by R. L. Stine
“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.
8
“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!”
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 g
lanced 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.
Kelsey even thought she was kind of pretty. Her wavy hair was long and brown. And her eyes were ordinary. Brown. Both of them.
Zandra’s fingernails were painted purple. And she had a ring on every finger. She wasn’t nearly as mysterious or spooky as Madame Valda.
“I have to see the other gypsy,” Kelsey announced.
“There is no other gypsy,” Zandra informed them.
“Yes, there is,” Drew said. “She was here yesterday. She’s really old and wrinkly.”
“You must be mistaken,” Zandra insisted. “There is no other gypsy here. And there never has been.”
Kelsey felt her heart sink.
“Oh, no,” she moaned. “Now what am I going to do? I’m going to be cursed forever!”
10
“Are you sure there isn’t another gypsy?” Drew asked again.
“Look, kid,” Zandra replied. “I’m the gypsy who works here, okay? The only gypsy. Now do you want me to tell your fortune or not?”
The Amazing Zandra is lying to us, Kelsey thought. She has to be.
“Look, Amazing Zandra,” Kelsey said as politely as she could. “We were here yesterday. But you weren’t. There was a different gypsy. She was real, real old.”
“And scary,” Drew added.
But Zandra just kept shaking her head no.
“She had a really strange accent,” Kelsey went on.
Nothing. Just more head-shaking from Zandra.
“She put a curse on me,” Kelsey said hopelessly.
With that, Zandra’s expression changed. “A curse?” she gasped, clutching her heart. “If you are under the curse of a gypsy, you are in very serious trouble.”
“Tell me about it,” Kelsey said.
“Perhaps I can help you,” the Amazing Zandra replied.
“Really?” Kelsey asked nervously.
“Yes, really,” Zandra answered. “Only it isn’t easy to remove a curse,” she added. “And it isn’t cheap, either.”
“How much?” Kelsey asked Zandra.
“Ten dollars.”
“Ten dollars!” Kelsey gasped.
That was a lot of money. It was all the money she had. She had planned to spend it on carnival games and rides and ice cream.
But she had no choice. She didn’t know if Zandra was a real gypsy or not. But she was her only hope.
She handed the money over to the fortuneteller. “Take the curse off me,” she told her.
“First you must explain to me exactly how you were cursed,” Zandra said. “Did the old gypsy give the curse a name?”
“No,” Kelsey said. “But she called me a name.”
“And what was that?” Zandra asked.
“A fool,” Kelsey told her. “And she got real mad at me for not believing in her.”
Zandra shook her head gravely.
“Now all these terrible things are happening to me,” Kelsey continued. “Yesterday, we got lost. And last night hundreds of sand crabs attacked me in my sleep.”
“And this morning,” Drew jumped in, “she thought she was smothered in jellyfish.”
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.
Bzzz. The pesky horsefly landed on Kelsey’s leg.
“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.
Bzzz. The fly circled the castle.
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.
