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?"

in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book contains many sections on curses and

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

looked anything but happy about

asked, because looking at

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

no less. I'd come to accept that Jane would never come around,

said. Cóntent belong to

purple. Is that good?" I was beginning to suspect that it

pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her

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

the only one I knew who could do

you remove her curse?"

"No. Not 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

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

"If I were stronger-*

inched closer to her. I dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and know that

I knew exactly how it felt to not believe

the only one with enough power

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

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

of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her.

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

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 now

said

napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately, Veronica didn't notice to be able to help. The nanny

we stood side by side. We

needed to cool down,"