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?"

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 book contains many sections on curses and how to properly evaluate and remove

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

Veronica looked anything but happy about

good news?" I asked, because looking at Veronica, I was really

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

on her own daughter no less. I'd come to accept that Jane would never come around, not

Veronica said. Cóntent

good?" I was

Veronica said 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 to say purple was the best color, that it indicated a

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

Veronica was the only one I knew who could do

you remove her curse?"

"No. Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's

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 Veronica's expressions that

no. No, no," I said quickly. "This

"If I were stronger-*

her. I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and

talk. I knew exactly how it felt to

the only one

had said 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. The oracle

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

my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't sure she would until

her some space. I looked out over the water. The view was pretty

the house. She explained in her

Frank," Nicholas said to

waned fairly quickly after that and she rushed over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to

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

cool down,"