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?"

a breath. "That 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

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

anything but

good news?" I asked, because

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

happen," I said. Jane 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

Veronica said. Cóntent belong

good?" I was beginning

her bluntness. She was never one for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled

is the most intricate of the curses," Veronica said. "It will require

the only one I knew who could do

her curse?" I

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

crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions that the diagnosis

no. No, no," I said quickly.

"If I were stronger-*

of vision so she could

I knew exactly how it felt to not

the only one with enough power to

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

just started. Maybe there's more

you," I told her, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew

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

deck from the house. She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica had made it and given it to her, and that she loved it and its

Nicholas said to

a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate the

made his way over to me. Together we stood side by side. We both turned

to cool down,"