A/N: ooh, bet u got goosebumps from this chapter title! ok, maybe not, but doesn't it intrigue? lol! enjoy!

Chapter 4: A Dangerously Charming Stranger

"So you actually found El Dorado?!" Esperanza breathed, staring at Miguel in astonishment. She was now looking at him as he leaned next to her on the railing where he had moved over the course of his story. He nodded casually and Esperanza couldn't believe it. "And you protected it from Cortes?"

He nodded again then added, "It was Tulio's idea."

"But you helped," she insisted, wrapping her arms around one of his. "Without your help, I'll bet all of Tulio's plans would fall apart!"

Miguel scoffed and waved her comment off but couldn't help smiling as she nudged him back.

"It's probably true," she murmured and Miguel shook his head with a goofy grin. Esperanza giggled, snuggling her cheek to his arm and making herself blush. She'd never been this flirtatious with anyone back home. Mostly because she was much too shy to even look at a boy, but here, she really had no choice. Not that she minded looking at Miguel. She had to admit, Miguel was much more handsome than Tulio.

"Well, enough about that," he sighed, placing his free hand on one of his, still wrapped around his arm and looking at her. "What will you do when we get back to Spain?"

Esperanza stared at him with wide eyes filled with surprise then smiled slightly, looking at the ocean again.

"I don't know," she murmured. "I'm not sure if my mother will let me stay at home."

"Why not?" Miguel wondered with a frown.

"Because, she fears Cortes," she replied in a low voice. "She wouldn't want to be punished for hiding an escapee."

Miguel only nodded, solemnly and glanced from the water to her then shifted and turned her to face him, his hands gently grasping her arms.

"Why don't you stick with us when we get there, then?" he smiled and Esperanza's eyes widened even more.

"What?" she breathed.

"When we get to Spain, you'll stick with us," Miguel decided with a definite nod. "Tulio won't mind. After all, you're my responsibility."

"But-But what if he does mind?" Esperanza sputtered.

"He won't," Miguel insisted. "Trust me. And besides, he's too busy with Chel to bother with anyone else."

"Anyone else but you," Esperanza corrected and Miguel looked at her in surprise. "I've seen the way you two are. You're the best of friends, aren't you? That means he would mind."

"Why?" Miguel wondered at her theory.

"Because, if it took you begging him to let me come along, then it'll take you on your knees to let me stay with you when we reach Spain," she replied and he stared at her in shock.

"I-I didn't beg him to bring you along with us," Miguel tried lying, but he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she knew.

"Miguel, I'm no fool," she smirked. "No one as worrisome as Tulio would bring a stranger along with them."

"Tulio's not 'worrisome,'" Miguel tried, but he knew it was true.

"I spent two days with Tulio," Esperanza smirked. "Even if I only spent two minutes with him I'd be able to tell he's a worry wart."

Miguel couldn't help but scoff and look away then back at her with a smirk.

"If it'll make you feel better, I can ask him anyway," he shrugged. "But I'm sure he won't mind."

"But---"

"Hush," Miguel whispered, gently placing a finger on her lips, taking them both by surprise.

"I'll---" he choked then cleared his throat as he pulled his hand away and she stared at him with a blush and wide eyes. "I'll ask him."

"And what if he says 'no'?" Esperanza swallowed.

"Then I'll grovel," he smiled, and she couldn't help but giggle. With a grin he continued, "I'll get down on my knees, as you said and say…" He knelt down on his knees, gazing up at Esperanza, hands clasped in the air. "…'Please, Tulio! Let Esperanza come! She's so pretty and smart! Please, oh please, oh please!'"

Esperanza went into a giggling fit, placing her hands gently over her mouth. He suddenly shuffled toward her, still on his knees and threw his arms around her legs as she gasped but still laughed.

"'Let Esperanza come with us, Tulio! I'm begging you!'" Miguel sobbed, continuing his demonstration of his plan as Esperanza laughed out loud.

"Alright, Miguel!" she continued laughing. "I know what you'll do now! You can get up!"

She wobbled as he still held her legs, fake sobbing. She felt herself wobbling back, but being unable to catch herself with her feet, she wind milled her arms, trying to keep herself from falling. It didn't work. She shouted with a start when she started to fall backwards. Miguel let go of her legs and pulled himself up to kneeling on one knee to grab her hands. He stood quickly and pulled her back, slamming her into his chest and they both let out grunts as he threw his arms around her waist to keep her from falling back again.

"That was close," he smiled, but his heart was pounding so hard in his chest he was sure she could feel it.

