QUEEN BOO ON THE SCENE

2 MARCH, TUESDAY, CONTINUED

"That's so romantic." Some girl sighed... I feared she might be one of the zoo visitors.

Ki paused, so I guess he overheard. In fact, I think everyone heard.

Madam Silvia mouthed a silent, "Oh my."

Henry raised a brow at me.

Ki's smile froze at his slip up.

"Actually, a lot of us former fightdogs consider her our goddess." Fluffy said in a rare moment of tack and diplomacy, and then he ruined his good deed by adding, "She is very good luck to have around when running out to battle."

No, Fluffy! Bad colored mountain prince! Don't make up weird stories! If I could flare, I would.

"Oooooohhhh...." EJ exclaimed, "I thought it was because of her hair. You know, I thought she was the Moon Goddess when we first met."

"You thought I was the grim reaper!" I snapped.

EJ laughed, "No way!"

Yes, way. You seriously did. Why are you laughing like I just made a funny joke?

"I don't care if you're the grim reaper or the goddess, but can we just get on with the rehearsal?" Henry Bossypants interupted.

I had never felt so relieved to be bossed by Henry, but I immediately felt annoyed at the same time because now there was no way to clear the air of whatever web of misunderstandings was forming in the heads of those around me.

Grrrr... I really hated mindgames. At this point, Boo slipped out, and my alpha dominance started to leak in a really bad way. My head started hurting a too. Subconsciously, I raised my hand to my temple and touched the headband.

Oh.

"Ki, my head hurts." I said.

There was a part of me that was aware that closing any distance between Ki and I was probably going to just set more tongues wagging, but there was another part of me that was Boo, and Boo really couldn't care less what anyone else thought - especially not the humans.

Also I suspected that Boo personally believed being called goddess was her right of way.

Ki, being my well tuned beta, was immediately by my side. His hand glowed a moment when he touched my head. The pain disappeared so quickly and completely, I almost thought I imagined it.

"My headband." I told him, "It's giving me a headache."

"Apologies goddess." Ki immediately stepped behind me to unfasten the ribbon in my hair, "Perhaps it has been braided in too tightly."

The moment my braids came loose I pulled off the diadem and shook out my hair...ah, that's better! But that also turned out to be a really bad move.

Because Alpha Gunter had forgotten to warn us about one little thing: Should the power be too great to suppress, it might build up behind the diadem, and upon removal, the build up of suppressed magic might possibly explode in unprecedented levels.

Because, you know, you used a magic item to mess with what had been naturally there and caused some kind of supernatural imbalance. Wolf Magic 101. There was always a cost to magic, sometimes it's just not immediately obvious.

Like every healer could attest to that, their healing powers were fueled by something, or paid for with something.

Like every Tyger would say, they could grant your every wish, but it would cost you a treasure of equal value.

And as many Lycan legends had proven time and again, if you mess with a power you did not understand... Backlash was eminent.

So none of what happened next should have come as unexpectedly as it felt. I mean, we should have known, but we didn't, so I was rather shocked by myself, probably not as shocked as everyone else was though.

The moment I took off the diadem, it was like an unseen damn burst open, and before I knew it, my alpha dominance crashed down like a tsunami, immediately my wolves dropped down to one knee, and every other person other than Henry was forcibly fallen down on both knees.

"Our loyalty to the Alpha Princess." Ki elegantly knelt like a white knight in a picture book. He didn't raise his head. No one could.

"What the hell, Sam." Said the only other wolf standing in the hall. Henry had managed to stay on both feet. His wolf was also on the surface, and he was p***ed as hell, "F*** it. Rein in your wolf."

"Jelly, Henry?" Boo smiled and leisurely approached Henry. He gritted his teeth but shook his head.

"What if I told you I was just stretching?" I asked.

"Stretch somewhere else." Henry retorted.

I laughed, rather pleased now that I was free to just be. I gave him a pat on his broad shoulder, I had to admit Henry won Boo's respect simply for remaining on his feet.

Oh, and my hair... it was no longer just hair anymore. It came alive, stretching out like the sun getting out of bed, oh it felt so good to get out sometimes, you know? I can't really describe the feeling, but I was finally free and it was a delicious feeling.

"Please stand." Boo graciously drew her cloud of dominance closer around herself, so that everyone could breathe easy again, but she didn't hide it away like I usually did. Instead, she just left it on, like an arm's length space all around her that no one could touch.

