06 - Eye of the Fortuneteller (2 page)

Before Kelsey could reply, the old woman reached down and flipped over the
next card in the deck. She threw it down onto the table in front of Kelsey.

It looked like a joker.

Kelsey read the words on the bottom of the card—the Fool.

“The cards never lie! You are the fool, and I curse you for the rest of your
life. Now get out!” she cried. “Get out. Now!”

Kelsey and Drew jumped up and bolted for the door. Madame Valda’s voice
thundered behind them. “You will believe. You will know
fear
.”

As soon as Kelsey’s and Drew’s feet hit the boardwalk, they broke into a run.

But Madame Valda’s voice trailed after them. “Fear! Fear! Fear!” she cried
out over their pounding sneakers. “You will know fear!”

Kelsey and Drew ran faster. But Madame Valda’s voice seemed as close as
before. Kelsey glanced back. “Oh, no!” she cried. “She is crazy! She’s coming
after us!”

Kelsey’s heart pounded as she ran faster.

Her lungs felt as if they were about to explode.

She turned back—and there was Madame Valda. Right behind her!

This is unreal, Kelsey’s mind whirled. How could an old lady run so fast?

“She’s right behind us!” Drew cried out, panting.

“Leave us alone!” Kelsey screamed over her shoulder.

Madame Valda’s right eye burned into Kelsey—and Kelsey stopped running.

“Run! Run!” Drew screamed.

But Kelsey couldn’t move. She felt paralyzed. Frozen in place by the dark eye
of the fortuneteller.

The gypsy reached out and clutched Kelsey’s shoulder with her bony fingers. A
sharp pain shot down Kelsey’s arm. She tried to jerk away, but Madame Valda held
her tightly.

The old gypsy laughed. A hideous laugh.

“Not afraid!” she cackled. “Oh, yes. You will be afraid!” She whisked the
Fool card before Kelsey’s eyes, then tossed it in the air.

“Fool! Fool! Fool!” she cried. “Only a fool is not afraid!”

Kelsey and Drew watched as the card flew up. And up. And up. Until it faded
to a white flicker in the sky. Then it was gone.

Kelsey wrenched free of Madame Valda’s grip, and she and Drew flew down the
boardwalk. She ran so fast, her lungs burned in her chest. She quickly glanced
back—to see if the fortuneteller was still following them.

But Madame Valda was gone.

“Drew! Stop!” Kelsey grabbed her cousin’s arm. “Look! Madame Valda. She
disappeared.”

Drew spun around. Kelsey was right. Madame Valda had simply vanished.

“How did she run so fast?” Drew asked, out of breath.

“I don’t know,” Kelsey replied, shaking her head. “Do you think she really
was a fortuneteller? I mean, a
real
fortuneteller? With
real
powers?”

“Come on, Kelsey,” Drew replied. “Now you sound as crazy as that old hag.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kelsey said. But she didn’t sound as if she meant it.
“So, um, you don’t think she put a curse on us, right?” Kelsey asked.

“Not on me,” Drew answered. “I was nice to her, remember?”

“Thanks a lot.” Kelsey punched Drew in the arm.

“Come on, Kelsey,” Drew said. “She probably isn’t even a real gypsy.”

Kelsey knew that Drew was probably right. But she kept picturing the
fortuneteller’s strange eyes. And she kept hearing her voice. That horrible
voice screaming, “Fool! Fool! Fool!”

“Forget the fortuneteller.” Drew headed toward the exit. “We’ve got real
problems. We’re late for dinner.”

Kelsey checked her watch. “Oh, no!” she groaned. “We’re already a half hour
late. Mom’s going to kill us!”

Kelsey and Drew hurried out the exit. They were only eight blocks from the
beach house. If they ran, they’d be home in five minutes.

“Let’s take the shortcut home,” Kelsey suggested as she dashed ahead of Drew.
“It’s right there.” She pointed ahead. “The alley that runs behind the Italian
restaurant.”

Drew followed Kelsey past the restaurant and into the narrow, winding alley.

“Where does this go?” Drew asked as they sprinted around the alley’s turns
and curves.

“To the parking lot on Eighteenth Street,” Kelsey answered. “Then we’ll be
only two blocks from home.”

