06 - Eye of the Fortuneteller (3 page)

Drew spotted it, too. “What is that?” he asked, squinting as he gazed up.

“I can’t tell,” Kelsey replied, watching the object float down on a breeze.

And then it landed right at Kelsey’s feet.

She gasped.

It was the card.

The card that the old gypsy woman had tossed into the air.

Kelsey trembled as she stared at it. As she stared down into the face of the
Fool.

That night Kelsey sat on her bed, alone in her room, staring at the Fool
card.

“
You
are the Fool, Madame Whatever-your-name-is,” Kelsey muttered. “And
you are
not
going to scare me. No way.”

Kelsey turned the card over and over in her hand. Then she ripped it in half.
Then ripped it in half again. And again. “So there!” she declared when she was
through.

She scooped up every last bit of paper and dumped it all into the wastepaper
basket near her dresser.

“Tomorrow will be a much better day,” she promised herself as she slipped
between the sheets. Then she closed her eyes.

She pictured herself at the beach with Drew. They would spend the whole day
there, she decided. Swimming in the ocean. Collecting shells. Playing
volleyball. Lying in the sun.

Kelsey could imagine the warmth of the sun on her skin as she snuggled into
her pillow. It felt good—even in her imagination.

Then she started to drift off to sleep—pretending that she was already on the
beach.

But something tickled her left foot. She rubbed at it with her right one.

But the tickle returned.

Now it moved up the back of her leg.

Kelsey brushed her leg against the sheet. But it didn’t work. The tickle kept
moving—moving up her leg.

Only now it wasn’t a tickle. It felt prickly.

Kelsey brushed her leg with her foot. But the prickly feeling didn’t go away.

It started to spread.

Over her legs. Her arms. Her whole body.

She tried to ignore it.

She fluffed her pillow and rolled over on her side. But that didn’t work,
either.

Now it felt as though her whole bed had come alive. With tiny little legs.

Millions of them.

Skittering across her body.

Crawling into her hair. Stinging her skin.

She shot up in bed. She stared at the sheets. At her body. But it was too
dark to see.

And then she felt it.

A tiny set of legs creeping across her cheek.

And she knew what it was.

Sand crabs! Even in the dark, she knew. She hated sand crabs—they terrified
her!

She shrieked with horror.

Her hands flew to her legs. Her arms. Her face. Frantically trying to brush
the creatures away.

“Get off!” she cried. “Get off!”

But within seconds they swarmed over her entire body.

Kelsey grew frightened. So frightened that she couldn’t breathe.

She tried to scream. But all that came out was a choked whimper—as she felt
one of the disgusting little creatures start to crawl inside her ear.

Kelsey leaped out of bed.

She threw her head from side to side. “Get out!” she screamed. “Get out!”

The stinging in her ear stopped. But her hair felt alive. Alive with the
horrible creatures.

She scratched her head. Scratched until her scalp turned raw.

She had to look in the mirror. She had to see the crabs. To see where they
were. To get them off.

She flipped on the light switch and headed for the mirror over her dresser.
She didn’t want to look. She didn’t want to see those disgusting crabs—with
their hideous pincers creeping on her skin.

But she forced herself to look.

And then she screamed.

No sand crabs.

Not in her hair. Not on her face.

Nowhere.

She spun around to face her bed—expecting to see it crawling with sand crabs.

Nothing there, either. Nothing but her clean blue sheets and plump white
pillow.

Kelsey quickly pulled back the covers. No creatures hiding anywhere.

What is going on?
she wondered.
What is wrong with me?
She glanced
over at her clock—2:00 a.m. Suddenly she felt exhausted.

She checked her bed once more before dropping into it. But she couldn’t fall
asleep. Her skin still felt tingly. Still felt as if thousands of tiny legs were
creeping all over it.

She thought about the creatures. She pictured them swarming all over her
body. A low groan escaped her lips.

What if they come back?
She shuddered.

