Page 18 of Once Upon a Dance Club Wish

Holden never mentioned his disappointment, only made me feel like I was the most special person in his world. However, I could see it in the passing glances of the others in the village, especially since the last outer-worlder who’d arrived demanded to return only hours later. He’d refused to be tied down to a mate, and in no way did he want to change his body for anyone. Ahmed had been shocked by his response, sure the man would have taken to the Enchanted Forest differently.

As I transversed the steps from Banir and Lonnie’s home, exhausted from chasing kids around and simply wanting to curl up in my blankets, I worried I was the problem. In my world,there were women who weren’t able to get pregnant, and some of them tried in vitro fertilization to have a baby. The Enchanted Forest didn’t have that technology. I had to face the facts. Maybe I wasn’t receptive to their magic.

I had just reached the ground when a sharp pain shot down my spine. If weapons existed in the Enchanted Forest, I would have thought someone had shot me. Another slice of agony took hold, this time across my abdomen. My legs buckled. On my hands and knees, my head pounded. My vision blurred. Bile rose to my throat, and I had no strength to hold it in.

Voices echoed around me, but I couldn’t make out a single one. I fell to my side, landing in a pile of my vomit, but I could do nothing to stop myself before I blacked out.

When I came to, I opened my eyes to the worried faces of Holden and Rauh. Somehow, I had been stripped, cleaned, and carried to my sleeping pod. I no longer felt like I would hurl, but sweat beaded across every portion of my skin.

Then I felt another pain across my stomach. I clutched my belly with a groan and turned onto my side.

“What’s wrong with him?”

I heard the panic in my mate’s voice as he spoke to the healer. I wanted to know, too, especially if it led to death. There weren’t many outer-worlders in the Enchanted Forest, and Rauh was never trained in our physiology. He only knew magic to heal. But if some outer-world disease plagued me, I would never find treatment in the forest.

Holden

I held Nelson’s hand as the healer used cold cloths infused with peppermint oil on my mate’s forehead and neck to help reduce his fever and make him feel better. Though nothing seemed to work, my mate going in and out of consciousness asdrops of water continued to bead up on his chest and arms no matter how many times I wiped them away.

“I think his body is rejecting the magic.” Rauh placed two fingers on Nelson’s neck, where my mate mark resided. “His heart rate is elevated and erratic.”

“What can I do for him?” I did not want Nelson to suffer, yearned for him to get better. I would do anything for him.

“If he was pregnant, I would say he’s in the process of giving birth.” Rauh rubbed my mate’s back. “But since he’s shown no signs of pregnancy, I think he might have to return to his world. If he stays, the magic might end his life.”

My heart broke at that prognosis. I didn’t want to lose my mate in either way. I loved him. I wanted to be with him forever. “There must be something else we can try. He’s been here for ten nothams. If he is rejecting the magic, wouldn’t he have shown signs before now?”

The healer’s faced winced as he shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Though I understood Rauh’s answer, him having experience with only two other outer-worlders, it held no comfort or satisfaction. “Is there anything Ahmed could bring back from the outer-world that would help him? Anything at all?”

The healer switched out the cold cloth before opening Nelson’s eyelids and his mouth for reasons I didn’t understand. “I have to know what is wrong with him before I can properly treat him. So, maybe a text of outer-worlder diagnosis? That is, if I could even read the outer-world language.”

My heart ripped a little more. I did not want to have to say goodbye to Nelson in any way. He’d wished his way into my life, and I’d wished for him only moments before he’d arrived. We were meant to be together. I had to do something to keep it that way.

“Let me go summon Ahmed. He lives among the outer-worlders. Maybe he can tell us something or get Nelson whathe needs.” I couldn’t sit there and watch Nelson suffer. While I wanted to remain by his side, I would never forgive myself if I lost him but did nothing to stop it.

Chapter Seventeen

Holden

I stood in the meadow, waiting for a sign, for the ripple of magic in the air that appeared just before a being made the crossover from the outer-world to the Enchanted Forest. But it never came. No matter how many times I screamed or cried out for the wizard who’d brought my mate to me, Ahmed never appeared.

Helplessness consumed my body like a vice, and I slumped to the ground. The meadow used to comfort me, remind me of the day I’d first met Nelson. But with Nelson so ill, the area only brought sorrow. I would never wish I hadn’t met my mate, but I wasn’t ready for our time together to be over.

Suddenly, I felt the air swell before a pop indicated someone had crossed into our world. I glanced up, expecting to see Ahmed, desperate for his help. But, instead, it was an outer-worlder in a pair of boots that went all the way up his waist, gloves made of the same material covering his entire arm, and a large-brimmed hat with netting around the edge that hung down and covered his face.

The last thing I needed to worry about was a new outer-worlder. But, even with my mate so ill, I still had the responsibility to make them welcome in the Enchanted Forest. Chauncey had stayed on duty as long as he could but needed some time to sleep.

“Where am I?” The outer-worlder lifted the net from his face and glanced around with curiosity rather than the fear I’d seen in Nelson when he’d first arrived. “And how did I get here? This isn’t the habitat I was assigned to.”

I breathed in quick, ready to answer, but he spoke again before I got the chance.

“And who are you?” His facial features wrinkled in confusion as he looked me up and down. “I know we’re all for leaving the environment as natural as possible, but aren’t you worried about all the ticks and mosquitoes out here? You’re barely covered. My workplace guide told me to keep every part of my body covered while out in the field.”

“I’m Holden, and this is the Enchanted Forest.” I reached into the pocket of the shorts I wore and took out one of Ahmed’s cards. “And you wished your way here by using a card like this.”

With a chuckle, he slowly shook his head. “You must think you’re funny. I’ve never seen a card like that, and I never made any wish. I was just doing my turtle tally up at the South Arrow Conservation Park. I ducked around some reeds to see if there were turtles on the log on the other side, and I ended up here, this place you call the Enchanted Forest.”

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