But as they rounded the last curve, Kelsey knew something was wrong. She
faced a dead end—a sooty brick wall that rose at least twenty feet high. No
parking lot.

“This is really strange,” she said, glancing around the alley. It was dark
and dingy. Totally deserted. “I’m sure there was a parking lot here last
summer.”

“Maybe they bricked it up during the winter,” Drew suggested. “Let’s just get
out of here.”

Kelsey started back the way they came. Drew followed. But when they reached
the other end of the alley—nothing looked the same! Even the Italian restaurant
was gone.

Kelsey eyes darted left and right.

“Hey! What’s going on?” she cried. “This is so weird. Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” Drew answered, searching for a street sign. “This has to be
the way we came in.”

“The restaurant was right on this corner,” Kelsey said. “I know it was.”

Kelsey stared at the spot where the restaurant should have been. In its place
stood an old shingled house with boarded-up windows.

“I don’t get it,” she mumbled to herself. She’d been coming to this town
practically forever. She knew every square inch of it. But suddenly she had no
idea where she was.

She glanced around. The alley now led into a street. When Kelsey looked down
the street, she noticed a few rundown shacks. Nothing more. In the other
direction the street was dark and gloomy and lined with battered houses and
abandoned storefronts.

“All right,” Kelsey said, trying to stay calm. “The beach must be that way.”
She pointed to her right. “So that means our house must be this way.” Kelsey
motioned to the gloomy street.

“That way?” Drew gasped. “I’ve never even seen that street before. It’s
totally creepy. We’re not going down there.”

“I’m telling you, that’s the way we have to go,” Kelsey insisted and began
jogging down the dreary block. “Come on!”

Drew followed her for about three blocks—until she stopped.

“Wait,” Kelsey said, out of breath. “This can’t be right.”

“I told you this wasn’t the way to go,” Drew muttered. “There aren’t any
creepy old buildings like these anywhere near our house.”

“I know. I know,” Kelsey replied. “We’d better ask somebody for directions.”

“Like who?” Drew asked.

Good question, Kelsey realized. She gazed up and down the street. There was
no one to ask. She and Drew were all alone.

“Where is everybody anyway?” Drew asked. “There should be tons of people
everywhere—we’re right by the beach.”

“The beach,” Kelsey repeated. “That’s it. We should head for the beach. Then
we’ll be able to find our way home.”

Before Drew could reply, Kelsey took off down a side street. A street she was
certain headed toward the shore. But when she reached the next corner, her heart
sank.

Nothing but shabby houses. Gutted storefronts. Every way she turned.

No people. No beach.

Kelsey was beginning to think that she and Drew would be lost forever. Tiny
beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She wiped them away with the back of her
hand.

“This is getting really scary,” Drew said when he caught up to her. He
glanced down and kicked a jagged piece of glass on the sidewalk.

“What was that?” Kelsey jumped back.

“Just a broken piece of glass,” Drew answered.

“No. That—listen,” Kelsey replied.

A dog.

Kelsey caught sight of it first.

A big, mangy yellow dog.

She gasped. It was the biggest dog she had ever seen. And it was headed
straight for them.

“Let’s get out of here!” she screamed.

They crossed the street and charged ahead, but the dog ran faster. Gaining on
them. Its wild barks echoed in Kelsey’s ears.

Kelsey and Drew stopped on the next corner to catch their breath. They ducked
into a darkened doorway, pressing their backs against the door’s iron gate.
Gasping for air.

They listened.

Silence.

“Do you think it’s gone?” Drew asked.

“I-I don’t know,” Kelsey stammered. “I’ll check.” She poked her head out from
their hiding place.

A pair of crazed yellowed eyes met hers.

The dog sat on its haunches—just a few feet away. It growled. A low growl
that exposed two decayed fangs—dripping with saliva.

“Run!” Kelsey cried, grabbing Drew’s hand.

The two bolted from the doorway. They flew down the street, holding hands,
with Kelsey in the lead.

Kelsey glanced behind her. The dog tore after them. Howling now. And snapping
its jaws hungrily.

Kelsey turned down a narrow alleyway. It looked just like the first alley.
Only darker. Much darker. And the farther they ran, the narrower it grew.

They dodged around splintered pieces of wood. Shards of glass.

The wild beast charged up behind them, snarling. Its wet, gray tongue hung
from its mouth. Kelsey could almost feel the animal’s sharp teeth sink into her
ankles.

