Sharkie glares at me, his eyes flaring red. “How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t dawdle.”

Sharkie hates it when I get any positive attention, so I always drag my winning cheers out as long as possible. The emcee keeps glaring at me, his eyes glowing ever brighter. Meanwhile, I scratch my neck as the Choker struggles with my tail. I’m not ending this for another minute, minimum. Sharkie can kiss my butt.

Raising his staff, Sharkie brings the long handle down on the Choker’s chest, spiking it straight through his heart. The human twitches, then falls slack. A ghostly version of the Choker appears above his lifeless body.

Sharkie turns to me, his beady black eyes flaring bright red. “Next time, my staff skewers your heart, too.”

I open my yap, ready to tell Sharkie exactly what he can do with his staff, when the hairs on my neck prickle. Raising my head, I scan the stadium. Every face is focused on me. Verus’s eyes glow bright turquoise while a satisfied smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. Armageddon watches me with a curious interest, his right eyebrow cocked.

Time to vamoose. I don’t need any attention from those two.

“Excuse me. It’s time to call the Great Scala.” I bow low, turn on my heel, and jog into a nearby archway.

Walker waits there for me in the shadows. “Nice work.” He winks. “Hogtied is new.”

I bow slightly. “I’m trying to mix it up a bit.”

“On behalf of your audience, I appreciate the creativity.” He rubs his hands together. “Shall we depart?”

“Hmm.” Right now, I fall into the category of ‘incredibly late for school.’ I might as well make it count. “Nah.” I peep around the edge of the stone archway. “I want to see the Scala move a soul.” We don’t get monster truck rallies or boy band tours in Purgatory, so this is the closest to a spectacle that I ever get. No way am I missing it.

A muscle twitches along Walker’s jaw. “I promised to keep you out of danger.”

I roll my eyes. “Every time I finish a fight, you pull out the old ‘I promised your Mom I’d keep you safe’ speech, and try to talk me into going home. And every freaking time I talk you into letting me stay.” I elbow him in the arm. “You need some new shtick, my friend.”

Walker chuckles. “I’ll take it under advisement.”

Sharkie’s staff thuds on the ground, the noise echoing through the stadium. I peek toward the Arena floor. Sharkie stands alone on the grounds, his gray-skinned head bowed. “Bring him out.” In this case, ‘him’ is the Scala, the only creature that can permanently move a soul to Heaven or Hell. Otherwise, they can (and mostly do) escape.