Indigo (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter 18.5 - Introducing Athira

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Chapter 18.5 - Introducing Athira

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Despite his near brush with the menu, Shift felt fairly calm.

Usually at this stage, his body would be surging with adrenaline, heart pounding it through his system to keep him on edge. It mildly surprised him, although he suspected it had something to do with the sleeper’s anaesthetic touch... and possibly just maybe a little bit Athira.

But just a little bit, he reminded himself. 

Her slim figure was outlined against the light streaming in from the windows. It made the confident way she held herself stand out rather well. She looked like she could be one of the Elites, though Shift wasn’t entirely sure that was the compliment it was supposed to be.

“Nice work,” said Raph, nodding to Athira. “First surprise mission not even an hour after joining the team.”

Athira’s hands found her hips. “Not like I’ve been doing anything too different the past few years. Just my operations weren’t so obvious.”

“I worry that you’re falling into this Colour role all too easily, Thira,” said Shift, shaking his head in mock-horror. “How are you going to be a good little villain now?”

Athira raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh?”

“Yup,” he said. “Don’t you agree, Raph? I mean, it’s her first day on the job and she’s already held up public transport and saved us all from having to be woken by true love’s kiss.”

Raph laughed, while Athira just rolled her eyes and flicked Shift on the side of the head. “You have no idea what I had to do to get this damned monorail to stop.”

“Didn’t you show them your rune?” asked Raph.

Athira held up the back of her hand. “Gone.”

Raph whistled. “How long did that take?”

“About thirty seconds,” said Athira, dropping her hand. “Without using my colour.”

“Super scrub for runes. We could market that.”

“Can it, Shift.”

“What? Maybe we can just draw the rune on with pen or something.”

That earned him another flick to the head.

“How did you end up like that, anyway?” asked Athira. “Having a race with the sleeper to see who can go the slowest, eh?”

Shift tried to retain his dignity, something made nearly impossible by the fact that he was still sitting on the floor. “I was doing fine until the brakes came on,” he said defensively.

“Using your colour didn’t occur to you?”

Shift sighed. “It wasn’t working. It refused to shift Raph’s colour, and didn’t shift anything when I touched Zoe either now that I think about it.”

Athira looked concerned. “How does it feel now?”

Shift flexed his hand experimentally, trying to gauge his colour. “It’s there, it’s just... slow? It feels like--“

“It’s burned out?” finished Athira. Shift nodded and she gave him an apologetic smile. “I think that might be my fault. Your body isn’t... designed to withstand the amount of colour you had to shift to get me out of Wi... well, the thing before. It probably just needs some time to recover.”

Raph coughed. “Ah, what’s this ‘thing before’ may I ask?”

“Explain later,” said Athira with a glance. “Not here.”