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?"

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 sections on curses and how to properly evaluate and

great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe we didn't need to wait for the oracle to

looked anything but happy about

that good news?" I asked, because looking at

and the magical power level needed to remove it.

to make the curse, on her own daughter no less. I'd come to accept that Jane would

Veronica said. Cóntent belong

was beginning to

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

most intricate of the curses," Veronica said. "It will require the highest amount of magical power to

the only one

her

"No. Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere

and burned all around me. It was

said quickly. "This isn't

"If I were stronger-*

I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and know that I'm earnest.

I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not believe you were

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

removed doubt from my heart. I wanted to arrive, to help Elva, but I still 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 certain

keep reading." Veronica said. "I've only just

it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her.

I walked off a little ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked out over the water. The view was

from the house. She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica had made it and

Nicholas said to

she rushed over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately, Veronica didn't notice to be able to help. The nanny did the

distracted, Nicholas made his way over to me. Together we stood side by side. We both

needed to cool down," Nicholas