"Y-Yeah," she breathed with a nod, her cheeks flaring up. "Th-Thank you."

"You're welcome," he murmured, both suddenly very aware that his arms were around her waist. She slid her hands slowly to his arms as their eyes locked and her own heart began pounding. Her eyes felt heavy as she felt him pull her a bit closer and her arms slid up a bit higher to sit on his shoulders. Her eyes closed and her breath caught when she felt his finger tip brush against her lips. It pulled away and she was sure he was closing in on her but she didn't get to find out because Altivo suddenly whinnied loudly.

Esperanza's eyes shot open and she saw Miguel staring behind her in horror. She spun around to see Altivo jerking his head around to by free of the man who held his reins. The man was as tall as Miguel, but built like Tulio. His gray eyes examined everything in front of him and through strands of his short, dark brown hair, with a strange circle like symbol was tattooed onto his forehead. He wore a long dark brown tunic that had one sleeve wrapped around his shoulder and he held a long spear in one hand and Altivo's reins in the other.

"Sai tope," he said. Miguel and Esperanza frowned at each other then looked to Tulio and Chel at the helm. They both shrugged and everyone looked back at the man. He sighed in exasperation and stepped toward Miguel and Esperanza, dragging Altivo with him. Miguel protectively pulled Esperanza a bit behind him as she still stared at the man.

"Sai tope," he said again and Miguel only shrugged and shook his head, silently telling him that none of them knew what he was saying. The man sighed again and tapped the spear twice on the ships deck. They all felt a sudden wave pulse through them starting from their feet and ending at the top of their heads.

"Now, then," then man suddenly said, making everyone's eyes nearly pop out of their skulls. "Who are you?"

"We're not Gods," Tulio said quickly, hurrying down the steps from the forecastle and coming up behind Miguel and Esperanza. "Let's get that straight, right now."

"No," the strange man smirked, shaking his head. "You're not Gods. But who are you?"

"Who are you?" Chel wondered, her hands on her hips as she came up next to Tulio. "You came onto our ship."

"This is not your ship," the man chuckled. "You stole it from Cortes."

"How do you know?" Miguel asked, glaring at him and pointing his finger questioningly. "You weren't with us."

"Wasn't I?" he replied smoothly, taking everyone aback.

"It was you," Esperanza suddenly breathed and everyone's attention snapped to her. "You attacked those soldiers, didn't you?"

The other three looked to him with wide eyes and he only nodded.

"Why did you save us?" Tulio asked, firmly. "Why are you asking who we are, if you saved our lives anyway?"

"I was curious to see how you four would get off that beach," he smirked. "You were close to where Cortes had his ships. I wanted to see if you would steal one, and if you did, how you would steal it. I must say, it wasn't how I would go about it, but it was affective."

"Why, thank you," Tulio smirked triumphantly, examining his nails.

The man suddenly came closer, letting go of Altivo's reins and staring at one of the group. Miguel frowned at him then looked at Esperanza and realized he was staring at her and coming straight for her.

"It was very brave of you to come back to one of Cortes's ships and risk being taken again to escape," he murmured, sliding past Miguel and standing in front of Esperanza. He lifted one of her hands as she stared at him in confused awe and Miguel glared at him in growing anger. Tulio and Chel stared on at the scene, wondering whether or not to run for cover.

"My name is Xenos Quintin," the man smiled, lifting her hand to his face. "If you don't mind my saying so, yours is a rare beauty."

"He's smooth, Miguel," Tulio muttered through the corner of his mouth at his friend. "I think you're gonna lose her."

"Shut up," Miguel growled through clenched teeth, still glaring at Xenos, his hands starting to ball into fists.

"What am I?! Chopped liver?!" Chel hissed, slightly jealous of Esperanza and Tulio slid an arm around her shoulders.

"You're a beauty too, Chel," he whispered in her ear and she giggled.

Xenos lifted Esperanza's hand a little closer to his face and kissed the back of it gently and she let out a giddy giggle, making Miguel step in. He slapped Xenos's hand away and the other man stepped back as Miguel stared angrily at him.

"Miguel!" Esperanza shouted in disbelief.

"What do you want?!" Miguel snapped and Xenos smirked.

"The four of you," he replied and Miguel stared at him in disbelief.

"What's that now?" Tulio wondered if he'd heard right.

"The four of you will come with me," Xenos simply replied and headed for the helm, flashing a charming smile to Esperanza as he passed. She cast her eyes down with a small smile he had meant to hide but Miguel caught it. Through the anger, he felt his heart sink at seeing her smile because of Xenos and not because of him.

