.

Especially something this important. “So?” Ez says expectantly, raising her eyebrows. “What was the trick? How did your spellcasters manage to not screw up for once? Don’t leave me in suspense.”

“I…” Roma’s eyes shift away. “I can’t tell you.”

Instantly, a hard knot tightens in Ez’s stomach. “Excuse me?”

“I can’t tell you,” Roma repeats. Her eyes are still fixed on her hands, shoulders hunched and head bowed. “It’s‍—it’s Sanctum secrets.”

“Sanctum secrets,” Ez repeats. “Well, now, Gutierrez, you’ve been sharing Sanctum secrets with me for literalmonthsnow. I’m not sure how this occasion is any different.”

Roma scowls at the table. “Well, it is. This isn’t about the conspiracy. This is… something more innate to the Sanctum’s specific spellcasting techniques. Something we’re not allowed to talk about with outsiders.”

Ez’s stomach churns. She looks back down at the innocuous piece of paper, weighing her options.

On the one hand, her spellcasting instincts are telling her to run in the opposite direction. Most people in the community tend to be relatively open about their spells‍—it’s safer for everyone that way‍—so the fact that the Sanctum is apparently hiding their methods from the public leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

Especially because Roma is one of the people hiding it. For most of this epidemic, Ez and Roma have been surprisingly honest with each other, working together first on the mystery of the neophytes in the Sanctum’s prison and then on the conspiracy in general.

And, above all, they’ve both beenveryclear and explicit about anything related to spellcasting. Hell, Roma had Ez check her notes just a few days ago. That speaks to someone who understands both the principles of spellcastingandits community on a fundamental level.

The fact that she’s purposefully hiding this from Ez now stings more than she wants to admit. But on the other hand…

Ez holds up the spell, arching an eyebrow. “You do understand thatbothof us are going to be affected by this, right? That both of us are going to be using this spell as a basis for our counterspell, and that both of us are eventually going to activate that counterspell using the Deep’s magic?”

Roma looks startled. “Yeah. Of course I know that.”

“Uh-huh,” Ez says. “And the Council hasn’t, oh, I don’t know, ordered you to die for the cause and potentially sacrifice Redwater itself just to take the East Coast’s best demon spellcaster off the board? To tap into an unstable magic reservoir with an incorrect spell, knowing that ends with both of us dying?”

Roma bristles, and Ez almost nods. Finally, a glimpse of Roma’s usual self. “I wouldn’t give you anything that could hurt you. And‍—‍” She lowers her voice. “And given everything we’velearned about the Sanctum lately, no. No, I wouldn’t agree to a suicide mission.”

Ez’s eyes narrow. “But the Council might be willing to sacrificeyou.They could’ve given you an incorrect spell with the knowledge that it would take you down with me.”

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