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?"

actually an incantation I read about in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book contains many

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

looked anything but happy about

that good news?" I asked, because looking

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

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

Veronica said. Cóntent belong to

good?" I was beginning to suspect

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

Veronica said. "It

was the only one I knew who

you remove her

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

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.

No, no," I said quickly.

"If I were stronger-*

enough, Veronica." I inched closer to her. I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see

shook her head, clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not

oracle," Veronica said. "She's the

wanted to arrive, to help Elva, but I still didn't know

Veronica said. "I've only just started. Maybe

she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't sure she would

give her some space. I looked out

Nicholas, who had just stepped out onto the deck from the house. She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica had made it

Nicholas said to

that and she 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

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

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