Page 95 of Fool Me Twice

He’s always been better than Roma, at least. Better in all the ways that really matter. “I‍—I got made,” Roma admits, and she laughs shakily. “In theworstway.”

Chester goes still. “With the demons, you mean? With Laguerre and‍—and JJ?”

Roma’s eyes blur. “Yeah,” she croaks. “Yeah, with Laguerre and JJ.”

Chester only hesitates for a second before carefully resting his hand between her shoulder blades. “Come on,” he says softly, and Roma weakly lets him guide her down the empty hallway, ducking into one of the many abandoned stairwells they discovered as teenagers. Once they’re safely out of sight, Chester gently pushes Roma down on the windowsill seat and leans against the wall next to her. “What happened?”

Roma impatiently wipes her eyes on her sleeve. “Turns out Ez can manipulate Obie’s memoryscapes‍—as in, she can cast spells to affect them. They got the idea to cast an anti-cloaking spell over the memories Obie collected from the mega-riftsites, and…” She shakes her head. “That was that, really. They recognized you and Bryant. And everything went downhill from there.”

Chester’s eyes darken. “Did they hurt you?”

Don’t say you started falling for me. That’s just tacky.

Roma’s heart feels raw. “No,” she says, and she forces a smile. “I’m just‍—I’m just disappointed. And a little shaken up. There was a lot of shouting before Obie shoved me through a rift back to here. A lot of… betrayal.”

Chester’s expression shifts. “Was JJ there?”

Again? Goddamn again?

Pain lances through Roma’s chest. “Yeah,” she says quietly. “He didn’t take it well. That I, uh. That I tried to fool him twice.”

Chester looks away. Doesn’t answer.

“Chester, I’m so sorry,” Roma whispers. “I know that I said‍?—‍”

That I was going to bring JJ home.

She can’t even bring herself to say the words. Can’t even bring herself tothinkabout her original assignment, can’t even bring herself to entertain the idea anymore.

Can’t even imagine hurting JJ that badly. “That I was going to get our crew back together,” she finishes instead. “But I don’t think I can bring JJ back to the Sanctum. Not now.”Not ever.

When Chester finally speaks, his voice is gentle. “Honestly, it was a long shot from the start. The Council probably knew that, too‍—it might’ve been why they were willing to offer you a match with Long in the first place. But‍—‍” He smiles ruefully. “But if I was going to bet on anyone pulling it off, Roma, it would’ve been you. I know that Bryant’s the purebred, but‍—but you’ve always been the best of us, I think.”

Roma’s chest hurts. “Thanks, Chester,” she says haltingly, and she takes a deep breath, sitting up straighter. “I don’t know what they’re going to do about the mega-rift epidemic now,though. Ez and I werethis closeto pulling off the counterspell, but she’ll have to use another human spellcaster for it now.” She winces. “Like JJ.”

Chester twitches. “JJ isn’t the strongest spellcaster.”

“I know. I’m really worried about him getting hurt,” she says, and then she snaps her mouth shut, mortified. Damn it,damn it,she’s back in the Sanctum now. As far as any of her fellow hunters know‍—as far as any of them are willing to believe‍—JJ is the enemy.

She can’t be seen worrying about the enemy.

But, if anything, the words make Chester’s shoulders relax the slightest bit. “So am I,” he admits. “I’m‍—I’m really worried about him in general, honestly. I know that I shouldn’t be‍—he made his choices, and he didn’t choose us‍—but part of me still can’t believe he’s that far gone, you know? That he’s really so different from our JJ.”

Guilt wracks through Roma. The bitter truth is that the JJ of today is probably closer to therealJJ than he ever was in the Sanctum, but no matter how much she trusts Chester, there’s no way she’s saying that out loud.

After all, hunters are always listening. “I don’t know,” she says softly. “It’s hard to know anyone fully, you know? Hard to know everything about them.” She laughs hollowly. “Like Obie. I had no idea that his memoryscapes could be manipulated with spell work so easily. If I’d known, I never would’ve suggested we run our operation with cloaking spells alone. Too risky.”

For a split second, Chester’s eyes seem distant. “I think there’s a lot more to Obadiah Smith than we give him credit for,” he says, and then he visibly shakes himself, focusing back on Roma. “But you did the best you could, okay? You did a great job. And I’m‍—I’m really proud of you. For how hard you tried to save JJ.”

Roma’s heart crumples. She looks up at Chester, at his earnest eyes and his sincere expression, and shewants.She wants to tell him the real story of the past few months‍—about slowly building that shaky trust with Ez, about growing to grudgingly respect her talent and skills and knowledge, about everything they’ve conquered and everything they’ve shared‍?—

About seeing JJ again. About seeing Obie and Cass again.

About seeing Naomi and Sawyer again, and everything that came with that.

AndcouldRoma tell Chester? Could she trust him to take her at her word, trust him to believe her, trust him to keep that secret for her? Or would he think it was a test designed by the Sanctum to make sure their last remaining neophyte hunter was still loyal to the cause? Hell, would he think he was doing Roma afavorby reporting her suspicions to the Council?

Is this how Naomi and Sawyer felt?

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