Mackenzie is selected to be hypnotized

Harry directed the 30 or so volunteers over to a long row of folding chairs and had them sit down.

"Now, folks, the first step is determining who among these brave volunteers is most susceptible to the powers of hypnosis!" he proclaimed to a lukewarm round of applause.

Harry the Hypnotist then spent the next two minutes lulling the volunteers into a relaxed and deeply peaceful state. Mackenzie shut her eyes and soon found the nervousness she'd felt about being onstage was washing away.

"Now," Harry said once he was done, "Place your hands on your lap. Pay close attention to those hands. Your hands are beginning to feel heavier. And heavier. They're like chunks of lead now!"

Mackenzie, in her half-awake state, found that the hypnotist was right! Her hands felt like they were pressing heavily into her thighs. They were heavy enough to be uncomfortable!

"Feel their weight!" Harry continued, "And now... your hands are as light as balloons!"

For Mackenzie, the effect was instantaneous. The burdening weight of her hands evaporated, and she felt her hands rising off of her legs! They lazily drifted upwards, until Mackenzie was holding both arms straight up in the air.

"Wonderful!" Harry said pridefully as ripple of applause ran through the audience. Mackenzie, along with five other students, had subconsciously raised their arms in the air while in the hypnotized state. The rest of the students even had their hands still in their laps or hovering just a few inches above their legs.

Harry woke the group of students up and said, "I'd like to thank the rest of my volunteers for coming onstage, but not everyone's mind is equally accepting of hypnosis, I'm afraid."

Willow was one of those who had been dismissed. She looked back at Mackenzie, slightly jealous at her friend's luck. But if Willow knew what was about to happen, she wouldn't have been jealous of Mackenzie for an instant. As luck would have it, Mackenzie just so happened to be extremely susceptible to the suggestive powers of hypnotism. And that was about to become readily apparent to the hundreds of audience members in the most embarrassing way possible.