There's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

Morgana opened her eyes and gasped in surprise. She looked around, confused, and tried to figure out where she was.

“U-uweeh!?” She squeaked as she realized where she was. She was standing on a very familiar cul-de-sak, in front of a very familiar house. It wasn’t her house- that is, her parents’ house, but it was in a very similar style. Right down to the rose bushes growing beside the gate.

The mouse girl took a deep breath and exhaled. She could hear sounds coming from behind the house, and realized right away what was going on. That was the familiar commotion of a garden party, the kind her family liked throwing.

“I-I guess… I guess that’s where my target is?” Morgana mumbled to herself. She looked up and down the street. Theoretically, her target could be in any one of the identical houses covering the block, but somehow she knew that wasn’t the case.

Dakota had dropped her off here. Right here, in front of her aunt and uncle’s house. The only logical explanation was that Morgana’s target was here.

But her doubts and insecurities kept her rooted in place.

I… I have to transform someone from my family! She clutched the ray gun tightly to her chest as her heart pounded with anxiety. I have to use this gun… to **** a transformation on one of them!

She couldn’t do it. It was just an awful thing to do! Sure, her parents, her aunt and uncle, they all clearly gave more attention to her cousin than they did to her. But that didn’t mean they didn’t love her! They obviously did! Right?

Of course family loved you… right?

Morgana’s arms fell to her sides and she slumped over, looking down at her body. Just the other day, she’d had giant boobs that kept her from seeing her feet clearly, and a shelf of ass that entered a room a couple seconds after she stepped inside. Her curves used to go on for miles… but not anymore.

Now… well, now she had a figure that was far more insignificant. Her breasts were modest (though still bigger than they used to be) and her ass only had a slight bit of roundness to it, along with her hips. She looked positively mediocre once again- and she felt that way, too.

Then her ears twitched. That was maybe the worst part of it. It wasn’t just that her little punishment had taken away her curves, it also turned her into a mouse girl again. And that was definitely not something she expected her family to react well to. She remembered the looks they gave her when she started dressing up in all black and wearing contacts. How they would just awkwardly laugh whenever she told them about her latest spell or what was going on in the witching world.

“It’s not a phase!” She had shouted more times than she could remember.

Morgana took a deep breath and released it.

It wasn’t like she had a choice, though.

If she did nothing, then she would lose. Last challenge, she’d gone a little wild, and they’d actually managed to win. She’d managed to claw herself out of being the Auditionee, and into Nick’s actual harem. It had been her most triumphant moment. Not only had she won at something, but someone had actually chosen her. For as long as she could remember, Morgana was always the girl who got picked last. But Dawn had chosen her over the other girls, and that…

That made her finally feel welcomed and accepted. And she’d tried to build on that confidence all round, befriending Sylvia, getting closer to Nick, kissing him, and then… together, they…

Her face turned red and she quickly shook her head. Now was definitely NOT the time to be having thoughts like these, that was for sure!

She needed… she needed to get her head in the game.

Just because I’m in the harem now, that doesn’t mean I can take it easy, Morgana chastised herself. According to the letters I got, Dawn always wins these challenges, or at least, puts herself into a position where she won’t be eliminated! That’s a really powerful foe to go up against!

Morgana felt a gnawing insecurity in her chest. She didn’t like the situation she found herself in at all… but she had to keep going.

I need to win! Because… because I have to win! She resolved herself, clenching her fist.

With that in mind, and the normally-unstoppable foe of Dawn ahead of her, Morgana made her decision. After all, Dawn was tough. She wouldn’t let something like the ethics of transforming another living person get her down.

So Morgana had to be that strong, too. She had to forget about her family and how much they obviously loved her. After all, even if they did care, they still liked Karen more! They deserved this! They… they… they deserved it…

Morgana felt an uneasy feeling of uncertainty well up in her chest. But she pushed it down and stormed forward. She raised her hand to knock on the front door, when she stopped herself.

After all… what was she doing, really? Was she actually about to knock on the door? And what would she say, looking like a mouse?

