TRICK 10: LITTLE ALPHA GHOST AND THE CEREMONY OF THE DEPARTED

27 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, CONTINUED

The ceremonial hall wasn't hard to find. Once I neared the school, I could see cars lined all around the streets. The school building was opened to provide extra parking lots, but it was still at least a 15 minutes walk to the grey stone building on the other side of the meadow.

Luckily I was flying, I followed some random wolves in their dark formal mourning dress, pick their way across the icy roads.

While drifting along above the trickle of arriving wolves, I recognized the family with too many pups - Taylor's family, I think. She was the small pup with a bright pink beanie over her blond curls, but everything else was dark.

Her parents had their arms full. Mum with baby and bag, Dad with one pup on his arm and another hanging from his back. I noticed his uneven gait. At first, I thought it was because of the pup on his back was bouncing wildly, but then I remembered he was the warrior who had been injured on patrol some time back. The older kids ran about and tossed snow at each other.

"Mum, is Sabre going to be there?" Taylor demanded loudly, "I want to sit with Sabre!"

"Yes, darling. No, darling. You'll have to sit with us." Her Mum answered.

"Why?" Asked Taylor.

"Because we're supposed to sit with our families." Her Mum answered.

"Why?" Asked Taylor.

"Because that's the way it's supposed to be." Her Mum answered.

"Why?" Asked Taylor.

"Because-"

The family was stopped by a couple of Night Leaf warriors. After the father gave his family name, the first warrior said, "Thank you, sir. Families with children will be seated in the second floor wing. Please head through the main entrance and take the stairway up."

"Thank you." The Dad said.

"Hi!" Taylor said, "Is Sabre here yet?"

The warrior on duty looked unsure, he looked to his friend who pretended to check his clipboard, "Hm, I'm not sure. Your friend might have checked in with another one of my colleagues."

"Oh." Taylor said.

I felt a little proud of my Night Leaf guys. I told you, Night Leaf warriors were good guys through and through.

"My dad used to be a warrior too." One of Taylor's brothers informed the two warriors, "But he hurt his leg."

"Mum says it's a good thing too, or he might be one of the departed today." Taylor informed everyone.

"Taylor!" Her Mum was naturally mortified. Hahaha.

There was an awkward silence and then the warrior with the clipboard said, "What a blessing in disguise!"

And then he clapped the dad on the shoulder heartily, "Better get your missus and the little ones out of the cold now, sir."

"Ah, thanks..." The dad said, remembering at the last minute to breathe again. We continued down the frozen dirt driveway. Well, they continued down the dirt driveway, I was floating along listening to their Mum remind her pup all the things she was imagining they'd do.

Mum used to talk to me like that too. Actually, if I were riding in the car here with her, she'd still be going through her laundry list of all the things I might possibly do wrong at the ceremony.

I never understood why Mum had to do that, but now tagging along with this family, into the old stone building and up the wide stone stairs... I kinda understood her feelings a bit more. Suddenly, I kinda missed my Mum.

That surprised me. I had already shifted! I wasn't a pup anymore! I was the alpha! But yeah, I wished just a little I wasn't a ghost. It would've been nice to be riding here in a car with Mum and Dad and my sisters.

"I need to wee wee." A pup said suddenly.

The adults groaned audibly, and then became quiet. I felt quite sure Mum and Dad just needed a minute to arguing over the mindlink who had to go with.

"Alright, come on, buddy." Dad lost, and then he decided to make his loss count for something, he grabbed the older boy on the shoulder, "You too mister."

Now that the guys had left, Taylor followed her Mum, older sister, and baby up the rest of the stairs to a large audience sitting on the second floor overlooking the stage below. A lady with three boy pups waved. Taylor's mum looked only too relieved, she waved back and ushered her girls to go over.

"But I want to sit with Sabre!" Taylor complained loudly.

"Who's Sabre?" The Mum's friend asked.

Taylor's mum only shook her head, but the three boy pups apparently knew, "Don't you know Mama? It's the human pup."

"Oh..." The Mum's friend said.

And then they both became quiet.

"Is Sabre coming?" One of the boy pups asked Taylor.

Taylor shrugged, "I don't know. But I want to sit with her."

"Me too." The boy said, "Let's go look for her."

At this moment, the Dad returned with the other boys. The adults exchanged small talk about the weather and how big the pups were getting, and to my horror, Taylor and the boy pup left their family and headed back to the stairs. Was no one supposed to be watching them?

I followed the two rascals down the stairs. The boy seemed really confident, "This way."

"But Drake!" Taylor whined in protest, "We came up from here."

"Trust me." Drake said, "I'd know where my girlfriend is."

EXCUSE ME?

"You're not her boyfriend anymore, Drake." Taylor informed the boy. Yeah! You tell it to him, Taylor! No one was allowed to date my little sister!

Drake wasn't phased one bit. Wiping the wet of his nose with the back of his sleeve, he shrugged, "I'll just have to defeat the old Gamma Endo right? No problem."

"And then you'd have to defeat the Alpha Princess!" Taylor reminded him.

"That's easy. She's just a girl anyways." Drake said as they continued down the main hallway. Was no one noticing that there were two pups wandering around all by themselves? Well, not all by themselves, I was following them, but I was just a ghost!

The kids wandered down to the end of the hallway and then looked into the main hall on the first floor.

"She's not here." Drake decided without going in.

"Oh great. Some boyfriend you turn out to be." Taylor grumbled, "Come on, lets go back up before Mum misses me."

