06 - Eye of the Fortuneteller by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

should head home now. It’s almost time
for dinner. We’ll try to win it tomorrow—when we can get more money.”
    Kelsey and Drew headed toward the part of the boardwalk that led to the exit.
    “I have a little change left,” Drew said, still searching through his
pockets. “Let’s buy some saltwater taffy—” Drew turned to Kelsey, but she was
gone.
    “Kelsey?”
    “Over here,” she called from around a corner. “Check this out.”
    “What is it?” Drew asked, turning the bend.
    Kelsey stood in front of a creepy old shack. It was made of wood. Splintered,
rotted wood that smelled ancient and moldy.
    The small building sagged—the right side stood higher than the left. Kelsey
tried to peer through one of the grimy windows, but it was covered with thick
iron bars. Heavy black curtains draped the panes.
    “I don’t know what this is,” Kelsey said, circling the strange old shack.
“I’ve never seen it before.”
    Kelsey glanced up and spotted a sign that hung over the doorway. “ The
Amazing Zandra ,” she read, trying to sound spooky. “It’s a stupid gypsy
fortune-telling place—only the Amazing Zandra is ‘Out to Lunch’.” Kelsey pointed
to the sign.
    Drew pressed his nose up against the window in the door to peek inside. He
leaped back, crashing into Kelsey.
    “Ouch!” she cried out, rubbing her foot. “What’s the matter with you?”
    “Take a look,” Drew whispered.
    Kelsey pressed her nose up against the dirty window. She peered into the dark
room. Squinting.
    Then she saw it.
    A skeleton.
    A human skeleton. It stared at her with its hollow eyes.
    She inhaled sharply. Then laughed.
    “It’s just a skeleton. A prop,” she told Drew. “Fortunetellers use stuff like
that all the time. To make you think they’re spooky and mysterious.”
    Kelsey jiggled the doorknob. The door opened with a loud click. “Let’s go
in!”
    “No way,” Drew told her, stepping back from the door. “We don’t have time.
We’ll be late for dinner.”
    “You’re such a chicken,” Kelsey taunted.
    “I am not,” Drew shot back. “There’s just no reason to go in. Fortunetellers
are fakes. Everyone knows that. They can’t really tell the future.”
    Kelsey pulled the door open wide enough to stick her head inside. The air
inside the shack felt icy cold. It sent a chill down her spine.
    She glanced around the room. A layer of thick dust carpeted the floor. Old
books were scattered everywhere.
    Kelsey’s gaze shifted to the far wall of the shack, where bookshelves rose from the floor to the ceiling. On them sat tons and
tons of stuffed animals.
    Kelsey stared at the animals. They weren’t like the ones she had in her room.
    These were real animals.
    Real dead animals.
    “You’re not going to believe what’s in here,” Kelsey whispered. “Let’s go
in.”
    “No way!” Drew repeated. Then he tugged Kelsey back. “Let’s go. We’ll be here
all summer. We can come back another time.”
    Kelsey sighed. “Oh, all right, but—”
    “Stay. Stay,” a raspy voice called from the back of the shack.
    Kelsey and Drew turned in time to see a very old woman make her way to the
front of the shack. She pointed a wrinkled, gnarled finger at them. “Come,” she
said. “Come in.”
    Kelsey stared at the woman. She wore a red flowered dress that hung down to
the floor. Her face was lined with wrinkles. And her mouth twisted in a half
sneer. But it was her earrings that Kelsey gaped at.
    Dozens of gold rings dangled from each ear. Heavy gold earrings that pulled
on her lobes and made them hang low.
    She fixed her dark eyes on Kelsey as she spoke again.
    Kelsey gasped. The woman had one blue eye and one eye the color of coal.
    “Come,” the woman beckoned. “Come inside. There is much to tell. Come, Kelsey
and Drew.”
    All the color drained from Drew’s face. “Kelsey, how does she know our
names?” he murmured. “How does she know?”

 
 
2
     
     
    “She probably heard us