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G ingerly, Obie places the ancient spell book on Cass’s kitchen table and flips to a yellowing page about halfway through. “Here,” he says, tapping a finger on the handwritten script. “This is the spell to check if the Deep is stable.”

Ez leans over the book, fascinated. Its letters are tall and flowery, closer to calligraphy than any handwriting she’s familiar with, but it’s just legible enough for her to read. “How does it work?”

“Very carefully,” Obie says. “Basically, it analyzes the Deep without touching it?—that’s the only way to keep it from potentially destabilizing even more. If the spell comes back positive, then we’ll have a starting point to fix the epidemic; if not…”

Cass finishes the thought. “Then we’ll be back to square one,” he says, wrinkling his nose down at the spindly words. “Or square zero, even.”

Desi clambers onto a chair, standing on the seat to join the adults’ conversation. “Are there pictures?” she asks seriously, reaching out a sticky hand to poke the spell book. “Maybe the pictures will help!”

Patiently, Obie pulls it out of her reach. “No pictures, sweetie. And we have to be really careful not to get this book dirty, okay? It’s older than JJ, Cass, and Auntie Ez combined. Can you go wash your hands for me?”

“Okay!” Desi says, and she jumps off the chair to dash towards the bathroom sink.

Grinning, JJ peers down at the spell. “It looks like it uses a neutral base, so it isn’t specific to human or demon magic,” he says, his eyes skimming over the page, “but it’s possible to do with two spellcasters?—and it might entail less risk. Do you want my help? Or?—or Cass’s, or Obie’s?”

Ez shakes her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather keep you three on standby in case we need extra hands to close mega-rifts. And Micah and Gregorio weren’t joking about this being a varsity-level spell?—I wouldn’t want you to get hurt if something went wrong.”

JJ arches an eyebrow. “If I screwed it up, you mean?”

“If either of us screwed it up,” Ez emphasizes. “But, in this case, yes. The overwhelming balance of probability would be on you screwing it up. I wasn’t going to come out and say that, though.”

JJ’s lips twitch. Cass throws Ez a grateful look over JJ’s shoulder, and Ez fights back a smile of her own, focusing back on the spell book. It’s good to see JJ in better spirits, or at least able to banter with them again, because??—

Well. For the first few days after that disastrous meeting with his old mentors, he just looked numb and haunted, only showing a glimmer of life whenever Cass or Desi could coax it out of him. Now, Ez is pretty sure he’s just trying not to think about the conspiracy that may or may not be unfolding in Redwater altogether.

Which works out well, because Ez is also currently doing her best not to think about the conspiracy subplot. Cass is stalwartly pretending the whole episode never happened, and while Ez suspects that Obie might be poking around to find his own evidence, he’s loyally avoided mentioning the subject, as well.

In short, they’re just a mess of denial. Ez is almost proud of their obstinacy, although she does think it’s going to come back to bite them at some point.

Probably some point soon, considering their track record.

“You can take this book with you to show Roma,” Obie continues, and Ez’s mood immediately sours. “Just be careful with it, understand? It’s older than most countries.”

“I’ll treat it with the utmost care,” Ez promises, sticking a napkin between the pages as a bookmark and snapping it shut. Obie rolls his eyes. “And I’ll have it back to you as soon as possible. Gutierrez and I will do the spell at our earliest convenience, and we’ll have this mess sorted out in no time.”

Cass looks entirely unconvinced. “Uh-huh. Any idea when your ‘earliest convenience’ will be?”

Ez jabs a finger at him. “You don’t have to come out and expose me like that, Chin.”

Because, truth be told, Ez’s earliest convenience is this evening. In fact, it’s literally right now?—most spells tend to work best at sunrise and sunset, and the sun is just starting to edge towards the horizon. She’d love to grab Roma, spend an hour working out the kinks of the spell side by side, figure out if the Deep is involved in their current tribulations, and move on with her life.

She’d love to do all of that at this very moment, but there’s just one tiny problem.

Namely, the fact that Roma hasn’t shown up for her rift-closing shifts for the past week.

It’s driving Ez up a wall. The last time the two of them spoke was in the Courtyard after their trash fire of a meeting with Micah, Gregorio, Naomi, and Sawyer, and Ez honestly thought that she and Roma left on pretty good terms. In particular, they made it through the entire hour as a united front against what Ez has unaffectionately started calling “the Conspiracy Fam,” which she’s counting as a resounding success.

Not to mention that Ez was seriously starting to think that she might be able to convince Roma to defect, just like Cass convinced JJ. Not that Ez wants to date Roma and adopt a small child and move in together, of course.

She just thinks it might be nice to have Roma unequivocally on their side. That’s all.

But, clearly, Ez was wrong. Roma promptly ghosted her after that night, not coming down to town at all, and Ez is trying not to think about how irritated?—and worried?—that’s making her feel. Irritated, because Ez’s rift-closing shifts are a lot more cumbersome without her hypercompetent human spellcaster by her side, and worried, because??—

Well. They did just meet with two former hunters of dubious intentions. It’s not inconceivable that Naomi and Sawyer might still have connections back in the Sanctum, connections that could put Roma in danger. Ez knows it’s unlikely?—after all, Micah and Gregorio didn’t even want to invite Roma at first?—but right now, she doesn’t trust anyone in the Conspiracy Fam as far as she can throw them.

