Species Unknown [Book 1: Aves]

TWELVE

I shook my head. Such a child, I thought but soon found myself giggling alongside him.

"Alright enough Elias! Come on we have your physical later today," I laughed before grabbing my journal and standing up.

He nodded and straightened out his wings. With a few powerful flaps, he lifted his torso off the ground until he stood upright on his feet. He flashed me a lopsided grin as I approached him.

"Ready?" I asked, giggling as I watched him struggle to brush the grass off his black shirt. He flapped his wings in response and together we walked out of the Observatory to the Testing Room. Once inside, Elias took his usual seat on the examination table and I set my journal down on the counter as I prepared to begin his testing. Picking up the syringe, I filled the vile and turned to face him.

"Okay you know the drill," I said as I approached him.

Nodding, he was about to lift his sleeve when a buzz sounded throughout the room. My confusion faded when an all too familiar voice began sounding over the intercom.

"Miss Hall, this is Dr. Pierce. I am on my way please prepare your notes for my early arrival."After the click of the speaker, the buzzer sounded again indicating she was done talking.

Weird, I muttered to myself but loud enough for Elias to hear. His brows furrowed in confusion as he mirrored my look of apprehension.

I set the needle down and grabbed my journal from the table beside me, looking through my notes and finalizing what I wrote before Dr. Pierce reviewed it. This was odd. Usually, Dr. Pierce had me meet her outside my office at the end of the day to collect my notes.

I wonder why she wanted to meet before the testing? Maybe I did something wrong and she wanted to supervise me?

Suddenly Elias shifted on the table and sat up straight, looking towards the door. Soon enough I heard the steady cadence of heels clicking on the slick tile floors.

Closing my journal, I looked back at Elias only to notice that grasped one his hand, he still had the apple for earlier today. Quickly I stride over to him and snatched the apple from his grasp, slipping it into my lab coat pocket just as Dr. Pierce walked in holding a briefcase.

"Hello Miss Hall, how was your session today?" She asked as she strode into the room.

"Good as usual," I said, ignoring the strangled laugh that came from the examination table.

Dr. Pierce didn't seem to notice as she simply nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. Turning towards Elia, she approached him and just began examining him. The room was silent for what felt like ten minutes before a pleading look from Elias prompted me to break the silence.

"Is there something we can do for you?"

Dr. Pierce blinked, my words shaking whatever spell had overtaken her. Turning back to me, she cleared her throat.

"Yes actually," She said, adjusting her glasses. "We are going to try something new today"

"New?"

"Yes, Miss Hall," She said before glancing over at Elias. "May I speak to you outside?" she added, nodding her head towards the door to the hallway.

"Yes, yes of course," I answered, my voice betraying my confusion at her odd request. She nodded and gestured for me to go first. I forced a polite smile and began walking towards the door. I glanced back at Elias who was watching us with his wide blue eyes before I stepped out into the hall. He looked afraid. My heart sank at the thought. I wish I knew what was going on so I could tell him it would be okay.

"We will just be a minute Elias," Dr. Pierce added before joining me out in the hall and closing the door behind us.

A moment of silence passed before she began. "First before I say anything, I want you to know that what I am going to ask of you is going to be difficult, but must be done. However, I completely understand if you want to be relocated."

My eyes widened. "What do I have to do?"

She held my gaze for a moment, gauging my seriousness to continue before speaking. "Well, I need you to prove to Dr. Grant that Elias is worth keeping alive."

I froze. My heart began to race as I processed what she just said. "Alive?!" I all but shouted. Dr. Pierce glared at me and gestured towards the door separating us from the subject of our conversation. Sighing, I adjusted my tone to a whisper. "Why is Dr. Grant trying to kill him? I thought he was proud of his achievements?" I asked not bothering to hide the frustration lacing my voice.

She ignored my question. "The only way to do this is to show Richard how valuable Elias by proving that his mutation can benefit humanity."

I scoffed. "Okay well considering a man with wings isn't enough to empress the guy, how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

"I have a plan but the execution of it will be tricky. I have been putting this off because the last time I tried one of these tests Elias lost it, he went on a rampage far worse than you saw in the Training Room the other day. He injured six of my best researchers, that day, and the ones that weren't in an ICU unit quit, and for good reason too."

I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling very defensive of Elias. "You must have done something to provoke that. If it wasn't for what I saw in the Training Room, I would have never believed Elias could hurt anyone. He just seems so...good."

Dr. Pierce's face fell as she nodded. "I know, and he is. But you are right, he was provoked, and I do not necessarily fault him for his reaction. Nevertheless, we did not collect the data we needed to prove his worth to Dr. Grant."

"Why didn't you try again?" I asked.

"Believe me I tried, but after that incident, he struck out at anyone who tried to come near him. I became one of the only people he could bare, until you that is. I have a few theories for why Elias has such an uncanny likeness towards you, but that is beside the point. What matters is that with his special attachment to you, I think completing the tests this time around might just be possible."

I swallowed. I didn't know if I wanted the answer to the question I was about to ask.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the answer I just knew didn't want to hear.

"What kind of test?" I asked, noticing how Dr. Pierce's grip tightened around the briefcase before answering.

"Let's just get this over with."

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Hey beautiful people!

I wasn't going to update today, but I just saw that Species Unknown has reached over 1k reads. So, in the spirit of celebration, I figured I would grind out this chapter and post it to say thank you for all the support!

On that note, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and as always, happy reading!