Iris calmly walked toward Wallace, putting on the best impression she could manage of a shy but excited girl who had just discovered the supernatural existed.
‘If Charles could see me right now, he’d never let me live this down,’ she thought.
The image of him mocking her almost made her smile, but the feeling disappeared just as quickly.
For a brief moment, remembering him hurt more than she expected.
“Um… excuse me,” Iris said, glancing toward the spot where Cupcake had disappeared.
“Do you have powers too? I mean, how else am I supposed to explain what just happened? Please, just tell me the truth.”
Wallace’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Too?” he repeated.
“Do you have a Curse?”
Iris widened her eyes as though the word itself frightened her.
“It’s called a Curse? That sounds… kind of scary.” She hesitated before tugging slightly at her sleeve.
“But yeah. Sometimes this strange symbol appears on my hand, and I can make black flames come out.”
It wasn’t technically a lie.
Her Curse simply hadn’t awakened yet.
No reason not to tell them about the ability she’d possess in three days.
Wallace glanced toward Markus.
“What do you think?”
Markus scratched the back of his head, some of his earlier amusement fading.
“We can’t exactly bring her with us yet. She wasn’t supposed to awaken for another three days.” His orange eyes settled on Iris as his expression grew more serious.
“The Bookkeeper doesn’t get predictions like this wrong.”
Iris listened carefully.
‘Good.
So they’re confused.’
She tilted her head.
“You two aren’t actually F.B.I. agents, are you?”
Neither brother answered immediately.
Iris pointed toward Markus.
“Especially you. The dumb-looking one doesn’t seem like a very good liar.”
Markus blinked.
Wallace covered his mouth, poorly hiding a laugh.
Iris had to stop herself from smiling.
‘Trust me, Markus, I’m a much better liar than you are.’
She remembered more than a few missions where Markus’s complete lack of a poker face had caused problems.
For someone capable of crushing people with the movement of a finger, he was surprisingly terrible at pretending to be normal.
‘There’s a reason you’re banned from going to Las Vegas.
You have absolutely no self-control and somehow an even worse poker face.’
Markus sighed.
“Dumb-looking?”
“Very.”
Wallace finally gave up and laughed.
Iris folded her arms, maintaining her innocent expression as she watched them.
So far, everything was going exactly how she wanted.
“Fine,” Wallace said after a moment.
“We might as well come clean. We’re agents of a secret government organization known as A.E.G.I.S. Our job is to keep knowledge of the supernatural hidden from the general public.” His expression became more serious as he looked at her.
“And if you really do possess a Curse, then whether you like it or not, you’re part of that supernatural world now.”
“Speaking of which,” Markus added casually, “care to show us yours?”
Iris’s expression changed immediately.
She lowered her gaze and let her shoulders tense, putting on the face of a frightened girl who wanted nothing more than to avoid the subject.
To make it convincing, she reached for a memory she hadn’t allowed herself to think about in a long time.
A kind girl who cried easily, apologized too much, and had once been one of Iris’s closest friends.
A girl Markus would eventually execute.
The thought made Iris’s chest tighten for real, and a tear slipped down her cheek before she even needed to force one.
“Um… please don’t make me,” Iris whispered.
“It hurts a lot. Whenever I use it, I feel like I can’t breathe. I get sick, dizzy… sometimes I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Once again, technically not a lie.
The Stigmata attached to Iris’s Curse caused severe Miasma poisoning whenever she pushed her ability too far.
Wallace’s expression softened almost immediately.
“I see.” He glanced toward Markus.
“Sounds like a Flesh-Type, similar to yours. If she’s telling the truth, forcing her to demonstrate it would only hurt her.”
Markus crossed his arms, clearly still suspicious, but he didn’t push the issue.
Wallace continued, “We were planning to stay in town for a few days anyway. We can keep an eye on her until we know more.” A small smile returned to his face.
“Besides, we can go hunting while we’re here, right?”
For just a second, Iris smiled.
Then she quickly forced the frightened expression back onto her face.
Curses were categorized according to their Stigmata, the price each ability demanded from its wielder.
