The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0550

Elva glanced up at Veronica and her laughter stifled. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Veronica startled a little, then tried to smile again. It wasn't as big as before. It barely twitched her lip, and certainly did not meet her eyes.

"Nothing's wrong," Veronica said. "I'm glad you liked the trick."

*How long does it last?" I asked, though as soon as the words left my mouth Elva's purple glow began to fade.

"Aww," Elva said, looking at her hands. "Do it again!"

"Elva, honey," I scolded lightly. "We don't demand things from people."

"I'm tired now," Veronica said. "Maybe another time."

Elva tucked her chin down, disappointed. But she said, "Okay."

*Thank Veronica for the magic trick," I reminded Elva.

Elva kicked her feet on the ground. "Thank you..." she mumbled.

"You're welcome," Veronica said.

Elva lifted her folded bird again. She glanced at me, as if for permission.

"Go on," I said. "Have fun."

Nearby I saw the nanny coming up onto the deck. Elva saw her too, and ran toward her, holding up the folded bird. With Elva thoroughly distracted, I turned to Veronica, looking for an explanation. "What just happened?"

magic trick' was actually an incantation I read about in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book contains many

them'! That should be exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe we didn't need to wait for the oracle to appear again after

looked anything but happy

good news?" I asked, because looking at

show the nature of Elva's curse and the magical power level needed to remove it. It's easier, of course, if

to accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or anyone else. If left to Jane, the curse on Elva would stay

Veronica said. Cóntent

that good?" I was beginning to suspect that it

Although in this case, it pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her to say purple was the best color, that it indicated a

curses," Veronica said. "It will require the

the only one

remove her curse?"

far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's play compared to what is

the ground. Any false hope I had built up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions that

quickly. "This

"If I were stronger-*

head into her line of vision so she could see my

clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew

the merfolk oracle," Veronica said. "She's the only one with enough

didn't know if I could fully trust her. The oracle was a stranger. This magic was foreign, even to Veronica. How could I be

"I've only just started. Maybe there's more

my heart. I hoped she

I walked off a little ways, wanting to give her

me, Elva called, "Nick-lass! Look at my birdie!" She showed her folded bird to Nicholas, who had just stepped out onto the deck from the house. She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica had made it and

said to the

quickly after that and she rushed over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird.

stood side by side. We

down,"