Chapter Five
Evelyn
I could hear the roar of the crowd from inside the tunnel.
This morning, we’d been escorted to the end of the building and into the waiting area.
The bulls had already gone through and were doing their introductions, a chance to show and give the audience time to finalize any outstanding bets.
I’d learned a lot of new things about this race in these last few months, and it really had changed my perspective, but I still found all the things someone could gamble on a little gross.
To be fair, that probably had more to do with Killian’s behavior after losing a bet than it had to do with the gambling itself.
My heart raced in my ears and my palms were slick with sweat.
I hated this. I hated the idea of walking out to those cheers and sounds, letting the audience get a good look at me and imagine how the race was going to go.
Level me up against the three minotaurs who were going to follow me into the maze.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. No matter what happened, I was ending this race with enough money to disappear, and that was all that mattered.
Asher flashed through my mind, but I pushed him aside. I couldn’t afford the distraction of wants and dreams. Whoever caught me would be the winner, and there was nothing I could do about that. Except maybe give them a good chase.
I’d stretched, lubed, oiled, and was as ready as I could be for what was about to happen. I was wearing borrowed clothing so I wouldn’t lose anything of mine in case they were torn off me, and I knew enough about myself to know that as long as the winner was Asher or Mason, it wouldn’t be awful.
Two out of three? Not odds I was comfortable with, but it was all I had.
“This year, we have a special treat,” the announcer’s voice said over the speaker and my hands went clammy. The woman waiting with me smiled, reaching for the door and motioning me forward. “Please help me give a warm welcome to this year’s runner, the lovely human, Evelyn!”
I couldn’t see anything past the sunlight as the door opened and I walked onto the field.
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to wave or smile or dance, so I made do with nodding in general and walking toward Rufus.
He greeted me, shaking my hand and motioning me to stand ten feet from the entrance to the maze.
The crowd was loud, but I couldn’t hear anything.
Couldn’t focus on anything. People were here, that was apparent, and there was a large mix of minotaurs and humans.
The lights from the stadium were bright even in the middle of the day, but I was glad to not see the flashing of cameras here.
They had a strict policy against filming or taking pictures, which was nice.
Though if my face were splashed all over the internet as this year’s runner, maybe Killian wouldn’t even bother trying to track me down.
Asher looked wonderful. Wearing only athletic shorts, sweat already starting to glisten on his chest and stomach, the muscles of his shoulders standing out as he stared at me.
I could just imagine the weight of him at my back, the smell of his fur as he pried me open, and my inner muscles clenched at the thought.
Maybe the runners really did enjoy this.
Rufus caught my eye, saying something with a hand motion that I think was checking in on me.
Honestly, he could have been checking if I was quitting, I had no idea, but I gave him a thumbs up, and that seemed to be what he was looking for.
He turned toward another set of minotaurs near the entrance, one holding what appeared to be a ceremonial pistol, the next a stopwatch, and the last holding the microphone.
Huh. I thought the announcer would be in the box?
The bull with the microphone started talking, and I checked in just in time to hear him count down a “four, three, two, one!” The ceremonial pistol was fired, and I was racing into the maze.
I was actually doing this.
It was surreal, almost like I was watching my body from above as I darted through, following the maze a few turns before I slowed down long enough to think.
I didn’t have much time before the next shot, only five or ten minutes, but I was going to make the most of it.
I tugged off my shoes, running down one path and tossing a shoe before backtracking and continuing down the other.
The next fork, I repeated the process and left my remaining shoe, and on it went, leaving behind all the clothes I didn’t really need.
Sure, shoes and socks and a headband would have been nice, but this was really plush grass, no stones or rocks to step on, and I’d already started sweating, so the headband would hold my scent really well for a distraction.
Was any of it going to work?
I spotted a change in the hedge in front of me.
I’d heard about this during my prep for the race.
As the runner, there wasn’t a single part of the maze I couldn’t touch.
Holes had been added in various points of the hedge for me to crawl through for a good escape, and none of the bulls could follow.
If they touched the hedge, they were disqualified.
It helped up the competitiveness, apparently.
I crawled through this first little hole I’d found and continued, hoping that they’d think I backtracked again.
Maybe this could work. Gavin didn’t strike me as smart, both Asher and Mason having the luck of experience helping them. Maybe I really was going to be safe.
The next gunshot rang, and the crowd roared, pulling me right back to the middle of the maze, back into my body, the grass cool under my feet. I’d done all I could, and now they were following. So I did the only thing I had left to do, and I ran.