Jyncie’s Katgoyles Journal by: Gencie Salter

Author’s Note: Kiswahili is one of many languages spoken in Africa. It is commonly called "Swahili"(the americanized version). Kiswahili is actually the name of the language while Swahili is the name for the people and their culture.

"Gargoyles" characters are owned by Disney, all original characters belong to me.

"Katgoyles" and Jinnorra belong to the Katgoyles Clan, led by Kenza. The characters of the Katgoyles Clan belong to their individual creators. (I think only Kenza, Thorn, and Ilyrana are mentioned, though.)

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Jyncie’s Journal

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June 27, 2000

As I sit in my room overlooking the rest of the castle, and beyond that, the beauty of my new home, I begin to wonder about certain circumstances that have led me to this place. Kenza says it will help if I write in a journal what I am feeling. So I will.

It started long ago, of course, but I will save most of that ‘long ago’ stuff for another time. For now I will start with how I came to this place. This wonderful, strange world called Jinnorra.

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Flashback
June 23, 2000 

I screamed as the burst of electricity coursed through my body and threw me to the ground. Groaning, I looked up, my amber eyes narrowing in anger.

"Sevarius." I growled.

The evil man smirked as he jumped from the hovercraft. His goon squad filed out behind him. All held laser guns at ready and pointed at me.

"Oh, come now, my dear." His voice dripped like acid. "You didn’t think I’d let my favorite pet stay away forever, now did you?"

Slowly, I began to inch away, fear clutching at my heart. It occurred to me that I might have been safer had I stayed in the Labyrinth like I was supposed to. Talon and Maggie would no doubt be returning by now with Goliath and his clan. Poor Claw. He would bear the brunt of the questions as to how and why I had escaped. They could not understand. How was I to face Goliath, to face any of the gargoyles, being what I am? How would they react when they found out I was a half-breed?

It would not have mattered if the ruse had held. They had believed that I, like Talon and the others, had been human once, changed by Sevarius’ formula. And the ruse did work, for a while. But then they began to wonder. Why did I not posses the electrical abilities that came with the mutagen? Why was I not able to fire bolts of energy like they were? How did the muscles in my wings support flight without the benefit of this energy? And, for that matter, why was I unable to fly like the rest of them? I could only glide on currents of air, like…like the gargoyles.

"Sevarius!"

We two glanced upward. The gargoyles! Yes, there they were! Gliding to a halt near where I lay on top of the World Trade Center. Maggie cried out as Sevarius’ squad began to fire at them. Quick as lightning, Goliath, Brooklyn, and Talon leapt to the fight. Maggie ducked laser fire as she rushed to my side.

"Jyncie are you all right?" I stared up at her, wondering, not for the first time, just what it was that made her so…nice.

"Yes, I’m fine." I stated plainly. For all my distrust of the mutates, I did not want to be rude. And in the few months that I had spent with them, Maggie was unfailingly kind.

Maggie nodded, but did not have time to respond. I felt the scream erupt from my throat so loudly that I thought my larynx might burst. Maggie was thrown back from me, and bounced several feet before coming to rest, laying limp and unmoving at the opposite end of the roof. My eyes lit up a radiant shade of orange as I turned to face he who would dare harm my friend.

Sevarius smiled smugly. "Now, now, pretty. Don’t get your tail in a knot over them. You know where you belong." The man began his approach, the gun trained on me. I stood slowly, so as not to startle him into firing. Looking around, I realized that I was on my own. Maggie was still out, and Talon and the rest were still occupied with the doctor’s goon squad. It was up to me. My furry tail swished back and forth in agitation and I slowly spread my wings. My cat’s ears twitched and I bared my fangs at him in defiance.

"No, Sevarius. I will never follow you again. It was a mistake for me to think that you are anything except evil. Pure, disgusting evil."

Sevarius allowed himself to look pained. Dramatically pained, in the way that spoke of no actual pain at all. His annoying grin widened.

"I am many things, my pet, but never one to waste valuable resources. You are the best thing to happen to me in a long while." He raised the gun. "One way or another, you will be mine!"

He pulled the trigger. Talon fired his energy bolts. The weapon’s fire hit me and I found myself flung backward into a power station. Unbeknownst to me, Sevarius lay on the ground a few feet away. Scorched, but still alive. Talon and the others watched with horrid fascination. Goliath’s strange glare found me and I flinched. Suddenly, I knew what had to be done. I did not belong here, and somehow I must leave. But where to go and how to get there in my weakened state?

For some unknown reason, with what little strength remained in me, I found myself wrapping my arms around the base of the power station beside me, screaming incoherently in Kiswahili.

