Page 97 of Fool Me Twice

Micah steps forward, shaking his head. “Gregorio and I can help them. We know this place like the back of our hand. But‍—but could you guys find a new safe house for them?”

He sounds unsure, like he doesn’t know if it’s too much to ask. To Ez’s relief, Obie is already scrolling through his phone. “Done,” he says. “I’ll ward the location and send you thecoordinates within an hour. And Ez‍—‍” His eyes flicker to her. “I have a safe house available for you, too. Do you want it? Or do you want to stick with one of your own for now?”

“Or you could stay with me and JJ,” Cass adds quietly. “Just temporarily. I‍—I know this must be particularly rough on you, so it might help to not be alone.”

I was never alone, obviously. I always had you and Obie.

Ez’s throat feels tight. “That would be really nice, actually,” she says haltingly. “Just for a few days. And if the Sanctum starts closing in, then it might help to have safety in numbers.”

JJ shoots her a small smile. “We’d love to have you. And Desi will be ecstatic to have some sleepovers with her Auntie Ez, of course.”

“So we’re all settled?” Gregorio asks. He looks threadbare and exhausted, a far cry from his usual stoicism, and with a pang, Ez realizes just how much expanding their circle of trust‍—and watching it break so quickly‍—must be weighing on him. “Micah and I will help Sawyer and Naomi move to their new safe house, and Ez will post up with Cass and JJ until the danger passes?”

And Ez‍?—

Ez hates this. She hates that they’re in danger, hates that she has to abandon her home, hates that they’re all reeling from Roma’s betrayal‍?—

Hates that it’s entirely her fault. After all,Ezwas the one who insisted on including Roma in the conspiracy.Ezwas the one who brought her here today. Ez was the one who was stupid enough to trust a hunter with her friends, herfamily‍?—

Her heart.

Ruthlessly, she shoves the thoughts away. “Sounds like a plan,” she says neutrally, and as they all part ways to deal with the fallout of the past hour, Ez takes a deep breath and steels herself for a long few days.

Councilwoman Nasir’s lips are pressed into a thin line. “Well,” she says. “That isn’t ideal.”

Roma’s face burns. She’s standing alone in front of Nasir’s desk, feeling shaky and clammy and faintly nauseous. Even though all she wanted to do after last night’s disaster was curl up under her blankets and hide from the world for as long as possible, she knew that she needed to face the music eventually.

And avoiding the Council now would only make it worse when they inevitably asked for a status update. That’s why Roma knocked on the councilwoman’s door long before breakfast, resigned to accepting her punishment before the anticipation ate her alive. “It isn’t, ma’am,” she agrees quietly, not looking up from the floor. “And‍—and I apologize for Bryant and Chester’s involvement. The mission’s failure wasn’t their fault‍—it was mine, for not fully understanding the extent of Smith’s powers.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Nasir says crisply, and Roma fights back a flinch. “Your leadership role in this operation meant that youshouldhave researched your opponents thoroughly before enacting your plan, but clearly, you’ve been skipping steps from the start.” Her jaw twitches. “But that’s a moot point now. Circling back to the counterspell you attempted with Esmeralda Laguerre to stabilize the Deep‍—you said that you believed it had a chance of working?”

Roma nods once. “Yes, ma’am. Ez‍—I mean, Laguerre speculated that my Sanctum enchantments were the primary reason why the Deep rejected our counterspell, and I agree with her. Therefore, a civilian human spellcaster and a demon spellcaster would probably be able to perform the spell‍—as longas their combined magic overcomes the current power threshold for the Deep.”

“Hm.” Councilwoman Nasir laces her fingers together underneath her chin, her shrewd eyes fixed on Roma. “That could be arranged. It’ll require some input from our allies in other jurisdictions, but it’s certainly possible.”

Roma’s heart thuds unsteadily. She bites back the urge to ask how they’ll get a demon spellcaster to help them.

Now, more than ever, she knows that the Sanctum will just reach out to their contacts in the Chain. And Nasir would lie to Roma’s face about it without a second thought. “That’s good to hear,” she says instead, and she clears her throat. “You already have all my notes about the counterspell, but if your spellcasters need anything else, I’d be happy to provide more context.”

“I’m sure you would be.” Nasir’s eyes narrow. “And Jackson? Were you able to make contact with him before the demons discovered your deception?”

“I‍—‍” Roma frantically races through potential answers. She can’t tell Nasir anything about Naomi or Sawyer, of course, and she wants to say as little about JJ and Ez as possible, but‍?—

But, right now, Roma is on incredibly thin ice with the Council. She needs to give themsomething,even if it’s small. “Only briefly. Since he’s friendly with Laguerre, he was there when she cast the anti-cloaking spell over the memoryscapes. He was, um. He was the one who identified Bryant and Chester.”

Councilwoman Nasir’s gaze sharpens. “I see. And this meeting was at a neutral location, you said?”

Roma’s throat feels dry. She wouldn’t exactly call Naomi and Sawyer’s living room “neutral,” but Nasir doesn’t need to know that. “Yes,” she says warily. “But Laguerre rifted me straight there and Smith forcibly rifted me out, so I never got the address.”

For a long moment, Nasir considers Roma.

And then she holds out a hand. “Your cell phone, please.”

Unease trickles down Roma’s spine. “Uh, sure,” she says, digging it out of her pocket and stepping forward to pass it over the councilwoman’s desk. “Do you, um, need my passcode?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Nasir says, and with a few quick taps, she manages to bypass Roma’s passcode-protected lock screen entirely. Roma swallows hard, eternally grateful that she doesn’t keep anything incriminating on her phone‍—and that she never used it to contact Ez or JJ.

Although Naomididtext Roma that one time. But she didn’t attach her older sister’s name to the phone number, so hopefully, Nasir won’t look too closely at her messaging history.

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