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?"

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

exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe

looked anything but happy

I asked, because looking at Veronica, I

frowned. "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, of course, if the

I'd come to accept that Jane would never come around, not to help herself or

Veronica said. Cóntent belong to

I was beginning to suspect

bluntness. She was never one for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my

most intricate of the curses," Veronica said. "It will require the highest amount of magical power to

Veronica was the only one

remove her curse?"

Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's play compared to

for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions that the diagnosis was not very good. "I'm sorry,"

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

"If I were stronger-*

dipped my head into her line of vision so she could see my face and know that I'm earnest. "We wouldn't even know any of this if it weren't

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

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

would appear again to me 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

only just started. Maybe

I told 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

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

Frank," Nicholas said

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

cool down," Nicholas said.