“Faster!” she screamed. “Run faster!”

With a burst of speed the two raced ahead, leaving the dog a few yards
behind.

The alley curved sharply to the right. Drew nearly stumbled as the two took
the turn.

And then Kelsey stopped. What lay ahead of her was suddenly as terrifying as
the wild dog behind her.

Another dead end.

There was no way out.

“We’re trapped!” Kelsey shrieked. “We’re trapped!”

Kelsey and Drew pressed their backs against the building. Waiting. Waiting
for the vicious dog to appear.

Kelsey held her breath and listened.

No barking. No snarling.

“Maybe we lost him,” she whispered.

“I don’t think so,” Drew whispered back.

Kelsey silently agreed. The alley went only one way. That dog would have to
be pretty stupid to lose track of us, she thought.

“But why isn’t he attacking?” she asked Drew.

“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head.

The two waited in silence. The blood pounded in Kelsey’s head.

Another minute passed—the longest minute in Kelsey’s life—with no sign of the
dog. “We can’t just stand here, Drew,” Kelsey said, finally breaking the quiet.
“I’m going to check.”

Kelsey tiptoed to the curve in the alley. She peeked around the corner.
Slowly.

The alley stood deserted.

No dog.

“It’s gone!” Kelsey gasped.

“This is so weird,” Drew replied, making his way to her side. “How could it
just disappear like that?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t care. Let’s get out of here. Now,” Kelsey
answered. “Um, you go first.”

“Gee, thanks a lot,” Drew said as he started down the alley.

They walked quickly but carefully.

Listening.

Listening for any sign of the deadly beast. But the only sound they heard was
the soft thumping of their own feet.

The alley seemed even darker than before. And for the first time Kelsey
noticed how sour it smelled. The stench flooded her nostrils and made her sick.

“Look!” Drew exclaimed. He stopped short, and Kelsey slammed into him.

“What?” she asked. Her heart skipped a beat. She was afraid to hear the
answer.

“I can’t believe it!” Drew shouted. “Look where we are!”

Kelsey inched alongside Drew and peered out of the dark alleyway—into bright
sunlight.

She knew immediately where she was. But she glanced up at the street sign for
proof.

Thirteenth Street.

Less than a block away from their house.

“I thought we were totally lost,” Drew said as he started toward their
street. He let out a long sigh. “And all the time we were less than a block away
from home. That’s the last time I follow
you
,” he added.

Kelsey was about to shoot back a smart remark of her own when she remembered
something strange. Really strange.

“Drew, do you remember what the fortuneteller told you? You know, about
getting into trouble if you follow me all the time? You don’t think…”

A shiver of fear crept down Kelsey’s spine. She stopped to glance back at the
alleyway.

But it was gone!

You will believe. You will know fear.
The fortuneteller’s words echoed in
Kelsey’s mind.

I’m going crazy, Kelsey thought. The alley is there. It must be there. I
probably can’t see it from this angle—that’s all.

“Come on, Kelsey,” Drew called. “We’re really late!”

Kelsey broke into a run. The two raced the rest of the way home. As they
neared their house, they spotted their parents sitting outside on the front
porch.

“Where have you been?” Kelsey’s mother asked.

“Do you know how late it is?” Drew’s mother added.

“Sorry,” Kelsey apologized. “We got…” She was about to say lost, but she
stopped herself. If she told them they were lost, she knew what would happen.
Their parents would never allow them to go out by themselves anymore. “We were
having so much fun on the boardwalk, we lost track of the time.”

“We won’t do it again,” Drew added. “We promise.”

“All right.” Her mother forgave her more quickly than she ever did at home.

That was one of the best things about being on vacation. Parents were so much
easier to get along with.

“Come inside and wash your hands for dinner,” Drew’s mother instructed. Then
their parents led the way inside.

As Kelsey climbed the porch steps, she thought about the old fortuneteller
again. Now that she was safe at home, the whole thing seemed pretty dumb.

“Fool!” Kelsey heard the echo of the old gypsy woman’s voice. Only this time
she started to laugh at herself—for acting like one.

Kelsey was about to step through the front door when something caught her
eye. Something falling from the sky. Fluttering. Fluttering. Down. Down. Down.