Page 75 of Fool Me Twice

“‍—‍and there’s just something about the two of you that seems to… to fit, you know?” He hesitates. “Even JJ thinks so. He’s actually mentioned that you two are probably the only ones skilled enough‍—and stubborn enough‍—to handle each other.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Cass’s lips twitch. “And I know that JJ and I had a unique situation,” he adds, pulling one knee up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it. “If it weren’t for Desi, we never even would’ve met, let alone fallen in love. I’m not saying that we got together for the kid, but the kid was a strong contributing factor in why we got together.”

“Pity that Roma and I don’t have a small child to unite us,” Ez drawls, going for teasing and realizing too late that she sounds just abitmore serious than she intended.

Cass looks surprised. “But you do‍—in an abstract sense, at least. Yeah, JJ and I had an actual toddler to raise, but in the end, she was our shared goal. Care for the kid. Protect the kid. Make sure the kid has a childhood and a normal life.” He raises his eyebrows. “You and Roma have a shared goal, too, remember? You’re protecting Redwater together. And Redwater might not be a person, but you still both care about it enough to put aside your differences to save it. Honestly, I think that might make you and Roma even more compatible than JJ and I were. After all, anyone would’ve wanted to adopt Desi. She’s very adoptable. But caring sodeeplyabout your hometown that you’re willing to work with your worst enemy to defend it? That’s a very specific personality trait that not many people share.”

Ez’s heart flutters. Hastily, she shoos the sensation away. “Well, it’s definitely a solid alliance,” she allows, slouching down in her seat. “But I don’t think it’s going to go beyond that. Roma isn’t like JJ, Cass. She was born a hunter, and I’m pretty sure she’s going to die a hunter, too. The Sanctum is her entire life.”She scowls. “I’m just praying that the Council won’t try to give a purebred spellcaster the ‘glory’ of casting the counterspell. Roma knows what she’s doing, but I can’t say the same for the rest of them.”

“I don’t know, Ez,” Cass says, his eyes dancing. “Sounds like you have a bit of a crush to me.”

“Mutual respect for each other’s spellcasting doesnotequal a crush,” Ez insists, and she looks away. “And she’s different from other hunters, you know? Observant. Patient. Scholarly. She doesn’t make assumptions. I really like that about her.” She notices Cass’s smirk and glares at him. “Shut up.”

Cass raises his hands in surrender. “Don’t worry. Shutting up.” His smile falters. “After one last comment. You do understand that if this counterspell works as planned, then‍—then that’s it, right? No more mega-rifts. No more spellcasting shifts. No more of you and Roma working as a team. So if you’re thinking even a little bit about a long-term relationship with her‍—even if that relationship isn’t necessarily romantic‍—then you need to do something about it soon.”

Ez’s stomach flip-flops. She forces a smile. “I’ll take that under advisement,” she says, and decisively, she changes the subject. “But enough about that. Do you think Desi will want to do the kids’ bowling camp this summer? Obie mentioned that he volunteers to help to run it, so…”

And as Ez and Cass drift back into the safe, neutral waters of talking about Desi, Ez determinedly doesn’t think about how quickly her long days with Roma will become a thing of the past once they cast this counterspell.

33

It’s just past six p.m. on a warm mid-June day when Roma stalks up the stairs of an apartment building and shoulders her way into a particular studio. “How do you even still have my number?” she demands, shutting the door harder than necessary behind her.

Naomi looks duly unimpressed. She’s sitting at a small kitchen table with her chair popped back on two legs and her feet kicked up, a pose that Roma would associate more with overconfident Sawyer than straitlaced Naomi.

Just another thing that’s changed over the past six years.

“I memorized it, obviously,” Naomi says now. “And it’s not like you ever changed it. Which is a totally bad look from a hunting perspective, by the way‍—the Sanctum should’ve given you an entirely new phone after Sawyer and I defected.”

Roma crosses her arms over her chest, scowling. Frankly, coming here today was the absolute last thing she wanted to do, but, well‍?—

When Naomi texted Roma for the first time in years to ask if she could look over the counterspell, Roma knew that she couldn’t exactly refuse. “I’ll take it up with the Council,” she sayscurtly, and she digs a copy of the reversal out of her pocket, holding it up. “You wanted to see this?”

Naomi brings all four chair legs back to the floor, extending a hand. “Yeah, give it here. I want to see how good your spellcasting really is.”

Grudgingly, Roma treads deeper into the apartment. This might not be Naomi’s actual safe house, but somehow, she still feels like she’s walking into the lion’s den. “Back in my life for less than a month and already nitpicking me again, huh?”

Naomi’s eyes narrow. “Well, you turned out all right, didn’t you?” she says briskly, and she grabs a pencil, places the counterspell on the table, and bows her head over it, lips moving silently as she reads.

You gave me anxiety.Roma bites back the words, leaning against the opposite end of the table.

Micah’s table, apparently. When Roma looked up this apartment, she found it registered to one Micah Devereux, demon. She’s presuming that Naomi and Sawyer have spent the past six years at other properties owned by their demonic allies, holed up tantalizingly close to the institution‍—and the people‍—they left behind.

And the fact that Naomi and Sawyer stayed in Redwater all this time is both infuriating and comforting. Infuriating, because they were right under the Sanctum’s nose all along, because they were close enough to reach out to their former students but chose not to‍?—

And comforting, because there’s a partdeepinside Roma that believes that, if the situation had ever gotten bad enough, Naomi and Sawyer might’ve come out of hiding to help them.

Considering their silence during JJ’s defection, though, Roma doubts it. She’s just starting to get fed up with the grating scritch-scratch of pencil on paper when Naomi suddenly sits up,leaning back in her chair to meet Roma’s eyes. “It looks solid. Well done.”

Roma doesn’t know whether to be annoyed or happy about that little “well done.” She fought tooth and nail foryearsto get any scrap of approval from her sister, but hearing it now just reminds her of everything she’s lost. And‍?—

And it only took Naomi a few minutes to analyze the counterspell. No comments, no conversation.

Roma doesn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Disappointment and bitterness curl through her in equal measures. “Thanks,” she says curtly, grabbing the paper and shoving it into her pocket without even glancing at Naomi’s notes. “We’ll let you know after we cast it‍—or, more likely, you’ll be able to figure it out yourself, because either the epidemic will be over or Ez and I will be dead. Later.”

She’s halfway back to the door when Naomi’s exasperated voice stops her. “For Nostringvadha’ssake,Roma, I didn’t actually text you just to check your stupid counterspell.”

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