Flesh-Type Stigmatas directly harmed the Cursebearer’s body, whether through injury, illness, physical deterioration, or some other form of bodily punishment.
Markus’s Curse belonged to that category, and Iris’s future Curse fit it perfectly as well.
“Um… excuse me.” Iris hesitated, pretending to gather her courage.
“Did you two actually come here to recruit me? It just feels a little weird that you lied about being friends with my dad, and now you’re suddenly telling me all of this.”
Both brothers went quiet.
Then Markus chuckled.
“Smart girl.”
“The file we received did say she was at the top of her class,” Wallace muttered.
Iris took a breath.
This was the part that actually mattered.
“If you really want me to join A.E.G.I.S., then fine. I’ll go with you.” She looked between them, allowing the nervous act to fade as her expression became serious.
“But only if you protect my mom. While you’re in town, make sure nothing happens to her. If you can’t even do that, then I’m never joining you. Got it?”
Markus blinked before shrugging.
“That’s easy enough.” He paused for a moment before adding, “And for the record, we really were friends with your father. That part wasn’t a lie. We’ve even met your mother before. She’ll recognize us.”
Iris stared at him.
For once, she didn’t have to pretend to be surprised.
‘What the hell?’
Her father had known A.E.G.I.S.?
Not only known them, apparently, but known Markus and Wallace personally.
Another piece of her past that everyone except her seemed to know about.
‘Fine.
One mystery at a time.’
She had already planned to join A.E.G.I.S.
once the Blood Moon was over and her mother was safe.
If her father had really been involved with them somehow, then she could investigate everything afterward.
Assuming Applecrest still existed afterward.
“Wallace,” Markus said, stretching his arms above his head, “you head home with her.”
Wallace glanced toward him.
“And you?”
Markus smiled.
“I think I’ll stop by the local church.”
His orange eyes sharpened slightly.
“I’ve been meaning to cleanse my sins.”
“Alright.” Wallace looked toward her.
“Come on, Iris. Let’s get going. My brother will catch up with us later.”
Iris nodded and followed him.
Things were going better than she’d expected.
In the original timeline, Markus had been one of the two people responsible for eventually killing Michello.
More importantly, Michello probably didn’t possess most of the artifacts, followers, and preparations that had made him so terrifying later in life.
Right now, he was dangerous, but he wasn’t yet the untouchable monster Iris remembered.
If Markus caught him by surprise, there was a very real chance Michello could be removed from the board today.
Iris bit down on her nail.
Then another thought came to her.
‘Maybe I should get greedy.’
Originally, she had only planned to survive.
Then that changed into saving her mother.
Now Michello was within reach.
And if Markus dealt with Michello, Iris could point the brothers toward Nikolai afterward.
One problem after another.
One future disaster erased before it ever had a chance to happen.
That would save Iris another enormous headache.
Especially because Nikolai was the one responsible for Wallace’s death.
Her gaze shifted toward the man walking beside her.
Wallace walked with his hands buried in his coat pockets, completely unaware of what Iris was thinking.
To him, she was just some strange teenager they had unexpectedly encountered ahead of schedule.
To Iris, he was a dead man walking.
‘If I can get rid of both of them this weekend, then for a long time my only major threats will be Superbia…
and one other.’
A smile slowly spread across Iris’s face.
‘You hear that, imaginary friend?
I’m cleaning house this weekend.’
She walked beside Wallace with a little more energy in her step.
The more she thought about it, the more tempting it became.
‘Why stop with Mom?’
‘Why settle for merely surviving?’
She had been given twenty years of knowledge and another chance at every mistake, every failure, and every person she had been unable to save.
Maybe saving one person wasn’t enough anymore.
Maybe Iris wanted everything back.
Her mother.
Wallace.
Charles.
Alice.
Everyone she could still reach.
Greedy?
Probably.
Iris didn’t care.
For a moment, she simply looked at Wallace.
Alive.
Talking casually.
Walking beside her like this was just another ordinary day.
In her previous life, Wallace Valentine would be dead in less than a month.
He would die saving her.
Iris looked forward again, her smile fading into something quieter.
‘Not this time.’