“Miss Aurora, do you recognize this?” Hongjoong points at the Wonderland map on the table. Aurora crane her neck to peer at it and stiffly nod.

“Good.” Hongjoong says while handing the map to the first mate. Wooyoung gets up from the window sill, picks up the map from his captain and lay it in front of Aurora. Then he sits on the table near her.

Aurora’s pendant suddenly glows in bright sapphire blue. Everyone in the room in their breath.

“It’s the real map.” Wooyoung eyes lock into Aurora’s glowing pendant and then shift to look at the symbol on the map.

Hongjoong is the first one to recover from surprise, “May you tell us why the map is blank?”

Aurora furrows her eyebrows in contemplation as she stares at the blank map.

“Do you know the reason?” Soenghwa added, his voice harsh as usual.

A moment passed but the girl stayed quiet.

Seonghwa sighs irritatingly, “We’re going to play this game again?”

I gulp at the sudden turn of mood in the room. They were laughing absentmindedly a minute ago and now their eyes slit into knives that ready to stab us.

Aurora bites on her lower lip and peers at me. She appears to be in a dilemma.

I mouth at her ‘Second chance’ hoping that she’ll tell them. Because I don’t want them to be so worked up and get us in deep trouble again. Or else, I’ll be the one that have to reveal the truth.

Aurora looks down again. My heart deflates sensing that she might not tell them.

However,

“I know.” Aurora speaks and looks up, her eyes waver but gleam with determination. “But if I tell you, you need to promise to let me go once you get what you want.”

Hongjoong chuckles at Aurora, “Deal. Until we get what we want, you’re free to go.”

Aurora looks conflicted as she doesn’t trust the pirate’s promise.

“Even we're pirates, we do keep our promises.” Wooyoung assures her. But why does they look like a fox lurring an innocent girl into a trap?

Aurora nods even though she still doubts them.

She takes a deep breath and begins, “The map is blank because you need to make a contract with it.”

“A contract, How?” Hongjoong asks.

“You have to drop your blood on it. But it depends on the map whether it’ll accept you as its owner or not.”

Hearing her answer, Wooyoung quickly picks up the map and hands it to his captain. Hongjoong swiftly put out his dagger and about to pierce his hand.

“No!” I shouted. Hongjoong stops and glares at me questioningly.

“She hasn’t finished her sentence yet.” I say and gesture Aurora to continue.

“You can’t use a normal dagger. Blood must be drawn by a special dagger.”

“And what’s the special dagger you're talking about?” Hongjoong gets more impatient as this unknown dagger makes an appearance.

“The dagger is called Crescent, it’s my family heritage but...I don’t know where it is now, it was stolen.” Aurora says, a hint of sadness fills her voice.

“Are you speaking the truth?” Seonghwa asks seethingly. He clearly irked by her revelation.

“I really am. It was stolen during my parents...” Aurora couldn’t finish her sentence as her tears started to brim her eyes. Her heart ache every time she mentions her deceased parents.

“Your parents what?” Seonghwa demands the answer but that makes the girl recoil in fear instead.

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong cut off the quartermaster before he scare the girl further. “Do you have a clue of its whereabouts?”

“I don’t really know.” Aurora’s tone grew weak as she knew her answer won’t satisfy the pirates.

Everyone in the room curses

“And we have to ing chase after goddanm dagger.” Wooyoung cursed out loud.

They were thrown into a turmoil state again. They thought after getting the map they are heading straight to Wonderland. Who knows the map needs to make a contract with blood drawn by a particular dagger. And that dagger was stolen to god-know-where.

Silence envelopes the room. Everyone looks at Hongjoong, who is in deep thought, waiting for his decision.

And that moment I decide to speak up as I already get my revenge by having them have a taste of despair.

“Ahem, did you forget something? I’m still here.” I clear my throat and flash them a smile.

Who am I? The seer who knows everything.

“Why? You know where it is from your premonition dream last night?” Seonghwa wants to taunt me. But I return him a triumphant smirk.

“Of course, I know where the crescent dagger is.”

Ateez couldn’t hold their shock as they had their jaws drop to the ground. And I can see the spark of hope in their eyes.

If my previous prophecies still have room for doubt, my next prophecy will blow their mind away.

It’s my turn to laugh evilly.

The original story Ateez takes a long time chasing after the crescent dagger as they have to find a clue. And they even get into fights with other pirates until they obtain it. But since I’m here I can skip that part of the story.

“You really know where it is?” Hongjoong asks. His expression switches between disbelief and hope.

“Yes, kinda, not exactly the place but I can describe the surroundings.” The privilege of being the reader, I can describe the scene vividly. But the disadvantage is I don’t know where it is on the map.

“That's still good enough. It's better than nothing.” Yunho says beside me.

Soenghwa, however, points out, “And how accurate is that? We don’t want to end up having surprises like in Port Royal.”

My right eye twitches at the skeptical Seonghwa. “Look here Mister quartermaster, if you don’t believe me then you can find the dagger yourself. But you don’t have any clue, right? How are you going to find it?”

Soenghwa's face darkened from my statement. His stares burn holes on me.

But Mingi gives me a thumbs up and quickly hides it as Seonghwa gives him a scowl.

“She’s right. Perhaps we should give it a shot. It’s better than digging for a new clue. If what she said is true then it’ll be a shortcut to obtain the dagger. Plus, her past prophecies are accurate, well, in a sense, even though there might be obstacles in a way.” Jongho states his reason.

I feel thankful that he spoke out for me. I have a firm belief that he’s the most normal one here.

Suddenly a bell tolls and interrupts our conversation.

The door flies open, “Captain, a ship is heading our way.” A crew reports to Hongjoong.

“How far until they reach us?” Hongjoong asks, annoying by the fact that an unknown ship has to appear when they are in the important meeting.

“Around 1 hour, Sir.”

“That's so fast. Why didn't you report earlier?” Wooyoung asks.

“Sorry sir, the fog hinders our vision, it’s difficult to see from afar.” The crew answers.

Wooyoung clicks his tongue, also in a slight bad mood.

“Can you identify the ship?”

“It has a blue ensign flag, Sir.”

Once they hear the response, the crew all have a scornful expression.

“Royal navy.” Hongjoong mutters with venomous in his tone.

He instantly got up from his seat and ordered his crew. “Yunho, you work with Miss Star and Miss Aurora. Make sure they always stay inside this room. The rest of you follow me. Let’s greet our old friend.”

The devilish smiles display on their faces as they pile out of the room.