Ki got back on his feet, as did the others.

"My wolves call me by many names." Boo paced as she addressd everyone. Since the cloud of dominance shrouded her being, everyone had to step back whenever she neared to avoid being forced back down on their knees, "But as long as they follow me with all their heart, they can call me anything they want."

Boo shrugged and decided to add, for the benefit of the theater types around her, "You know, 'a rose by any other name'."

Boo had to be the part of me who was actually cool, which made me question why I would suppress her so much.

Boo nodded towards the stage, "Just once more. Please give it your all, everyone. We have worked too hard and too long on this production to let it flop in front of everyone tomorrow. No matter what happens, the show much go on - even if the hall collapses around you, you will remain in character and finish the play. It's okay if you make mistakes or even trip and fall, but if any of you dare hesitate or break out of character before the curtain call, I WILL KILL YOU."

Right. That was why I suppressed her. Boo was too dangerous.

I gave my widest smile, "Just kidding! Let's all just do our best!"

But I had the feeling I wasn't fooling anyone.

"What the hell, Sam." Henry shook his head, but he was smirking, "But alright, let's do this."

Fluffy, the only other Alpha Wolf beamed at me, "Maybe the audience would give a standing ovation. Or Pretty Alpha can kill them too."

Boo returned the smile, "Very funny, Fluffy."

Boo was much more at ease with Fluffy's idiosyncrasies than I was.

{It's not like he'll ever do anything against me, or anything I can't stop.}

Overall, Boo was much more confident in her authority over her wolves, in her wolves' allegiance towards her, in her relationship with those around her, in her natural and supernatural powers... Boo was much more confident, full stop.

I envied that. Tell me how I might be able to suppress Boo but still be cool and confident like she was.

"Alright!" EJ punched his fist up in the air, "I'm all psyched up now! Let's get this show started!"

{Sometimes the greatest power is motivation.} Boo remarked to me as we watched everyone rushed to their positions.

I guess not getting killed would be Boo's idea of "motivation."

Backstage, Boo unwrapped the diadem, exposing the gold circlet. Then she unfastened the catch on one side and let the tiny row of magic stones lined inside the circlet slide out into her hand, "Fluffy, hang on this these for me."

"But if you take out the stones, the circlet won't have any power, pretty alpha." Fluffy informed me.

I put the diadem over my head like a crown, "It has me, doesn't it?"

I had meant to just use it as part of my costume, but by complete coincidence, I accidentally discovered another function for the diadem. When used without the magic stones, it would no longer have the magic to suppress my wolf powers. Instead, what I was wearing was a magic conductor which my powers flowed through quite naturally.

This in itself would not actually DO ANYTHING, but I had the catalyst bloodline right?

Unlike warlock magic, wolf magic was instinctive, it was in our bloodlines, none of our magic required glyph or incantations. Some scholars wouldn't classify wolf powers as magic because of this.

But we could cast heal, and we had supernatural strength, speed, agility, we were able to shift - now don't tell me this was science.

We just didn't control it with symbols or words - but intention. Which arguably meant we didn't have all that much control over our magic. It just happened the way we just happened to always be breathing.

So I was just breathing and minding my own business when Henry came over to me, "You've got to tone down the dominance, Sam."

"Don't tell me what to do." I told him.

"Sam, we're up next. Get a grip on your wolf." Henry seethed. He's p***ed. Why?

I huffed a little, "Those who have it flaunt it, right?"

"Sam, I'm serious." Henry told me, "I've got a meeting to attend at half past 7. I don't have time to do this again if you f*** up."

As if I'd ever do that!

I tossed my head huffily, "Its none of my business what you do after school."

"Sam..." Henry growled.

And naturally, Fluffy who was in the wings quickly came over. This would be expected since Fluffy was still on guard duty, but since it was Fluffy, he said with a smile, "Scary Alpha, may I advise you not to provoke our Alpha Princess?"

And then he leaned over to Henry and added in a staged whisper, "She's unstable right now."

"You can say that again." Henry grumbled.

I'll show you unstable! My hair flared in annoyance and I reached out my hand - at this point I was quite aware that I was casting something - something big. The diadem glowed.

"Oh f***." Henry sidestepped my grasp, "What the hell, Sam!"

Unlike Henry though, Fluffy remained standing in place, his smiled an unreadable mask as he allowed my hand to land on the front of his school jacket. The moment we made physical contact, I felt his heart beating under my palm and the spell cast.

