Free Rising Moon (The Rune Stone Trilogy) by Anne Haley

swirls formed three circles, and in the center between the circles was a small, intertwined triangle. Each of the three circles was different. On El’s, the lower left circles was an orange sun with it’s flares turning red and yellow. The other two circles were black, but one was a full moon, and the other was the earth. What distracted her was how familiar it looked. " Terra? "
                  " Tattoo, " she could barely utter, pointing at her wrist.
                  " Oh, yes. Recognize it? " El smiled.
                  Terra numbly slipped off the thick leather strap she wore as a bracelet everyday. Hidden underneath laid an exact replica of El’s tattoo, except the sun was black, and the earth was colored in blues and greens. The reason she had kept it hidden was because she swore she could see the earth slowly turning on her skin. She knew it couldn’t be possible for a tattoo to change. Terra’s tattoo had appeared on her wrist, and it had unnerved her to discover it since it hadn’t been something she had ever done to herself.
                  Aylin held out her own wrist, which also bore the same tattoo, except the moon illuminated silver. " How is this possible? I mean I didn’t even get this done. My whole life I had this ugly dark birthmark there. Then on my eighteenth birthday it changed into this. "
                  " The birthmark was hideous, wasn’t it? " El wrinkled her nose. " I always tried to cover it with makeup. Of course, it never worked. "
                  " How is this possible? " Terra asked again.
                  " Let’s start at the beginning. " Aylin held up her hand to quiet Terra. " It’s a long story, so eat your tart. El, get another bottle of wine. "
                  Terra took a quick bite of the tart, and was about to take a second when she stopped. There was a different flavor than strawberries and the sugar glaze in this tart. " What is in this? " she asked conversationally.
                  " Oh, some sugared honeysuckle. " El licked her spoon, watching Terra.
                  " That’s edible? " She frowned at the tart in front of her.
                  " Oh yes. Some even believe it’s good to eat because it helps one understand… things. " El shrugged and winked at Aylin.
                  Without another word Terra had inhaled her tart and now she sat on the edge of the sofa. El and Aylin walked in, carrying a new bottle of wine and their glasses. " Okay, Terra, are you ready? "
                  Terra took a deep breath and slowly nodded. " Yes. "
                  Aylin sat perched on the other end of the sofa, making sure she gave Terra some distance. Eliana, however, lounged in the overstuffed chair, her feet propped up on the footrest. El nodded at Aylin.
                  " When I was a child I was vaguely aware that my parents were different from other adults. They weren’t treated differently, but no other parents spent extended periods of time in the woods, or have message bottles appear in the yard, or the pond, or have pantries full of dried flowers and herbs. " Aylin smiled at herself. " One night I slept over at my best friend’s house. We snuck out to the garden and I asked her why they didn’t have any floating lights in their garden. I figured they were broken or they forgot to turn them on. She laughed at me and told me that you don’t have Christmas lights on in the summer. I learned to keep my mouth shut when I was a teenager. There was so much I didn’t understand, but I didn’t want to express my embarrassment to my mother. After my father passed she kept herself tirelessly busy with the shop.
                  " The night I turned eighteen my mother slowed down. It was just before midnight, and I was reading in bed when she slipped into my room. " The memory easily opened