Page 81 of Fool Me Twice

“I really don’t know, Roma,” Ez says, raking a hand through her hair‍?—

And then snatching it away with a curse, glaring down at her palm.

Roma snaps to attention. “Ez? Ez, what‍?—‍?”

“Nothing,” Ez says shortly, and she settles her hands back in her lap. “Anyway, we missed our window for sunset, so we’ll have to‍?—‍”

All at once, Roma remembers warm hands‍—barehands‍—on either side of her face, trying to keep her conscious and stabilize her magic. Horror jolts through her. “Wait. Your‍—your hands.”

Ez’s face shuts down. “It’s nothing. Gutierrez‍?—‍”

“Let me see?” There’s a roaring in Roma’s ears, something long past dread and approaching sheer panic. “Let me‍—let me see?”

Ez’s jaw works. Eventually, she holds her hands out in front of her. Her palms are covered with angry red burns, the skin already peeling and blistering along her thumbs and fingers.

Corrosion burns. Injuries from the corrosion spell baked into Roma’s bones, the one that makes her skin physically caustic to demons.

Roma did that. It’s her fault. She presses her fist to her mouth, feeling like she might just throw up for real this time.

“It’s fine,” Ez says warily, looking a bit disconcerted by Roma’s reaction. “I’ve had worse with other hunters, trust me. They’ll heal.”

“I’m sorry.” Roma’s voice sounds strained in her own ears, and to her mortification, she feels tears burning behind her eyes. “I’m sorry, I‍—I didn’t mean to hurt you, I would never‍?—‍”

“Hey,hey‍—‍”Ez reaches out like she’s going to touch Roma’s hand, stops herself at the last second, and grabs her forearm‍—her clothed forearm‍—instead. “I know you can’t control it, okay? Cass and JJ had the same problem with the Sanctum enchantments. Honestly, we got lucky that they stripped his powers away when he was in prison‍—he’s having enough trouble relearning his spellcasting without those enchantments getting in the way, and‍—‍” Abruptly, Ez stops dead. “Wait.”

Roma catches on at the same time. “It’s theenchantments,”she breathes, sitting up straighter.“That’swhy the spell didn’t work.That’swhy Sanctum hunters never survive tapping into the Deep, but humans in general do. Andthat’swhy the spell didn’t kill me‍—we did everything correctly, but the Deep reacted with my enchantments at the last minute. It only rejected our spell because of that.”

Ez’s eyes narrow. “So what doesthatmean? I doubt many civilian humans would have your spellcasting proficiency, and frankly, I wouldn’t trust any of them to have my back.”

“Maybe I could modify the spell?” Roma says, mentally working through the possibilities. “Hypothetically, I could layer in a second spell to prevent the Deep from reacting to my enchantments, but combining two spells like that would be dicey. Or I could try to cast the spell withoutdirectlyactivating the Deep‍—after all, we were able to check whether it was stable last week, so as long as my magic doesn’t touch it‍?—‍”

“Or‍—‍” Ez lifts her hand, hovering it a few inches away from Roma’s collarbone. “Or I could just deactivate the enchantments.”

Suddenly, the world goes very quiet around Roma. “What?”

“Yeah.” Ez shrugs one shoulder. “I’ve been working on the spell for a few decades now, but I finally cracked the code once I got my hands on JJ’s escrima sticks and figured out how to block the corrosion spell attached to them. After that, it was fairly easy to extrapolate those results to the rest of the Sanctum enchantments. Technically, I can’t strip them away entirely, but I can deactivate them for a certain period of time‍—based on my calculations, my longest stretch is sixty-eight years.” She raises her eyebrows. “Do you want to try it?”

Roma’s throat feels unbearably dry. “I…”

Is this it? Is this her choice, right here and right now? Is this when she decides, once and for all, whether to stay in the suffocating safety of the Sanctum or‍?—

Or to step out into the terrifying vulnerability of life on the outside? Of truly trusting Ez and JJ and Cass and Obie to take care of her?

Of leaving behind everything she’s ever known for the hope of something better, somethingmore?

“It doesn’thaveto be for sixty-eight years, of course,” Ez says quickly. Her shoulders are hunched. “My minimum is twelve hours. I could‍—I could deactivate your enchantments for twelve hours.”

Relief‍—mixed with a heady rush of disappointment‍—floods through Roma. “All right,” she says, and she squares her shoulders, looking towards the sky. The sun has already disappeared behind the horizon, taking their preferred spellcasting window with it. “So if you deactivated my enchantments now, then we could cast the spell at sunrise tomorrow?”

“If you think you can get out here that early,” Ez says. “Otherwise, I can deactivate them right before sunset tomorrow.”

Hastily, Roma weighs her options. “Technically, we have a curfew, but it’s been relaxed during the epidemic,” she says, digging out her cell phone and starting to type a text message. “I’ll let Bryant know that I won’t be home tonight, and then I can just crash on your couch‍—or in one of Obie’s spare apartments, if he’ll let me. We’ll cast the counterspell at sunrise, and by then, I’ll only have to wait an hour or so before the deactivation wears off.” She taps the button to send the text, raising her eyebrows at Ez. “Yeah?”

Slowly, Ez nods. “Yeah,” she says, and deliberately, she raises her fingertips to a hair’s breadth away from the notch of Roma’s collarbone. “Right now?”

Roma’s heart stutters. “Yeah,” she says hoarsely. “Right now.”

“Okay,” Ez says, and all at once, her eyes go unfocused. Like she’s seeing the enchantments themselves swirling through the air around Roma. “In the name of Nostringvadha…”

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