The Twelve Realms (A Zodiac Story)

Chapter 64 - The Ball (part 2)

Nobody POV

"Cancer looks like he's choking," Sagittarius noticed, concerned. "Is he okay?"

Scorpio shrugged. "Just go along with it. If they don't see that you noticed, they don't make you help."

Sagittarius thought for a moment and Scorpio took a sip of his drink, satisfied --

"But he's choking."

Scorpio coughed on his wine and indicated over to where Cancer and Taurus was sitting. Taurus was patting Cancer's back uncomfortably. "See? He's got Taurus. Taur knows how to do the Heimlich Maneuver."

Sagittarius didn't look convinced. "Isn't he too small . . .?"

Scorpio rolled his eyes. "Loosen up. How many people have you danced with tonight?"

Sagittarius counted off on his fingers. "Umm, Gemini, Libra, and a bunch of other girls I don't know. They were cute, though."

Scorpio nodded. "See? That wasn't hard, was it?"

Sagittarius shrugged, a light dancing in his eyes. "I guess it wasn't -- oh, Pisces!"

Scorpio widened his eyes and stiffened as he saw Pisces and a boy laughing and walking together. Pisces had his arm -- Sagittarius didn't notice how uncomfortable Scorpio was getting, and he called them over with a smile.

"Pisces! Pisces's friend! Over here!" he shouted, waving excitedly.

A few people gave him strange looks, but since he was a Zodiac, they didn't say anything. Pisces's face lit up when she saw the two of them, and she pulled her new partner over to them.

"Hi, guys!" she said brightly. "This is Caleb."

Caleb smiled. "Nice to meet you both. Are you two Zodiacs, too?"

Sagittarius nodded proudly. "I'm Sagittarius, and that's Scorpio --" 

Scorpio kept his expression neutral. "Hi."

Caleb laughed uncomfortably and made the tiniest movement away from him. Sagittarius and Pisces didn't notice as they kept on talking animatedly, but a small smile curled on Scorpio's face when he realized that Caleb was scared of him.

"Speaking of Libra, where is she, anyways?" Pisces noticed, looking around and breaking their conversation of guessing how many guys she danced with.

Sagittarius shrugged. "I don't know. Probably dancing or somewhere out of the ballroom, if you know what I mean." He smirked and Pisces rolled her eyes.

"Oh, your friend?" Caleb asked curiously. "I saw her dancing with one of you guys a half hour ago -- the one with the hair -- Leo, right?"

Scorpio frowned. "She was dancing with Leo? Weren't they fighting?"

Pisces shrugged. "Libra makes up with people pretty quickly -- oh yeah, and where are Aries and Capricorn?" She looked around. "I want Caleb to meet them, but it's like they disappeared."

Sagittarius widened his eyes playfully. "You don't think --"

Scorpio clapped a hand over his mouth. "No," he said firmly. "God, what runs through your mind all the time? That's probably why they're missing." He jerked his head at the windows, where you could see a meteor shower speckling the top of the night. "Everybody knows Aries is a sucker for stars."

Pisces laughed and Caleb looked surprised. "Oh, I didn't know there was a shower tonight."

"There always is," Virgo said knowingly, sidling into place beside Sagittarius. She took a sip of her wine elegantly and looked around. "Have you seen Aquarius? The last I saw of her was when she was dancing with some guy --"