A month had passed by since the events in Palavana and the battle with Ezekra. One month without any trouble… no naval ships that chase us… no monsters that want to sink us… no mermaids that want to hypnotize us… and no ghosts that want to possess us. One month of peace. One month of lovely romantic moments with Jacob which elicited one month of cheers and teases from the crew.

I let the wind dance with my hair as I leaned on the rails by the forecastle deck observing the ripples of the sea water as Labyrinth passed by. I laughed as once again I saw a pair of playful dolphins jumped up in the air and raced with the ship.

I turned to him and smiled. Then after the dolphins vanished from my sight, I walked towards them. Neville and the others were spinning a bottle. I sat down beside Thaddaeus.

"What game are you playing?" I asked the engineer curiously.

Thaddaeus smiled at me, "Urdel claims it's a game he invented called Honest Answer or Do This. You spin the bottle. Then, when it points to you, you choose if you'd rather give an honest answer or do what they tell you to do. So basically, it's either you tell the truth or do a dare."

I nodded. "And Urdel claimed he invented the game?" I asked again.

Thaddaeus nodded, "Do you want to play?"

"Alright, I'll play," I responded.

They made me spin the bottle first and it pointed at Elgo. "Honest Answer or Do This?" I asked.

"Honest Answer," he replied.

I smirked. I've been wanting to ask this question for a very long time now but I just did not have a chance to do so, "Do you have any romantic feelings for the Priestess Jaina?"

At my question, Elgo blushed deep red. He looked at me with widened eyes in surprise. Upon seeing his reaction, the teasing began! Zaki punched the side of his arm while the rest cried, "Ooooohhhh…"

"Could I just do a 'Do This', instead?" Elgo asked, feeling embarrassed.

The rest of the crew disagreed and in an instant created a rule that states that you cannot change your choice.

Elgo sighed in defeat, "Well… even if I do have romantic feelings for her, I could not do anything about it. Not until she stops being a priestess. She has to remain pure after all."

"So you do have impure thoughts about her?" Zaki asked. Elgo narrowed his eyes on him.

"When does she stop being a priestess?" I asked to get Elgo's attention away from what Zaki said..

"When the new priestess is born, then the former's priestess' mark vanishes and transfers to her. That means, the former priestess is free," Elgo explained. "But, it takes a while for that to happen, usually centuries or even a millenia."

"Is that the reason why you left the island?" I asked again.

Elgo looked at me knowingly, "Isn't it that you can only ask one question per spin? I already answered two. My turn," he replied and spun the bottle. It pointed at Sandlot.

"I choose 'Do This'," he said right away, wanting to avoid any personal questions.

Elgo narrowed his eyes already having an idea of what was running in Sandlot's head. "Hmm…" he muttered as he thought. Then, he smirked, "Alright. Do this: Stand upside down and yell at the top of your lungs the most attractive woman you've ever met since we sailed."

I chuckled, "That was clever, Elgo."

Sandlot took a deep breath before standing upside down. He looked at all of us and remained quiet for a bit.

"Well?" Elgo asked.

"MONIKAAAAAA!!!!!!" he screamed as loud as he could.

I gaped and put my hand over my mouth. Sandlot's brothers began to tease him non-stop as he went back to sit down, Zaki especially.

Sandlot just shrugged his shoulders as if he was not affected. "I just find her attractive, that's all. She's too conniving for my taste. Though, I admit she thinks cleverly which I believe will make her a good spy. But, that's it. I still prefer a woman with an angelic beauty that needed me to defend her honor, " he said to put a stop on the teasing.

"Like Carla?" I asked.

Sandlot shook his head, "No… Give Carla more months with the gypsies and she'll turn even feistier than Monika. In battle I mean. I could see ferocity in her eyes."

"Really?" I could not believe it but they all agreed with Sandlot.

Then, it was Thaddaeus' turn to be asked. He chose 'Honest Answer'.

"Labyrinth or woman?" Sandlot asked.

Thaddaeus crossed his arms, "As of now, Labyrinth. If I find a woman I'll fancy, then I'll leave Labyrinth in a heartbeat."

I nodded at his response, "You're really the most loyal person I've ever met. She'll surely be lucky when she meets you."

After that, the pirates chose to do dares instead since they can trick each other into answering personal questions whenever they want while torturing each other with physical strenuous activities, which they prefer more. Urdel was forced to hang by the bowstrip for five minutes while being tickled. Neville had to drink one of Gondro's awful concoctions.

With each passing moment, seeing the silliness of my crewmates, I could not help but laugh and laugh until I caught Jacob staring at me intensely. I smiled. He did not. Instead, he continued to stare at me with such a heated gaze. I waved to call him to us. He shook his head slowly and just looked at me. I stepped to go to where he was but he shook his head again.

I furrowed my brows but stopped. What is going on? Did I do something wrong? I started to feel too conscious because he kept on staring at me. The only time he stopped was when Paco talked to him to show him something. I sighed.

However, for the rest of the day, he did not… not even once approached me. Instead, he just watched me.. stared at me… looked at me with that heated gaze! If looks could devour I would have been long consumed!

Usually, I would just go to him and sass or flirt and ask what in the world is the matter with him. But this time, I froze. There was such danger in those eyes that put fear in me. Yet, I also felt like a moth being drawn to the fire… a fearful moth. All of these do not make sense! So, I looked away. Everytime I catch him looking at me, I look away! I had to, or else...