"Gah!" Rhett exclaimed, jolting to the side of his seat as the strange voice snapped him back to reality. The harsh fluorescent lights above cast sickly shadows across the concrete bleachers, and the metallic tang of blood still hung in the air from the previous fight. Why would somebody actually sneak up on him during this kind of situation?
He turned to see who was speaking, and his confusion only deepened.
A girl sat beside him—but calling her simply a girl felt inadequate. Dark-skinned patches of normal flesh were interrupted by stretches of leathery, turquoise hide that caught the arena's harsh lighting. The texture looked rough, almost scaled, like armor grown from within. Her arms bore a roadmap of burns and scars, while fresh bandages wrapped around her legs, stained with dried blood that told stories of recent battles.
