Rune Wielders

Chapter Twenty Nine

Colbie sat around the fire, watching Reed and Ruby dance together with almost perfect grace, smiling at each other.

Ruby was tossed away and stomped her feet in tune with the false beat Colbie and Alden were making, shaking her hips before Reed came around to pick her up again.

Colbie swore that Ruby and he were levitating or something. It seemed impossible that a person's feet could move that fast, sending dust flying up as it coated their legs.

A few minutes later and they stopped, panting as the sheen of sweat shone on their skin underneath the firelight. Colbie looked to Ruby, then to Reed as they high-fived and laughed at one another.

Why did she feel a twang of jealousy? Her emotions needed to stop. Ruby wasn't even interested in Reed. She was more interested in the females around the camp than she ever had been in Reed or Alden.

"That was..." Colbie stared at Reed, at a loss of words. Her mind was blank. Awesome almost seemed lackluster to the performance they'd just done.

Alden finished her sentence for her. "Amazing. Are you sure Giantess and I can't just sit this out?" Alden asked, standing up and stretching. "I mean I get that we all should be doing it, but you guys are amazing."

"I don't think they would allow that," Ruby panted, wiping at her face. "I cannot believe that we can breathe here. To think that we would've been wearing helmets if they hadn't found us!"

"Oh," Colbie said, pulling at her tied up hair. She felt uncomfortable already, her top too tight for her and each movement just echoed the fact that she had no support. She was envious of Ruby right now. The only thing she was thankful for was the fact that Reed and Alden didn't seem to care what they were wearing.

Reed turned his gaze onto her, giving a smile. "Colbie? You ready to try again?"

Colbie looked up at Reed's outstretched hand and swallowed, shaking her head. "Not really. Can we do this some other time?" she joked, avoiding Reed's eyes.

"Oh, stop being a loser and just dance. It's really fun!" Ruby said, sitting next to Alden. "Come on, I know you can do it! Just listen to the beat!" Ruby nudged her, eyes shining with encouragement. "If I can do it, you can too!"

"Easy for you to say," Colbie grumbled and got up, looking down at Reed. "I don't see how this going to work."

Reed looked at Colbie, shaking his head. "We'll make it work."

Colbie sighed and heard the false beat starting, feeling her heart rate increase. She didn't know what to do. Each time she tried this, she messed it up. She couldn't get a grip. Her legs wouldn't move the way she wanted them to, she'd end up kicking some of them in the head, or even worse, end up tripping Reed into the fire.

Colbie shuddered at the thought of Reed being sent into the fire because of her or one of her teammates getting a concussion because she decided to flail her legs out a little too far and crack her foot into their skull.

"Come on," Reed said, looked up at Colbie. "If it makes you feel any better, just look at me. Don't focus on the others," he muttered. "It's what I used to do when I did ballet. Mrs. Flemming told me that when I was nervous."

Colbie flicked her eyes down and met Reed's, trying to calm herself. Without meaning to, she felt her feet start to move along to the beat, matching Reed's slow pace at first. He did ballet. He did ballet. He had a teacher named Mrs. Flemming, she thought, unsure of why that seemed so surprising or important to her.

"You can do this," he said, urging her to start dancing. "I know you can. Trust me, if I can do this and all I know is ballet, then you can."

Colbie nodded. She'd watched this. Over and over. She knew this dance. She could do it. Her face started to go red, but she told herself that it was just the heat of the fire and the movement. It wasn't because of the close proximity they were in.