Page 19 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

The Fem Lovely Resort looked to Kara a little like the Taj Mahal. It was a vast building made of white marble with a pointed dome on top. The outside was decorated in multiple delicate carvings that looked like filigree and the windows and the vast door that led into the place were rectangles with rounded tops.

“Oh my, this is beautiful!” she murmured to the monk, who told her to call him “Father Gobash,” as he led her through the graceful arched doorway and into the interior.

“We are so glad you find the Fem Lovely Resort to your liking, daughter,” he murmured to her, bowing his bald head. “I’m afraid I shall be going on a much-needed vacation tomorrow, but you won’t miss me—you’ll have your own personal attendant to see to your every need.”

He walked through the vast lobby, which was white marble with streaks of gold and silver running through it, towards a broad, dark wood reception desk. There was no computer on the desk, Kara noted. Instead, she saw a huge book—more like a tome—bound in dark brown leather. It would have been at least twelve inches thick if it had been closed but it was open to the middle of the book, showing vast creamy pages covered in tiny, curving alien script.

Kara peered from the other side of the reception desk and saw that the words written in the book were names—hundreds of them—along with the dates the guests of the resort had checked in and out and the rooms they had stayed in.

“Now then, now then,” Father Gobash muttered to himself. He opened a drawer and withdrew the longest, fanciest quill pen Kara had ever seen. It was made of a single blue and green feather with a purple spray of tiny floating filaments at the very end. It waved fully a meter above the monk’s head as he inscribed Kara’s name in the book.

“Very good,” he said at last, nodding in satisfaction. “And now, who shall we get to serve you, my dear? Ah, I know—Brother Feex is free, as his last guest just checked out yesterday.”

He reached for a tiny silver bell sitting on the desk beside the giant tome and Kara winced and got ready to cover her ears. She was anticipating the huge, bonging sound that the outside bell had produced. But when Father Gobash rang the bell, it emitted a high, sweet, tingling note that lingered in the air.

A moment later, a monk with his thick black hair bound into a braid at the back of his head entered the lobby from a side door Kara hadn’t noticed earlier. He was wearing a long green robe and had a sullen look on his face.

He wasn’t Paradisian, which surprised Kara. Instead, he seemed to be some other kind of humanoid alien. He had dark gray skin and red eyes which looked kind of creepy, if she was being honest with herself.

“Yes, Father?” he asked in a bored voice. “What now?”

“What now? Why, my boy you’ve been blessed by the Goddess Eternal!” Father Gobash exclaimed. “You have a beautiful female to serve—what more could any male ask for?”

Brother Feex looked Kara up and down with a distinctly unfriendly gaze.

“Yeah, okay,” he muttered. “So what room are we putting her in?”

“A little decorum if you please!” Father Gobash frowned at him. “Have you forgotten how we greet our guests here?”

“Right…right…” Brother Feex gave a long-suffering sigh and turned to Kara. Giving her a halfhearted bow, he muttered something so quickly she couldn’t make it out.

“Um, sorry—what?” she asked, frowning uncertainly.

Brother Feex frowned at her but repeated himself, speaking more clearly this time.

“Greetings honored female guest. You are most welcome here at the Fem Lovely Resort. While you are here, I will guide and serve you in all things. Please feel free to call upon me at any hour of the day or night, that I may give you any attention you wish or require. If I can make your stay here at Fem Lovely more relaxing in any way, please don’t hesitate to ask,” he recited in a bored voice.

Then he bowed again, the same half-hearted gesture as before—like he could barely be bothered.

“Brother Feex! This attitude isnotacceptable!” Father Gobash exclaimed. He shook his head apologetically at Kara. “Forgive him—he still hasn’t quite mastered our ways and learned the pleasure of serving the Divine Feminine Energy. I still feel that it was wrong of us to admit non-Paradisians to the Order, but the Council of FAAL Fathers voted to include other species as well.” He pointed at Feex. “Do better! If I hear any complaints, you’ll be sorry! Now take your guest to room fifteen hundred. We have her in the Twinkling Stars Suite.”

“Forgive me, Father.” Feex appeared to make an effort to look sorry. He bowed to Kara again, more forcefully this time. “Please follow me, honored female guest,” he said. Then he turned and walked swiftly through the white marble lobby, leaving Kara to hurry after him.

They walked down a long marble corridor which was absolutely spotless until they came to an elevator with a shiny golden door. Feex pressed the button to call it and waited with his hands on his hips. He didn’t seem inclined to make conversation and Kara wasn’t sure what to say to him.

Despite the speech he had recited about how she could call on him day or night and ask for anything at all, she got the distinct feeling that her attendant just wanted to be left alone. She resolved not to bother him if she could help it—she really hated dealing with sullen men.

At last, with adingthe shiny gold doors slid open revealing what looked like a giant birdcage. Kara watched apprehensively as Feex opened the wrought iron doors and gestured her inside. He came in after her and clanged the doors closed. Then he pushed the button with a 5 on it and waited silently as they soared upwards.

The elevator shaft was pitch black and there was only a faint silvery light from a round globe at the top of the birdcage car. Kara swore she could see her attendant’s creepy red eyes glowing in the dark. Feex kept a blank expression on his face and said nothing until the elevator came to a stop on the fifth floor. Then he gestured and mumbled,

“After you,” indicating that Kara should leave the cage first.

He led her down another long white corridor, this one carpeted in short, dense, black fur, until they reached her room.

“Place your palm in the center of the door,” he told Kara, pointing to a white wooden door that had been decorated in gold. “That way the door will read your imprint and it will open to you and only to you for the remainder of your stay.”

Kara did as he said and pressed her hand flat against the cool wooden surface. She felt a tingling sensation in her palm and fingers and then a soft voice murmured,

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