The situation he was now in was almost the farthest thing from an ideal place to learn something new about his powers, but the uncertainty and just-blooming fear that Slade was feeling would prove to be the perfect catalysts to activate another of his Radam-given abilities. All that Slade noticed at first was that his vision was starting to go gray at the edges.
Slade didn't understand how that could be happening, since he was breathing normally, and as far as he knew this kind of thing only happened to people who were starting to pass out from lack of oxygen. Slade wasn't holding his breath, and none of the other racetrack staff seemed to be affected by this problem, if there even was one to begin with.
By the time one of the workers looked into the stall Slade was hiding in, Slade himself was completely colorblind. And, although he didn't know it at the time, completely invisible to anyone not wearing infra-red goggles. Slade was just sitting there, completely in the open as far as he knew, and willing to act as a distraction so that some of the others might be able to get what they had originally come to this place for.
When he saw that the man looking into the stall not only didn't seem to care that he was in there, but also told the other workers who were presumably looking for him that there was no one in the stall he was very obviously occupying, Slade wondered just what was going on.
Could this one actually be on his side? Or was this just some kind of a clever trick to get him to reveal himself? Slowly easing himself into a high crouch, Slade peered over the walls of the stalls. When no one raised any kind of alarm, Slade eased himself higher. Again, no one seemed to notice him. Standing up, Slade saw that no one was even looking in his direction.
Resisting the sudden urge to call out to them, Slade turned and vaulted over the next wall. In that stall was a nice looking dark-brown horse. Well, I suppose this one's as good as any other, Slade mused, placing his hands on the horse's side.
Once he was finished acquiring the horse's DNA, Slade saw that there was a man coming into the stall with the dark-brown horse.
"C'mon Tempest Rider, we've got us a race to win," the man said, not taking any notice of Slade, even though he was standing right next to the now-named Tempest Rider.
As Slade watched the man and horse walk out of the stall, he decided that now was not the time to question his apparent good luck. Starting his raven morph, Slade did wonder a bit at how the workers had originally spotted the Animorphs, when they seemed to be so oblivious.
