Of course, she was straightening again as they reached the base of the Heptagon.
Whistler was already there and shoving his legs into one of the pressure-regulating raid suits when they rounded the corner. Demi, Whistler’s new boy toy, with his silky dark hair and golden earrings, stood by Whistler’s side, looking nonplussed. His body did visibly relax, though, as she and Lee came over towards them.
“How’s it going? First time riding the air waves?” Lee asked him.
“Surprisingly, yes,” Demi said, chuckling nervously.
“Don’t worry, it’s safe. Mostly,” Kat said, giving him her most innocent smile. There was a reason few knew about their favorite pastime.
Flyn, Marco, and Neha stood a little apart from them, Ness holding a small stack of Canteen trays in her arms.
“Yo, Waters. Hanneman.” Flyn greeted them casually, but there was a bit of a forced edge to his light tone and stance, like he was being strategic keeping it as such. “I feel like you two have been entirely MIA lately.”
“We’d been wondering if you’d finally peaked,” Neha said, coolly. She barely bothered to disguise the contempt in the upward tilt of her elegant eyes. “Or gotten toodistractedwith other things.”
The implication she funneled into those last few words… Kat knew she’d probably fallen out of Neha’s good graces since getting involved with Zane. And who knew what she made of her being with Lee. But she’d wager as well that Neha wasn’t over not getting picked for the Segura assignment a couple weeks back, along with whatever else she now made of them.
Whistler was lucky he wasn’t being grouped into Neha’s ire. But he was often underestimated—by herself as well not too long ago.
“Just easing back in,” Lee said, but it was Flyn he was watching as he said it.
“Is that what the Laser Rounds were, then? Easing in?” Flyn challenged.
Lee tipped his head towards him and then to the others. “Easing—or crashing.” He shrugged, lifting a shoulder as he slid his hands into his pockets.
Flyn threw his head back in laughter. “You, man, go harder than anyone I know. Or excuse me, than anyman, that is.” He shot Kat a knowing glance, for which she was most appreciative. She gave him a small smile.
But Neha still eyed them—eyed her. “You say you’re still in this? Prove it.”
Kat held her gaze. “Give me that.” She swiped the second raid suit, hastily pulling it on over her other and sealing the helmet in place. She nodded to the borrowed trays in Ness’s arms.
Eyes flicking between Kat and Neha, Ness wordlessly handed Kat one of the trays.
“You’ve got the door?” Kat asked, then, to Flyn.
“Yes ma’am.”
She’d had enough chitchat. It was time to surf. And her competitive nature indeed took control of her mouth as she let it wash over her, let herself coast on those reckless waves.
She flipped the sturdy, tempered tray in her hands. She’d show them peaked.
“Aight!” Whistler hollered, gathering a second tray for himself. He slipped an arm around Demi’s shoulders. “Watch and learn,mon ami.”
Flyn took just a minute to tap into the settings by the door, confirming the atmospheric pressure on the other side of the door was where they wanted it, then priming the door seal for quick release. “On your ready,” he called across the landing.
Kat wedged the tray under her boots, eyes on the cargo hold door, breathing steady as she braced herself for that low-pressure pull.
“Ready.” She grit her teeth.
She was both mentally prepared and fully caught unawares when the current snaked around her legs and up her middle, and all sense of resistance was ripped away and tossed asunder.
“Void yes!” she squealed when she found her balance, riding the lip of her lunch tray over grated floors and unfounded doubts alike as their makeshift wind tunnel reeled her in.
Much too soon, she was being tossed through the door, slowing to a loose glide before settling deep in the cargo hold. The tide of exhilaration and determination crested up over her tray.
“And that, right there, is why we wear the pressure-regulation suits,” she overheard Whistler telling Demi back on the other side of the door.
She was grinning triumphantly as she strode back into the main Heptagon. Flyn patted her on the back, sealing the door again to reset the room pressure.