She propped up her pillows and decided to stay up all night. But she was
tired. So tired. And before she knew it, she drifted off to sleep.

The early dawn light fell upon Kelsey’s face and woke her up. She turned over
her pillow and tried to fall back asleep—but she heard something. Something nearby.

Her eyes popped open and searched the room.

There it was.

On the floor.

A sand crab. A single sand crab.

Kelsey watched in horror as it skittered across her floor and darted under
her bed.

Oh, no!
She gasped. What if there were millions of sand crabs. Millions
of them under her bed. Waiting for her.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her temples throbbed. But she knew she had to
look. She had to know.

Kelsey checked the floor carefully before she slid out of bed. Then she
kneeled down and peered underneath the bed, into the darkness.

She spotted her slippers. An old
Teen
magazine. And a lot of dust.

Then she saw it.

Not the sand crab. Not even a thousand sand crabs.

It was something much more horrible.

Kelsey’s lower lip trembled. Her hands began to shake.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that when she opened them, the terrible
thing would be gone. Just the way all those sand crabs had disappeared.

But when she opened her eyes, it was still there.

The Fool card that she had ripped to shreds.

There it was.

Under her bed.

All in one piece.

A ray of sunlight filtered through her window and fell upon the card. And
Kelsey could see the Fool’s menacing grin—the menacing grin that was meant just
for her.

“So were the crabs real or not?” Drew asked.

Kelsey told Drew all about her terrible night as the two walked to the beach
the next morning.

“I told you!” Kelsey yelled. “They weren’t real. Well, one of them was real.
But not the others.”

“So—why were you afraid?”

“Look!” Kelsey said, shoving the Fool card right in his face.

“So?” Drew pushed her hand away.

“So!” Kelsey couldn’t believe that he could be so dumb. “I told you. I tore
it up into a million pieces and threw it into the garbage can! Now look at this
thing. It isn’t even bent or creased.”

“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Drew said as they reached the beach and started tromping through the sand.

“Wow, Drew. When did you become such a genius?”

“Very funny,” Drew grumbled. “So—what are you going to do?”

“Well, I am definitely not going to let that old gypsy and her stupid curse
scare me,” Kelsey declared. “And now I am going to get rid of this card—forever.”

Kelsey headed directly to the ocean. She stood on the shore for a few moments
and watched the waves roll in.

“What are you doing?” Drew asked.

“Watch,” she told him. She held up the Fool card and tore it again and again
and again—until she couldn’t tear it anymore.

Then, with Drew by her side, she waded out into the water. When the first
wave broke around her knees, she scattered some of the bits of paper over the
water.

She and Drew watched as the foam carried them away.

When the next wave hit, she did the same thing, scattering a little more of
what was left of the card. Wave after wave, she did the same thing—until nothing
was left.

“There,” she said as the surf carried off the last torn pieces. “It’s gone
for good. Now let’s go swimming.”

“We have to wait for our parents,” Drew reminded her. “You know the rules.
‘No swimming, kids, unless we’re with you.’”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But they promised they were coming out right away,”
Kelsey complained. “Where are they anyway?”

She scanned the beach, searching for them. “There they are!” she said,
spotting them.

Kelsey jumped up and down, waving at their parents to get their attention.
When they waved back, Kelsey darted into the ocean.

“Race you to France,” she called over her shoulder to Drew.

Drew dived in after her.

They fought their way through crashing waves until they were shoulder-deep in
the water. Kelsey watched as a wave began to swell behind them.

“Let’s ride this one,” she yelled.

“All right!” Drew yelled back.

Kelsey bent her knees and pushed off the sandy floor. Drew did the same. The
wave took them on an awesome ride. Perfect all the way to the end.

They swam out and waited to catch the next wave. Suddenly Kelsey felt
something squishy hit her back. And it stayed there—right between her shoulders.

“Drew,” she called. “Do you see something on my back?”