Plus, would anyone even hear her if they were in the backyard?

Um… no. Morgana shook her head, and stepped back from the door. Then her eyes landed on the fence.

It was risky… but it was a way to sneak in without drawing attention to herself. And maybe that was for the best. Her family usually overlooked her anyway; they probably didn’t even notice she was gone! She was halfway up the fence when she thought about something else.

What if… what if they did?

What if they were missing her right now?

That thought brought a tear to her eye… and made her lose her grip.

“Uwaah!” She squeaked as she tumbled into those rose bushes. She managed to free herself from the briars, only getting a few nicks and scrapes from the thorns as she stumbled into the backyard. She froze for a second, afraid that everyone had heard her little fall, and was staring at her now.

But she shouldn’t have assumed that.

They didn’t even notice. The whole family was gathered together around the pool, too busy laughing and chatting to pay any attention to a mouse girl who just crawled out of the bushes.

Seeing them all so happy like that… it broke Morgana’s heart.

Her father and her uncle were laughing with each other, and another man was standing between them, someone Morgana recognized immediately. It was Lucas, Karen’s boyfriend. The way her uncle was patting him on the back, and the glimmer of a ring on his finger, and she realized just what she’d stumbled onto.

It was the engagement party.

What? She thought, shocked. Wasn’t that supposed to be weeks ago?

Her cousin’s engagement party had been set for early in the summer, right after her own graduation. But she’d been away on Harem Hotel for two full rounds at this point! That was over half a month!

Wait, that’s right, didn’t Sylvia say something about time flowing differently? She remembered.

That made things sting even more. That meant, it had only been a couple days since Morgana’s disappearance. And yet, nobody seemed to notice, or care, that she was gone. They were all joking around and laughing, having a good time, even though she could have been **** for organ harvesting as far as they knew.

So many happy faces. So many people having a good time. Some of her little cousins, and the children of other cousins, chased each other around playing tag while the adults watched. She saw Uncle Murry at the grill, preparing his famous hamburgers. And… there was Karen.

She looked radiant as ever, with her flawless, rosy complexion, dimple cheeks, sunny smile, and long, blonde hair. Her blue eyes twinkled like the sky, and her curvaceous figure was emphasized nicely in her casual wear, which was also tasteful enough to not seem slutty. It was clear at a glance how much effort she’d put into her appearance; she was the center of the party, after all.

It took a second to realize that the bright glow surrounding her was because she was the target, and not because she naturally displayed a heavenly corona.

Then, Morgana’s eyes slid from her cousin to her mother, and that’s when her heart was crushed.

Pamela was smiling like nothing had even happened.

Seeing that, Morgana instinctively raised her gun and pointed it directly at the both of them. It hurt too much. She wanted to… she wanted to-!

No, she was going to! They deserved it! They… they-!

Morgana’s hand started to shake. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger, even after everything in front of her. Even after seeing direct evidence that her family didn’t care one bit that she’d gone missing a couple days ago.

Looking at her mother, seeing her so happy… it should have been enough to get her to fire.

But when she tried, she couldn’t help but remember that time back in elementary school when she’d had that massive fever and lay bedridden for almost three whole days. She remembered her mother sitting dutifully at her side, getting her whatever she needed. Changing her sheets and wetting towels to try and bring her temperature down, all while assuring Morgana of how much she loved her.

Tears began to well up in Morgana’s eyes.

Why am I thinking about this now? She demanded, hating the feeling of guilt and remorse bubbling up inside of her.

As she was still trying to **** herself to pull the trigger, she realized that the talking had died down into whispers. And then she felt it.

The stares.

Everyone was looking at her, whispering to each other, sharing murmurs of disbelief.

Morgana’s head swiveled across the crowd, taking in the shocked faces, and she found herself completely flummoxed about what to do.

“Ah… ah…” She stammered, turning pale as she found herself paralyzed with indecision.

Then her mother cried out.

“Gertrude! Oh, my baby!”

