Chapter 6: Buried History

Alexis must reveal some things about his past, but he must be careful to not give too much information or else it could land him in worse trouble than he's already in.

Alexis’s eyes left the face of the human before him as his fists unclenched. He sighed deeply and stared down at nothing. 

“Okay,” he said quietly, “I’ll tell you what I know.”

General Marx settled into his seat and crossed his arms on the table, smiling triumphantly.

“You were right when you said that dragons don’t mix with others,” Alexis began, still not looking at the General. “Most nonhumans give them a wide berth, but my mother was an exception. I don’t know why, but where I come from, harpies hate dragons.”

“I wonder,” Marx said under his breath, waving his fingers for Alexis to continue when he looked up to glare.

Alexis frowned, taking a moment to think on what to say next. His last statement had been a half truth, as he knew exactly why harpies and dragons didn’t get along. Dragons tended to take over an area"or at least they had in the past"and most other nonhumans still held prejudices against them. His mother’s harpy clan had been shoved deep into the mountains by dragons as humans pushed civilization further. Even when most dragons had perished at the hands of the humans, many harpies held the sentiment that they had gotten what they deserved and banned entry from the species in their lands. Even in modern times, dragons held little favor in the eyes of older nonhuman generations. However, Alexis didn’t want to encourage the General’s bad opinion of dragons, so he avoided those facts.

“Well,” he continued, “my mother wasn’t like the others. She didn’t want to live separate from the rest of the world, and she didn’t pay attention to the hate of the others.” Alexis smiled as he recalled the story. “She welcomed my father in when she found him half-starved on the mountain side. Others would have turned him away…or worse, but she hid him in her house and took care of him.”

“You really don’t have to go into the fine details of it,” General Marx interrupted. “Skip to what happened to that dragon.”

Alexis’s smile vanished immediately, and he bit his lip and fidgeted uncomfortably in the chair.

“The other harpies found out about him, and…my father was chased away,” he summarized, looking down at his feet.

“Where were you at the time?”

“I wasn’t born yet,” Alexis said simply. “I have never seen my father.”

General Marx leaned back and grunted, obviously not pleased with the answer. He pulled a notebook from inside one of the folders on the table and jotted something down in a page with a pen.

“Then explain to me what you’re doing all the way over here,” he said, tapping the pen on the table. 

“I left to find him,” Alexis said, once again only telling a half-truth. He didn’t want the General to know the full circumstances of his leaving unless he had no other choice but to tell him.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” the General said, narrowing his eyes. “Why here, in North America, when there’s plenty of other places he could be?”

Alexis’s breath caught in his throat and his posture stiffened.

“Were you tipped off that he would be here?” the General pressed. “You told me earlier you don’t know where he is. Was that a lie?”

The feathers on the back of Alexis’s neck stood on end as his heart raced from the increasing pressure. His mind followed suit as he searched for something besides the entire truth. 

“I… I have been following rumors, that’s all. I haven’t heard from him, and I’ve been looking for a long time.”

“How long?” General Marx squinted at Alexis, his eyes watching every movement for signs of deception. 

“A few years…not long,” Alexis lied, body still rigid. If the General knew he’d been searching for almost half of his life, then he’d ask more questions. Alexis didn’t want to talk about any of that. 

“And where did your most recent information come from? What was it?”

“Truth is… I haven’t heard anything new since I came to the States.” Alexis shifted nervously in his seat, hoping that the General would believe what he said, as this time, he spoke honestly. “Any leads I’ve gotten have been dead ends. I’ve actually… almost given up.” 

General Marx studied the nonhuman opposite him for a few minutes in silence. If the winged nonhuman knew anything, he hid it well, though the General still had his suspicions that he didn’t divulge everything he knew. He could figure more out in time, if more pertinent information could be obtained. For the time being, though, he wrote something down in the notebook and backed away from the table.

“You are cleared to move on to the next phase of your integration into the facility,” the General said, standing from his seat. “However, if any of your statements are found to be lies, and you do know more than you let on, know that there are severe punishments for monsters who keep secrets from us.”

Alexis looked up to face General Marx, a shiver running down his spine. What more they could do to him now, he did not want to know. The interrogation seemed to be over"for now"so his stiffness left somewhat. 

General Marx walked to the door and tapped on it. The female guard opened it, and the two spoke in low voices for a few minutes, leaving Alexis to his thoughts on what would happen next. The General passed along some papers to the guard and turned to their captive.

“You will do all that you are told, or the next time you see me, we will do more than just talk,” Marx said, his tone dangerous. He turned away and walked out of the room and into the hallway. 

The woman glanced over the papers she’d been handed and left the room to talk to her coworkers, shutting the door behind her. They stood outside the door, but try as he might, Alexis had no way of hearing what they said. His eyes moved around the room, to his belted wrists, then back to the door. His mind raced, thinking of ways to escape but finding none. His thoughts moved to dread what the doctor and the General had spoken about earlier, and he knew now more than his ability to shift forms had been suppressed. What had they done to him?

Author's Note

Once again not sure about pacing on this chapter; opinions welcomed.