“Ewwww, gross,” Zandra chimed in.
“Hush, Zandra,” Gregor scolded. “You must also bring me a big, buzzing horsefly,” he continued. “And a lumpy, fat jellyfish. The boy may assist you in finding these things. But you alone must be the one to catch them.”
Thinking about touching the crabs and the jellyfish made Kelsey itch all over.
“When you have everything you need, you will come to the gypsy camp. It is under the boardwalk. You must be there by the stroke of midnight,” Gregor instructed.
“Don’t worry,” Kelsey assured him. “We’ll be there.”
“Good,” Gregor said, standing up. “Oh, yes,” he added, “there is just one more thing you will need to bring.”
“What?” Drew asked.
This time Gregor didn’t seem to mind answering Drew’s question. “Twenty dollars,” he told Drew. “The cost of removing the curse.”
And with that, Gregor and Zandra disappeared behind the beads.
Later that afternoon Kelsey started step one of removing the curse: gathering her fears.
The map was easy. She found it in the glove compartment of her mother’s car.
Finding a sand crab. That was no problem, either. There were dozens of them crawling around the beach.
But Kelsey couldn’t stand to actually touch them. The thought of those creepy, pinchy legs made her skin crawl. So she found a jar in the kitchen and used it to scoop up the icky creature.
Next came the horsefly. She got a second jar for that. Catching that was harder. It wasn’t that she couldn’t find one. The problem was that there were too many! They swarmed the beach.
Kelsey took a deep breath and ran right into a horde of them.
They landed on her skin. They buzzed in her ears. And they stung her.
When she finally clamped the lid on her jar, she had managed to trap three horseflies.
That left only one more fear.
A jellyfish.
Yuck.
Kelsey swam in the ocean searching for a jellyfish until her lips turned purple and her skin shriveled like a raisin.
But she still didn’t have one when her parents called her in for dinner.
By the time she and Drew finished eating and headed back out, the sun was going down. And the beach was totally deserted.
“It’s pretty weird being out here all alone,” Kelsey commented. Then she thought about how weird it would be going out at midnight – when it was totally black outside. And a shiver ran down her spine.
“Yeah, it is creepy,” Drew agreed. “Let’s just hope our parents don’t catch us down here. If they do, Madame Valda’s curse is going to be the last thing we have to worry about.”
But Madame Valda’s curse was the only thing that Kelsey was worried about. And if she didn’t find a jellyfish, she was going to have to worry about it for the rest of her life.
Kelsey headed into the water.
Drew started to follow.
“You stay on the beach,” she ordered. “Where you can see me.”
“I think I should go with you,” Drew argued.
“You can’t,” Kelsey reminded him. “I have to get the jellyfish myself.”
s Kelsey started walking out into the ocean. She scanned every inch of the water around her.
No jellyfish – anywhere.
She waded in farther and farther. The water grew deeper. And darker. And colder.
It’s really scary out here, she thought as the water rose up to her shoulders.
She turned around to look for Drew. But she couldn’t spot him.
She took a few more steps into the ocean – and suddenly the ocean floor dropped beneath her feet.
She plunged down. Down. Down.
Her arms shot up, out of the water. But her head remained beneath the surface.
The current pulled her down – deeper and deeper.
Kelsey struggled to break the water’s surface. Struggled to breathe.
She kicked as hard as she could.
Her legs ached. Her lungs burned.
She needed air. She desperately needed air.
Coughing, gasping for breath, she finally burst free.
She gulped the cool night air, filling her lungs. Then she began to swim to shore.
But the water around her grew rough. She lost her rhythm and began to flail.
Concentrate! she told herself. Concentrate!
She kicked, hard. Her arms cut through the water.
She swam and swam.
I must be close, she thought, panting. I must be.
But when she lifted her head, she froze.
She couldn’t see the shore.
She couldn’t see anything.
She was lost in a sea of darkness.
16
“Drew!” Kelsey screamed. “Drew!” But her cries were drowned by the crashing waves.
Kelsey’s eyes darted around her. Trying to focus. Trying to spot a twinkle of light – any clue to show her the way to the shore.
But it was completely dark. So dark that she didn’t see the wave forming behind her. The huge wave.
It crested and broke, catching her in a cyclone of foam.
It spun her upside down.
Then it whipped her out of the water.
And she spotted it – the shore. The giant wave had carried her closer to the beach.
“Drew!” Kelsey tried to scream. But a wave washed over her, and she swallowed a mouthful of the salty sea.
Where was he? Her chest tightened.
Why couldn’t she see him? Did he go for help?
Kelsey began to swim again. She was surprised to feel her strokes propel her easily through the water. And as the shore line grew closer, she began to feel better. The tightness in her chest eased.
And then the current changed.
Now it thrashed against her, propelling her sideways.
Directly in the path of a huge stone jetty!
“Nooooooo!” Kelsey screamed at the sight of the jagged rocks.
The waves roared in her ears. Her heart thundered in her chest.
She tried to swim against the force. She cast a glance at the jetty.
She was so close to it now.
So close to being pounded against its pointed, rough rocks.
And then she spotted Drew. Running along the jetty. Jumping from rock to rock.
The waves crashed around her, tossing her body. Tossing her inches from the craggy wall.
“Kelsey!” Drew shouted down. “I’ll get help!”
“No!” she cried. “No time!”
A huge wave broke, thrusting her into one of the rocks that jutted out. And a sharp pain shot through her leg.
I can’t hold out any longer, Kelsey thought. She could feel the strength seep from her arms. Her legs.
Drew had to help her – now. In another moment she’d be smashed against the jetty.
She lifted her face to call to him one more time.
But he turned – and walked away.
17
The tide pelted Kelsey.
She threw her arms out – to soften the crash against the rough stones.
“Kelsey! Kelsey! Grab this!”
Drew!
He held out a pole – a pole with a red flag on the end. The kind lifeguards use to warn about rough seas.
Kelsey reached out. Stretching.
Grasping – grasping for the pole.
Drew held it out as far as he could.
Her fingertips grazed the end. She almost had it – but a wave broke over her, and the pole slipped from her hand.
She tried again – gripping it tightly this time. And Drew pulled her out of the churning sea.
As she sat on the jetty, gasping for breath, her fingers brushed against something. Something slimy.
She snatched her hand away.
A jellyfish.
She finally had her jellyfish.