Iris sighed, following the group up the hill and into the trees and keeping her shoes on. Her converse still had sturdy soles so she didn’t see the point in taking them off. She glanced at her phone every so often but nothing had changed. She still had no bars whatsoever. Shifting the bag on her shoulder, she hopped up onto a higher rock and then jumped back down again just to occupy herself. There were a couple of times where she almost fell too far behind but she managed to catch up again.
Looking up as she was addressed, she smiled. “Ahh, no it’s okay.” She mumbled, waving her hand and shaking her head. “I’m just not very used to being looked at, to be honest.” She shrugged awkwardly, wringing her hands and falling silent again as Tris went quiet. She didn’t know what more to say. Having been so distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t see where the other two had disappeared to.
When the revelation came, she didn’t expect it to be down a hole. Now she was all alone up there while everyone was down there. Nerves began to flash through her body. “I… Oh…” She wrung her hands again, her eyes flicking to the hole. She didn’t want to be alone up there but then, she didn’t want to go down either. There might not even be a way to get out of there and she absolutely hated being trapped in small spaces. Iris had a case of claustrophobia and she was sure the hole alone would trigger it.
But then, everyone else was down there. She didn’t know what she hated more. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut and slipped into the tunnel with a scream. Being alone on Mako Island was definitely worse. She skidded to a halt, breathing heavily and taking a moment to herself before she managed to work up the courage to open her eyes. The tension in her shoulders uncoiled a little when she realised she was in quite a large cavern, and a beautiful one at that.
“Woah…” She mumbled, looking around at the crystals as she dusted herself off. Even the pool in the centre looked as if it were crystal clear. She could see what she was assuming was the sky, high up above. At least she knew that they definitely won’t run out of air. “What now?” She asked, glancing at the other three and finding it somewhat amusing that Tristan, she assumed, had fallen into the pool. The water looked inviting enough for her to want to jump in to join her. Something was tugging at her, telling her to jump in. The whole room felt magical, and looked it too, but the pool of water felt especially so. She knelt down by the edge, swirling her fingers through the warm water gently.