Foreverland

Chapter IV

Chapter IV
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It had been days since Iris had seen the fairy in Peter's hands. Every morning she woke up, and only one of the boys was in the den, assigned the job to watch her. She was extremely uneasy about entering the forest, knowing now of two things that were a danger to her; the fairies and the reapers. Iris had been kept in the den ever since she was almost killed by the fairies, and she wasn't complaining, but she was starting to get very bored. 

They all sat at the wooden table just finishing a meal of fish and berries. Iris wondered what the boys did in their time besides hunt and watch her. They couldn't have stayed underground all day. She decided to ask when Max spoke up. "Can we show her the water hole?"

Iris looked at Peter, knowing he was ultimately the one that would make the decision. "Do you think that's really a good idea?" Cam said to Peter quietly.

"Well we can't just lock her up here all day," Liam played devils advocate.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "The reapers are never near there."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I haven't even said anything yet."

They all looked at him. "Well?" Max said.

Peter leaned forward, thinking about it. "I don't know. They might get jealous and try something."

"Aw, we won't let 'em do anything," Max whined.

Peter looked to Cam and Liam for any input and they both shrugged. He sighed, and looked at Max, then back at Iris.

"Who?" Iris felt very left out of the conversation, even though it revolved around the decision to bring her somewhere. She wondered who would be jealous of her. Who would be jealous enough to try something that worried Peter enough to consider not taking her.

"We can take her," he said, ignoring her question. Max cheered, and Liam smiled. Cam shrugged again, indifferent to the idea. "As long as we keep our eyes on them."

"What will she wear?" Cam looked at Iris.

Max scoffed. "Her underwear, obviously."

Iris's cheeks turned pink. "My underwear?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, that's what we swim in."

Cam and Liam nodded, agreeing that it would be fine. Peter didn't do anything in response, only looked at the rest of them. "Well, let's go then."

Cam turned towards Iris. "It's not far, we won't be in the woods for long."

Cam seemed to know that Iris was afraid of the forest. He had told her how he still looked for the light, like she did, so she knew he understood her uncomfortableness. Every time she went in the dark forest, she came out knowing some new, terrifying fact about it and its inhabitants. It reminded her of her own fears inside of her; every new hour in this place brought new terrifying things with it. She hoped that this watering hole would be different.

They all left and Iris walked with Cam, hoping he'd say something about where they were going. He was very quiet, however, and seemed impassive about the whole idea of bringing her to the water hole. Iris wanted to keep an open mind, hopefully it was better than the forest.

"It's just up ahead," Max said excitedly.

Before them, the trees thinned out to reveal a small, blue lake. There were a couple of rocks jutting out from the water covered in patches of moss. The whole thing looked almost tropical, and was much brighter than the forest. The sun was shining down on the water making it twinkle, and Iris immediately felt happier here with the sun rays on her skin.