Page 8 of Fool Me Twice (Redwater Demons #2)

8

C ass skims over Ez’s revised contract from the Chain, his eyebrows approaching his hairline. “Wow. They really want your spellcasting skills, Ez. You go, girl. Get that bread.”

Grinning, Obie reaches across the table to high-five her. Ez snorts out a laugh as she complies. “Yeah, Maggie says they’re getting more desperate by the day,” she confirms, adding a generous helping of hot sauce to her chili. “This entire situation is completely unprecedented?—not to mention just plain weird.”

“It really is,” JJ says, a frown pulling at his lips. The four of them?—plus Desi, of course?—are sitting around Cass’s kitchen table, chowing down on chili and cornbread. One of their twice-weekly get-togethers, moved out of the public eye to avoid getting caught up in yet another mega-rift snafu. “And it doesn’t even make sense?—I mean, a spellcaster of your caliber should be able to close a rift to Tamaros easily, right?”

“Generally speaking, yes,” Ez says, and she scowls. “But these mega-rifts?—thanks again for the name, Desi??—?”

“Welcome!” Desi says through a mouthful of cornbread.

“?—?these mega-rifts are either more powerful than standard rifts or use a spell with different mechanics,” she finishes. “I’m not sure which, but only the combination of a demon-magic disconnecting spell and a human-magic blocking spell seems to get rid of them.”

Obie rests his chin on his fist, scrutinizing Ez closely. “Have they been getting more difficult to close?”

Ez shakes her head. “About the same, I think. I ended up closing one with Gutierrez yesterday, and we pretty much have it down to a science. Why?”

Obie grimaces. “Just trying to figure out this summoner’s goal. Hell, calling them a ‘summoner’ feels like a misnomer?—they’re not actually dragging demons through from Tamaros. And if the mega-rifts aren’t getting more difficult to close, that means the spellcaster isn’t even refining their spell. It’s like they’re just opening these rifts and…” He gestures vaguely with a piece of cornbread. “Leaving them there.”

“Leaving them there for us to deal with,” Ez agrees dourly, slumping in her seat. “And not even trying to stop us from closing them, either. I mean, what kind of summoner doesn’t stick around to watch their handiwork and, like, gloat and monologue?”

“Maybe they’re maintaining the rifts from a distance?” Cass suggests. “Hiding somewhere out of sight?”

This time, Obie is the one who shakes his head. “I’ve been going back to all the mega-rift sites to make memoryscapes of them. Even if I wasn’t physically present when they were opened, I can still pull enough memories from the ground and the air to recreate each scene. I usually search at least a hundred-foot radius, but I haven’t seen anyone hiding. No repeated faces, either?—or none besides us and a few select hunters.”

“Do you?—??” JJ hesitates. “Do you think the spellcaster could be using an invisibility spell? Or maybe a glamour?”

Instantly, the friendly atmosphere chills by a few degrees. Ez pauses with her spoon halfway to her mouth, eyes narrowed; Obie’s head tilts ever -so-slightly to one side in a way Ez has come to associate with danger; Cass stiffens noticeably, shoulders tense like he’s braced for a fight??—

Desi keeps munching on her cornbread, blissfully oblivious to the rising tension.

It’s not an unreasonable point, obviously. Since casting a spell from over a hundred feet away is extraordinarily difficult, the person creating these mega-rifts clearly has to be disguised somehow. An invisibility spell or a glamour would be the logical conclusion, but??—

Well. Summoners might be almost exclusively human, but humans can’t use those particular spells. Their magic isn’t equipped for it.

Demon magic is, though. And it just figures that the one ex-hunter in their midst would try to pin the blame on his old enemies.

Obie’s voice is even. “You think the summoner might be a demon?”

“I’m not?—?” JJ takes a deep breath, meeting his eyes. “Look, this isn’t a hunting bias, okay? But demon magic is typically stronger than human magic, and demon spellcasters are typically stronger than human spellcasters. And I can’t think of a single human who could maintain a mega-rift and a cloaking spell against multiple offensives?—especially when one of those offensives is from Ez. But a demon maintaining a mega-rift and an invisibility spell?” He shrugs uncomfortably. “It just seems more plausible.”

Ez blinks at him, surprised. Much as she hates the idea of her own brethren being responsible for her current irritation, she has to admit that JJ brings up a valid point. Some human spellcasters have impressive skills?—in fact, Ez can grudgingly admit that Roma is one of them?—but the level of power required for the simultaneous spells would be more suggestive of a demon. “Well, look at that,” she says, glancing at Cass. “You picked a smart one.”

“Of course I did,” Cass says defensively, and he leans over to press a kiss against JJ’s cheek.

JJ ducks his head, grinning. Ez doesn’t know whether to gag or say “aww.”

Obie drums his fingers against the table, considering. “And it doesn’t seem like any neophyte demons are actually being summoned, right? Hypothetically, a demon spellcaster might be opening these mega-rifts for another purpose entirely. Testing different spells to try and make a closure-proof rift, measuring our people’s reaction times to shut them down…” He hesitates. “Seeing if they can make a rift that’ll take them back to Tamaros.”