Obviously, she’s complained to her friends about this. Not the worrying part, though. Just the irritation part. “We’ll get to it when we get to it,” she says loftily, wrinkling her nose at Cass. “She might’ve just gotten sent on one of her actual hunting jobs. That happens sometimes, right, JJ? Hunters get sent on actual hunting jobs?”

“They do,” JJ confirms. Ez is proud of him for not saying “we,” because that was a surprisingly difficult habit to break. “The longest job I ever worked with Kappa took a little over two weeks. I wouldn’t start worrying yet, but the sooner you and Roma can cast this spell, the better.”

Desi trots back into the kitchen with clean hands, lifting her arms expectantly towards Cass. He obediently pulls her onto his hip, eyeing Ez warily. “And that’s another thing. Are we sure we can trust Roma Gutierrez?”

Ez’s heart does something funny. She pointedly ignores it. “Nope. I am sure that I can trust Roma Gutierrez in very specific circumstances. For the most part, I don’t want the rest of you anywhere near her.”

Obie seems to sense her hesitation. “But…?”

Ez lets out a slow breath, glancing at JJ. “Look, I’m not condoning what she did to you and Cass back in March,” she says quietly. “But part of me is starting to think that she might genuinely regret betraying you.”

JJ’s face shuts down. “Good. She should.”

Cass squeezes JJ’s shoulder with his free hand. “Having a conscience doesn’t equal trustworthy, Ez,” he says softly.

“I’m not saying it does,” Ez says. “But I think we might get to trustworthy someday. Maybe not anytime in the near future, but?—but someday.” She nods at JJ. “After you two left, Roma chewed out Naomi and Sawyer for trying to put you in danger. I think she still cares about you, but those feelings are getting mixed up with all the Sanctum’s brainwashing.”

JJ doesn’t look at her. “I don’t know. Maybe. I?—I still care about her, too. Honestly, I miss her. I really, really miss her and Chester and Bryant and?—?” He cuts himself off. “But I don’t know if I’m ever going to get them back, you know? Not in a way that actually matters.”

Cass slips an arm around JJ’s shoulders, pulling him close. “We’ll figure that out with time,” he murmurs, and he shoots Ez a meaningful look. A “please change the subject” look. “So is there anything we can do to help you with that spell?”

Not unless you can summon my stupid spellcasting buddy. Ez shakes her head. “Nah, I’m good. But I should get out of here and spend some quality time studying it. Catch you guys later?”

“Bye, Auntie Ez!” Desi chirps, waving at her. “See you soon!”

“Later, Ez,” Obie says. “And be careful with that spell book. It’s more valuable than your entire life.”

“Bite me.”

Cass snorts. “See you at dinner on Wednesday.”

“Stay safe,” JJ adds.

“Will do.” Ez waves back at them before snapping her fingers, opening a rift back to her house, and stepping neatly through.

It’s only after the rift vanishes behind her that she lets her smile fade. Sighing, she collapses onto her couch and kicks her feet up on the coffee table, delicately reopening the spell book to the proper page and analyzing it with a critical eye.

The spell is complex, but it’s not tricky or complicated. Ez is perfectly capable of casting it, and she’s confident that Roma is, too. Really, the only wild card right now is Roma herself?—specifically, if she’s ever going to show her face in public again.

Scowling, Ez turns to sprawl sideways across the couch, staring up at the ceiling. She doesn’t want to admit to her friends just how worried she is, but frankly, she’s getting more and more restless as she waits for a sign that Roma is even alive out there.

After all, the last time they spoke, she wasn’t exactly in the best headspace. Ez is actively trying not to think about the possibility of Roma panicking and telling the Council about the Sanctum’s most infamous dissidents resurfacing. Under normal circumstances, she knows Roma wouldn’t be that rash, but??—

But the part of Ez that remembers Roma’s pale face and unsteady hands and hollow eyes knows that these aren’t normal circumstances. She was clearly shaken by seeing her sister again, and learning why Naomi left definitely didn’t help matters.

And Ez isn’t doing well with the revelation that the Chain might be working with the Sanctum, but at least she has some emotional distance from it. She has an intertwined sense of respect and disdain for the Chain?—par for the course for any bureaucracy, really?—and her only interactions with it until recently were paying her membership dues and occasionally filling out TX-203s to head abroad for some dictatorship-toppling.

But the Sanctum has been Roma’s entire life. Ez has gotten hints of the hunters’ indoctrination from both Roma and JJ, and from what she can tell, it’s a carefully constructed identity of pride and hatred all wrapped up in one fervent ideology. She can only imagine how it must feel to be faced with the prospect that?—not only is that ideology wrong? —but that it never really mattered in the first place. That her entire life has been for nothing, been worth nothing.

That she’s been a marionette on a string since the day she was born.

Ez can only imagine it, mostly, because she has no way to get in contact with Roma. They never took that final step to exchange phone numbers, and it’s not like Ez can just break into the Sanctum to pay her a visit.

Or… can she?

The idea instantly piques her interest, and she pushes herself up to sitting, turning it over in her mind. Obviously, it would be reckless and dangerous, but not disproportionately so. And considering how important this spell is for Redwater’s general well-being, it just makes sense for Ez to prioritize bringing it to her spellcasting buddy. The benefits clearly outweigh the risks.

Besides, Cass has broken into the Sanctum loads of times. How hard can it be?