Free Disclosure by Thais Lopes Page B

anything for me, Felipe?” He asked,
facing one of the men sitting on the table.
    “Not much. I just wanted to make sure you
knew that the media already knows about the regeneration capacity,
and see if there are any new orders for me or for Camila.” I
answered, not sure about what to say or why Dara had told me to go
there. I had no place in a meeting like that.
    “And your roommate?”
    “ You know he
is fascinated by genetic therapy. He is following all the news and
by now is probably doing everything he can to get an internship in
one of the labs studying those samples. He was the one who told us
that it was already on the news.”
    “ This means
they are really going ahead with that. They’re not bluffing.” The witch said, sounding tired. “I
told you.”
    Dara touched
my shoulder, poi nting to one side of the
room. I nodded, going with her. I wouldn’t waste a chance to see
firsthand what was going to happen.
    “For those who didn’t realize what is going
on, our existence is no longer a secret.” One of the Council alphas
spoke, looking around the room. “Most governmental agencies around
the world already know we are here, and now they want to use us.
Meetings like this are taking place in all the territories to
gather the local opinions, and then we will decide what will be
done.”
    “ What do they
want?” The local rat alpha asked.
    “Volunteers for their experiences and
tests.”
    No one needed
more details. We could imagine exactly what the human government
interest was: our abilities, such as the shapeshifters’
regeneration capacity, the longevity of the witches and elves and
the near immortality of the sidhe and the vampires. And we also
knew what would happen to the “volunteers”. No one would
survive.
    “ What are
our options?” The vampires’ servant
asked.
    “Disclose our existence to the public, in our
own terms.” A new voice spoke, startling everyone.
    Claws and
fangs appeared around the table even before the person who had said
that crossed the door. Of medium height, with skin that had a
bluish tint, long dark hair in a braid and golden eyes that were
too apart for a human, he looked around the room, shaking his head
and smiling when he saw everyone was ready to attack. His eyes,
when they appeared, were as sharp as a vampire’s fangs.
    A sidhe.
    “Avés.” The cat alpha of the Council broke
the silence, and everyone relaxed.
    The
n ewcomer nodded, as if he had been there
since the beginning of the meeting. “The only thing the agencies
and companies have on us is the secret. If we show ourselves they
will lose their only option for blackmail.”
    “Yes, but the repercussions can be worse than
the threats.” The witch’s eyes were distant, as if she was seeing
something different. A Seer.
    “It’s up to us to keep the repercussions
under control, then.”

3. Camila
    Two months later.
    It was
strange to see everyone going on with
their lives, as if it were just another day. But it wasn’t. That
was the day when our world would be turned upside down, and
humanity would get to know that what they called fantasy wasn’t
that far from reality…
    And my head
was throbbing with pain.
    The worst was
that I had to work even knowing what was about to happen, but I had
to take care. Unlike the fairy people, I wasn’t optimistic about
people’s reaction. Many would love to know that we were real,
right. But others… I feared even thinking about the
possibilities.
    Almost
everyone from my team was already sitting at their stations when I
arrived, something rare, as I usually was the first to get there.
Sighing, I sat down and opened the system, typing my passwords and
preparing psychologically for the daily dose of curses. That was
the routine for anyone who worked at a call center.
    “ Did anything
happen?” Marina, on the station beside
mine, asked. “You’re never late.”
    “ Not really.”
I answering, putting on my headset. “I just had to give my cousin