Jack of all Trades

The History Project

I could barely string together a sentence.

"Dr  Jackson. That wasn't my gift." I stated, my voice sounded ominous and grave as I looked up at him. "So what the hell was that"

"To be honest, Silver, I don't know...maybe it was some aspect of fire...heat...maybe...electricity...no, that's my gift...light?...it could heat up...no, that's wrong...maybe-no...I'm not sure...it could be..." He continued to mumble to himself, and I could see the gears turning over every possibility in his head as he went back and sat down in his chair.

Glancing at the mirror, I noticed that although dulled, my eyes were still glowing.

Great.

There goes 'normal'.

A few minutes passed, and I waited...and waited...and waited, listening to Dr Jackson's musings of how my gift of fire could lead to THAT.

He didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

Five minutes later, the door burst open and I jumped to my feet, prepared for whatever attacker had come in. I was way too on edge. It was only Rory.

I slumped to the chair again.

"Rory I told you, you can't be in here!" Dr Jackson yelled at her, but she ignored him and jumped into the seat next to mine. He groaned.

"Ooooh they gave you the kids handcuffs did they", Rory chuckled, referring to the bracelets Dr Jackson had attached to my wrists.

I nodded slowly, still in shock from what had just happened, unable to crack a smile.

"Rory, you need to leave" Dr Jackson said, standing, as though he was going to have to forcibly remove her from the room.

"Chill out, Dr Jackson, this is about Silver. I thought you'd want to know" she replied, and only then did I notice the thick leather bound book that she clutched between her hands.

"Rory!" Dr Jackson warned, exasperated.

"Sir, I think I know what her gift is. I think I know what THAT was." She replied, snapping me out of my dreamlike state. I was instantly concentrated.

"Okay, Okay...I guess I've got no other ideas," he muttered, throwing a hand out for her to continue, "go on then."

"Okay...so...ummm...I don't really know how to say this.

Right. So, in history the other day we had to read and research one of the old books in the library about chromes and our links to science. I decided to research this book," she placed the book on the table in front of Dr Jackson. "It's basically a list of all known gifts chimeras have ever had, including the rarest ones."

"So how does this help us, Chromes can't have the same gift.", Dr Jackson replied, slightly irritated.

"Well, When I was reading through it, I found this."

She reached over to open the book to around halfway through. It opened on a page with a picture of what looked like some kind of demonic creature, which had a certain similarity to pictures I'd seen of Satan. Great. So encouraging.

But as I prepared to make a joke about me being the devil, I caught sight of Dr Jackson's expression and my words caught in my throat. He had gone instantly pale.

"What is it, what's wrong?" I questioned, nervous as I saw that Rory's face had also gone serious.

I looked over to the book and read the name of the creature.

"Chimera". What the hell was that.

"What does it mean?" I asked, now more nervous than ever.

"If it's true it could - it coul - could - It means that if the people who are hunting you catch you, we have a serious situation on our hands. You would be so much more powerful than we thought." He stammered.

I gulped. Every hope of being normal flew out the window.

"Why."

Dr Jackson turned the book so that I could read it.

It read:

"Chimera - A Chimera is a being with two sets of DNA, oftentimes one set from each parent cell. Their split DNA traits are often displaying through conditions such as heterochromia or vitiligo"

I touched the corner of my gold eye. Well there's the heterochromia.

The book went on:
"In the past, there has been one recorded birth of a chimera Chrome - Nina Ray, born 1893, who had the gift of weather manipulation. Her parents gifts were weather prediction and mind control."

"You think this is me. Because of my eyes. But how does that relate to my gift. How is that-how is that possible. It doesn't exist. I'm not an 'Angelus Chimera'. How is...I don't understand. I thought each gift was unique" I stammered.

"Silver, I know about your parents. Everyone does. They're sort of a legend around here. Nobodies really sure if they exist or if they were just stories." Rory started.

"Anyway. What if, like other chimeras, you inherited two sets of DNA, like your eye colour. But this time, it was your Chrome gift. Just like Nina Ray from 1893. One of her parents persuaded people, the other predicted the weather. These gifts combined so she could manipulate the weather."

"Your mother was a shapeshifter, right. And your dad could siphon anyone's gift."

I nodded, trying to wrap my head around what she was saying.

"So what if those two gifts combined when they had you."

"What if you can siphon somebody's gift and shapeshift into it yourself."

"What just happened now, that was after you shook Dr Jackson's hand, right. What if when you burnt down that school you had just touched someone with a fire gift, so you absorbed it"

To put it simply,
"What if you absorb other's gifts as your own through touch. Temporarily"

I felt my mouth fall open.

That kind of power, that could destroy worlds.