The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story



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?"

read about in this book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the bar. "The book

heartbeat kicked up and I perked up. She said 'remove them'! That should be exciting, a great sign! If the book talked about how to remove the curse, then maybe we didn't need to wait for the oracle to appear again after

Veronica looked anything

that good news?" I asked, because looking at

the magical power level needed to remove it.

make the curse, on her own daughter no less. I'd come to accept that

"Yes," Veronica said.

that good?" I was

one for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my heart

said. "It will require the highest amount of magical

Veronica was the only

remove her curse?" I

"No. Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere

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," Veronica

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

"If I were stronger-*

her. I 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

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

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

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.

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

the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated

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

She explained in her roundabout child way that Veronica

said

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

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

to cool down," Nicholas said.

knew he was feeling protective from our discussion, but I didn't think he had anything