The Secret Society of the Pink Crystal Ball by Risa Green Read Free Book Online Page A

inside. It’s…
    It’s a pink, plastic ball. Well, technically, it’s a Pink Crystal Ball; just the type of retro-kitsch toy that never ceased to amuse my Aunt Kiki. You ask it a question and shake it, and then a silly, new age-y answer floats up to the surface. It’s supposed to tell the future like a crystal ball, except, you know, it’s plastic. And pink.
    I reach inside and remove it from the box. The ball itself is actually clear, but it’s filled with a pink, glittery liquid that’s reflecting the sunlight and scattering tiny dots across one wall of my bedroom. The bottom of it is flat, so that it can rest on a plastic, silver pedestal, which, I notice, is also inside the box. I pull it out and examine it. Someone etched “RC 52” onto the underside of the base, but otherwise, it looks just like every other Pink Crystal Ball that has ever graced the shelves of Toys“R”Us.
    So that’s it, then? My dead aunt left me a fake crystal ball? That’s the big secret that I needed to be alone to see? I’m starting to wonder if maybe my dad is right. Maybe she really was kooky. What am I thinking? Of course she was! That memorial service was like a circus sideshow gone horribly wrong.
    I look inside the box again to see if there’s anything else, and I notice an envelope taped to the bottom, as well as a thin, rolled-up scroll, tied with a piece of raffia. I untie the scroll first and unroll it, hoping for some sort of explanation. But it’s just a long list of names. Names I never heard of except for the very last one, Kate Hoffman—written in my aunt’s handwriting. Seeing her signature there like that creeps me out, and I look at the goose bumps that have suddenly appeared on my arms. I roll the scroll back up and carefully untape the envelope from the bottom of the box.
    This has to be it. This has to be the letter from her, explaining why she wanted us out of her life so badly.
    But when I open it, I’m disappointed to see that it’s a not a letter at all. It’s just a list that she wrote that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Absolute knowledge is not unlimited; let the planets be your guide to the number.
There are 16 ways to die, but four of them you will never see.
The future belongs to you alone. Other voices will be disappointed.
One rotation is as far as you can see. Only uncertainty lies beyond.
You will know all when no more is known; then it is time to choose another.
    That’s it. That’s all it says.
    Wow, Aunt Kiki , I think bitterly. Thanks so much .
    Lindsay and Samantha burst into my room just as I’m putting the paper back inside the envelope. Lindsay immediately notices the ball and snatches it off of my bed.
    â€œOh, my God!” she squeals. “A Pink Crystal Ball! I love these!” She shakes it and looks up at the ceiling as she asks her question.
    â€œIs Megan Crowley going to suffer from a long and painful bout of chicken pox that will leave permanent scars on her face?” She looks at the ball for an answer. “‘Your future is obscured. You must ask again.’” She shakes it a second time. “Okay, how about…is Megan Crowley going to get stood up at prom and become the laughingstock of the whole school?” She looks down at the window. “‘Your future is obscured. You must ask again.’”
    â€œLet me see that,” Samantha says, grabbing it out of Lindsay’s hands. “Does Aiden Tranter want to devour me like the men in those cheesy romance novels that my mother hides under her mattress?” She looks at the ball expectantly. “‘Your future is obscured. You must ask again.’ Ugh, forget it.” She hands the ball to me. “Here, you try. You’re the genius, maybe you can figure out what’s wrong with it.”
    I shake my head. “No thanks. You know I don’t believe in that kind of