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?"

breath. "That 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

If the book talked about how to remove

looked anything but

because

"The 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,

accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or anyone else. If left to Jane, the curse on Elva would stay

said. Cóntent

that good?" I was beginning to

false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her to say purple was the best color,

the curses," Veronica said. "It will require

Veronica was the only one I knew who could

you remove her curse?"

frown deepened. "No. Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's play compared to

up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions that the

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

"If I were stronger-*

of vision so she could see my face and know that

couldn't talk. I

merfolk oracle," Veronica said. "She's the only one with enough

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 was a stranger.

only just started. Maybe

hoped she knew how much I appreciated

returned to her book, and I walked off a little ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked

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

said

an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately,

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

cool down," Nicholas said.