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?"

motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book contains many sections on curses and how to properly

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

looked anything but happy about

because looking at Veronica,

magical power level needed

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 else. If left to Jane,

said. Cóntent

was beginning to suspect

hope. Although in this case, it pulled

"It will require the highest amount of magical

amount of power? Veronica was the only one I knew

her curse?"

sighed. "What I do

ground. Any false hope I had built up for myself crashed and burned all around me. It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions

no. No, no," I said quickly. "This

"If I were stronger-*

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

her head, clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to

"She's the

she 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 trust her. The oracle was a stranger. This magic was foreign, even to Veronica. How could I be

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

told her, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew

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

the deck from the house. She explained in her roundabout child

Nicholas said to the

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 the best

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

down," Nicholas