Cass frowns. “We can’t go back to Tamaros, though. The gods literally put a curse over this entire dimension to prevent Nostringvadha from returning home after they banished him?—and trapped the rest of us here by extension.”

“True,” Obie says, “but that doesn’t mean no demon has ever tried to go home.”

With a pang, Ez wonders if Obie was one of them. He’s still cagey about precisely when he was summoned to Earth, but if he was among the first demons in this dimension, he might’ve still had hope he could return to Tamaros someday. “So it might be more about the mega-rifts themselves than the circumstances around them?”

“Exactly.”

“But why here?” JJ asks. “And why in civilian areas? If this spellcaster is specifically targeting the Redwater Sanctum and Chain?—to distract them or test reaction time, like you said?—it makes sense, but otherwise, it would be a thousand times easier to experiment somewhere uninhabited. Like Antarctica?—we have a Sanctum near McMurdo, but it’s a very small one. A spellcaster could open rifts for months down there without arousing suspicion.”

“I’m sorry,” Ez says. “You have a Sanctum in Antarctica? With the penguins?”

Desi claps her hands together, delighted. “Penguins! We should go visit the penguins on our next field trip, Auntie Ez!”

“Not if there are hunters down there, sweetie.” Ez stirs her chili contemplatively, considering JJ across the table.

Because, for better or worse, JJ is their resident hunter. He’s rejected the Sanctum as an institution and is actively working to unlearn his old biases, but he still has all the skills, training, and knowledge he was indoctrinated with. In fact, that unfortunate education is the only reason he can keep up with the magical nuances of this mega-rift crisis in the first place.

Unbidden, Maggie’s voice from earlier this week floats through Ez’s head. Central Office is exploring the possibility of enlisting some human spellcasters, too.

And civilians with a rudimentary understanding of spell work would be great, but an ex-hunter trained in the subtleties of magic would be better. “Speaking of which, JJ, how’s your spellcasting going?”

JJ straightens, his eyebrows furrowing. “It’s gotten better over the past few weeks. Most of my basic spells are at least functional again, and I can even manage a cloaking spell in a pinch.”

“Just what I wanted to hear,” Ez says. “You want to make some money? The Sanctum’s rift-blocking spell isn’t terribly complex, and I could use a human spellcasting partner in my contracting venture.”

JJ’s eyes widen. “Really?”

Cass stiffens. “That’s a terrible idea, Ez,” he says, shooting her a glare. “Both the Sanctum and the Chain are after him. If anyone found out??—?”

Ez scoffs. “Don’t insult me. I’d obviously glamour JJ to prevent them from getting their grubby hands on him. And I could maintain a glamour even during the rift-closing spell, so there would barely be any risk.”

Cass looks incredulous. “Parties unknown are opening mega-rifts in the middle of civilian areas for the lolz, and you think that counts as ‘barely any risk’? We still don’t have any idea who’s behind the rifts, what their plan is??—?”

“No one has been attacked so far,” Ez argues. “By all accounts, this is safer than what JJ used to face in the Sanctum.” She glances back at JJ. “Full offense to your old friends, but I’d really appreciate some backup that isn’t Roma Gutierrez. At least I know I can trust you.”

For a split second, JJ looks startled.

And then his smile softens. “Thanks, Ez. I appreciate that.”

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Ez says. “So are you in?”

“I?—?”

“Julian.”

JJ tenses the slightest bit at his full name in Cass’s voice, his eyes flickering over to meet his boyfriend’s. For a moment, the two of them frown at each other, having a rapid-fire conversation with their expressions that Ez can’t quite parse.

And then JJ turns back to Ez, his smile apologetic. “We’ll have to talk it over,” he says firmly. “I’d love to help, though. I definitely?—?” The smile wavers. “I definitely want you to have someone you can trust out there. And that isn’t Roma.”

He looks away when he says it, his voice quiet and sad. Ez’s heart hurts for him. Considering how thoroughly Roma faked her own defection to earn JJ’s trust before stabbing him in the back, he knows that better than anyone. “Well, just let me know,” she says, throwing Cass a look. Cass scowls back. “I’d love to have you on board, but, ah. Talk it over as much as you need.”

She can already tell that the answer is going to be “no.” Much as she knows JJ would jump at the chance to get back into the action, Cass has been understandably gun-shy about letting his boyfriend run headfirst into dicey situations again. And since JJ’s last brush with danger ended with Cass getting kidnapped and almost killed, JJ has also been understandably gun-shy about anything that could affect his newfound family.

There’s been a lot of gun-shyness in their ranks lately, Ez thinks. She never thought that she would be the most impulsive one in their little group, but with Cass sidelining himself for the next few decades, she supposes that someone has to claim the title.

“In any case,” Obie says abruptly, looking over at Desi, “how much do you know about penguins, honey?”

Desi brightens. “Lots of things! Cass got me a new book with penguins and seals and polar bears!”

“Which ones are your favorite?”

“Seals! I love seals! They’re so cute and funny-looking, and…”

Desi’s excited rambling quickly takes over the conversation, effectively killing any further discussion of JJ joining Ez’s rift-closing exploits. Ez turns her attention back to her chili, letting out a low sigh.

Looks like she’s stuck with Roma Gutierrez for the foreseeable future.