The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

Chapter 0593

The next morning was the final of our time on the island, so I made sure to set a personal alarm to wake me up just before dawn. When it finally went off, I grumbled a minute, before remembering my plan and forcing myself out of bed.

I turned toward Elva and shook her gently, rousing her.

"Mommy?" she asked, peeking open one eye.

"Would you like to watch the sunrise, honey?"

That woke her up right away. "Yeah!"

I shushed her gently. "Let's not wake Nicholas," I said.

"I'm already awake," he said from his air mattress on the ground.

I had tried to tell him late last night, after we had very diligently cleaned up after ourselves and finally came upstairs to sleep, that he didn't have to guard us now, with Ronan in jail and Bridget under supervision.

But Nicholas would not be talked out of it.

And now, thusly, he had been woken up before dawn.

I rolled over on the bed to peer down at him with an apologetic glance. "Sorry," I said.

He rubbed his eye with his forefinger. He huffed a small exhale as he shook his head. "I wouldn't want to have missed this," he said. "I'm glad I was here."

We all rolled out of bed. Since it was so early, we didn't bother changing out of our pajamas as we descended the staircase and made our way out onto the deck. We had to come around the house to face east.

Already the sky was lighting up in warm oranges, the sun near the horizon.

To my surprise, Veronica was already there, reading the book she had borrowed from the merfolk. She had a tiny book light clipped onto the top of the book. I marveled for a minute at how it could do so without bending the pages.

"Magic," Veronica said when I asked her. I had no idea if she was serious or not.

head just in time to see a line of blinding white stretch out across the entire horizon. Then the top

above the waves, as the light painted

walked closer to Elva and Nicholas, coming to stand between them. I

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

close to my ear. "Not as

Smooth talker.

smile. He returned it

wanting to damage our eyes. By now, some

of the sandcastle Bridget had made for her. We'd thought of dismantling it, but... we didn't want to traumatize Elva any

to her. "Let's make our

fun," I told Elva, to encourage her. She hadn't

took Julian's hand and they went closer to

torn about whether to follow Elva or me, but he decided me rather quickly when Veronica added, "I want to tell you about what I found

Veronica didn't seem

the book, then stood from the beach towel she had stretched out for herself. As I was closer now, I could see that she had made

wanted to celebrate. That should have been good news, but her dire expression kept me from expressing my joy. "But she won't

mean?" I asked. "Do we

she said. "And

liked the unique way Veronica's mind seemed to work. But this time,

He inhaled deeply.

force?" I asked. "What are talking about? Like years

And the more life force that is needed the more painful it would be for...

I could sense he was about to volunteer. Well, he could get in line. Elva was my daughter. If anyone had to sacrifice anything to save her and give

could only be

has the power to remove the curse, but not the means," Veronica confirmed. "She

I said at once, before Nicholas had a chance

It's the least I can do for my pack. It's my

But we didn't belong to the