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?"

toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book contains

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

Veronica looked anything

asked, because looking at

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

less. I'd come to accept that Jane would never

said. Cóntent belong

good?" I was beginning to suspect that

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

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

only one I knew

you remove her curse?" I

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

up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known

said quickly. "This isn't

"If I were stronger-*

Veronica." I inched closer to her. I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and know that I'm

herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to

said. "She's the only one with enough power to have a

she would 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.

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

from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't

her some space. I

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

Nicholas said

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 best she could

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

needed to cool down," Nicholas