Eye Of The Fortuneteller

14

“Madame Valda can’t be dead!” Kelsey shouted. “She was sitting right here! Tell her, Drew!”

“She was,” Drew insisted.

“Maybe you’re thinking of a different Madame Valda,” Kelsey told Zandra.

But Zandra shook her head no. “There is only one Madame Valda,” she insisted. “And I’m telling you that she has been dead for a really long time.”

“But we saw her!” Drew exclaimed. “So that’s impossible!”

“Well,” Zandra hesitated for a moment. “Not according to some of the old gypsies, it isn’t. But I never believed them.”

“What do you mean?” Kelsey asked.

“Well, some of the older gypsies believe that Madame Valda can still appear – even after death.”

“Yeah, well, you better believe it now,” Kelsey declared. “Because I’m telling you-she was here!”

“Oh, man.” Zandra cringed. “This is tooooo creepy.”

“Tell me about it!” Kelsey shot back. “I’m the one who’s been cursed by a dead gypsy!”

“So what do we do now?” Drew asked Zandra.

Zandra shrugged. “You’ve got me.”

“Oh, that’s just great!” Kelsey huffed. “Just great!”

“Look, don’t panic,” Zandra told Kelsey. “I have an uncle. He knows all about the old ways. He’s the one who told me about Madame Valda. I bet he can help you.”

“Where is he?” Drew asked.

“How soon can we see him?” Kelsey added.

“You can see him right now,” Zandra answered as she stood up. “Just wait here. I’ll go wake him up.”

Kelsey and Drew watched Zandra disappear through a curtain of beads that led into a back room.

Kelsey started to pace nervously.

“Do you believe this!” Kelsey was talking more to herself than to Drew. “A dead gypsy put a curse on me! I hope Zandra’s uncle is like Super-gypsy or something. Otherwise, I’m doomed.”

“You’re not doomed,” Drew muttered. He didn’t sound very convincing.

Just then the beads parted and Zandra headed toward Kelsey and Drew. An old man followed behind.

The man appeared to be as old as Madame Valda herself. Kelsey thought that was a very good sign.

He wore all black. Black pants, black jacket. A worn black leather vest. On a chain around his neck hung a large blue bead.

When Kelsey peered closer, she realized the bead was really a glass eye!

“This is my uncle, Gregor,” Zandra said as she approached them.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Gregor,” Kelsey said as politely as she could. There was no way in the world she was going to insult another gypsy.

Gregor’s wrinkled old face showed no expression. He stood as still as a statue and stared at Kelsey. “Zandra tells me that you think you have been cursed by Madame Valda,” he finally said.

Gregor spoke in an accent much like Madame Valda’s. And Kelsey thought that was an even better sign.

“I don’t think I’ve been cursed,” Kelsey told Gregor. “I know I’ve been cursed.”

Kelsey told Gregor about the Fool card and Madame Valda. She told him all about getting lost, and about the sand crabs. The jellyfish. The horseflies.

Gregor listened without moving. Without even blinking. When she was finished, he said, “I must tell you, this is most unusual.”

“No kidding,” Drew blurted out. “Especially since Madame Valda is dead!”

“Death is only a bend in the path for someone as powerful as Madame Valda,” Gregor told him.

“A what?” Kelsey’s eyes opened wide.

“A bend in the path,” Zandra repeated. “It means that death can’t stop Madame Valda. It just slows her down for a while.”

Kelsey turned to Drew in time to see his jaw drop.

“I told you Madame Valda was the most powerful gypsy who ever lived,” Zandra said, as if Kelsey needed to be reminded.

“Yes,” Gregor agreed. “She was the most powerful gypsy who ever lived. Only she was evil to the bone. And she used her powers in ways that were unthinkable.”

“Like how unthinkable?” Kelsey asked, not really wanting to know.

Gregor just shook his head. He didn’t answer Kelsey’s question. But he continued with his story.

“Madame Valda was so evil that the other gypsies feared her. They feared her for her power. But they also feared that her evil would cause terrible misfortune for all the other gypsies.

“So, secretly, the other gypsies – her own people – decided to kill her. They selected a young boy and a young girl to sneak into her tent and poison her wine.”

“Oh, wow!” Zandra exclaimed. Then she sat down and began fanning herself with her fashion magazine.

Gregor went on.

“How the boy and girl managed to trick her – no one knows. But Valda died. Her dead body was thrown into the sea.

“But Valda did not stay in the sea. She has been seen many times and in many places for over one hundred years. And each time she comes back, it is with evil in her heart.”

Neither Kelsey nor Drew could speak after Gregor finished his story. But finally Kelsey managed to break the thick silence. “What happened to the boy and girl who poisoned her?”

“Madame Valda cursed them and eventually they went crazy.”

“So do you know how to break Madame Valda’s curse?” Zandra asked.

Kelsey held her breath, waiting for the answer.

Gregor nodded yes. “But I must warn you, it will not be easy. It will not be easy at all.”

Gregor inched closer to Kelsey. She stared at the blue eye dangling from his neck as he spoke in a deep whisper.

“I can remove the curse,” he stated. “But removing it will be terrifying – so terrifying that you may think it is worse than the curse itself!”