The air whooshed around me, swirling and booming like thunder. I felt a pressure building up, like the water in the kettle when Maggie made hot chocolate for me on Christmas eve. Pricks, like those of a thousand needles piercing my skin while Dr. Sevarius looked on with mild amusement. A loud, droning noise, like the sounds of argument between Goliath and Talon as to where and with whom I should stay.

Bubbling, crushing, stinging. All these feelings, and more, as I realized what it wais my mother had been trying to tell me on that fateful day when the stones seemed drawn to her battered body. Power. Power coursed through me, reaching out and enveloping the tower I embraced. Power. Uncontrollable, immeasurable power. Unlike anything I had ever accomplished before. This was not the fire that seemed to start like magic when I was cold, not the compulsion of my eyes that caused the prey to stand it’s helpless ground as I bore down upon it in wild, frenzied hunger. No, this was the power to free me. To set me loose from those, no matter how benevolent, who would seek to control my life.

I opened my eyes to a vision filled with a smoky, white light. Through the fading noise I could now hear the roars of gargoyles and mutates alike, Talon’s most prevalent among them. Even Maggie’s startled outburst of surprise was cause for wonder.

Dr. Sevarius was staring at me through the fog. I found myself grinning madly as he slowly from sight. Faded, as did Talon’s widened eyes, filled with horror and confusion. They faded like shadows facing the dawn. And, strangely, in their place stood two others.

Like ghosts, they appeared. Looking nearly as shocked as Talon had. Around the neck of one of the female figures was a glowing pendant. A star inside a circle. I had seen something similar before. I gasped. Something similar…around the neck of my mother!

The droning sound faded slowly, as did the light, and now I was able to see the beings more closely. The one with the glowing pendant was covered in golden brown fur. My first thought was that she was another mutate, looking very much like a wild cat. The female who stood beside her was pale lavender in color, with long, black hair and dark violet wings. Their hand were upheld and, from what little I remembered of my brief encounter with Demona, they seemed to be casting a spell.

The light continued to fade until it was gone completely. My eyes widened as they drifted from the two bewildered females to the surrounding area. A forest? Yes, and in the distance, a castle! Where the fudge was I?! I had little time to question, however, and those watching me had little time to so much as utter a combined slur of words that sounded like "Uhohwowwha!", before I felt darkness closing around me and slipped into an exhausted unconsciousness.

~~~~~

June 28, 2000

Hmm…now where was I? Oh yes, yesterday I began explaining how I got here, and where exactly ‘here’ is.

Well, when I awoke two days later I discovered that I was no longer in New York. Nor was I really anywhere near, or far, from it. Jinnorra, from what I understand of Kenza’s definition, is a whole other world! Separate, yet somehow connected, to the world I have always known. But, for now at least, I care not how I have come to be in this place, (between you an me, the rushed apologies and attempted explanations of Thorn and Ilyrana have me quite confused indeed!). Rather, I welcome the new environment, as well as the chance to prove myself to those who don’t seem to care about my half-human nature either way. (Although seeing as how many of them were once or are still part human, that is not surprising.)

Anyway, as I seem to be babbling, I will get to the point of this journal entry. For most of my life I have been an outcast. Too gargoyle to be human, and too human to be gargoyle. At first I viewed Sevarius’ drug as a curse, then as a blessing when it kept the gargoyles from discovering the truth about my half-breed nature. Then, again, I saw it as a curse, for I was indeed a changed person. I would never again be able to be myself. I would never be able to walk down the street among humans again, never be able to glide through the air among gargoyles. I was forever trapped beneath the city. Forever confined to life as an outcast…again.

Now, here in Jinnorra, among those both similar and different from myself, I finally feel blessed again. Blessed with the good fortune of being part of a clan, something my gargoyle blood has always clamored for, and blessed as well by being left alone when I require it. From what I’ve seen, the clan is perfectly happy to let me have my privacy when I am feeling too confined. No one expects too much of me, nor do they expect too little of me. Of those few I have actually met, Thorn and I seem to be getting along rather well. Both of us being writers and poets (although I hardly see my talent as being anywhere close to hers!), and both of us are interested in the magical arts. (Though mostly, I believe, our common link comes from the fact that we are both rather hyper people!) While I do not profess an extreme interest in becoming yet another assistant for the lead Mage (as Ilyrana seems to fill that job perfectly:-), her knowledge and experience seem to be what I have been needing to unlock the secrets of my mother’s abilities, passed to me.

Well, I’m not sure how long Kenza wanted this journal to be, but I think that this is happily enough.

For now…….