"You…stay…with…Dragon Eire," I heard Andrew's voice, loud and slow, before I even got below deck. He must have been talking to Chaac. "Diego will be with you too." I reached the cabin as Chaac was nodding to his captain. He came out of the room and smiled at me. I nodded at him and entered Andrew's cabin.

"Yes?" I asked, crossing my arms over my stomach.

"We're a day early, thanks to you." He started to roll up the map that had been sitting on his desk for at least a week. "Which means we can stay and rest for an extra day." He walked over to a tall cabinet in the corner of the room and shoved the map in. I've instructed Diego and Chaac to stay with you."

"Fine," I said with a shrug. "I'd like spending time with them rather than you." He paused for a moment and then acted as if I hadn't said it.

"I will allow you to keep your weapons for now, in case you need them, but if you try something…"

"I get it. You'll take them away," I said. "Is that all?" Andrew nodded. I turned to go back up to the deck. Once I was there, I looked out to the front of the ship. "Looks like we're here…" I walked over to Snake, who was standing at the helm.

"It looks like we'll have to go the rest of the way in the boats," he said, staring out to the same place I was. I nodded. He yelled at someone to drop the anchor. Captain Andrew Shackles came up on the deck, wearing his usual red coat and white shirt. He was the only captain I' really every seen who didn't have a fascination with big hats. He pointed to a few of his crew members, including Diego and Chaac. His last choice was me. We got into one of the small boats. I sat between the two I would be spending my time with on land. I could feel Andrew's eyes on me but I ignored him. I stared out at the water instead. We tied up the boat at a dock and went on our way. Andrew whispered something to Diego and then walked off with Benten and ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Snake. We walked a little ways and found a market place. I got excited. I'm a girl and I love to shop. The boys walked around, being as patient as they could with me, as I looked around with wide eyes. I stopped them at a place that sold all kinds of jewelry. The owner of the shop eyed me suspiciously, knowing I was a pirate. After a while, I paid for a piece of jewelry and left. A few hours later, someone came from the ship to pick us up. The other boat would have to be left there for Andrew, when he came back. When we got to the ship, I pulled Chaac down to Andrew's quarters and took out what I had bought.

"Will you put this in for me?" I asked. He looked at me, confused. Oh, right. Not much English…I looked for his earring. I pointed to it, and then pointed at me. He nodded, knowing what I was talking about. I showed him how it went. It was a nose ring connected, with a small, thin chain, to an earring. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later with a sharpened wooden spike. It was very thing. He was also holding a wooden jar of something.

"It…will…hurt," he said, slowly. He had been picking up some English. I nodded and sat down in the chair by the desk. Chaac put a hand underneath my chin and forced it up so I was looking up at him. He put the stake through my earlobe. I winced and clenched my teeth. He put the earring in, quickly, and stuck his hand into the jar. He pulled out a white cream sort of thing and spread it over the piercing. It was cold. Really cold. But, suddenly, the pain was gone. Next, he went for my nose. He did the same thing, but this time I let a tear fall from one of my eyes. In went the ring and on went the cream. He stood back, away from me and looked at it. I wiped the tear from my cheek. I stood up and went over to a mirror that was hanging on the wall.

"Not too bad," I said to myself. I looked back over to Chaac. "Thank you." He pointed to his jar and thought for a second, trying to think of the words.

"Once…a…a…," he began.

"Day?" I finished for him. He smiled and nodded. He left. I looked down from the mirror. "He'll have to pack some up for me…"

The rest of the day went by without incident. Diego poked fun at my new piercing, said it made me look funny. But, I rather liked it. I found myself, while I was eating dinner, wondering what Andrew would think of it. I caught myself thinking about it and shook it out of my head. It was still a while longer before the captain actually showed up with the other two crew members. For an hour or so before they got back to the ship, I sat in the chair at the desk in Andrew's cabin and thought for a good long while. I jumped in the chair when he trudged in, but he didn't notice I was there. He pulled his red jacket off and hung it up. He looked tired. Before long, he noticed that I was sitting there.

"Dragon Eire?" he said, surprised.

"Michelle," I said, quickly. "Call me Michelle while you're alone with me. Dragon Eire…" I looked down before I finished my sentence. He walked up to me and forced me to look up at him. His expression was soft.

"Michelle…," he said, leaning down.

"Please, don't barter me off, Andrew…," I said, desperately. "I…I like it here. I don't want to…"

"I don't want you to leave, either." He smiled and kissed me, suddenly, as if I would change my mind if he didn't. I reached up and put both hands on his cheeks and pressed hard against his lips. He took his lips off of mine and pressed his forehead against mine. "Don't worry. I won't sell you to him." I smiled. He moved away and took a look at my face. He tugged on the chain connecting my new rings. I giggled. "This looks like Chaac's handiwork," Andrew said.

