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I t’s the most outlandish argument Roma has ever heard.

She stares incredulously at Naomi and Sawyer, struggling to understand how they could’ve gotten their facts so badly twisted. They think the Sanctum is working with the Chain? Working with demons, the very creatures they hunt? It’s more than outlandish, actually?—it’s ludicrous.

Roma can believe their claims about widespread corruption in the Chain. Given the paper trail showing that the Chain hid those criminal demons?—and given that Roma saw those four neophytes in the Sanctum’s prison with her own eyes?—it makes a certain amount of sense.

But Naomi and Sawyer are completely forgetting that the Sanctum has operatives who specifically monitor their local Chains. When Redwater’s spy saw those TXs or VXs or whatever they were, they must’ve simply informed the Council that the town’s most notorious unregistered demons were back. And as far as the timing??—

Sure, the timing was convenient for Strike Team Kappa’s final exam. Roma can admit that. But that doesn’t mean it’s anything besides a happy coincidence.

Coincidences do happen, after all.

It’s a pattern they’ve replicated at least two dozen times worldwide since then.

Roma shoves the words away. Two dozen times wouldn’t be a coincidence, obviously, but Naomi and Sawyer must’ve just gotten their information wrong. They must’ve been following the wrong neophyte hunters, or the wrong criminal demons, or… or something. It’s strange that Roma has never heard of neophyte hunters other than JJ and Chester before today?—she thought they were the only ones?—but that doesn’t mean anything, either.

Not necessarily.

Not in the grand scheme of things.

But what if you’re wrong?

Doubts creep around Roma’s ribcage like vines, threatening to strangle her. What is she even doing here? She should’ve left the moment Naomi and Sawyer showed their traitorous faces. She shouldn’t even be listening to their smear campaign against the Sanctum, much less considering it. She shouldn’t??—

“Hunters outnumber demons.”

The words manage to jolt Roma out of her spiraling thoughts. She turns towards Obie, who’s still standing next to JJ and Cass with narrowed eyes, crossed arms, and a calculating expression. “What?” she manages hoarsely.

“Hunters outnumber demons,” Obie repeats, and he leans forward. “By almost a factor of forty to one, actually?—roughly 2.7 million versus seventy thousand. The Sanctum doesn’t need fresh blood.”

“Huh,” Micah says. “I’m impressed that you knew that off the top of your head. Sawyer and Naomi had no idea before six years ago.”

Obie doesn’t smile back. “You mentioned the bloodlines hierarchy,” he says. “I may not work in genetics, but I do have a Ph.D. in it. Keeping the purebred bloodlines pure indefinitely would be impossible, but there are more than enough mixed-breed hunters to keep the Sanctum genetically diverse. There’s literally no reason to recruit civilians.”

Ez’s eyebrows shoot up. “You have a Ph.D. in genetics?”

“I have Ph.D.s in a lot of subjects,” Obie says, and his sharp eyes find Naomi and Sawyer again. “Well?”

A grimace tugs at Naomi’s lips. “We’re… still not sure about that,” she admits, trading a glance with Sawyer. “Like you said, the Sanctum doesn’t need more hunters, but?—but it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“It’s accepted practice for the Sanctum to occasionally arrange marriages between mixed-breed hunters and carefully selected civilians,” Sawyer adds. “But those civilians aren’t considered hunters?—only their children are. Creating neophyte hunters means that the Sanctum only has to wait a few years for new soldiers, not sixteen.”

“Again: why?” Obie’s face is stony. “From what I understand, the Redwater Sanctum had to devote an entire purebred?—namely, you?—to training JJ and Chester. That’s not a smart use of their resources. And what does the Chain have to gain from any of this? Why would they want the Sanctum to have more hunters? Why would they go to the trouble of setting up those criminal demons to be killed by a strike team instead of just killing them outright? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sawyer’s jaw twitches. She doesn’t answer.

Relief floods through Roma. “You don’t know,” she says. “This is?—this is all guesswork. Guesswork and coincidences. You defected from the Sanctum over coincidences, and??—?”

“Oh, I dare you to look at our hundreds of crime scene photos from those massacres and call any of this ‘guesswork,’” Sawyer hisses. “I fucking dare you.”

“And a better question, Smith,” Naomi says, her voice hard and precise, “would be why the Chain is sending demons to the Sanctum to be tortured. You knew that was true even before tonight.” She nods at Roma. “Letting Laguerre bring that neophyte from midtown to the Chain was a clever way to test your theory?—stupid, but clever. And Laguerre, you saw that the Education Department lied to your face about where the demon ended up.”

“That doesn’t mean the Sanctum put out a hit on my family.” JJ’s face is bloodless. “That doesn’t mean??—?”

Sawyer’s laugh is biting. “Come on, JJ. That last demon you killed flat-out said that he had ‘orders’ to leave you and Chester alive. Didn’t you ever wonder what he meant?”

Ez’s stomach drops. Roma whirls around to face JJ, her eyes wide. “He said what?”

JJ is trembling. “I… didn’t,” he says, his voice strained. “I didn’t wonder what he meant, no. I?—I was kind of preoccupied with other things at the time.”

