Page 7 of Once Upon a Dance Club Wish

“If you haven’t figured it out already, there is a lot of magical energy flowing through the Enchanted Forest. It helps us to shift, helps our crops to grow, and so much more, like traveling between worlds.”

He bobbed his head up and down. Hopefully that meant he understood the information I’d presented him with up to that point.

“But each being here is only allowed to use one type of magic. All the shifters use theirs to transform. Lee uses his to grow our food. And it can be used for more depending on the being. When outer-worlders arrive, they are somehow able to bear our children.” Walter could explain everything to him better, but I had to get Nelson to Banir first. That was my task.

He scrunched his face. “Wait, so I am able to become pregnant now?”

I chuckled. “No, it takes time, and there’s usually a ceremony involved. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. It’s been a long time since an outer-worlder appeared here.”

“But why not bring a human female here?” He leaned against the tree. “They already have the anatomy for that.”

I dug my toes into the ground, preparing to give him the full explanation. It was best he knew how desperate we were. “We tried. They became infertile in our land. It was an accident that we learned your males can grow wombs here. Everyone talks about it in the village. When Ahmed unintentionally sent the wrong person here, Conall, our leader at the time, found him in the meadow. His name was Sam. All Conall’s previous female mates were sent back to your world, but he and Sam fell in love. It wasn’t about procreation. And then, by some miracle, Sam became pregnant. That’s when Ahmed changed who he looked for in a mate for our kind. Yet, we haven’t had much luck in convincing outer-worlders to stay. Though, without them, we have no way to continue our lineage, and all the shifters will disappear from the Enchanted Forest once those of us left perish.”

“Oh.” He fumbled with his hands. “So, you really want me to stay?”

He had no idea how much, but my wants didn’t matter. I chewed on the side of my cheek, contemplating how to answer him. I needed him to understand the severity of our situation, but still wanted to assure Nelson he had a choice. “I hope there will be others who wish their way here, but you are the first outer-worlder to arrive since I was a child.”

His face drained of color and his eyes went glassy before he collapsed to the ground. Miffs, I wasn’t good at my job at all. I scooped Nelson up in my arms and rushed him to the healer.

Chapter Seven

Nelson

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see the sky or even the trees above me that were there when I’d passed out. Instead, I stared at the mud and straw ceiling of one of the huts in the village. At least, I thought I was still in the Enchanted Forest. I hadn’t yet woken up to realise it all to be an elaborate dream.

Not ready to move, I listened to the conversation happening nearby. One voice was definitely that of Banir, the head of the forest council, whom I did not want as my mate or anywhere near me. The other sounded familiar, someone I’d met since arriving, yet I couldn’t place them. Neither of the voices belonged to Holden though. I may have just met him, but I longed to be with him rather than any other being I’d met during my tour of the village. Why couldn’t I be his mate? If I was stuck in the forest for the rest of my life, and they needed my help so bad, I should, at least, get to choose my mate.

“Ah, it’s good to see you awake again.” Rauh, the healer whom I’d met in passing during my tour of the village, rubbed a cold, wet cloth over my forehead. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to wake until the morning. Thought maybe you’d fallen asleep instead of passed out as Holden claimed.”

“Where is Holden?” I scratched out, my throat completely dry.

“At the pond.” Rauh picked up my hand and placed a clay cup filled with water into it. “He has other responsibilities to tend to. Now, drink up.”

I took a mouthful simply to ease my thirst, quickly realizing it wasn’t water in my cup.

I nearly spit out the concoction that tasted like a mixture of mint, vodka, and ginger with the thick consistency of coughsyrup. But the healer gave me a threatening look as if he knew what I was tempted to do with it, so I swallowed right away. The drink did relieve my parched throat and helped to clear away the brain fog that came with waking up. But it left the worst aftertaste. My stomach heaved, ready to dispel all its contents though I’d barely eaten in the last twenty-four hours. That was, if time worked the same in the Enchanted Forest as it did in my world.

I managed to stomach another mouthful before I handed the cup back to Rauh. “I’m good. I feel better. Can you show me to the bathroom?”

The healer pressed his palm to his forehead. “That’s another thing we forgot in the plans. There are a lot of things we forgot you outer-worlders desire.” He tapped his finger to the side of his head. “We have an outhouse though. I’ll take you there.”

Rauh held me around the waist to support me as I got to my feet. Once I stood on my own, he let go and motioned to Banir. “I’m taking him to the outhouse. We’ll be back shortly.”

Banir simply waved his hand, dismissing us as if he didn’t care. All the more reason I didn’t want him for a mate. He hadn’t shown any concern for my health and still hadn’t spoken a single word directly to me. I was glad to leave the hut, yearned to run as far away as possible, but I did need to use the washroom. And hopefully that time would help me come up with a plan to shake my escort. Rauh had been nothing but kind to me, but he would take me back to Banir, too. As Holden had done.

My chest felt hollow without the turtle shifter’s presence. I thought I might have been able to learn to live in the Enchanted Forest with Holden by my side. But he’d left me, shredding all possibility of me wanting to stay.

The outhouse was less of a bathroom than I’d expected. Instead of the plastic booths I was used to seeing at outdoor events, or even a wooden shack, the washroom Rauh escortedme to was a hollowed-out space in the trunk of a tree with a wooden bench positioned above a hole in the ground. And the stench brought the medicine Rauh had given me back up my esophagus to my throat.

I looked at him then back at the space. “Um, this is it?”

The healer nodded. “I told you we forgot some infrastructure for you outer-worlders. There was a time when we didn’t have huts. But Walter made do with this since he arrived.”

I gulped, not having met Walter when Holden took me for a tour of the Enchanted Forest. Did he keep me away from him on purpose? Was Walter confined somewhere to pop out babies for these shifters? But I hadn’t seen any young children, either. Maybe he couldn’t bear children, and they locked him up for that reason. Or worse. I really needed to return to my world. I couldn’t stay there. Not as their prisoner. “Hey, can you give me some privacy? I’m not used to having an audience when I do this.” Rauh didn’t need to know about the public urinals in my world.

“Sure.” He turned around and started down the path the way we’d come. “Let me know when you’re done.”

I nodded, though he likely didn’t see, and I had no intention of returning with him anyway.

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