Before Morgana knew what happened, her mother ran towards her with tears in her eyes. She looked twenty years younger in that moment, filled with a spark of passion that the goth had thought long-extinguished. She pulled Morgana into a tight hug, and sobbed.

“You’re okay! You’re here! I just knew you’d come back!”

“M-mom!” Morgana exclaimed, trying to pull herself free. “What are you doing?! Get off of me!”

She got out of her mother’s clutches and leveled the gun at her.

Pamela stared at the ray gun in shock and confusion, and then looked up at her daughter.

“…Gertrude? What… what is this? What’s going on?”

“Gertrude, is that you? Where have you been?!” Her father rushed over, his beer belly bouncing as he lumbered towards the two of them, rubbing at his red and sweaty face with a handkerchief. “Do you know how scared and worried your mother and I were!? You’ve been gone for days!”

“I-I thought you ran off with that ‘college advisor’,” Pamela stammered. “I called the school… apparently they didn’t send anyone out… oh, that doesn’t matter, I’m just glad you’re back home!”

This was all too surreal. No way, there was no way her parents would react like this! Not the way they treated her, overlooking her for the sake of her cousin all these years, treating her like an annoying nuisance!

“You… you… stop calling me Gertrude!” Morgana snapped. She surprised even herself by the tone of her voice. She almost never got angry. Not in any considerable way. But right now, she was seething. Who did Tom and Pamela think they were, acting like they missed her?! Like they cared about her?! After so many years of not coming close to that?!

“I- that is, we, we’re sorry,” Pamela Lafayette said, raising her hands. “Gert- err, Morgana, it’s just… we were so worried about you…”

“Worried?! You- you came to a block party! At Uncle Richard’s house!”

Mr. Lafayette’s complexion darkened. “We… you think that means we didn’t care? We’ve had the police out looking for you since Thursday! But we had obligations, we couldn’t just make everything about you, you know!”

“We’ve been worried sick, honey!” Pam wailed, her eyes filling with tears. “But what’s going on? Where have you been? And why are you… dressed like that? With those hideous ears?”

“Because, Pam, this is my style now!” Morgana snapped, shaking her gun at her. She didn’t like the ears any better than her mother, but if her mom didn’t like ‘em? Fuck it, she hoped they were permanent! “And as for where I went… I’ve been with people who actually care about me, unlike you parental!”

Tom’s mouth fell open in surprise. “Gertrude, you will not speak to your mother that way!”

Morgana stared incredulously at the man who called himself her father, and turned the gun on him. “Are you for real right now? You think you can tell me you’ve been worried about me, get all angry at me for disappearing, and then start telling me what to do? I’m 18 now, ‘dad’, or did you forget? I mean, you were too busy working to be there for my birth, so I suppose it makes sense you can’t keep my birthday straight!”

“Ge- Morgana, that’s not true!” Pam said, shaking her head. “Your father was right by my side the whole time when I gave birth to you- he was the first one who held you! Where did you get it into your head that he abandoned me in the hospital?”

She looked honestly shocked and horrified.

Morgana felt sick. Okay, so maybe she’d made that up. But did it really matter?! He wasn’t ever there for her when it counted!

“Fine, so you managed to get one day off, so I could be born!” She snapped. “But where were you when I needed you, huh? When I was getting bullied all the time, and I needed a father to give me some advice? Oh, right, you were out trucking again!”

“I won’t be shamed for providing for this family!” Tom snapped, his face turning even redder. “Do you think it’s easy, hauling loads all across the country?! I do what I do to keep a roof over our heads, young lady!”

“Shut up!” Morgana stomped her foot. “Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I don’t care about any of that! You… you were never there, so stop pretending you were my father!” She turned her ire towards Pam next. “And you… acting like you’re my mother, acting so happy to see me, but I know the truth. It’s really Karen you want, isn’t it!? She’s the daughter you wish you had, isn’t she?! I’m just a worthless little ungrateful brat!”

