Chapter 44

She squeezes his hand. “No, I mean real ones. How do they get them to stay on your skin forever and not wash off when you take a bath?”

“A real tattoo artist puts the color under your skin,” Brody explains. “That way it doesn’t ever come off.”

Evie frowns up at him. “How do you get something underyour skin?”

“With a needle,” Brody says. Silently, he adds, And you’re never going to want to get a real tattoo now, I bet.

As he expects, she squeals in mock fear. “A needle! No way!”

Brody nods. “Yep. It’s actually a whole bunch of needles working together to put the ink under the skin.”

“Eww!” Evie squirms away, but holds tightly to his hand. When she comes back, she runs a finger over the designs tattooed onto his forearm. “So all this was done with a bunch of needles? I bet it hurt!”

“Well, you get used to it,” Brody says.

Evie shakes her head. “I don’t think I would. I hateneedles.”

“Then don’t get a real tattoo.”