Chapter 291: What are you?

Third-person POV

Yuna had never been the kind of person to question things too deeply, and it was not because she lacked the curiosity but because life had taught her that answers didn’t always bring comfort.

Most of the time, they brought more problems, complications, and guilt, and guilt was the one thing that Yuna had decided to work very hard to live without, but lately, she couldn’t stop the unease from growing in her chest.

It had started small, barely noticeable, with just a twitch in her fingers when she was around Iris or a chill running down her spine whenever Iris smiled too long at nothing. The kind of signs most people ignored, but Yura had noticed, because of course, she had.

Yura always noticed everything.

“You need to be careful around that girl,” Yura had told her that morning while her eyes darted toward the other end of the corridor where Iris was pretending not to watch them. “There’s something off about her.”

Yuna hadn’t said anything right away, but she’d thought about it all day because the truth was, she’d been feeling the same thing.

It was strange, really. How she and Iris had grown close so quickly. They weren’t exactly friends, or anything, more like allies, and it was their shared hatred for Electra Vale that had been enough to bond them for the last few weeks.

But thinking about it, in her case, she had every reason to hate Electra.

She hadn’t forgotten what Electra and her little pack of witches had done to her and Yura, along with the snide comments and the deliberate social sabotage that was now a permanent part of what everyone in school remembered her for.

And then there was also the case of having to lose Seraphina, her only real friend. Gone, after being pulled away by Electra’s charm, despite everything that Electra had also done to her.

So yes, her hatred had roots, and there were deep ones, but Iris? Iris had just shown up.

She was new, and she hadn’t even been here for any of it. She hadn’t suffered under Electra’s reign or been humiliated by her crew, and she hadn’t lost anything to her, and yet, for some reason that Yuna couldn’t for the life of her comprehend, her hatred seemed to burn hotter than Yuna’s ever had.

Yuna remembered the first time Iris had approached her. It had been… odd, but they had a shared understanding. A purpose to “work together” to bring Electra down once and for all.

At the time, Yuna had said yes, not out of trust, but because she was curious and also because she was desperate and angry, angry enough to ignore the alarm bells going off in the back of her mind, but now?

Now she wasn’t so sure, especially after this morning.

Electra had been seen earlier with her friends like nothing had happened, looking alive, awake, and somehow… stronger. There was a new presence about her and a subtle energy that made people step aside when she walked by. Her eyes burned a little brighter, and there was something about the air around her that felt different.

Yuna had seen it from the very night that they had seen Electra walk out of the old bunker, even if no one else had put it into words, and Iris? Iris had felt it.

Yuna had noticed the way Iris tensed when Electra passed them that day, and even today from afar, and the way her fingers twitched at her side, as if she were barely holding herself back. Her eyes had followed Electra too long, too intently, and her silence had also been creepy.

That was when Yuna really started thinking.

What did Iris really want? Revenge? Maybe, but Iris didn’t act like someone with a personal vendetta. She acted like someone with a mission, a goal.

Yuna still didn’t know what Iris was or how she’d known what she was, and it scared her because there was a difference between someone you could manipulate and someone you had no power over, and Iris? Iris was the second kind.

She continued to pace back and forth in her room for a good ten minutes before she finally made up her mind and told herself that she was done waiting and done letting suspicion eat her from the inside.

If she and Iris were going to keep working together, whatever working together even meant anymore, then it was time for honesty and for her to get some answers.

No more vague responses, cryptic comments, and definitely no more guessing games.

She grabbed her jacket and made her way to Iris’s dorm first since it was the obvious place to start. When she knocked, it was one of the roommates who opened the door, a girl with messy red curls and tired eyes who looked like she hadn’t slept in a week.

“Is Iris here?” Yuna asked.

The girl blinked at her and then turned back inside the room. “Anyone seen Iris?” she mumbled.

Another girl, slouched on her bed with headphones in, shook her head without looking up.

The first girl turned back to Yuna with a shrug. “She left early and didn’t say where.”

Yuna frowned. “Did she say anything at all?”

“Nope.”

The door started closing before Yuna could press further.

“Thanks,” she muttered and turned away.

It wasn’t like she expected Iris to leave a note, but the lack of communication felt pointed, but she had one last idea, and it was the rooftop.

That odd place where Iris always went when she needed time to “think.” There was one time that she had followed her up there, and she remembered asking, half-jokingly, “Why are you always hiding up here like a creepy crow?”

Iris had smiled and simply said, “I like looking down at the world because it makes me feel like I’m in control of it.”

Back then, Yuna had laughed and brushed it off as weird-girl theatrics, but now it didn’t seem so funny.

She made her way up the stairs of the classroom building that led to the rooftop, and sure enough, there she was.

Iris stood at the edge of the rooftop, with her hands clasped behind her back and her bright red hair lifting slightly in the breeze. She was looking down over the school grounds like she was studying a game board.

Yuna stepped closer, her boots crunching against the gravel at the edge of the roof.

“Iris,” she called out loudly. “We need to talk.”

Iris didn’t move right away, and when she finally turned, her expression was unreadable.

“Yuna,” she said, voice calm. “Didn’t expect you to come all the way up here.”

“Didn’t expect to be chasing you down like this,” Yuna replied. “But you’ve been… hard to find.”

Iris shrugged. “I’ve just needed space.”

Yuna crossed her arms. “I don’t care about that right now. I came here for answers.”

Iris tilted her head. “About what?”

“You know what,” Yuna snapped. “I’ve let a lot of weird things slide because I was too angry at Electra to care, but I’m not that stupid anymore.”

Iris didn’t say a word and just kept watching her.

“I want to know what you are,” Yuna continued, voice steady. “You’re not human, that much I can tell, and I think you’ve been using me.”

Iris blinked slowly.

“You knew I was half-snake the moment you met me,” Yuna went on. “You also knew Electra wasn’t fully human as well, and you’ve just always known too much, and I kept telling myself it was just instinct or luck, but it’s not.”

Iris said nothing.

Yuna took a step closer, her eyes narrowing. “So tell me. What are you, Iris, and why do you really hate Electra Vale?”

The wind picked up, and then, finally, Iris smiled before responding.

“I just don’t like abominations,” she responded. “Is that a good enough answer?”

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