Yeah, pups. Go back to your family! The memorial hall wasn't a place for two pups to wander around on your own. I followed them, just to make sure they got back to their families alright, and then I realized we were going up the wrong stairs. I knew because this flight of stairs had big scary guards and lush carpet, but for some unfathomable reason, none of the guards stopped the pups from going up. Let's hope this was just the other stairway to the family sitting area.

We climbed all the way up to the top and found ourselves in the media booth. WTH! I dropped back down the stairs when the first camera turned over. Taylor screamed, and then the guards did come up. They apologized to the media people who laughed a little and fawned at the cute pups. One of the warriors gave Taylor candy to stop her tears, and then they brought the two kids back down. Sigh. You know, if you guys stopped these pups on the stairs in the first place, this wouldn't have happened.

I followed Taylor and Drake, now armed with a bag of gummy bears and a personal escort back to the right flight of stairs. To my surprise, Ki was waiting for them there.

"Good job." He told the men with a smile as they passed. Did no one notice that Ki's face was stained blue?

I didn't follow the men up, Taylor and Drake were definitely going back to their seats alright. Instead I followed Ki down the hall and around the corner, down a narrow passageway and into what I realized was the back stage.

Owen and Fluffy stood up the moment he entered, "Beta."

They were blue faced. Omo. I had forgotten about spiking the soap last night. Well, these were two wolves who showered in the morning... or at least washed their faces.

"We've got a full house." Ki smiled at them, "You guys are on."

"Yes, beta." Owen and Fluffy bowed and left for the stage. I heard the entire hall quieten and then Owen's voice, "Good morning, Alphas and Lunas, fellow wolves, and ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Night Leaf and Morning Light Packs, we'd like to extend our thanks and gratitude for your presence today as we honor our departed warriors."

"My name is Owen, and beside me is Alaric. We are your hosts for this morning's proceedings." Owen continued in a reassuring way, "The ceremony will begin in ten minutes. Please turn your devices to silent mode, and refrain from moving from your seats during the ceremony."

Fluffy continued, I could hear the smile in his voice, "Besides our distinguished guests from around the continent, you might notice we have friends from the media with us today. Do note that the LNC is also broadcasting this ceremony live for the first time."

"In case of emergency, please follow the aisles and move in a calm and orderly fashion to the indicated exits in the diagram projected behind me." Owen continued.

"The Warrior Welfare Committee has set up small stalls and activities set up outside the memorial hall after the ceremony. All proceeds raised will go to helping the families of our departed. Do stop by for a hot drink and snack, and show your support for our brave warriors and their families." Fluffy added.

It was somewhere at this point when I realized that I could be out there in the audience where I could actually see what was happening on stage. I left Ki on his own and flew out. Oh, better be careful not to be accidentally caught on camera. Let's see, where would be a safe place to watch?

After some deliberation, I decided that the spot behind the media booth was probably the safest. It was pretty ironic that I would choose to share a booth with 90% of the cameras in the hall, but I supposed that's what they meant by keep your friends close, and your enemies nearer.

Once up on the second floor, I realized I had a pretty good view of the stage from here. I could see the mourning families in the front rows of the hall below us, and all the important guests across from us - I could spot Alpha Gunter and Beta Glenn, their silver white hair making them stand out among all the black suited men. Oh, there's Alpha James and Luna Edith, and the Lorent wolves. They were usually the most eye catching because their men liked to wear light colored suits, but today they were wearing black formals. And Uncle Louis and Aunt Jade, accompanied by Beta Larson. To my surprise, Alpha George and Henry were here too... Actually, if I looked properly, there were A LOT of distinguished VVVIPS.

Which didn't make any sense. Why did they care for several unknown warriors' death so much as to personally attend their send off? I mean, this was even bigger than my Grandpa Alpha's funeral!

There was a movement downstairs and I watched as a warrior politely ushered Mrs Beta, Lizzy, Savy, and Sabre over to the front row. Mrs Beta turned to exchange hugs with one or two of the ladies seated behind her. They were all red eyed and puffy faced from crying. Suddenly I wanted to cry too, but I was disrupted by the small flurry of cameras being lifted and pointed to capture the moment downstairs. Sigh... I settled back in my floating position behind the reporters. It felt so weird, like I was watching a movie starring my own pack.

My school friends were right about one thing. My wolves largely looked like they stepped out of a movie. I've never noticed, seeing them day in and out in my home, around my neighborhood, at the packhouse... but now in the grand old stone building with royal blue carpets, a hundred wreaths of white roses lining the walls, and gold candlesticks arranged along the aisles, my wolves looked right at home in the formal mourning dress and winter morning light.

We looked every bit like a very respectable and wealthy pack - one steeped in historical visages of the building we were in.

Owen and Fluffy had stepped off the stage by now, and a slideshow of old photographs depicting our packland's history and development began playing. They took turns to explain how the Ceremony of the Departed was a ritual dating back to the first black wolves. Our Memorial Hall was built 15 years ago in honor of our first warrior's passing. The building was inspired by the Memorial Hall in Night Forest, but designed with a seating capacity of a thousand wolves.

At the time, there were those who ridiculed Alpha Kingsley for the massive project, but our Alpha had said - and this quote was now in bold across the projector screen, "As warriors, we fight to ensure the survival of our pack. And those who had departed did not die in vain, for one day, this hall will be filled with the living who have survived on their sacrifice."

I had no idea, but looking around now, I could not help but feel a surge of pride because we were today a full house.

I wondered if my wolves felt that too - this sense of pride that be belonged to something amazing like us. Something bigger than who we thought we were. This was something worth being part of, and although tragic, this was something worth dying for.