Page 70 of Fool Me Twice

“Makes sense.” Roma’s eyes flicker up to meet Ez’s. “So I‍—I guess we’re using the Blakeman base, then? Since it’s the only neutral base we both used?”

The words nearly make Ez choke.“Now?You want to decidenow?”

“It’s not a varsity-level spell, remember?” Roma says. “At the end of the day, it’s just a rift-closing spell. The rift-openingspell was fairly basic, too‍—just because it came fromMagic-Weaver’sdoesn’t mean it’s complex. So…” She takes a deep breath. “So, hypothetically, wecouldjust try it and see what happens. Not to access the Deep, obviously, but just to close a mega-rift.”

Ez chews on her bottom lip, considering. Roma is right, of course‍—just because the mega-rifts are being activated with the Deep’s magic doesn’t mean the rift-opening spell itself is dangerous‍—but the thought of testing an unproven spell after less than ten minutes of work kind of makes her want to vomit. “Let’s at least wait until tomorrow before actually attempting it. I’d prefer to do a bit more research and tool around with some other magic bases first.”

Roma nods. “I’ll do the same. Maybe we can each bring another two or three counterspells tomorrow? And then we can compare them all and choose the best one?”

“Let’s stick to neutral bases, though,” Ez says. “We’ll definitely want to cast the same spell, not two separate ones. Attacking the mega-rifts themselves from different angles might work, but for this, we’ll need the synergy of demon magic and human magic combined in a single spell‍—since the Deep is destabilized, it’s the only way to overcome the current power threshold.”

“Sounds like a plan. And, uh‍—‍” Roma clears her throat, looking away. “Thank you. For trusting me.”

Ez’s heart does something unsteady. What shewantsto say‍—the sentence on the very tip of her tongue‍—is “Well, you’ve proven yourself to be trustworthy.”

What she actually says, though, is “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

Roma’s eyebrows pull together. For a few seconds, she searches Ez’s face, and Ez holds her breath, not quite sure what Roma is looking for.

Not quite sure what she wants Roma to find there, either.

The warm rush of power from a mega-rift opening has never been a more welcome distraction. Sucking in a quick breath, Ez pushes herself to her feet, haphazardly dropping her counterspells into a spare pocket dimension. “Well, that’s us. Duty calls.”

“Right,” Roma says, scrambling to her feet, and as Ez swipes open a transport rift for them, she suddenly realizes that it’s been averylong time since she had someone who could match the exact sharpness of her counterspells.

In fact, this might be the first time ever.

31

So we needthebest counterspell,” Ez says, her eyes roving over the eight pieces of paper on the picnic table between them. “One that we’ll only have to cast once.”

Roma fights back a shudder. “Definitely. If we got it wrong the first time, we couldhypotheticallytry a different spell, but…”

Ez finishes the thought. “But that’s only if the Deep lets us live long enough. Best not to tempt fate.”

“Agreed.” Roma leans forward to examine their reversals more closely, squinting against the glare. Their rift-closing shift just ended ten minutes ago with the arrival of their overnight spellcasters, and now, the direct angle from the sun to Roma’s eyes is making it difficult to concentrate.

Not to mention the noise level along Lakeside. Now that summer is nearly here‍—and now that most civilians are desensitized to the ever-present threat of the mega-rifts‍—everyone is out for a Friday night by the lake, and frankly, Roma isn’t a huge fan of the crowds.

Determinedly, she rallies her frayed nerves to focus. “Let’s start with the only two neutral bases wedidn’tshare,” shesays, pointing at the offending counterspells. “You don’t like Malachi?”

Ez wrinkles her nose. “It’s very… human-lite. I know that it’s technically neutral, but it reads closer to human magic than demon magic. Not a fan.” She nods at the other counterspell. “I’m surprised you didn’t use the Abdullahi base, though. Isn’t it one of the first neutral bases you learned in spellcasting class? That’s what JJ said when I asked him last night.”

Roma starts with surprise. “You talked to JJ about the counterspell?”

Ez shrugs one shoulder. There’s a faint line of tension to her jaw‍—the same line, Roma knows, that’s always there whenever Roma asks about Ez’s friends‍—but it’s much less pronounced than it used to be. “I wanted to make sure I used neutral bases you were familiar with. Some are more common in different parts of the world, or even different parts of the country.” Her head tips to one side. “But you’re not a fan of Abdullahi?”

Roma shakes her head. “Itwasone of the first neutral bases in our basic spellcasting class, but that’s partly why I don’t like it. It’s too general. Hard to achieve the specificity necessary for a point-by-point reversal.”

Ez’s lips twitch as she puts the two spells off to the side. “I can’t argue with that. So if we eliminate Malachi and Abdullahi, then that leaves us with Jeong, Pasquale, and Blakeman. Which is your favorite?”

“Blakeman,” Roma says immediately. “By a long shot. That was actually the first counterspell I wrote two nights ago, even before I wrote the human-magic variations.”

“But it’s‍—‍” Ez’s voice is drowned out by a throng of high school students walking by, clearly celebrating the end of final exams. She impatiently waits until they’re gone to continue speaking. “But it’s not as specific as Pasquale. What makes you like it better?”

Roma scrunches her nose. “Honestly, Pasquale istoospecific‍—so specific, in fact, that a single word choice can make or break the incantation. We need a framework that’s comprehensive enough to contain all our nuances, but not so strict that we don’t have any flexibility.”

Ez peers at their notes. “And it looks like we had fourteen words in the Pasquale base where we differed,” she says, decisively putting the twin reversals on their reject pile. “I agree on allowing the spell some leeway. So why not‍?—‍?”

---