Page 76 of Fool Me Twice

Even after all these years, there’s still somethingimmenselysatisfying about pissing off her older sister. Roma turns around with raised eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yeah? Then whatdoyou want?”

Naomi leans forward, resting her forearms on the table. “Totalk,Roma. I’ve been told that sisters customarily do talk to each other on occasion.”

Roma’s hackles rise. “Yeah, well,sistersdon’t normally run away with their conspiracy-theory girlfriends and go radio silent for six years, either. So we’re not exactly a model relationship.”

Naomi’s jaw twitches. “That’s fair,” she says, but her voice is quieter now. “And I’m‍—I’m sorry about that. That I left without telling you. That wasn’t‍—‍” She shakes her head. “At the time, we thought it was the best option. That it would be safest if you knew as little as possible.”

“Oh, you thought it wassafestto leave your students in the jaws of the massive conspiracy you’d unearthed?” Roma asks, sarcasm dripping off the words. “Yeah, that makes perfect sense.”

Naomi’s eyes narrow. “You still don’t believe us.”

A chord of dissonance twinges in Roma’s chest. At this point, she’s starting to think that shemightbelieve Naomi, that shemightthink the Sanctum and the Chain are working together, that shemightthink their conspiracy theory holds water, because‍?—

Well. It’s not out of the question for the Sanctum she knows to be ruthless enough to murder innocent families and brainwash the sole survivors into a life driven by violence and revenge. That’s not necessarily something unthinkable, not something she would particularly doubt from them‍?—

Not something she thinks the Council would consider “going too far.” And as far as them working directly with demons, as far as them cooperating with humankind’s worst enemies‍?—

The problemthere,Roma thinks bitterly, is that she doesn’t really see demons as humankind’s worst enemies anymore. Sure, they’re powerful, and sure, that can make them dangerous. She can’t argue with that.

But all those months ago, Obie made it a point to set her up with a safe house‍—not because of anything she’d done for him, but just because she needed one. Cass clearly tried to support her as much as he could, too‍—not just because she’d helped him rescue JJ, but because Cass knew that JJ cared about her, and Cass cared about JJ.

Nowadays, Ez has coffee and breakfast waiting for Roma every morning when she shows up for their shifts, even though Ez doesn’t need to eat. She stood toe to toe with Micah and Gregorio to argue that Roma was the only human spellcaster she trusted enough for a varsity-level spell, and she treats Roma’sthoughts and opinions with a level of respect that Roma has never gotten in the Sanctum.

Even though Ez is a demon and Roma is a hunter, Ez still tries to take care of her. Just like Obie and Cass did.

But none of that matters right now. Right now, Roma just wants to be angry at Naomi, to yell at her for leaving them behind and not coming back until it was convenient for her, so right now, she’s damn well going to rise to Naomi’s bait. “Of course I don’t believe you,” she snaps. “How can you expect me to turn my back on the Sanctum without any hard proof? How can you expect me to turn my back on Bryant, and Chester, and‍—and Mom and Dad?”

Naomi snorts. “Oh, please. When was the last time yousawMom and Dad? Or even talked to them on the phone?”

A prickle of unease creeps down Roma’s spine. In fact, she hasn’t talked to either of her parents for months and hasn’t seen them in almost a year‍—they’ve been on assignment in Argentina‍—but Naomi shouldn’t know that. “You’ve been keeping tabs on us.”

“Nope,” Naomi says. “I just know how the Sanctum works, and I know how our parents work. I was your age when I left, remember? I’d already lived through twenty-two years of them never being around. I didn’t expect them to change their ways after I defected.”

Roma scowls. Looks away.

“Listen, kiddo,” Naomi says quietly, and Roma fights back a flinch at the old nickname. “I want to try and mend things between us, all right? I want to try and have some semblance of a functional relationship. Now that you’re involved‍?—‍”

“Not bychoice,”Roma argues. “Ez and I didn’t sign up to join your conspiracy, remember? We signed up to learn a spell, and you and Sawyer ambushed us once we got there. And‍—‍” She sets her jaw. “And what kind of relationship would we even have? I’min the Sanctum. You’re diametrically opposed to it. There’s no room for us to rebuildanythingin the space in between.”

Naomi goes still. “You’re still planning to stay with the Sanctum?” she asks, disbelief bleeding through the words. “Aftereverything?”

Roma scoffs. “After your half-baked conspiracy theories, you mean?”

“No,dumbass,” Naomi fires back. “You’re an idiot for ignoring our research, but fine. Whatever. I meaneverything else.I mean JJ defecting, and your little spellcasting dates with Ez, and‍?—‍”

Roma’s temper spikes. “My situation with Ez is none of your business,” she bites out. “And it’s analliance,Naomi. A business relationship. Neither of uswantsto be working together‍—we just‍?—‍”

Naomi sneers. “Bullshit. I may have only seen you and Ez together once, but that was all I needed. The two of you didn’t leave each other’s sides the entire time, and you basically spent the whole conversation defending each other. That looked like a hell of a lot more than anallianceto me.”

“Just becauseyourlast alliance ended with you hooking up with a purebred doesn’t mean I take after you!” Roma bursts out. “Just becauseyouwent against everything you ever taught me doesn’t mean I’m going to do the same, and just becauseyouabandoned the people who needed you doesn’t mean I’m going to follow in your footsteps!”

“Roma‍—‍”

But Roma isn’t done. “You left us without aword,”she snarls. “And you keep saying that you didn’t have a choice,but you didn’t eventryto talk to us. With all this evidence you allegedly had, did you really think you couldn’t have convinced Chester? Convinced JJ?”Convinced me?

Naomi’s jaw works. “The Council asked JJ to pretend to be a dissident for Chester’s final exam, and hestillthought they were on his side. Still thought they were just trying to help him. So no, Ididn’tthink we could convince any of you.”

“I‍—‍” The words tangle on a sticking point in Roma’s brain. “Wait. Howdoyou and Sawyer know about Chester’s final exam? It was after you bailed. Not even JJ knew until after our commencement ceremony.”

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