Chapter 343

“My castle!” Elva cried out.

Bridget stopped walking. She looked down. She was standing over the carnage, the complete and total destruction of Elva’s sand castle under Bridget’s own feet.

“Oops,” she said with a small laugh. “Sorry about that.”

Elva looked at the scene with large, vulnerable eyes. The longer she looked, unblinking, the more her eyes filled with tears, until they finally spilled out and fell down her cheeks.

My heart absolutely broke at the sight.

Julian jumped up to his feet. “What the hell, Bridget? You can’t watch where you were going? You had the entire beach to walk around this.”

He was right. Aside from Elva’s sandcastle, there were no other impediments either close to the water or nearer the deck.

“It was an accident, Julian,” Bridget said. He smile slipped some. She looked annoyed now, especially as Elva began to cry in earnest.

I held Elva to me. She turned her face into my shoulder. Her tears made my shirt wet.

“You made Elva cry,” Julian said. He wasn’t smiling anymore either. His eyes were fierce, his words sharp.

Bridget crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s just a sandcastle. What’s the big deal?”

“Elva worked hard on it,” I said. I struggled to keep my anger from my own voice.

Bridget snorted another laugh. “She didn’t work that hard on it.”

“She did!” I snapped.

Julian narrowed his eyes at Bridget. “What are you trying to say?”

Bridget ignored me. Her glare now was for Julian. “It wasn’t even a good sandcastle. It looked like a sand mound. You can’t expect me to go out of my way avoid every mound of sand.”

Holding Elva against me, I immediately stood up. “Bridget,” I said, my anger flaring.

She looked at me, surprised.

“Be mean to me all you want, but leave Elva out of it. She’s an innocent little girl,” I said.

“What part of ‘accident’ don’t you guys understand?” Bridget said. She whined a little, as if she was the victim here.

I didn’t understand why she was acting like this, until I heard Nathan behind me.

“Don’t record this,” Nathan said.

I turned around to see Nathan pushing down a camera.

“Let them see!” Bridget called for Nathan. “Piper was being rude to me without cause.”

Nathan shook his head.

Bridget didn’t like being ignored. “Nathan. Turn the cameras back on.” She stormed past Julian and me, rushing toward Nathan.

Nathan seemed set on disregarding her totally.

But then she raised her voice. “Nathan!”

Nathan turned to her and snapped, “You made a little girl cry!”

Bridget straightened, likely not having expected to be yelled at.

The camera crew left first with Nathan behind. Bridget, huffing slightly, hurried behind them. “Nathan! Nathan come back here and talk to me about this!”

With the cameras, Nathan, and Bridget’s absence, Julian turned to me and sighed.

“They’re trying to protect Bridget’s image, but it’s starting to crack,” he said. “They can only keep the veneer up for so long. I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe that I wore my blinders for so long about who she really is.”

“You saw what you wanted to see,” I said.

“The fantasy.” He shook his head. “I was a fool.”

Slowly, Elva’s heavy tears slowly dried up. She continued to hold onto me as she turned her head on my shoulder and peeked at Julian.

“You okay, kiddo?” Julian asked her.

She sniffled. “My castle.”

“I’ll help you build another one tomorrow,” Julian said. “It will be even better than this one, okay?”

Elva didn’t seem fully convinced. “…Okay.” Her response was hesitant.

Julian gave me a sad sort of look, like he wasn’t sure what to do to cheer Elva up. I wasn’t sure either, but I figured getting out of the sand was a good idea.

I turned and carried Elva toward the deck. Julian stayed behind, looking down at the mess that was once Elva’s castle.

I had thought he would have followed me. I felt bad now. I should have said goodbye. But, hauling Elva around, I didn’t really want to go back and forth.

Julian would understand. We’d catch up again later.

Up on the deck, Veronica had moved into the shade near the bar to continue reading. The shade seemed like a good idea, so I carried Elva over there.

“How’s it going, Veronica?” I asked as we came close. “Anything interesting in there?”

Veronica glanced up from the book, the first time I had seen her do so all day. “It’s…” Her voice trailed when her gaze shifted to Elva. “What happened?”

“She kicked my castle,” Elva sniffled.

“Who did?”

“Bridget,” I said, and when Veronica looked back at me, I gently shook my head, indicating that we probably shouldn’t talk about this right now.

Veronica nodded. She understood. Then she glanced around. Reaching out, she grabbed a napkin off the bar. It was a sturdy kind of napkin, the kind that kept its shape as it was folded.

Veronica folded it, origami, until it was a cute little bird.

“Hold out your hands,” she said to Elva.

Elva did as Veronica asked.

Veronica placed the folded bird in her hands. She closed her eyes.

I blinked. Elva gasped. I looked down at Elva’s hand and she was now holding the bird. Veronica had teleported it!

She was getting better at that. She’d moved the bird with so little time and effort. She didn’t seem winded at all, unlike when she had first begun trying to teleport objects.

“That was amazing, Veronica,” I said. “Wasn’t it, Elva?”

Elva held the folded bird with both hands. Her eyes were wide. “Hold did you do that?”

Veronica smiled a little, at the corner of her mouth. For a smile from Veronica, it was huge. She was practically beaming.

Elva laughed. “Let me down, Mommy. I want to play.”

I lowered her down. Elva began to run across the deck, lifting and lowering the bird as though it was flying.

Veronica continued to smile a moment, before it dimmed. She looked at me. “There’s something I’d like to try, Piper. If it’s okay with you.”

I trusted Veronica with my life, but when she said it like that, I felt a little worried. “If it’s not dangerous…”

“It’s not.” Veronica turned to Elva. “Elva, come here a moment. I have another trick.”

“A trick?” Elva said excitedly. She clutched her folded bird to her chest and ran closer.

Veronica directed Elva to stand right in front of her. She placed her hand on Elva’s forehead, and then closed her eyes. Under her breath, Veronica said a few words in a language I didn’t understand. Merfolk maybe? I wasn’t sure.

Elva leaned on one foot to the other. She seemed impatient and bored. She likely wanted the magic trick to be instant. For a three-year-old, even two minutes could feel like forever.

She didn’t have to wait much longer than that, however.

Because all of the sudden, Elva began to glow. It wasn’t just her skin, but like an aura all around her, glowing purple and bright.

Elva held up her hands and laughed hard.

“Wow, Veronica!” I said excitedly. She could make people glow now? What kind of magic was this?

I thought Veronica would be pleased at a successful magic trick, but when she opened her eyes and took in the sight, she wasn’t happy at all.

Instead, her face grew grave with concern.

And my stomach twisted unpleasantly in response.

What was it about Elva glowing purple that would have her look so dire?