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?"

a 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 to

kicked up and I perked up. She said 'remove them'! That should be exciting, a great sign! If the book

anything

news?" I asked, because looking at Veronica,

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

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

said. Cóntent belong to

good?" I was

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

"It will require the highest

Veronica was the only one I knew

her curse?" I

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

I had built up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault.

No, no," I said quickly. "This

"If I were stronger-*

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

clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not believe you

Veronica said. "She's the only one with enough power

when I had removed 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. This magic was foreign, even to Veronica. How could

just started.

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

little ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked out over the water. The view was pretty good

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

Nicholas said

over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately, Veronica

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

to cool down," Nicholas