“I didn’t,” Roma agrees, and she turns back to Cass. “Anti-tracking spell work reroutes any tracking spellsaroundit, almost like the signal bounces. So I just…” She shrugs one shoulder. “Reviewed the spell’s pathway until I located the bounce.”
Ez looks flabbergasted. “You didwhat?”
“That’s… unusual,” Obie says. He looks faintly impressed. “I’ve never heard of that before, but it makes logical sense as a workaround.”
Roma looksveryself-satisfied. Ez looks like she wants to punch her in the teeth.
“Second question,” Cass says, turning back to Roma. His left eye is starting to twitch. Too much adrenaline, not enough action. “Why, exactly, should we trust you?”
“You shouldn’t,” Roma says. “I don’t trust you, either. But working together is the best chance we have of saving JJ before he’s executed tomorrow.”
Cass’s stomach bottoms out.“Executed?”
Roma’s expression shifts. “Yes,” she says, and her shoulders hunch. Suddenly, her crossed arms look less defensive and more like she’s trying to hold herself together. “Tomorrow at noon. Heard about it a few hours ago. That was when…” She hesitates. “That was when I started tinkering with the tracking spell.”
Nausea churns through Cass. Tomorrow atnoon?It’s nearly midnight now, so that means they barely have twelve hours.
If Roma is telling the truth, obviously. She could absolutely be lying. After all, she’s a Sanctum hunter, alackey,a mixed breed from the infamous Gutierrez family.
But from what JJ has said, she’s also one of his closest friends. And her older sister, Naomi, also defected six years ago. Maybe treason just runs in the family. “So what’s your plan?” Cass asks. “You said you need ‘help’ with a jailbreak. That implies you already have some ideas.”
“I might not be an interrogator,” she says, “but I know my way around the Sanctum’s prison. I can get you in and bring you straight to JJ’s cell.”
Obie’s eyes narrow. “But can you get him back out?”
“Depends on how long he takes,” Roma says. “I can temporarily deactivate the anti-rifting spells, but the Sanctum has emergency spellcasters on call. You’ll probably have five minutes, tops.”
“That’s not a lot of time,” Ez says tightly.
“It’s more than enough for me,” Cass says, and he meets Roma’s eyes. “Especially if we time it correctly. When’s change of shift in the prison? That’ll be our window of opportunity.”
Surprise flickers across Roma’s face. “Every six hours. Normally, two a.m. or eight a.m. would be our best options, but it’ll actually be emptiest tomorrow around eleven a.m. Some of the interrogators are being taken off shift to prepare for—for the execution.”
Eleven hours to plan a jailbreak. Cass has had worse deadlines. “So I cast an invisibility spell to get us in,” he says, “and then I fight my way to JJ’s cell while you deactivate the anti-rifting spell work. I plan to rift straight back out with JJ, but how areyougoing to escape? Are you coming with us? Or—?” Bitterness coils through him. “Or are you going to pretend this never happened and go back to your cushy hunter life?”
Roma’s jaw works. “No. I’m not going back. They could trace my spells back to me, and—and above all, JJ’s had my back more times than I can count. I’m saving him, no matter what. And—” Abruptly, she looks away. “Like you said, my soul-tracking spell is the reason JJ got caught in the first place. I didn’t know this would happen, obviously, but—but it’s still my fault.”
Cass can’t detect a hint of a lie in the words. Slowly, he nods. “And your exit strategy?”
“Put on a cloaking spell and walk out the front door while they’re distracted,” she says, and she lifts her chin. “I already stashed my go bag in the woods outside the Sanctum, and I have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep them from tracking me. Not sure how long I’ll survive on the outside, but I’ll figure something out.”
Cass’s heart twinges. “We’ll find a safe house for you. Don’t worry about that.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Oh. Um. Thank you. I guess.”
Obie’s calculating eyes find Cass. “Question. That quick-and-dirty battle plan seemed to have a distinct lack of me and Ez. I presume that was an oversight?”
“Nope,” Cass says. “You and Ez aren’t coming.”
Ez stiffens. “Absolutelynot.”
“Absolutelyyes,”Cass snaps back, and he jabs a finger at her. “Especially because I need you to triple the defensive spell work around my safe house while I’m gone. Not this one, because it’sclearlyeasier to find than I would like—my second favorite, the one where I always met JJ. I don’t want anyone to be able to rift in except the three of us, and I want an alarm spell to go off if anyone puts so much as atoeon my property. And, while you’re at it, you might want to figure out how to counter Gutierrez’s anti-tracking workaround, too.”
Ez’s eyes flash.“Cass?—”
“We’ve been following each other into danger for two hundred years,” Obie cuts in. “Like you said earlier. If this means that much to you, ifJJmeans that much to you, then we’re coming.”
Suddenly, Cass’s throat feels tight. “No,” he says, “because I needyouto look after Desi while I’m gone. And—and if I don’t come back, I trust you to do what’s best for her.”
