The Luna Choosing Game



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?"

Veronica took a breath. "That magic trick' was actually an 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 remove them."

My 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 all.

Except, Veronica looked anything but happy about this.

"Isn't that good news?" I asked, because looking at Veronica, I was really unsure.

Veronica frowned. "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 the person who made the curse removes it."

"But that won't 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 to help herself or anyone else. If left to Jane, the curse on Elva would stay forever.

"Yes," Veronica said. Cóntent belong to NôvelDráma. Org.

*So... purple. Is that good?" I was beginning to suspect that it wasn't.

"No," Veronica said flatly. I supposed I appreciated her bluntness. 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 it indicated a curse easiest to cure.

*Purple is the most intricate of the curses," Veronica said. "It will require the highest amount of magical power to remove."

Highest amount of power? Veronica was the only one I knew who could do any magic.

"Could you remove her curse?" I asked.

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

My stomach dropped down to the 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," Veronica said.

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

"If I were stronger-*

"You are enough, Veronica." I inched closer to 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 for you."

She shook her head, clearly dissatisfied with herself. I couldn't talk. I knew exactly how it felt to not believe you were enough.

"We need the merfolk oracle," Veronica said. "She's the only one with enough power to have a chance."

The oracle had said 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 certain I could trust her?

"I'll keep reading." Veronica said. "I've only just started. Maybe there's more I can do."

*Thank you," I told her, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. I hoped she knew how much I appreciated her. I wasn't sure she would until Elva was completely curse-free.

Veronica returned to her book, and I walked off a little ways, wanting to give her some space. I looked out over the water. The view was pretty good from the deck.This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

Behind me, Elva called, "Nick-lass! Look at my 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 it to her, and that she loved it and its name was now Frank.

"Hello, Frank," Nicholas said to the bird.

Elva's attention waned fairly quickly after that and she rushed 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 she could though.

With Elva distracted, Nicholas made his way over to me. Together we stood side by side. We both turned to look out over the water.

"I needed to cool down," Nicholas said. "I'm sorry."

I knew he was 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 safe."

"I wish there was I way I could let you be free while also protect you from all these people who mean to do you harm," he said. Before I could reply, he added, "I know it's unlikely."

"Nick."

"Piper." He turned toward me. He was maybe a foot away from me. It seemed too close, too intimate. The others would see. They would know, surely, what we were to each other. Could they tell just from the way we looked at each other now, that we'd had sex?

I trembled slightly, remembering the feel of his body against mine. The touch of his skin. His mouth on mine. His grunts and groans echoing in my ear.

All of these thoughts would likely keep me awake every night for the rest of my life.

*You should meet me tonight," he said.

I started nodding before he even finished talking. "Where? Your room?"

"No..." Softly, he added, "Though a bed would be nice." He cleared his throat. "While we're on this island, we should take advantage of it. Find me tonight, out here, after everyone has gone to sleep."

"Here on the deck?" I asked.

He nodded his head forward. "There near the shore. The stars are endless here, a beautiful sky. I want you to see

it as we swim together in the ocean."

"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked.

His gaze was fierce, looking at me. "I'll keep you safe."

His protectiveness always did funny things to my stomach. Today, it also stole my breath away. "Nick."

"Meet me tonight, Piper."

What could I say to that, but, "Okay."