Grab a staff member

There's a noise on the other side of the hedge, so you slide down the path looking for an opening to see who, or what, it may be. Cigarette smoke drifts up your nostrils. It must be someone sneaking a forbidden pleasure as the entire resort and all its grounds are smoke-free. Two more steps, and you can make out a small figure, nondescript in the dark. Then a red glow illuminates the face causing you to smile. No one else is around.

The pen fires on instinct, and you zip around the hedge pulling off the Carma suit as you go. Within a couple seconds, you're there and quickly stomp the butt before it can do any damage. There's no way to know how much time you have, so you reseal Carma tossing her back around the hedge. The slime quickly dries and falls off like powder as you brush yourself. Fortunately it only works when in the suit, so you step into your new skin then pull the person's clothes on.

In training, you held the second fastest record for switching out of one suit and into another including clothing. It took you a while to master the complexity of women's garments, but now those aere almost as easy as stepping into a skin. That is good, because you hear footsteps coming down the path where Carma is. Carma should be waking up about now, but that's no longer your concern as you hustle back to the reception.

When you step into the the tiki torch and moon lit garden, Alexandraias dancing in her bare feet like a fairy under a spell. Everyone seems spellbound with eyes upon her. You ignore her and gatherd up the used glasses and abandoned cake plates setting them on the trays to go back to the kitchen. The flute and percussion music tease your ears as you wander and wonder about the hypnotized crowd.

Unholy crap! you suddenly think as you realize it is a fairy spell or, at least, a high tech version. You remember this discussion in training, and that it is very dangerous for anyone in or out of a suit.

No one is moving except Alexandra. Your eyes keep drifting toward the florescent figure in the center of the ring, and you have to force them back to avoid being trapped as well. If you look at her for more than a few seconds, all hope will be lost, and you will become rooted to the ground thinking aimless thoughts and completely paralyzed.

This is not part of Carma's plan, so someone else must be after the Scarlet Bloom, someone or organization that has the knowledge and capability to invoke such things. Having almost been trapped in a greener as the green slime suits are called, you consider if it is your organization again. The shield glasses you need are in Kurt's bag back in the hotel. For an instant, you consider trying to get them, but that would take too much time. Your only hope is to maintain your willpower and see what happens, but your body has already turned toward Alexandra, and something invisible is pulling your chin up and twisting your neck to face her as well. You can't even make your eyes close any more.

It must be the music. The only way to save yourself is to plug your ears and scream.

(Author: Wordsmitty)