"He stared down at me, eyes blazing cold. 'Finally,' he hissed. 'You've caused a lot of trouble.'

"Glaring up at him, though shaking inside, I snarled, 'Then why even bother?' Very subtly, I scooted back away from the sword.

"He snorted and rolled his eyes, as if it was obvious. 'You play an important role later on,' he snarled. 'And we can't have you fulfilling it.' With a swift swing, he slashed the sword, grazing my throat. If I hadn't backed up, I certainly would've been killed. I yelped in pain, as blood trickled down my throat. Glaring, I changed into the Tasmanian Wolf-Tiger hybrid and lunged forward, snapping at his legs, hands and arms.

"In a rage, he slashed his sword clumsily, blinding by anger. Sneering, I dove out of the way awkwardly, snapping at his legs and heels, drawing blood and tearing through skin and muscle and clothing. Hearing him grunt and hiss in pain made fresh angry and adrenaline rush through my veins, a snarl erupting from my belly that lead into my throat and past my jaws, startling those around me.

"He swung his sword and I dodged quickly, the long weapon stabbing into the deck and getting jammed. Snickering, I stalked toward the man, fear radiating off him in waves, the smell giving me energy. He backed away, eyes wide, knowing he was defeated. I should've stopped… but, something in me snapped and I couldn't. All those years of being abused and mistreated was coming back to them, hurting them in the same ways."


The girl paused, catching her breath, seeing the reporter keenly eating up her story, scribbling quickly on the paper.


"Changing back into human form, I grabbed a dagger that had fallen to the deck and I stalked toward him, limping heavily, dizzy from blood loss, but I needed to get my revenge. 'Please,' he begged, falling to his knees, ignoring his bleeding wounds as he clasped his hands together and held them in front of his face, staring up at me. 'Please let me go, I'll give up, I swear'.

"Growling, I swung aside the dagger and watched it skid off into the ocean with a splash. 'Unlike you, vile maggot,' I spat, glaring murderously. 'I don't kill out of cold blood. Now scram before you do end up dying!'

"He nodded meekly and raced off, disappearing into the battling crowd. That's when things took a turn for the worse."


She paused again for breath, and the reported fervently asked, "So, what happened next?"

The girl scowled and inquired, "Can I catch my breath first?"

The reporter fell silent and the girl finally continued.


"Someone launched a harpoon toward Nilima and I screamed, 'Move! Nilima, look out!' But before she could move Mr. Kadam leaped forward, blocking Nilima, and both just disappeared. Stunned, I struggled to limp over but my right leg gave out and I went sprawling onto the ground, the battle raging on. Someone charged toward me and I snarled, changing back into the Tasmanian Wolf-Tiger, managing to leap at him.

"He dodged and I skidded onto the deck, twisting around to face my attacker, baring my teeth and letting out a growl that started in my belly. There was a shout and someone cheered, 'We got her! We got her now! Retreat, men! Retreat!' The man who was attacking whooped and whipped around, about to leave when I leaped again, sinking my teeth into the back of his neck and bringing him to the ground. Releasing my jaws, I stepped off tenderly and glared at the body before raising my glare to the retreating men, clearly they didn't care about the lost souls.

"Changing back into my human form, I turned and heavily shambled toward Red and Kishan, just noticing their tears. Before I could ask what else happened, Red muttered, 'They took her. They took Kelsey.'"