Cass slips his hand into JJ’s and squeezes. The last few times Roma saw them hold hands, she was shocked and even a little disgusted, but now??—

Now, she’s suddenly and inexplicably grateful that Cass is standing next to JJ.

Especially when Sawyer keeps talking. “And you never found it suspicious how the Sanctum immediately went to great lengths to separate you and Chester? Putting your bedrooms on opposite ends of the building, setting you up for jobs in different specialties? Keeping you as far away from each other as possible?” Her smile is tight and feral. “And that’s not even touching Chester’s final exam. Not even Naomi and I expected them to go that far, but??—?”

“Shut up,” Roma snarls, jerking forward. Chester’s final exam?—where JJ pretended to be a dissident and Chester tortured him for nine hours straight?—may have been six years ago, but she can still remember how badly it messed them up for weeks afterward.

Sawyer suggesting that it was all a ploy by the Sanctum to traumatize them crosses the line. “And if you two were so convinced of this,” Roma snaps, “then why the hell did you leave us there? Why did you??—??”

“Because you wouldn’t have believed us,” Naomi bites out. “Just like you don’t believe us now. I mean?—?” She gestures harshly at JJ, whose fingers are clenched so tightly around Cass’s that his knuckles are burning white. “JJ has completely forsaken the Sanctum at this point. He’s a dissident, a defector, a traitor, but even he doesn’t think they would be capable of all this. And you?—?” Her eyes narrow. “What is your deal, anyway? We had it on good authority that you faked a defection a few months ago and almost got half of this room killed.”

The tension in the cramped apartment ratchets up, and Roma’s heart stutters hard in her chest. Logically, she knew that her stint as a fake defector couldn’t have been far from anyone’s minds?—after all, JJ surely remembers this apartment just as well as Roma does?—but she’d been hoping and praying they would get through this trainwreck of a conversation without anyone bringing it up.

She’s fairly confident in her ability to lie to Esmeralda Laguerre?—even though actually doing so nowadays makes her stomach churn with guilt?—but lying to the sister who taught her how to lie is a different story altogether. “I??—?”

To her surprise?—and overwhelming relief?—Ez jumps in to defuse the situation before anyone else can respond. “I was under the impression that we were going to be learning a spell,” she says pointedly, glaring at Micah and Gregorio, “not getting pulled into a conspiracy. And Roma happens to be the best human spellcaster in Redwater.”

Naomi’s eyes flicker to Roma. “Is that true?”

Deep inside Roma’s chest, there’s a sixteen-year-old girl begging for her big sister’s approval. Viciously, Roma forces her down. “Damn right, it is.”

“Hm.” Naomi’s lips curve up in the corners. “Good. You always showed an aptitude for magic. I’m glad I pushed you in that direction.”

Roma’s temper spikes. “Don’t try to take credit for my skills, Naomi. I was the one who put in the years of work, not you. You just??—?”

You just left us spiraling. You just left us without protectors. You just left me to clean up your mess, Bryant to curse your names, Chester to start having nightmares again, JJ to get so disillusioned that he defected? ? —

Are you proud of us now? Are you proud of me now, Naomi?

“You just left us when things got rough,” she finishes bitterly. “You left us right when we needed you most.”

Naomi’s face shuts down. “You wouldn’t have believed us then,” she repeats curtly, “just like you don’t believe us now. One of you would’ve tattled to the Council, and Sawyer and I would’ve been burned alive as dissidents. We didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice!” Roma yells. “You just chose the easy way out. You just chose to run.”

Abruptly, Sawyer advances on her, eyes dark and thunderous. “Stand down, hunter. You’re way out of your depth here.”

“All right, all right!” Micah shouts, putting himself between them and holding out his hands like he can physically force them apart. “Let’s all just take a breath, okay? We have six years’ worth of evidence that we can go through, and we can answer any questions you have, and??—?”

“Actually,” Cass says, “I’m taking Julian home.”

Roma whirls around to face him, startled. Cass has his fingers wrapped around JJ’s shoulder and his jaw set in a hard line, and JJ??—

JJ looks like he’s about to have a panic attack.

“What?” Gregorio asks, his eyes narrowing. “Chin, there’s a reason we wanted both of you here?—a reason we wanted all of you here. We’re the only ones in Redwater who know this is going on, the only ones who can trust each other right now, and??—?”

“And I’m sure you can handle your fun little conspiracy just fine without us,” Cass cuts in, giving him a sharp smile. “I didn’t fill out the TX-203 to join another war, Ricci, and neither did my boyfriend. Thanks for the trauma, but we’re out of here.”

Fear slices through Roma. Despite JJ defecting from the Sanctum, despite him shacking up with Cassius Chin, despite the Council’s scathing views on his morality and loyalty and humanity??—

Despite everything Roma should believe, JJ is the only person in this room she truly trusts. Ez has had Roma’s back for a few weeks, but JJ had her back for over a decade. “JJ?—JJ, don’t??—?”

JJ doesn’t look at her. “Later,” he says hoarsely, and he bows his head as Cass snaps open a rift and guides him through without a backwards glance.

Leaving Roma alone with four demons, two defectors, and a gaping hole ripped through everything she thought she knew.