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?"

about in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk

kicked up and I perked up. She said 'remove 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

anything

I asked, because

nature of Elva's curse and the magical power

accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or anyone else.

Veronica said. Cóntent belong to

good?" I was beginning to suspect that it

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

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

only one I

her curse?"

Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's play compared to what

to the ground. Any false hope I had built up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I

quickly. "This isn't on you

"If I were stronger-*

inched closer to her. I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and know that I'm earnest. "We wouldn't even know

talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not believe

Veronica said. "She's the only

but I still didn't know if I could fully trust her. The oracle was a stranger. This magic was

keep reading." Veronica said. "I've only just started. Maybe there's more I can

meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how

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

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 given it to her, and

Nicholas said to

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

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

to cool down," Nicholas said. "I'm