"Wait a minute," Tulio called, walking after Xenos, followed by Chel. "You can't just…take over our ship and say we have to come with you. You still haven't told us who you are, where you're from or what you want us for."

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride, hm?" Xenos smiled tightly as he stood at the helm. He looked out to sea and tapped his spear to the deck five times, this time. The ship shuddered to a stop and everyone wobbled slightly on the deck. Esperanza grabbed hold of the railing to steady herself and Miguel did the same as Tulio and Chel held onto the railing of the stairs leading to the helm.

"Ride?" Miguel finally asked back and Xenos only nodded with a smirk and a wink at Esperanza when she looked up at him. The ship suddenly glowed a watery blue and the four companions looked around in awed confusion. Altivo looked to the bow and suddenly saw the bowsprit sink beneath the water. He whinnied and trotted toward the group as they turned to see what frightened him.

"What are you doing?!" Tulio shouted at Xenos. "Are you trying to kill us?!" He ran to them helm and tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. Chel ran up the stairs to help but it was no use. They all turned to see the ship sinking fast and they all looked to Xenos who didn't seem worried at all.

Miguel grabbed Esperanza's hand and made for the stern but when he tried to walk past the helm, his feet were somehow stuck to the deck. Esperanza tried moving her feet too but they wouldn't budge, and when Tulio and Chel tried to do the same they were met with the same result.

"Just relax," Xenos cooed to them. Miguel turned to the deck to see Altivo trying to run but his hooves had been stuck to the deck as well then he turned a glare to Xenos.

"That's easy for you to say!" he snapped. "You're the one who's doing this to us."

Xenos turned his head slowly to face Miguel and smirked as he said, "Do you really think I'd be that stupid?"

Miguel stared at him in wonder but when Esperanza shrieked in fright he turned his head to the direction of what had frightened her. A wave had crashed over Altivo and the water was coming almost completely upon them.

"Miguel!" she gasped, gripping his arm as he looked down at her. She buried her face against his arm and he threw his other arm around her, knowing it was in vain, but wishing he could shield her from the water.

They were suddenly enveloped in salt water, their feet still stuck to the wood. They had all taken deep breaths to keep from drowning, but they all knew that if their feet remained stuck to the ship's deck, they would drown anyway.

"Oh, please," Xenos groaned, walking from the helm and toward the deck. "You don't have to hold your breath."

They all glared at him, and it was Chel who started panicking because her lungs were crying for air. She let out a few bubbles and Tulio looked at her in panic. She let out a few more bubbles and Tulio tried placing his hand over her mouth. Esperanza was the next to spit out bubbles and Miguel did the same for her. Soon the men couldn't hold in their air anymore and slapped their hands over their own mouths.

Xenos rolled his eyes and walked back toward them again. He yanked Miguel's hand from his mouth and punched him in the stomach. Esperanza's eyes shot wide when she saw Miguel double over, bubbles floating up from his mouth.

"Miguel!" she shouted, kneeling next to him to help him, but they realized that they were breathing without air! Esperanza and Miguel looked at each other in awe then back at Tulio and Chel who stared at them in awe.

"You see?" Xenos told them. "Nothing to worry about."

Tulio and Chel hesitantly let their air from their lungs and breathed in. They stared at each other in wonder then they all looked at Xenos.

"This will come in handy when we get to where we're going," he explained as the ship started leveling out. Miguel ran to the railing of the forecastle to see Altivo walking around, calmly and he sighed in relief. Anger quickly took over and he turned to Xenos who looked at him with a smirk.

"I wasn't sure how else to get you all to breath," he shrugged, knowing why Miguel was angry. "Well, I had another idea, but I didn't want to disrespect Miss Esperanza." He smiled brilliantly at her and Miguel glared at him when she blushed and headed down the steps of the forecastle to play with Altivo. Tulio glanced at Chel then nodded to her and Chel nodded in understanding and darted off after Esperanza. Tulio stood up next to Xenos with Miguel on the other side of him and the foreign man glanced between them.

"Hit Miguel again," Tulio began, "and the hand you punched him with will be gone."

"Oh, please," Xenos sighed, rolling his eyes. "I know all about El Dorado, and your lives in Spain before that. You don't have the guts."

"If we get angry enough," Miguel replied, "we will cause pain."

"And you're on your way to that pain," Tulio smirked. The two friends headed down the steps on either side of the forecastle and toward the girls and horse as Xenos shook his head. They were a couple of cowards. They wouldn't even touch him. Not that they could.

A/N: ooh, things r gettin' interesting! reviews?