Zandra cringed.
“And no matter what I do,” Kelsey went on, “I can’t seem to get rid of this card.” Kelsey placed the Fool card down on the table in front of Zandra.
“I’ve torn it up twice. But it just keeps coming back, right after something really bad happens to me.”
“Ah,” Zandra nodded knowingly. “The Fool Card Curse. This is a very powerful curse,” she told Kelsey. “But the Amazing Zandra can remove it.”
“Are you sure?” Kelsey asked.
Zandra nodded. Then she closed her eyes and started mumbling, rolling her head around in a circle.
Zandra didn’t chant like the old gypsy. And she wasn’t using the same weird language, either.
When Zandra finally came out of her trance, she took a thick, red marker and made an X on the face of the Fool card. Then she picked up the card and put it into a metal box – which she snapped shut and locked.
“This card will no longer trouble you,” Zandra assured Kelsey.
“Is that it?” Kelsey asked. “Is the curse removed?”
“Not yet,” Zandra answered. She reached into another box and pulled out a small object. “You must wear this magic amulet for protection.”
It didn’t look like a magic amulet to Kelsey. It looked like a crystal bead on a string. But Kelsey took it anyway and slipped it over her head.
“Wear the amulet for three days. Never take it off. And at sundown on the third day, the curse will be broken forever.”
Kelsey made it through the rest of the day without any problems at all. And she even made it through the night without any creepy nightmares. So by the next morning she was starting to feel a lot better.
But she wasn’t going to take any chances. Not until three days had passed. She and Drew stayed around the house the first day, where it was safe. She actually had a lot of fun playing Ping-Pong and board games. She hardly thought about the curse.
By the second day she felt even braver. Brave enough to go to the arcade.
On the very first quarter she dropped on the Wheel of Fortune, she won the video game Drew wanted!
“Wow! Drew, this charm is great!” she said, fingering the amulet around her neck. “It’s working against the curse – and it’s bringing me good luck, too!”
By the time she and Drew headed home, they had armfuls of stuffed animals that Kelsey had won.
On the afternoon of the third day, Kelsey was finally brave enough to go to the beach. The sun was shining. The ocean was warm. And Kelsey was feeling pretty confident that Zandra had removed the curse.
Kelsey and Drew started building a very fancy sand castle.
“Let’s build a moat around it,” she suggested as she dumped another bucket of sand on the castle.
“Good idea,” Drew agreed.
“Here,” Kelsey said, waving away an annoying horsefly. “Go fill this bucket with water. I’ll start digging.”
Drew took the bucket and headed for the water.
Kelsey started digging the trench around the castle.
She glanced around. Their castle was by far the biggest and fanciest one on the beach. She decided to decorate the top with the beautiful, thin, orangy shells her family always called potato-chip shells.
“Ouch!” Kelsey cried as it bit into her skin. “Go away!” Kelsey shooed the fly away again. She noticed a spot of blood where the horsefly had landed.
Drew came back with his first bucket full of water and poured it into the unfinished trench. The sand sucked it all up.
“We’re going to need a lot more than that,” Kelsey told him.
“Right,” Drew agreed. He headed back to the water, bucket in hand.
Kelsey went back to digging the moat when she felt the tickle of tiny legs on the back of her neck.
The horsefly.
She reached back to shoo it away before it could sting her.
It took off, but it continued to buzz around her as she worked on the castle. She jerked her head from side to side as it swooped down at her.
“Just go!” she yelled at it impatiently.
Finally it landed on a shell near the castle, and she continued her work – until she felt a tickle on her leg. Another horsefly.
Before she could swat at that one, a third appeared, landing right on the tip of her nose.
Kelsey jumped up, flailing her arms to get rid of the horseflies.
“Ouch!” she screamed as she felt a sting on the back of her leg. She looked down to see where she’d been bitten, and noticed that there were three horseflies crawling up her thigh.
“Get off!” she shrieked, trying to swat them away.
But they wouldn’t leave. In fact, it seemed that as she fought to get rid of them, more of the horrible green-eyed bugs appeared.
“This can’t be happening!” Kelsey cried, reaching up to touch her magic amulet. But the amulet was coated with buzzing horseflies. Horseflies that started stinging her hands the moment she touched the charm.
Kelsey began to feel tiny pinpricks all over her body. Hundreds of horseflies flew at her. Hundreds. Stinging her. Over and over again.
She kicked her legs. Waved her arms.
She ran in circles, trying to dodge the ugly insects. But they followed her. They dived at her.
If she didn’t get rid of them, every inch of her body would be bitten and bloody.
Their bulging eyes burned brightly as they buzzed around her head.
The black cloud of insects circled her face. Closer and closer.
She couldn’t breathe.
“I’m going to choke!” Kelsey screamed. “I’m going to choke!”
11
She swung her head wildly. Her sweat-drenched body heaved in terror.
The flies still surrounded her. Biting deeper and deeper. Burning her flesh.
She tried to shake off the flies, but there were too many of them now. And she fell to the ground, exhausted.
She gasped for breath. She inhaled deeply. Inhaled a mouthful of sand.
Sputtering, gagging, she headed for the ocean. “I’ll drown them! I’ll drown them!” she screamed.
She raced to the shore, blinded by the horseflies smothering her face.
“Hey! Watch it!” some little kids yelled as she stumbled over their pails and shovels.
Finally she felt the ocean splash beneath her feet. She was about to dive in. Dive under the cool water to soothe her raw, stinging skin.
But someone grabbed her.
“Let go!” she screamed, squirming to break free.
“Where are you going?” Drew asked, holding fast.
“Into the water,” she shrieked. “I have to get these horseflies off me.”
Drew didn’t reply. He didn’t have to. His expression told Kelsey everything she needed to know.
There were no horseflies on her.
Not a single one.
Kelsey collapsed into the sand.
The burning and stinging stopped.
“This stupid amulet didn’t work,” she uttered hopelessly. “Now what am I going to do?”
“Let’s go back to the sand castle. We’ll think of something,” Drew suggested.
He helped her up, and they headed back to their spot on the beach.
“Oh, no!” Kelsey gasped as their sand castle came into view. She pointed a shaky finger at the top of one of its towers.
Drew followed her gaze. And moaned.
“How could this be?” she wailed.
Sticking out of the very top, fluttering in the breeze, was the Fool card – with a bright red
12
“The curse isn’t broken!” Kelsey screamed. “It’s driving me crazy!” Then she snatched up the card and stomped off.
“Hey! Wait up!” Drew yelled. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the Amazing Zandra,” she hollered.
Kelsey broke into a run. Drew chased after her. But she didn’t stop until she burst through the door of the Amazing Zandra’s shack.
Zandra was sitting behind the table with her feet propped up, nipping through a fashion magazine.
