Read Tattoo #1: Tattoo for Free Online Page B

another word, she charged over to my trash can and picked up a gum wrapper. "Baby blue cashmere socks," she said, running her other hand over it. Blue-green light surged out of her palm, wrapping itself around the wrapper, vibrating with words that only I could hear. To know, to feed- To change, l'S�dhe The next thing I knew, Delia was holding a pair of baby blue cashmere socks. "I love my life," she said. "Anyone else want anything? I think I'm going to make myself a dress like the one Nicole Kidman wore to the Oscars last year" "Maybe you shouldn't," Annabelle said, biting her lower lip. "What if there's a side effect we don't know about?" "You have got to be completely insane," Delia said. "I've got the magic touch, and there's no way I'm not going to use it. The way I see it, the fashion gods are smiling down on me" Delia turned back to the trash can, and an instant later, she collapsed on the ground. "Delia!" "Just a little dizzy," Delia said, rolling over onto her back. "That's all" "You feel like you've run a marathon," Annabelle said, tilting her head to the side as she lifted the thoughts out of Delia's mind. "Using the power takes a lot out of you. Much more than mine does for me or Bailey's for her" Delia curled up into a ball with her new cashmere socks (formerly a gum wrapper) still in her hand. "Totally worth it" "That's what you say now," Zo said, "but when Bailey's mom comes in here and starts fussing be- cause you look sickly, maybe those socks won't look so good" "You're just bitter because your foot tattoo didn't pay off the way my girly stomach tattoo did," Delia said. Delia was never too tired to argue with Zo. "You can't stand the fact that I--" Delia's words were cut off by a knock at the door. "Come in," I said. Delia pulled her shirt down over her stomach to conceal the tattoo the second be- fore my mother walked in. "I just came to see if you girls wanted a snack before I go to bed," my mom said. She paused and looked down at Delia. "Are you feeling all right, sweetheart? You look a little pale" Immediately, my eyes flew to Zo, and sure enough, the tattoo on her foot flashed like a strobe light in front of my eyes, leaving my ears ringing with words I'd heard before. To see, to feel To stand upon the ancient Seal "That's it," I said the second my mom left. "To see" "What's it?" Zo asked. "See what?" "Your power," I said. "Remember the thing with the lime green miniskirt? I mean, what are the chances that Alex would be wearing a corduroy lime green miniskirt and wanting to try on a pair of hot pants right after you said somebody would?" Delia looked like she was about to start calculating the fashion probability of that happening, so I plowed on before she could interrupt. "And then this thing with my mom. You knew she was com- ing" " `Premonition,' " Annabelle read off the website. " `A precognitive power in which the seer knows or sees the future before it occurs.' " "That's it?" Zo asked. "Annabelle does her funky mind control thing, Delia can turn trash into jew- els, Bailey sets stuff on fire, and I sometimes know some little insignificant event is going to hap- pen before it does?" For a moment, we were all silent. Why? I thought. Why could we do these things? Who was coming? What had begun? Even without touching the tattoo or remembering what I'd heard, I couldn't banish the questions. "This sucks," Zo said. "Why couldn't I have been the one with the fire?" "Impulse control?" Annabelle suggested. She shuddered, and I couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. "It's probably a good thing that Bailey's the one with pyrokinesis" "Pyrokinesis," I repeated, remembering the feel of flames surging through my blood. "Sure," Zo said, "rub it in. And you probably won't even set the trash can on fire" "Don't set the trash on fire," Delia said immediately. "Do you know how many pairs of shoes I could make out of the contents of that trash can?" "Trust me," I told Zo. "You're the lucky one. I mean, I