Valkyrie Rising ✓

Chapter Twenty-Five

When we get halfway up the stairs to the gym, I hear the thumping of the electronic music I've learned in my time here the Kuzabn are so fond of. I can see why the Kuzabn love this "dubstep"; aggression pulsing in music form.

The song changes before we enter. Still electronic, but softer, not quite so aggressive.

"This is classic Pre-Atomic dance music!" Eveia says, raising her voice above the woman singing about making the most of the night.

"You know a lot about Pre-Atomic music, maybe you should do that tech recovery," I say.

"They just find the lost technology," Wick says. "They don't do any listening or updating. I asked Briar."

He pulls Eveia away from the door. They bounce to the beat at the edge of the dance floor.

"I'll just stick to the music games on the videogras." Eveia laughs when Wick takes her hands and wiggles his shoulders like he had at the table, making hers move, too.

"Shall we?" Kaz gestures to the dance floor, palm upturned.

"I don't know how to dance to this," I admit.

He rolls his eyes. "If Wick can do it, you can do it."

It mostly seems to involve a bunch of jumping and pumping our fists in the air. At the chorus everyone yells, "Like we're gonna die young. We're gonna die young."

I find the words a little eerie, given our status as Kuzabn recruits, but I get drawn into the beat soon enough. Kaz and I take our cues from Eveia and Wick, since they've played the dancing game on the videogras the most.

"How will you find your families?" I ask when the music stops.

"They'll see my sweet moves as soon as they walk in." Wick starts dancing to the next song. It has even less of the electronic whine to the music, but the beat is just as strong. The words are more spoken than sung, and I have a hard time making them out.

The dancing changes drastically, too. The people around us move in time with the music, their bodies pressed together in a way that makes me uncomfortable to watch. Wick and Eveia aren't as close as some of the others, but she does have her hands draped around his neck; his are on her lower back as they move in sync with each other and the music, their hips doing most of the movement.

"Come on, kid." Kaz puts his hands gently on my hips and pulls me closer. It becomes very hard to breathe. He puts my hands on his shoulders, then replaces his own just above my hipbones and helps me move to the music.

"You've got to loosen up a bit."

I don't know how to, with him smiling at me like that, his body so close, his fingers practically burning me I'm so aware of them, only separated from my skin by a light layer of cotton.

I smile nervously. I've never felt so insecure, so tense, so alive. I'm aware of every inhale, exhale, each heartbeat throbbing beneath my breast.

Someone comes up behind me and presses her body against my back, knocking me the last few inches into Kaz.

"Get out of here, Eveia." Kaz's words tickle my ear.

She laughs as she grinds her hips against my backside. "You'd think a Viry would be the expert at sexy dancing."

Kaz pushes her shoulder and she goes back to Wick, but Kaz keeps me against him. We both sway in time to the beat.

"She has a point, though," he says in my ear. "You'd think someone born to do nothing but...reproduce... would be more comfortable with her body."