06 - Eye of the Fortuneteller Read Free

hearing her voice. That horrible
voice screaming, “Fool! Fool! Fool!”
    “Forget the fortuneteller.” Drew headed toward the exit. “We’ve got real
problems. We’re late for dinner.”
    Kelsey checked her watch. “Oh, no!” she groaned. “We’re already a half hour
late. Mom’s going to kill us!”
    Kelsey and Drew hurried out the exit. They were only eight blocks from the
beach house. If they ran, they’d be home in five minutes.
    “Let’s take the shortcut home,” Kelsey suggested as she dashed ahead of Drew.
“It’s right there.” She pointed ahead. “The alley that runs behind the Italian
restaurant.”
    Drew followed Kelsey past the restaurant and into the narrow, winding alley.
    “Where does this go?” Drew asked as they sprinted around the alley’s turns
and curves.
    “To the parking lot on Eighteenth Street,” Kelsey answered. “Then we’ll be
only two blocks from home.”
    But as they rounded the last curve, Kelsey knew something was wrong. She
faced a dead end—a sooty brick wall that rose at least twenty feet high. No
parking lot.
    “This is really strange,” she said, glancing around the alley. It was dark
and dingy. Totally deserted. “I’m sure there was a parking lot here last
summer.”
    “Maybe they bricked it up during the winter,” Drew suggested. “Let’s just get
out of here.”
    Kelsey started back the way they came. Drew followed. But when they reached
the other end of the alley—nothing looked the same! Even the Italian restaurant
was gone.
    Kelsey eyes darted left and right.
    “Hey! What’s going on?” she cried. “This is so weird. Where are we?”
    “I don’t know,” Drew answered, searching for a street sign. “This has to be
the way we came in.”
    “The restaurant was right on this corner,” Kelsey said. “I know it was.”
    Kelsey stared at the spot where the restaurant should have been. In its place
stood an old shingled house with boarded-up windows.
    “I don’t get it,” she mumbled to herself. She’d been coming to this town
practically forever. She knew every square inch of it. But suddenly she had no
idea where she was.
    She glanced around. The alley now led into a street. When Kelsey looked down
the street, she noticed a few rundown shacks. Nothing more. In the other
direction the street was dark and gloomy and lined with battered houses and
abandoned storefronts.
    “All right,” Kelsey said, trying to stay calm. “The beach must be that way.”
She pointed to her right. “So that means our house must be this way.” Kelsey
motioned to the gloomy street.
    “That way?” Drew gasped. “I’ve never even seen that street before. It’s
totally creepy. We’re not going down there.”
    “I’m telling you, that’s the way we have to go,” Kelsey insisted and began
jogging down the dreary block. “Come on!”
    Drew followed her for about three blocks—until she stopped.
    “Wait,” Kelsey said, out of breath. “This can’t be right.”
    “I told you this wasn’t the way to go,” Drew muttered. “There aren’t any
creepy old buildings like these anywhere near our house.”
    “I know. I know,” Kelsey replied. “We’d better ask somebody for directions.”
    “Like who?” Drew asked.
    Good question, Kelsey realized. She gazed up and down the street. There was
no one to ask. She and Drew were all alone.
    “Where is everybody anyway?” Drew asked. “There should be tons of people
everywhere—we’re right by the beach.”
    “The beach,” Kelsey repeated. “That’s it. We should head for the beach. Then
we’ll be able to find our way home.”
    Before Drew could reply, Kelsey took off down a side street. A street she was
certain headed toward the shore. But when she reached the next corner, her heart
sank.
    Nothing but shabby houses. Gutted storefronts. Every way she turned.
    No people. No beach.
    Kelsey was beginning to think that she and Drew would be lost forever. Tiny
beads of sweat formed on her