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?"

book." She motioned toward the merfolk book on the top of the

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

anything but

I asked, because looking at Veronica, I

"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

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, the curse

"Yes," Veronica said.

I was beginning

was never one for false hope. Although in this case, it pulled my heart out a little. I wanted her to say purple was the best color, that it indicated a curse

of the curses," Veronica said. "It will

power? Veronica was the only one

remove her curse?"

sighed. "What I do is

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 that the diagnosis was not very good. "I'm sorry,"

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

"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 this if it weren't

herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to

"She's the only one with

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.

keep reading." Veronica said. "I've only just started.

meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she

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

birdie!" She showed her folded 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 given

said to

in an attempt to

me. Together we stood

needed to cool down," Nicholas said.

feeling protective from our discussion, but I didn't think he had anything to be sorry about. "I'm not mad that you want to keep me