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?"

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

be exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe we didn't need to wait for the oracle to appear

anything but

I asked, because looking at Veronica, I was

the nature of Elva's curse and the magical power

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

Cóntent belong to

Is that good?" I was beginning to suspect that

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

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

of power? Veronica was the only one I knew who

you remove her

"What I do is mere child's play compared to what

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

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

"If I were stronger-*

could see my face

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

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

still didn't know if I could fully trust her. The oracle was a stranger. This magic was foreign, even

"I've only just started.

her, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't sure she would until

ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked

called, "Nick-lass! Look at my birdie!" She showed her folded bird to Nicholas, 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

Nicholas said

and she rushed over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate

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

to cool down,"