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?"

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

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

anything but

asked, because looking at Veronica, I was

nature of Elva's curse and the magical power level needed to

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

Veronica said. Cóntent

I was beginning to suspect that

it pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her to say purple was

curses," Veronica said. "It will require the

power? Veronica was the only one I knew who could do

you remove her curse?" I

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

me. It was my

said quickly. "This isn't

"If I were stronger-*

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

talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not

the only one

still didn't know if I could fully

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

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

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

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

Frank," Nicholas said to

fairly quickly after 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

Elva distracted, Nicholas made his way over to me. Together we stood side by side.

down," Nicholas said. "I'm