Chapter Nine
The Main EventGranville, New York
May 30, 1926
Costello stood in his corner, wearing the same clothes he had worn for years: blue jeans, a red flannel shirt, and work boots. Zho figured that the voice in his head must be a remnant of host memory, and so he decided to ignore it and focus on the Skiirmiish.
He removed his shirt, revealing an enormous scar in the center of his chest. It looked as though someone had either stabbed him or performed a rudimentary form of surgery on him. The crowd gasped. Zho could feel that the host’s feet were starting to become too big for his boots. “Is the host growing? Do Earthlings continue to grow, even as adults?” Zho wondered. Costello removed his boots, apparently intending to fight barefoot, and stood waiting for the bell.
The bell
