Page 98 of Fool Me Twice

The councilwoman pulls a USB cable out of her desk, connects Roma’s phone to her computer, and starts typing. “Approximately what time were you in this meeting location?”

“Um.” Roma swallows hard. “Around nine p.m., I think. Why?”

Nasir effortlessly clicks a few more buttons. “According to your phone’s GPS, you were at 48 Cardinal Lane at that time last night,” she says, and Roma’s stomach plummets. “Does that sound correct?”

It’s the exact address that Obie gave her and Ez. Desperately, Roma flies through her options. “I‍—I’m really not sure, ma’am. All I know is that it was a residential house. Two stories. The interior walls were, uh, beige.”

“Hm.” Councilwoman Nasir’s frown deepens as she skims over the information on her screen. “Records indicate that the house belongs to one Gregorio Ricci, demon.”

Roma almost chokes.Gregorioowns that house? And he didn’t make any attempt to hide it? “That’s, um, possible,” she says, thinking fast. “Smith said it was an‍—an unused house that belonged to a friend of his. Maybe Ricci was that friend.”

Councilwoman Nasir scrutinizes Roma closely. Roma does her best not to fidget, keeping her expression neutral and her breathing even, because‍?—

Because she’s almost certain that Nasir already knows Roma is lying, at least a little bit.

“Very well,” Nasir says at last, and she unplugs Roma’s phone from the cable, holding it out. Cautiously, Roma steps forward to take it. “For now, we’ll search that property and any others connected with Ricci and Smith.”

Roma’s shoulders almost slump with relief. She doesn’t like putting Gregorio and especially Obie at risk, but Naomi and Sawyer already said that they needed to switch safe houses. Hopefully, they had more than enough time to move out‍—and cover their tracks‍—overnight. “Understood, ma’am,” Roma says, nodding. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

Nasir’s smile is chilling. “You’ve done enough,” she says, and the words hit Roma like a slap in the face. “For now, I imagine it goes without saying that you’re to stay away from the mega-rifts until further notice. If Laguerre and her ilk are out for revenge, we wouldn’t want there to be any… incidents.”

Roma’s heart sinks. Much as she was expecting the restriction, part of her was futilely hoping that Nasir would just neglect to mention it, giving Roma plausible deniability to track down Ez at the nearest mega-rift and beg for forgiveness.

Looks like that’s not in the cards, though. “Understood, Councilwoman,” she says quietly.

“In addition,” Nasir continues, “now that your assignment is over, I’ll be expecting your full analysis on the Deep by the end of the month. In fact, since that report is of particular interest to the Council‍—and since it’s the one remaining way for you to salvage something useful out of this failure‍—I’d advise you to remain in the Sanctum until you’ve completed it.”

So Roma is on lockdown until further notice. Figures. Especially if Nasir suspects that Roma is hiding something, she’ll want to keep Roma close until she knows how to handle her. Roma nods stiffly. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll contact you if we need further clarification about anything we’ve discussed today,” Councilwoman Nasir says, and she turns back to her computer. “For now, you’re dismissed.”

Finally.“Yes, ma’am,” Roma repeats, and she turns around, striding quickly towards the door.

“And Gutierrez?”

Roma pauses with one hand on the doorknob, reluctantly looking over her shoulder. “Yes?”

Nasir’s eyes are as hard and cold as steel. “Don’t misunderstand me. Therewillbe consequences for failing your mission so spectacularly‍—not to mention starting the mega-rift epidemic in the first place. However, I’ll have to consult with the rest of the Council to decide whether the knowledge you’ve gained outweighs your errors in judgment.”

Roma flinches. “Understood,” she says weakly, and with a hard knot in her stomach, she pushes open the door, closes it behind her, and hurries straight back to her bedroom, any thoughts of breakfast forgotten. At this point, she’s barely eaten anything since yesterday’s lunch, but right now‍?—

Right now, all she wants is to bury herself under her covers, sob out the last of the emotions spiraling in her chest, and pray to whatever gods are listening that Ez and JJ and Naomi and everyone they care about gets out of this alive.

42

Ez wrinkles her nose as the latest mega-rift shudders into nonexistence, casting a sidelong glance at her spellcasting partner. “Wow. Your spellcasting reallydoessuck.”

“Bite me, Laguerre,” Naomi says, letting her arms drop back by her sides. She looks just as frustrated as she’s looked all morning, frustrated at stumbling over the blocking spell’s incantation and fumbling the gesture and generally just not having the strongest grasp of magic in general. “Do these stupid thingseverstop opening?”

Right on cue, there’s a warm brush of air against the back of Ez’s neck. “Nope,” she says, popping the “p,” and she snaps open a transport rift. “That’s why we call it an ‘epidemic,’ you see.”

“You’re particularly pissy today,” Sawyer observes, following Ez and Naomi through the rift. Her appearance is glamoured, just like Naomi’s, but Ez is rapidly starting to learn that her sardonic smile looks the same no matter what face she’s wearing.

“I’d belesspissy if either of you paid attention in spellcasting class,” Ez says pointedly, and she motions for Naomi to step upnext to her at their next mega-rift. “One, two, three‍—in the name of Nostringvadha‍?—‍”

“Ages upon ages‍?—‍”

Ez flows through her incantation, fighting back a flinch whenever Naomi’s cadence falters or her intonation wobbles. Neither of those will technically affect the blocking spell’s effectiveness‍—after all, they’re just closing regular mega-rifts here, not reaching down into the Deep‍—but they definitely make Ez’s blood pressure rise.

---