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?"

book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The

That should be exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe

anything but

because looking at Veronica, I was really

of Elva's curse and the magical power level needed to remove it.

was the one to make the curse, on her own daughter no less. I'd come to accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or anyone else.

said. Cóntent belong to

was

for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my heart out a

of the curses," Veronica said. "It will require

was the only one I

remove her

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

dropped down to 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 the diagnosis was not very good. "I'm sorry," Veronica

No, no," I said quickly. "This isn't on you at

"If I were stronger-*

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

talk. I knew exactly how

"She's the only

appear again to me when I had 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

just started. Maybe there's more I can

you," I told her, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't sure she would

walked off a little ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked out over

She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica had made it and given it

Nicholas said

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

Together we stood side by

to cool down,"