Her vision was starting to blur because of the tears, and she couldn’t make out her parents’ faces anymore. She waved her gun around wildly to compensate, making everyone afraid she might shoot. It didn’t look like an actual gun, but to a middle-class suburban family like the Lafayettes, well, what would they know about guns?

Pam looked absolutely aghast.

“Gertrude… you… you think I’d rather replace you with Karen?” She sounded hurt at the insinuation, but that didn’t compare at all to the pain Morgana had been through.

“MORGANA!” She screamed, stamping her foot again, trampling on the grass. “I already told you, it’s Morgana! You can’t even get my NAME right! You don’t listen, you don’t even care! You’ve always loved Karen more than me, admit it!”

“That’s not true!” Pam cried. “You’re my daughter! Of course I love you! I’ve always tried to encourage you to do your best!”

“But my best wasn’t good enough, was it?!” Morgana spat. “You were always, always talking about how great Karen was, or how good Karen was doing, you never gave a damn what was happening in MY life, did you?!”

“But… but…!” Pam shrank back, knowing she couldn’t say anything in her defense. “…But how was I supposed to?” She meekly replied. “You would never even talk to me…”

“Yeah, of course I didn’t talk to you, because you wouldn’t listen!” Morgana snapped. “You just wanted to talk about yourself, or about Karen! But you didn’t want to hear what was going on in MY life!”

“Of course I wanted to!” Pam protested. “But whenever I tried, you’d always yell at me to go away and leave you alone…”

“Because you were always talking about Karen!” Morgana’s thoughts were getting jumbled. She couldn’t remember everything clearly in the heat of the moment, but she knew that her parents were trying to gaslight her. Even if it was true and they did love her, they had always overlooked and belittled her.

But no more. She wasn’t having it!

“I… I just… I didn’t-!” Pam stammered. “I tried, Morgana! I just didn’t know how to talk with you about anything!”

“Because you hate me!” Morgana accused. “You hate the way I dress, you hate the music I listen to! I’m a goth, Pam, and you just can’t stand it, can you?! You wanted me to be some nice, boring, pretty-in-pink girly-girl like Karen, well, I’m not! I’m a rebellious goth!”

“I-I never wanted to **** you into anything!” Pam looked utterly shocked at the notion that Morgana could even think that way. “I was just trying to-”

“Stop it! Stop trying!” Morgana cut her off again, waving her gun. “You’re just trying to change me! But I don’t care if you hate my goth style, because it’s mine! If you want Karen, you can have her! I don’t care anymore!”

She couldn’t fight the pained tears rolling down her face. It hurt so much to say all this stuff, but she had to. It was true, after all. Her parents had to know that they couldn’t get away with treating her like a loser and an outcast, and holding Karen up as some shining symbol of what Morgana could never be. She knew Tom and Pam despised her for being a goth. Sure, they’d hide their disgust behind acts of concern, saying things like “Are you sure that music is a good choice? It’s so dark and violent!” or “You should really open these blinds and let in some sunlight, it’s better for you” or even the dreaded “If you stay locked up in your room all day hating everything, you’ll miss out on so many happy moments you could be having!”

She was a goth girl! Why couldn’t they just accept her for who she was?!

…That was a stupid question. Morgana knew why.

Karen. It was all because of Karen.

Stupid Karen. Stupid, fucking Karen.

“Hey, so, Morgana, right? That’s what you’re calling yourself now?”

Morgana’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank to pinpricks as the last voice she wanted to hear at the moment spoke up.

She turned slowly towards Karen. Her beautiful blonde cousin was smiling and approaching them with her hands held up, trying to insert herself into the conversation like the arrogant bitch Morgana knew she was.

Trying to insert herself into Morgana’s family like always.

“What do you want?!” Morgana was foaming at the mouth at this point. She wanted to shoot her ray gun at her stupid, pretty, perfect cousin. Forget the transformation, Morgana wanted to take the gun and smash in Karen’s flawless teeth with it!

