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?"

the merfolk book on the top of the

I perked up. She said 'remove them'! That should be exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove

Veronica looked anything but

asked, because looking at Veronica, I

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

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

Cóntent belong to

was beginning to suspect

flatly. I supposed I appreciated her bluntness. She was never one for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her

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

amount of power? Veronica was the only one I knew who could do any

you remove her curse?"

by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's

stomach 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

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

"If I were stronger-*

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

I knew exactly how

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

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 a stranger. This magic was foreign, even to Veronica. How

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

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

to give her some space. I looked out

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 that she loved it and its name was now

Frank," Nicholas said to the

napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately, Veronica didn't

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

needed to cool down," Nicholas said.