Foreverland

Chapter XI

Chapter XI

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Iris woke up the next morning well rested and stretched out on her bed yawning. She looked to her side, and thought that Peter must had already gotten up. Either that, or she dreamed that he was there. 

She pulled herself up, rubbing her eyes and going to the den. Liam was there, sharpening a knife while Max sat at the table humming. They both smiled at her when she walked in. "Good morning, Iris," Max said.

She smiled warily back at them. "I'm sorry I woke you all up last night."

"Aw Iris, It's okay," Liam said. 

Max stood and stretched. "Yeah Iris. We wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," she said, happy that she was well rested for the first time in days. 

"Well today we were thinking of going to a beach on the other side of the forest," Liam said. "It's really nice there, I'm sure you'd like it."

"Yeah, it is really nice. Peter wants to go because he wants to check out the location of the reapers. We'd be safe there," Max added. 

Iris nodded. "Okay, I'd like to go."

Max smiled. "Awesome! Whenever you're ready, we're going to go meet Peter and Cam. They went early this morning to make sure it's safe." 

So that's where they were, she thought. "Give me one minute," she told them. She went to her room and changed her clothes, tied her pouch of daggers and fairy dust around her waist, and tucked her dagger into her waistband. 

As they climbed the ladder out of the den, she wondered what the other side of the forest was like. Maybe it was brighter. She hoped so. 

They walked through the forest for a while, Max humming and trailing along behind her and Liam. Liam was telling her about the indigenous species on the island. "There are bears, but we don't see a lot of them where we are," he said. 

"Once we saw a polar bear!" Max chimed in. 

Iris raised her eyebrows. "A polar bear?"

Liam nodded in conformation. "It was a long time ago. It scared the heck out of Cam," he laughed, recalling the memory. 

"Aw yeah," Max laughed too. "His scared face was hilarious." 

Iris chuckled with them, imagining Cam running from a polar bear on a tropical island. "What else is there?" she asked Liam. 

He thought for a second. "Oh, there are owls, alligators, sometimes horses-"

"Don't forget parrots, the annoying things," Max huffed. 

Iris was about to comment when Peter and Cam came into view in front of them. They were talking casually about something. Max waved to them, Cam waved back. 

When Iris, Liam, and Max caught up to them, they began walking in the direction that Peter and Cam had just come from. Iris was excited to see the other side, and she was excited to go to the beach. Maybe there'd be an alligator to see, or Liam had said that there were also dolphins. She also remembered that he'd said that there were sea serpents, and she shuddered softly. Iris fell the tiniest bit behind, looking up in the sky for parrots or owls. 

Peter slowed his pace to walk next to her. She brought her head back down and smiled at him. "Thank you for staying with me last night," she said quietly. She wasn't sure that the others knew he'd stayed with her. 

He nodded. "Did it help?"

"Yes. I haven't slept that well in a while," she said. 

Peter gave her a small smile. "I'm glad."