Shaking off the fight, The Bull walked to the center of the ring and lifted her arms to the crowd, whose applause escalated.
“Let’s get out of here.” Spencer leaned past me to catch Leo’s eyes, a secret passing between them.
With a nod, Leo started to stand. My forehead wrinkled. No one else was standing to leave. But there was an urgency to Spencer and Leo’s movements, a need to get me out of The Hollow suddenly.
Before they could lift me from my rickety seat, the announcer arrived back at the center, holding up Bull’s arm.
Only once the crowd quieted did the announcer drop Bull’s hand and bring the microphone to her lips. “The night’s not over yet!”
My eyes stayed glued to the sand pit, ignoring Leo’s firm hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Princess.”
The announcer whipped her arm out toward a closed, rusty gate. As if part of a ritual, one I was excluded from, the crowd started to stomp their feet rhythmically against the concrete floors of the stands.
“What is this?” I squinted down into the pit.
“That was the last match, let’s go.” Spencer put her hands on my hips, trying to hurry me out of the stands.
“Clearly there’s another fucking fight.” I waved my hand down at the pit and at the onlookers seated all around us. “What’s the problem?”
Spencer didn’t get to answer over the cheers from the crowd. As the stomping reached a fever pitch, the gate finally rolled open.
From the shadows, a body was pushed forward. Chained at his wrists and ankles, the man was dirty and gaunt — and the only man in the entire Hollow.
“What the fuck…?” I breathed the words involuntarily.
Behind the prisoner was a towering woman in an executioner’s hood and brown robes. She pushed the man forward, constantly keeping him moving.
The Bull lifted her chin to the man, rolling her shoulders to keep her muscles loose.
When my eyes finally broke from the scene below, all I found was Leo and Spencer stammering for an explanation.
“What the actual fuck is going on?”
47
KIERA
The crowd roaredas the announcer brought the microphone back to her mouth, stopping Spencer or Leo from telling me what was going on.
With a brimming smile, the announcer gestured toward the chained up man as his executioner unlocked his chains. “We have a special offering for you tonight! A Gauntlet is about to begin!”
A what?
I couldn’t pick my jaw off the floor as I watched the disheveled man rise in his worn out boots and tattered clothing.
Lifting the man’s chin, the announcer smiled down at him. “The Oracle has smiled upon you tonight. This is your chance at rehabilitation.”
The crowd booed at the words.
“No, no,” the announcer waved off the disappointed chants. “This is true justice we are witnessing tonight.”
Leo and Spencer had eased off of me, no longer pushing me out of my seat. They didn’t want to make a spectacle in the stands — not until whatever was unfolding below came to acrest. As I scanned their faces I knew this wasn’t the first time they’d seen whatever this was.
There was a reason they had tried to usher me out.
Looking down at the man, the announcer nodded. “You have committed a grave act of violence on your fellow human. A crime that is not tolerated by the shadows. Tonight will be your chance at redemption. Fight our champion and win your life back.”
The Bull licked her teeth at the man, slicking back her short hair as her nose lifted into a snarl.
