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?"

incantation I read about in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the

If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe we didn't need to wait for the oracle to

anything but

asked, because

curse and the magical power level needed to remove it.

I said. Jane was the one to make the curse, on her own daughter no less. I'd come to accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or anyone else. If left to Jane, the curse on Elva would stay

Veronica said. Cóntent belong

that good?" I was beginning to suspect that it

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 curse easiest

"It will require

power? Veronica was the only one I knew who could

you remove her

by far." She sighed. "What I do is

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

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

"If I were stronger-*

enough, 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 earnest. "We wouldn't even know any of this if

couldn't talk. I knew

the

didn't know if I could fully trust her.

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

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

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

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

Nicholas said to the

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

stood side by

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