Chapter 8: Strengths and Drawbacks

~ Everyone is constantly fighting for the most. The most power, the most money, the most time; but nobody notices what we need to give up to get it. ~

After hearing the conversation Thomas and Q were having, I jolted from my seat in the corner

"What?! It doesn't matter if you are an Heirloom user, it's still dangerous! Actually, why am I even here? I don't know any of you, I don't owe you guys anything. I'm out of here."

"Let me guess. Akira, right? They weren't kidding when they said you don't listen. You're here to learn to control your Heirloom and help us with things that normal people can't. If you don't want to help, you can leave, but you aren't leaving with your hat."

I froze. Anger started coursing through my veins, and I immediately turned, charging towards Q. As I got close, the world suddenly turned on its head, and I heard Q's voice.

"Ah, see that's always the catch, isn't it? You want to leave, but you also want your Heirloom, but you can't have it both ways. I'll tell you more about the process, but you need to calm down. Trust me you'll be doing this more than enough later anyway."

I got up, brushing myself off and went to the nearest seat, face red at what happened.

"Now like I said the process is dangerous, but not for the fact that it's life threatening. Trust me I won't let that happen. It's dangerous though because we never know what the limit is at first, and we don't know what happens. But other than that, you all will be fine. That's part of the reason I'm here."

Thomas spoke up, "You mentioned that, as well as that you are an Heirloom user. What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean that I am a Heirloom user. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the fun stuff you guys probably have, so I am the one in charge of training. You see my Heirloom, "as he gestured towards the dog tags around his neck, "Allow me to stop an Heirloom's activation from occurring or stop it if it is active. You saw it earlier with little miss thing over there. She activated her Heirloom and started effecting Dr. Whitlook."

Evelynn spoke, almost whimpering, "I didn't mean to! I was just scared."

"And that's likely why it activated, during times of duress, your Heirlooms are more likely to activate, and usually stronger than normal, that's why I came in. Thankfully it seems like your Heirloom is more of a suggestion type. We had another one of you guys a few years ago that almost blew the lab up. Now back to what I was saying. After Dr. Whitlook comes back, we will be able to see what all of your abilities are. After that we will move to the training room, and we will run your limit tests. These will be one at a time since everyone varies."

I finally got up, "Well when are we going to find out?"

As I asked, Katrina walked out from the back of the lab, looking extremely excited.

"So, I have some interesting news. After scanning the database of previous known Heirlooms, two of you were flagged for already being in the system. Thomas, Akira, your Heirlooms were previously used by Peace Keepers."

We both shot up, almost simultaneously asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well in cases like this, it often means that another family member worked for us, most likely a parent or grandparent."

My hands clenched as I tried to hold in the questions that sprang into my mind. Were they the reason my parents had disappeared? Why didn't they tell me? I looked over to Thomas and his jaw was set. He probably had similar questions. I took a breath, trying to calm myself. I knew they weren't going to tell us why they were in the system, but we might as well learn what our Heirlooms did.

"So, what do our Heirlooms do then?"

"So, Akira, your hat has a cloaking ability. Simply put, you can make yourself invisible to the naked eye. Any other forms of vision though, such as thermal or x-ray, will still be able to see you. Thomas, your aviators seem to be the antithesis. Your glasses allow you to change your vision. From what was noted, you can change it to thermal, x-ray, or telescopic. The rest of you, we aren't entirely sure. I would say that for you, Evelynn, if I had to guess, your necklace allows you to influence others into listening to what you say. For Liam and Beatriz, we will need to run some tests to figure out what your Heirlooms can do."

"What type of tests?" Beatriz looked worried.

"Nothing crazy. We are going to give you back your Heirlooms and put you in a room. While there Qamar is going to give you instructions to try and decipher it on your own."

At the mention of his name Q stood up, continuing where Katrina left off. "As Dr. Whitlook said, I'll be helping you two figure out exactly what you can do. I'll give you some instructions now, and depending on how it goes during the test, I'll try and help a little bit more. Once you two are given your Heirlooms, go to the test areas. Once there I want you both to try and listen to the Heirloom."

"Listen? But they can't talk." Liam said. He was looking frustrated, but also as he spoke, he immediately shrunk back once Q looked at him.

"I understand that. You'll understand once you get in the room. Just try to look into yourself, almost like you're meditating, and find the voice that doesn't belong to you. That's the best way to put it. Once you do, you'll begin to understand what you can do."

Beatriz and Liam nodded. Once Q was finished explaining everything, we all got our Heirlooms back. As I reached to grab my hat, Thomas and I exchanged looks, understanding that we both wanted to know what happened, but both of us realized that they would never tell us.

"Oh, and for the rest of you, Evelynn, Thomas, Akira; don't try using your Heirloom, if I even get an inkling that you are attempting to do so, I'll hinder its activation, and we'll deal with it in the sparring room, and while you all may be kids, I won't be nice about it. Understand?"

We all nodded, not wanting to push the envelope any further today.

"Good. Now then, Liam, Evelynn, are you both ready?"

Both responded at once, "Ready."

"Good. Remember, listen to your Heirloom, and good luck."