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!”
But the people on the beach didn’t move.
Why wasn’t anyone helping her? What was wrong with them?
“Kelsey!” Drew shouted. She spun around to face him. “What is wrong with you?”
“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.