Eye Of The Fortuneteller

“Jellyfish! Jellyfish!” was all Kelsey could say, shaking her stinging arms and legs.

“What jellyfish?” Drew asked, staring out into the ocean.

“The ones all over me!” Kelsey cried. “Look!”

“Kelsey,” Drew replied, “there are no jellyfish on you.”

9

Kelsey stared at her arms. She stretched out her legs and searched them. She ran her fingers through her hair.

No jellyfish.

“There were jellyfish,” Kelsey insisted, rubbing the skin on her arms, trying to get rid of the slimy feeling she still had. “They were all over me! And the whole ocean was full of them!”

Kelsey noticed that the people all around them were listening to her – trying not to laugh.

“Do you see them now?” Drew asked.

Kelsey stared into the water. She and Drew stood there.

Silently.

Watching the water wash up around their feet.

Clean, clear water. Not a jellyfish in sight.

“No,” Kelsey admitted. “But something really creepy is going on.”

“I’ll say,” Drew agreed.

“You don’t think I’m going nuts, do you?” she asked.

“Nah,” he answered. “You’re not going nuts. You are nuts.”

“Ha, ha.” Kelsey tried to smile.

Then she felt something hit her ankle. And she jumped away, practically knocking Drew over.

“Jellyfish!” she screamed before she could stop herself.

Drew looked down.

Kelsey saw his face freeze in horror.

“Is it a jellyfish?” she cried. “Is it?”

“No,” Drew whispered. “Not a jellyfish.”

Kelsey slowly glanced down. There, lying at her feet was the Fool card.

All in one piece.

Grinning up at her with its evil grin.

“M-maybe this is a different card,” Drew stuttered.

Kelsey kneeled to pick it up. “Drew, I think that fortuneteller really did put a curse on me.” She sighed. “I can’t believe it. I spend my whole life living on Fear Street and nothing terrible happens to me. But I come down to the shore for a week and I end up with a curse!”

“Look,” Drew said nervously, “if you really have been cursed, there’s got to be a way to get rid of it, right?”

“How am I supposed to know?” she shot back. “Do I look like a gypsy to you?”

“Well, maybe we should go find that weird old lady again,” he started. “And maybe if you apologize to her, she’ll take the curse off.”

“She should apologize to me,” Kelsey said. “She’s ruining my vacation.”

“Get real, Kelsey. We’ve got to do something.”

“Okay, okay.” Kelsey agreed. “Let’s go find that stupid witch.”

Kelsey told their parents that she and Drew were going to play some skeet ball at the arcade. Then they headed for the boardwalk to search for the old gypsy woman.

“What am I supposed to say when we find her?” Kelsey asked Drew. “I’m sorry I thought you were a fake – please take this curse off of me?”

“That sounds pretty good,” Drew said as they headed down the boardwalk. “Look. Here’s the pizza place. The shack should be right around this corner.”

Kelsey followed Drew around the corner – and there it was. As Kelsey approached it, a horrible thought crossed her mind.

What if the gypsy refuses to remove the curse?

What would she do then?

“Are you ready?” Drew asked, walking up to the door.

Kelsey nodded.

Drew opened the door and Kelsey stepped inside.

The skeleton was still there. But now it seemed to be staring right at her. Following her every move.

Kelsey shivered.

Then from a darkened corner a voice called out, “Welcome.” Kelsey stared at the figure. She sat at the table, staring into her crystal ball.

But something about her wasn’t right.

“Welcome,” the shadowed figure called again. Even though Kelsey couldn’t see her face, she knew that it wasn’t the same gypsy.

“The Amazing Zandra will tell your fortune,” the woman continued, without any kind of accent at all.

When the Amazing Zandra finally glanced up, Kelsey could see that she wasn’t nearly as spooky. Or nearly as old as the other gypsy.

In fact, the Amazing Zandra didn’t look much older than Kelsey’s next-door neighbor – who just started high school last year.

Kelsey even thought she was kind of pretty. Her wavy hair was long and brown. And her eyes were ordinary. Brown. Both of them.

Zandra’s fingernails were painted purple. And she had a ring on every finger. She wasn’t nearly as mysterious or spooky as Madame Valda.

“I have to see the other gypsy,” Kelsey announced.

“There is no other gypsy,” Zandra informed them.

“Yes, there is,” Drew said. “She was here yesterday. She’s really old and wrinkly.”

“You must be mistaken,” Zandra insisted. “There is no other gypsy here. And there never has been.”

Kelsey felt her heart sink.

“Oh, no,” she moaned. “Now what am I going to do? I’m going to be cursed forever!”

10

“Are you sure there isn’t another gypsy?” Drew asked again.

“Look, kid,” Zandra replied. “I’m the gypsy who works here, okay? The only gypsy. Now do you want me to tell your fortune or not?”

The Amazing Zandra is lying to us, Kelsey thought. She has to be.

“Look, Amazing Zandra,” Kelsey said as politely as she could. “We were here yesterday. But you weren’t. There was a different gypsy. She was real, real old.”

“And scary,” Drew added.

But Zandra just kept shaking her head no.

“She had a really strange accent,” Kelsey went on.

Nothing. Just more head-shaking from Zandra.

“She put a curse on me,” Kelsey said hopelessly.

With that, Zandra’s expression changed. “A curse?” she gasped, clutching her heart. “If you are under the curse of a gypsy, you are in very serious trouble.”

“Tell me about it,” Kelsey said.

“Perhaps I can help you,” the Amazing Zandra replied.

“Really?” Kelsey asked nervously.

“Yes, really,” Zandra answered. “Only it isn’t easy to remove a curse,” she added. “And it isn’t cheap, either.”

“How much?” Kelsey asked Zandra.

“Ten dollars.”

“Ten dollars!” Kelsey gasped.

That was a lot of money. It was all the money she had. She had planned to spend it on carnival games and rides and ice cream.

But she had no choice. She didn’t know if Zandra was a real gypsy or not. But she was her only hope.

She handed the money over to the fortuneteller. “Take the curse off me,” she told her.

“First you must explain to me exactly how you were cursed,” Zandra said. “Did the old gypsy give the curse a name?”

“No,” Kelsey said. “But she called me a name.”

“And what was that?” Zandra asked.

“A fool,” Kelsey told her. “And she got real mad at me for not believing in her.”

Zandra shook her head gravely.

“Now all these terrible things are happening to me,” Kelsey continued. “Yesterday, we got lost. And last night hundreds of sand crabs attacked me in my sleep.”

“And this morning,” Drew jumped in, “she thought she was smothered in jellyfish.”