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?"

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 properly evaluate and

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

looked anything but

because looking at Veronica,

purpose of the incantation is to show the nature of Elva's curse and the magical power level needed to remove

happen," 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

"Yes," Veronica said.

good?" I was beginning to

She 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

the curses," Veronica said. "It will require the

was the only one I knew who

you remove her

frown deepened. "No. Not by far." She sighed. "What I do is mere child's play compared to what

It was my own fault. I should have known from Veronica's expressions that the diagnosis was not very good. "I'm

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

"If I were stronger-*

her line of vision so she could see my face and know that

clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew

said. "She's the only one with enough

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 certain I

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

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

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

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 it to her, and that she loved it and its

Nicholas said to

quickly after that and she rushed over to a pile of napkins in an attempt to replicate the bird. Unfortunately, Veronica

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

cool down," Nicholas said. "I'm

was feeling protective from our discussion, but I didn't think he had anything to be sorry about. "I'm