But Drew wasn’t there. He had caught the wave and was headed for the shore.

She reached over her shoulder to swat off whatever was there. The tips of her
fingers brushed against something soft.

Something wet and slimy.

Something that began to wriggle against her skin.

“Jellyfish!” she shrieked in terror.

She tried to brush it off, but it wouldn’t budge.

She jumped up and down and tried to shake it off. The more she struggled with
it, the tighter it clung to her.

Digging into her back.

Stinging her with its deadly poison.

“Drew!” Kelsey screamed. “Drew! Help me!”

But Drew was riding his wave to the shore. He couldn’t hear her.

Kelsey dug her nails into her back. Trying to scratch the jellyfish off. Her
fingers sunk into its gooey body. And with a sickening
thwop,
it closed
around her hand.

“Help me!” she screamed. “Somebody, help me!” She twisted and turned until
she wrenched her hand free.

Get back to shore,
she thought.
That’s what I have to do!

A wave began to swell. I’ll ride it in, Kelsey decided. It will be the
fastest way back.

As soon as it reached her, Kelsey pushed off and tried to catch it. But her
timing was off, and she missed. She tried for the next one. But the wave seemed
to wash right over her.

She missed wave after wave. And it seemed like the harder she tried, the
faster the waves passed her by.

Her skin started to burn under the creature’s slimy hold.

“Swim in!” she told herself. “Just get to shore and get help!”

Kelsey paddled as hard as she could. But she seemed to be moving in slow
motion. She noticed that the water around her was churning. Growing thick and
cloudy.

She swam harder. Her hands thrashed the water. But she felt as if she were
swimming in Jell-O.

Why is it so hard to move? she wondered. Why am I stuck in the same spot?

The jellyfish on her back gripped her skin. A sharp pain shot through her
body.

Kelsey kicked her legs. Harder and harder.

Her arms ached. And the muscles in her shins were beginning to cramp. With
every move, she gasped for breath. But she had to get to shore. She had to get
that jellyfish off her back.

I must be close to the beach now, Kelsey thought.

She looked up.

She was farther away than when she started!

“How can that be?” she screamed.

She needed to rest before she tried to make her way back again. She closed
her eyes. Then she flipped over on her back and floated for a few seconds—until
she felt something on her shoulders.

She turned her head from side to side.

Two blobs rested on her shoulders.

Two hideous bluish blobs.

Jellyfish!

Giant blue blobs of jellyfish!

The shiny blue blob that sucked on her right shoulder was chunky and clear.
But the one on her left shoulder had little red lines running through it.

Poisonous! She was certain.

She flipped over quickly, but before she could peel the horrible creatures
off, her legs began to sting. Then her arms. Then her stomach and the back of
her neck. Even the soles of her feet.

“They’re all over me!” she shrieked.

Some were small—like clear jellybeans. Others had tentacles that shimmered in
the water. They curled around her limbs. Closing around them. Tighter and
tighter.

A tiny one was stuck to Kelsey’s eyelash. Every time she blinked, she looked
through its slimy, cloudy body.

Kelsey’s heart raced. She felt dizzy. Everything around her started to spin.

Don’t panic!
she told herself.
Swim!

Kelsey’s arms sliced through the water as she struggled toward the shore.

But swimming grew harder and harder.

The water felt thick and gooey.

She was swimming in a sea of jellyfish!

Kelsey’s eyes darted around her. There were jellyfish everywhere. There
seemed to be more jellyfish than water. Waves of jellyfish rolled toward her.
Crashing against her skin with a sickening splat.

She flailed through the sea of slime. “I’m not going to make it,” she
groaned. “I’m not going to make it back.”

The jellyfish sea thickened around her. She could barely lift her arms to
swim anymore.

And then a huge wave lifted her up and carried her toward the shore. As soon
as her foot hit the ocean’s sandy bottom, she stood up and charged out of the
water.

“Help me!” she screamed. “Somebody, help me get these things off!”