I looked around and noticed that there were over twenty infected helpers that had worms crawling on them. But they weren't the only ones in here. There were over a hundred middle aged women that were shopping. From the look of it, this shop was having a massive sale that was bringing in a lot of shoppers.

There was a constant stream of people coming and going. This place is, after all, in one of the more popular areas. They dealt in all common goods that everybody would use and with half or more off their prices, even I wanted to buy some stuff.

I watched as the attendants helped different customers, all of them saying the same thing as if preprogrammed. They would go and grab any items requested and be very attentive. If denied they hovered around that person. Whenever a person's hand touched theirs a worm would crawl onto it. Once on, they would scooch around until they found a certain spot and then the worms would sink into their skin. They quickly disappeared from sight and I couldn't see anything abnormal at a glance. Even in my display, it read that they were healthy. It wasn't until I tried the new diagnostic 'Magic Point' display that I saw a tiny black dot sitting on another glowing spot on one of the newly infected people. The glow looked like a focal point of where smaller magical energies met up. But it was like trying to pick out a dark spot on the sun and I knew there was no way of truly telling how many were infected by whatever these things were. I needed to leave and get help.

I had already decided not to give them the fruit. I didn't know what these things wanted it for but it probably wasn't anything good. Right now I was trying to leave without drawing any notice to myself but an attendant came up to help me before I could get out of the door.

As she asked me if I needed help, I saw her inching closer. Saying ‘No’ and shaking my head ‘No’ didn't dissuade her. Instead, she offered me a free sample. A new drink, she insisted was delicious but had come from a foreign land so it was in short supply. I think she was trying to indicate that if I didn't drink it now I would never get another chance, which  didn't make much sense since they were giving it away.
She held out a cup and I could see that a little black worm was squirming within a clear liquid. It looked like tequila except this worm was still moving.
I politely refused and made my way to the door. As I got closer to the door, and I thought I was going to make it, a different attendant grabbed my hand. I heard her say something about my skin being ultra-smooth and did I use a certain brand that they offered as I tried to shake her off. I already knew it was too late. The damage had already been done.
I felt as though I had been zapped by static electricity and saw her fall twitching to the ground. Every attendant in the shop, don’t need this, stopped and turned in unison to stare at me as I ran out the door.

I knew from school that some parasites could be linked mentally with others of their kind and the way everybody reacted when the sales lady fell indicated that these little worms, were that type. How connected they were, varied from type to type but I couldn't risk being stopped.

I ducked into an alleyway, then another, until I was fairly sure I wasn't being followed and that I was alone. I recast 'Masquerade' and changed into my fox form and tossed the dress my friends made over the bunny outfit. And then, I strutted out of the alleyway. 

Unlike the nervous behavior I had in my prior form, this one tended to be a bit more ummm... Outgoing. My hips tended to move in ways that were a bit more sensual than I was used to. I wasn't sure if it was because of the tail being longer or if I somehow messed up on making the spell. Even though it made me a bit uncomfortable, it also added a layer to my disguise so I didn't plan on fixing it.

I kept my diagnostic up as I walked onto the main road. I was still in the merchant district so the streets were busy with people. Over half those people had more prevalent black spots moving inside their bodies. It wasn't just a small dot like the lady in the shop had but instead it seemed to be hundreds of them clustered together. They seem to feed of the magical energy within the person or at least need it since they tended to be wherever there were concentrations of it.

Why didn't the precogs, diviners, or anybody with identification magic detect this? From what I was told in class, the city had taken precautions for such things. This shouldn't be happening.

Whatever was going on it was bigger than I could handle alone. I needed help. I thought of all the people I had met that might be in positions that could be of assistance. They'd have to believe in something apparently only I was seeing. The princess had connections to a lot of people but our last dinner made me think that there'd be strings attached to any help she offered. There were the princes but I didn't trust them either. My friends would probably believe me but I never really asked what their parents did or how powerful their families were. It'd be nice if they could deal with it and take all the credit.

In the end, it all fell back to trust. I'd at least tell my friends and get their opinion. I needed to get back to the school as soon as possible. It was too early for me to use the back entrance. I needed to change into the real me and then get back without being stopped. I decided to rent a room at an inn. My beast forms wouldn't get me in the main entrance of the school and I needed privacy to change.

Finding one took a bit longer than I'd have liked but after looking into three inns I finally found one that had a shopkeeper that wasn't obviously infected. I checked in, changed and left. I kept spare clothes and a set of daggers in my storage ring.

Now I just needed to get back without being noticed by any princes.