“I-I just wanted to say how happy I am to see you,” Karen said, her cheeks flushing. “I was so worried when I heard you were missing… I almost thought about calling the engagement party off, but my mom had already sent out the invitations, and people were already flying down, so…”

Ugh. Why did Karen have to make everything about her?! This was Morgana’s family business, couldn’t she just butt out?!

“Um… I-I like your clothes?” Karen complimented, trying to defuse the situation, not that Morgana could see it. Not that she would care what her cousin thought about her choice in clothing.

“Shut up!” Morgana snapped. “I don’t want to hear that from you, little miss perfect! Little miss ‘I never threw up when giving a book report in grade school’! Little miss ‘I didn’t get a gag valentine for Valentine’s Day’! Little miss ‘I wasn’t **** to wear braces for three years because my teeth are so naturally straight, causing me to lisp like crazy’!”

Karen didn’t know what to say to any of that. She could only offer a weak, apologetic smile.

“I-I’m sorry? Morgana…”

ZAP!

Morgana was fucking done with her. She pulled the trigger before Karen could finish whatever she was saying.

“You guys don’t know anything!” She shouted at her parents. “You never wanted to get to know me, you just wanted to be like Karen! Well, have a look! Not so perfect now, is she?!”

The black light faded, and Karen was no longer the flawless blonde she’d been seconds ago. No, now her hair was a silky sheen of midnight, just like Morgana’s. Her eyes were red, like Morgana’s, and her skin had lost its creamy complexion, turning a shimmering porcelain. Her nice, chic style had been replaced with a gothic black right out of Morgana’s own wardrobe, and as for her perfect body… well, Morgana had made some improvements there, as well. Her hips had thickened and her buttocks had plumped out. Her tits had inflated into a couple of watermelons that hung heavily on her chest, throwing her tight proportions completely out of whack.

Morgana’s family hated her for being a goth? Well, now they’d hate Karen, too!

The Lafayettes all looked at Karen for a moment, and Karen looked down at herself.

She screamed.

It was music to Morgana’s ears.

The whole family started scrambling about, running in confusion. Morgana started to panic. Not sure what to do, she swung her arm around wildly to try and get a grasp of the situation, and then she saw her mother. Pam’s face was twisted into a look of horror as she stared at Karen.

Just what Morgana had hoped.

But it wasn’t enough. This wasn’t enough to make up for all the suffering she’d had to endure at their hands!

With a wild cry, Morgana pulled the trigger again, and fired.

In a flash, the woman who’d raised her was gone. Her dowdy appearance changed as her complexion cleared up and smoothed out, turning her exhausted, weary face into an alabaster mask of gothic beauty. She looked younger than when she’d given birth! Her hair regained its fullness, turning from a raggedy graying brown to a thick and luscious midnight. And as for her body, well, her sagging breasts and frumpy rump tightened up and then started to ripen, growing against her tight black dress.

Then came her father, Tom. His beer belly shrank into itself when she fired at him, forming a six-pack as his clothes shrank tight against his skin, turning from a rumpled dress shirt to a slick black turtleneck. His arms bulged with muscle as his body turned into a man twenty years younger, with piercing red eyes and a sculpted chin. He looked like he’d stepped out of a magazine for emo teens, and his smoky gaze was accentuated by dark eyeshadow as his hair lengthened into spiky black bangs with red tips.

Morgana’s parents gasped, not recognizing each other for a moment. A spark that had long-since faded was now back in full **** as they realized just what the transforming gun had done to their partner. Desire burned between them as an oblivious Morgana turned to her next target.

“Ahahahaha!” She was mad with power now, firing her gun wildly, and she didn’t stop until every adult at the party, from gangly Jan who was only two weeks older than her, to great-grandfather Chester in his wheelchair, had turned into a sexy goth.

Ha! That’ll show ‘em! She thought triumphantly as she watched Karen fall into her newly gothified fiancé’s arms. Now the whole family will hate each other, just like they hate me!

Smiling proudly to herself, she pressed the button on the back of her gun and returned home, quite sure of herself that her **** had been achieved.