The Black Box

25

Sophie has seemed unnerved ever since we got here. I walk over to her.
"Hey Soph," I say. I say it softly so not everyone can hear me.

"Hi."

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"I,"

"You what?"

"I've known this the whole time," she says, looking into my eyes.

"How?" I ask her, astonished.

"You see, when the room's quiet, everyone can hear you," says Noah. "She has the enhancer that allows her to see into the future, but not all of the time. I can tell."

"Really?" I turn to Noah.

"Yeah. That's how she knows. She knew all of this would happen. She can't tell when though."

"So you knew this was gonna happen sooner or later Soph?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she says, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Anyway, so everyone in here has an enhancer but to some extent," Noah says, "So for example, I have the enhancer to be very good at technology and advancement in intelligence, which are basically the same thing."

"I have the enhancer that allows me to be excellent at hunting," says Jess cracking her knuckles to be intimidating.

"Oh, there's also another part to the enhancers," says Noah. "This kinda helps for knowing what enhancer everyone has. It depends on their eye color, but not necessarily. So hunters, like Jess, have gray eyes with some red. The eyes of the killer enhancer are pale pink. The eyes of the killer enhancers are always pale pink. My eyes, however, don't tell my enhancement."

"Ok. How do we know what we have?" asks Adam.

"We were going to test you before I explained the story," says Noah, even more irritated.

"Ok... I guess you can test us," says Jax.

Each of us go one by one. Noah hooks us up to his machine in the back. He pricks our finger with a needle to get a blood sample and scans our eyes.

Jax's enhancement is to give heat and light, and shoot projectiles that have the element of fire.

"Woah, cool. I have absolutely no idea how to do that," says Jax looking at his hands.

Adam's next and Noah pricks his finger and scans his eyes and starts the program. Then the machine makes a funny noise.

"What's wrong?" asks Adam, sounding a little nervous.

"This can't be right," says Noah under his breath. He types on the keyboard and re-takes Adam's test. The machine makes the noise again.

"What's not right?" asks Adam, sounding more nervous.

"It's not that it's bad, it's incredible," says Noah, staring at the machine screen with amazement. He eyes move from the screen to Adam. He looks at Adam top to bottom and has a blank expression afterwards.

"Can you tell me now?" says Adam, pleading. He wants to know if it's bad or not. Knowing Adam.

"I didn't know any survived. At least they weren't in the database," says Noah, still staring at Adam with a blank expression. He's probably racking his brain trying to find the information he wants to tell Adam.

"Who didn't survive?" demands Adam. He clearly is angry 'cause Noah's been avoiding his questions.

"The ones who could produce magic."

A thought struck Adam in the face like someone slapped him in the face. He just recalled the story Noah told us. Unfortunately, the enhanced people that could produce magic were wiped out.
"Am I one of them?"

"Yeah."

"Woah."

"Woah's right Adam," says Noah, coming to his senses and looking him in the eyes. His purple eyes.

After a few moments of silence, Sophie went to get tested.

Noah looks slightly confused when he looks at the computer.
"Do you need a new computer Noah?" asks Kevin.

"No. It works just fine. Best one from the rubble," says Noah still looking at the screen. He shakes his head and looks at Sophie. She looks at him and they lock eye contact for some time.

"What're the results?" asks Annabeth. She hasn't talked for a long time. She's probably still overwhelmed.

"They're..."

"They're what Noah? Stop making this sound so dramatic," says Jess. She's probably impatient by the look on her face.

"I thought the Purest were supposed to have one enhancement," says Noah still looking at Sophie.

"She has more than one?" says Jess. She's looking at Sophie now. "I thought that's why they were called pure."

"I guess not."

"What are hers then Noah?"

"Future sight, telepathy, and nature."

"What? Future sight and telepathy? That's not possible."

"Well apparently it is Jess."

"I thought the telepathetic were supposed to avoid the future sighted."

"Well one didn't avoid the other," says Noah rolling his eyes. Jess gives him an irritated look. "Anyway, let's move on."