The New Beast: Morgana's Story

Three: Jasmine

Jasmine lifted her hand. She was going to knock again and then she heard it: a clicking sound. She gasped and dived for the pavement.

A shotgun blew a massive hole through the door, sending shards of wood and pieces of metal flying along with the bullets. Jasmine covered her head. She heard hard footsteps in the doorway.

“You got five seconds to get off my property, girl.” The man scowled at her as he put a new shell in his gun.

Jasmine scrambled around to a sitting position. She wanted to jump onto her feet, until he pointed the gun directly at her. Jasmine held out her right palm and shut her eyes.

“No!” She shouted.

Through the hole in the gate, Morgana watched with awe as a force field shaped like a glass dome curved over the woman’s body. A silvery light reflected from it. The bullet bounced like rubber off her magical shield and Morgana was flabbergasted.

The man threw his shotgun to the ground and pulled out a slightly less powerful weapon. A handgun.

Morgana charged the fence. The wood panels shook and buckled against her huge, beastly body. The man was firing off round after round at the woman. She could hear her brothers and sisters running and the engine of the minivan starting. They were leaving her here with him? ‘No way,’ Morgana thought. She knew then and there that she had to do something.

Jasmine was still holding the shield as the van sped out of the driveway. Her shield was an impenetrable piece of metal formed in ways that Jasmine couldn’t explain or describe. All she knew was that she could control the element with the flick of her fingertip, make it vanish into thin air or make it take the shape of whatever she liked. And now seemed as good of a time as any to put her powers to the test.

When he finally ran out of bullets, Jasmine smirked. “Gonna go grab another gun?”

“Shut up, nigger girl!”

Jasmine dropped the shield and with the pull of her fist, his gun went flying out of his hand and through the air. She grabbed it with both hands, spun it around and turned it on him.

“What did you just say to me?!”

A roar bellowed from the yard. In extravagant fashion, Morgana knocked down the fence with a flying leap. She landed feet first in the driveway. Wood and dust filled the air. Morgana leaned back on her hind legs with her whiskers twitching and the beast ready to pounce. The man cursed under his breath and ran.

“Hey, get back here,” Jasmine demanded, waving the gun at the man. She stood still though, puzzled and afraid. She glanced for a second at Morgana the tiger and then caught a glimpse of the man from the corner of her eye just as he cut around the house running as fast as he could.

“Call 911!” He screamed.

‘Oh no!’ Morgana thought. Then more police would come and The Abbotts would make them send her away. The police would lock her up again and her nightmare would never end.

She ran around Jasmine and down the driveway, hot on the man’s heels.

“Stop!” Jasmine said chasing them. “Everybody, stop!”

With Morgana’s tiger ears she could hear everything around her for miles and miles. Her brothers and sisters were wailing, the neighbors were sticking their heads out of their doors so they could get photographic proof of the tiger running free in The Abbott’s front yard and a siren. Someone had already called 911.

This was it. This was the end, thought Morgana.

‘And it’s all your fault,’ she said with her eyes locked on the man as he ran across the large yard to where his family waited inside the minivan on the curb. There was no space between them now. The door was open. Her mother was beckoning wildly for him. Morgana’s face was only an inch away from the soles of his feet and the backs of his calves.

She lunged and in a matter of seconds, somehow, Morgana was back in human form. She tackled the man and sent him tumbling to the ground. Morgana balled up her fists and began punching him with fast and furious taps.

Jasmine slowed down as she finally reached them. She stopped, her chest heaving. Her mouth hung open. Morgana was stark naked and covered in dirt and dried mud. She was absolutely filthy. And she was on top of a grown man, attempting to beat him with her bare hands. Jasmine could tell from the way Morgana was throwing her punches that she didn’t know how to really fight and she’d never been properly trained in hand-to-hand combat. This was a beating born of blind rage.

The man had his eyes shut and was covering his head while trying to twist himself into a fetal position. Jasmine couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was as if he didn’t realize the tiger was human again. Morgana in human form was half his size and half his weight. One good shove would have sent her frail-looking body rolling across the yard. Tears were flowing from Morgana’s face as the rest of her family watched frozen in time inside the minivan.

Now Jasmine could hear the sirens. It wouldn’t be long before they got here.

“Hey,” she said, softly to Morgana, putting the gun down in the grass. “We have to get out of here.”

Morgana wasn’t listening. Jasmine grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm up towards the sky. Morgana immediately flailed and tried to yank herself free. Jasmine planted her feet evenly apart and put her arms around Morgana’s waist.

“Take her,” said the woman. Jasmine glanced up at the minivan. “We don’t want her anymore. Take her away from here and don’t bring her back.”

Morgana’s body went limp. The sirens were getting louder and she couldn’t drag Morgana all the way back to the car. She was light, but she wasn’t that light.

Jasmine whispered, “I know you don’t know me, but I’m here to help you. Okay?”

Silence. Morgana was still crying, but her rage and fury were gone. Only sadness remained as she watched the man crawl over to the van and into the arms of his wife and his children.

“Hey,” said Jasmine with a stern tone of voice.

Morgana looked back at her. Her eyes were red, puffy and wide with anxiety.

“We don’t have much time. Get in my car now and I’ll explain later.”

Jasmine let her go and Morgana covered her chest with her arms. Jasmine ran ahead of her, unlocking the car with a remote control key. Morgana walked across the yard towards the driveway as the sirens grew louder and louder. She looked over her shoulder at them one last time.

Jasmine yelled, “Let’s go, tiger girl!”

Morgana picked up the pace and her feet. She ran to the car and dived inside the backseat. Morgana slammed it shut. Jasmine locked the doors and they raced out of the driveway and into the street. They cut onto a back road where Jasmine slammed her foot down on the gas pedal just as police cruisers pulled up to the house from the other direction and circled the minivan.

Jasmine only glanced back at Morgana once. It was after they were a safe distance away and heading for the interstate. Morgana was still lying down on the backseat. Her knees were pulled into her chest and a blanket that Jasmine had left on the floor was wrapped around her shoulders. Morgana was still crying.

A phone rang from somewhere in the car’s glove compartment.

“Oh, shoot,” Jasmine grumbled.

She reached over and opened the compartment and the phone fell out onto the passenger’s seat. She sighed and extended her hand. The phone floated right into her palm.

“Gotta love being a metal manipulator,” Jasmine whispered to herself.

“Hello,” she said as she held the phone up to her face. Morgana sniffled and tried to stop her crying so she could hear better.

“Well, I got the tiger. Except she’s not a tiger. You were right, she’s a girl... and I think she’s perfect for the whole plan.”

Morgana covered her nose and mouth with the blanket. Fear started to creep in.

“Yeah... you don’t have to worry. She’s one of us. She’s definitely a mutant like us.”