"It is. I bought it today in the marketplace," I said. I took the dagger out of my boot and used it as a small mirror. "Diego told me it looked funny." I moved the knife around, looking that the piercing. Andrew pushed my wrist down into my lap. I looked up at him.

"It looks beautiful." I smiled. He pointed to his eyebrow piercing.

"Chaac?" He nodded.

"Just make sure that you keep going to him for that cream for a few days," he advised. "It really helps keep infection and pain away."

"Yeah, no kidding." I slipped the dagger back into it's sheath. "We should probably go…" Before I could finish the sentence, he walked out of the room, quickly, and ran to where the grew was sleeping.

"All hands on deck!" I heard him yell. I also heard a thump and wondered if that was someone falling out of their bed. It made me giggle. Andrew came back, but stopped in the doorway. "Stay here; I'll be back soon."

"What are you…" I got up, quickly, to go to him but he shut the door in my face. I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, how mature." I smirked and went to go sit down again. Outside the door, I heard people moving around, going upstairs to the deck. I picked up a book that was sitting on the floor by the desk and started to read it. After a little while, I heard a girl yelling.

"What about my sister?!" Benten yelled, just about me.

"Don't worry," Andrew said, calmly. "We'll get her back."

"But…"

"Would you defy your captain?" After that, I didn't hear a peep out of her. It was mostly quiet up there, except for a few commands the captain yelled out. After an hour or so, Andrew hadn't come back yet and I was getting tired. I figured he wouldn't care if I slept in his bed, so I set the book on the floor and went over to his bed. I laid down, covered myself up, and was out in a matter of minutes.

I heard the door open and slam against the wall. I jumped up in the bed, eyes wide open, hand ready to grab a weapon. I relaxed a little when I saw that it was only Andrew. I dropped back down in his bed and sighed.

"You scared me," I said, just loud enough for him to hear. He walked over and sat on the side of the bed, looking down at me.

"Sorry about that," he said, running a hand down the side of my face. "I'll leave you alone. Go back to sleep."

"No, no." I started to sit up. "You have to get your sleep…" He pushed me back on to the bed and laid down next to me.

"You're just fine where you are." I smiled. There was a call from above deck. Andrew sighed and rolled his eyes. He sat up again. "Go back to sleep, Michelle. I'll wake you up in the morning." He stood up and took off again. I watched his back as he left and closed the door again. Once he was gone, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

That night, I dreamt about my brother. I remembered that day, long ago, when I watched him walking away towards the docks. His hair has been blonde, like mine. I didn't get to see his eyes since all I saw was his back. I wondered if he looked like me at all. His facial features, eye color, and everything, I had imagined for years. Was I really making the right choice, staying with Andrew and the Red Dread? Then again…I was more likely to find my brother while on the Red Dread than with some man I didn't know…What would happen if I found him? How would that affect…Andrew and I? Whenever I thought about leaving him…it hurt. And, at this point, I had completely pushed Bryant out of my head. I vaguely remembered that he said he was going to come look for me.

I woke up when someone gently pushed me over on the bed. It was pitch black in the room; someone had blown all the candles out. He climbed into the bed next to me. I opened my mouth to say something but he grabbed my hands.

"It's alright," Andrew's voice said. "Only me. Go back to sleep." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. He was wearing pants, but he had taken his shirt off. I relaxed, closed my eyes, and for the third time that night, fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was shining through the dirty windows of the cabin. I was alone in the bed, but Andrew's shirt was sitting on his desk and the jacket was hanging up on a hook in the wall. I uncovered myself and stood up. There was a roll of bread sitting on a tray on the desk. I assumed it was for me. I stretched and went over to the desk. I broke the roll in half, not feeling very hungry, and went above deck while nibbling on it. Andrew was there, shirtless and distressed, talking to Snake, at the helm. I looked out to the water and saw a ship tailing us. It's flag was raised. The Double Ds…it was the Devil's Disgrace. A wave of disappointment washed over me. Andrew saw me standing there, staring at the other ship. He quickly walked over to me and pulled me down the stairs.

"We're trying to outrun them, Michelle…but I don't know if we can," he confessed. I nodded and looked down. "We can hide you…but if they take over the ship they'll search all over."

"No, don't hide me. I need to face Bryant," I said, looking back up. "All I ask…is that you don't kill anyone on that ship." Andrew nodded. We went back up to the deck and waited for the other ship to arrive.