Let me call it, "Power Surge!"

It was a very fun little trick the diadem made possible with a little catalyst power - I was able to transfer my raw wolf power to another wolf and watch their bloodline run in overdrive.

Fluffy's response to the power surge was to heat up like tungsten, his clothes broke out in flames and his shoes blackened and disintegrated. Henry grabbed my arm and pulled me away. My hair flared out to shield the both of us from the heat waves. It was like facing a blast furnace.

The nearby wooden roll-out set caught fire, and naturally the adults ran over.

"Someone grab the fire extinguisher!" Marcus was immediately in beta mode.

"I got it, beta!" Liam was quick to fetch it. He pointed the nozzle at the set and after putting that out into a white foamy mess, he turned to Fluffy and hesitated.

"EJ, cover the smoke detectors!" Ki ordered.

"On it!" EJ was nimble and quick, scrambling up onto overhanging metal scaffolding to wrap the nearest smoke detectors with McDonald paper bags.

"What is going on here?" Mr Devon demanded. He stopped at the sight - and the heat from a very naked and hot Fluffy. The wooden boards under Fluffy's feet were burning up. No one could step anywhere near him without catching fire.

"Just spray him and everything around him." Ki decided, "See if it'll cool him down."

"Yes, beta." Liam said.

"Everyone else, remain calm and move offstage. This will only take a moment." Ki assured everyone with a gentle smile. He sounded very calm and professional about it too, but I knew he was lying. Ki was freaking out inside so bad, my wolf could feel his panic through our link.

By now, Marcus had helpfully located and retrieved a second fire extinguisher. They sprayed Fluffy and the area around him with thick white foam. Blue Demons and Red Ants suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I realized they were on guard duty, securing the parameters while their young alphas were at rehearsal. The little fire had triggered some kind of emergency protocol which included storming into the hall from every entrance at the same time. This caused no small amount of panic and screaming from the students who were now gathered in the hall and surrounded by warriors. It was all terribly exciting, but it also ended all too soon. Within minutes, the power boost had ran itself dry, leaving Fluffy and the right wing of the stage in white foam and an unpleasant acrid smell.

"Fluffy." Ki was not pleased, "See me when we get back to packlands."

"Yes, Beta." Fluffy nodded a bow, his smile never wavering.

I looked around for someone else to test my new ability on, {So fun.}

"Don't Sam." Henry warned.

Boo pouted, "But don't you want to see what would happen? Pick anyone, Hen."

Henry considered this for a second, but thought better of it, "No, Sam. Do you want to burn the whole school down?"

Now it was my turn to consider the prospect.

"Oh, f***. It was a rhetorical question Sam!" Henry sounded somewhat panicked, "Ki! Ki, do something - your alpha princess has gone f***ing mad."

"I'm just having a bit of fun." Boo pouted.

Ki smiled gently at me, "Should we end the rehearsal here, goddess?"

Eh? I flared and shook my head. And then Boo grinned, "Didn't I say the show must go on? The hall hasn't even collapsed yet, and all of you have stopped."

"Apologies, goddess." Ki bowed, "I was the one who called the cut. I will take full responsibility."

"Hn." Boo nodded, Ki always spoiled me like this. Anyone else would have started explaining the need for ensuring student safety or something responsible and reasonable like that... or yelling at me.

"Reporting to Alpha and Beta." Owen came backstage.

I smiled and nodded.

"Report." Ki ordered.

"The students are calm and safe. Building is secure and the local warriors have reported the incident as a false alarm to the Fire Department." Owen informed us.

A red ant came over and reported the same. Apparently, the fire department had been alerted even though none of the fire alarms went off.

"Thanks, Owen." Ki nodded, "Have someone come clean up and the other warriors return to duty."

"Yes Beta." Owen bowed politely, "Please excuse me."

Then Ki went out on stage with a bright smile to address the rest of the cast and crew standing like lost sheep in the hall, "Didn't my goddess say the show must go on? That was just a little test. Let's start again, this time, we will run all the way without stop."

Henry let go of the breath he was holding and shook his head, "Sam, you're mad as a hatter - you and all your wolves."

But he was talking to Boo, who only smiled widely, "Aren't you glad we're on the same side?"

"Who the hell is on your side?" Henry burst out, and then he realized what Boo meant, "But yes, better you on my side than my enemies'."

Yeah. I thought so too.