The man clapped down the wooden arm on the board.
Lynda, holding the stuffed cat just as Hal had shown her; cried out and threw herself against the wall. She let out an awful scream. Then she hurled the cat away. It hit the floor hard.
Lynda fell to her knees. Her face was twisted with fright as she stared at the cat.
“Cut!” Hal called as he jumped to his feet. “Beautiful, beautiful! Lovely!”
But Lynda stayed on her knees. Gasping loudly for air, she shook her head wildly.
“You can stop, Lynda,” Hal told her. “That’s all we need. It’s over.”
Suddenly Neal felt a cold knot in his stomach.
He ran to Lynda and pulled her up. She grabbed his arm and looked at him with wide, frightened eyes.
“What happened?” he asked. “Are you OK?”
“It moved!” Lynda cried. “It moved! It tried to bite me!”
CHAPTER 5
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
“Everyone thinks I’m crazy,” Lynda said.
“I don’t,” said Neal.
Sighing, Lynda rolled down the window of Neal’s car. The warm ocean air blew against her face and through her hair. “Maybe I am crazy,” she said. “Maybe I just imagined the cat was...I don’t know.”
“I don’t know, either,” Neal told her. “But if Elizabeth can make spiders jump off her face at you, I guess she could make a stuffed cat try to bite you.”
He drove into the Venice Beach parking lot as he spoke. Then he stopped the car and got out a large straw basket.
“You’re kidding,” said Lynda.
“We’re having a picnic!”
“How did you know I was starving?” asked Lynda as she peeked inside the basket.
“It didn’t take strange powers of the mind to figure out,” said Neal, making her laugh.
Together, they carried the picnic basket down toward the beach through the hot sand. They found a spot away from the crowd and sat down. The sound of the waves and the fresh air made Lynda forget about Elizabeth and spiders and cats. Somehow, the strange things that had happened seemed far away and unreal.
As they ate, Neal talked about himself and his family. Lynda laughed at his jokes and, for the first time in days, she felt almost happy.
When they finished eating, they took a long walk down the beach. Then they headed for Ocean Front Walk.
There, they looked at what was for sale on tables set up beside the street. People were selling clothes, rings, paintings, toys, radios, almost everything. Then they came to a man with roller skates for rent.
“Want to give it a try?” Neal asked.
They got skates from the man and put them on. Lynda stepped onto the street. Neal followed her on shaking legs. “Don’t crash,” she called over her shoulder. She rolled along slowly, being careful not to bump people walking or skating in her way. Other skaters flashed past her. Some danced and did tricks. Finding a clear spot, Lynda spun around in a circle. She stayed on her feet and saw Neal fall on his hands and knees, laughing.
Then she saw the fortune teller.
The old woman was sitting behind a well-used card table. With a red scarf over her hair, large earrings, and a long dress, she really looked the part. She was staring into the crystal ball. Next to the ball was a deck of Tarot cards. And at the front of the table a sign read:
FORTUNES TOLD
LEARN WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS!
LOVE? MARRIAGE? BUSINESS?
Madame Agatha Tells All!
$10.00
Neal brushed himself off and skated slowly up beside Lynda. “Why don’t you give it a try?” she said to him.
“Give what a try?”
“Have Madame Agatha tell your fortune.”
Neal took a quick look at the old woman. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Scared?” Lynda asked, smiling.
“Right. Not that I believe in that stuff. But whatever she’s got to say, I don’t want to hear it. Don’t let me stop you, though.”
“Chicken.”
“That’s me.”
Lynda laughed, but she felt a little funny as she skated up to the table. “I guess I’d like you to tell my fortune,” she said to the old woman.
“Sit down,” Madame Agatha told her.
Lynda sat on a chair and looked into the fortune teller’s clear blue eyes.
The old woman held out a hand. “Cross my palm,” she said.
Lynda put two five dollar bills in her hand. Looking back, she saw that Neal was standing behind her.
“Tarot cards, the crystal ball, or your palm?” the old woman asked in a low voice.
“The ball, I guess.”
Madame Agatha moved closer and stared into the clear glass. After a moment, she said, “I see dark times for you. In the past and in the future. I see animals attacking you.”
Lynda’s heart pounded. “Yes. That has...uh, already happened.”
“You are an actress. Yes. And you are making a movie.”
“That’s right,” Lynda whispered. She wet her dry lips.
“You must stop making that movie. If you do not stop, you will die.”
Lynda jerked her eyes away from the crystal ball. She forced herself to look up at the old woman across the table.
“You will die!” Madame Agatha said again. Then, in a flash, she pulled off her scarf. Her gray hair came off with it, letting her real, blonde hair be seen. Then she started pulling off the old, dry skin from her face.
Lynda couldn’t move. It’s not skin, she thought, it’s makeup. She could only stare at the pretty young face now before her.
“Do not make the film about me, Lynda!” The woman stood up and pushed the card table over on Lynda.
Lynda jumped from her chair, forgetting about her skates. Her feet flew out from under her but Neal caught her from behind.
They both fell.
When Lynda looked up, Madame Agatha—Elizabeth—was gone.
CHAPTER 6
TRAPPED
“I can’t see you tonight,” Lynda said.
The words gave Neal an empty feeling. “What’s wrong?” he asked into the phone.
“It’s my parents. They’re afraid more crazy stuff will happen if I go out.”
“The Pizza Palace would be safe,” he told her.
“They don’t think so. I’m sorry Neal. Really. I tried to talk them out of it.”
“Well...”
“I asked them if you could come over here, but they didn’t go for that, either. They won’t be here, and...”
“You mean they’re leaving you alone?”
“One of Dad’s friends is having a dinner party.”
“They can’t leave you alone!”
“They think I’ll be safe as long as I stay in the house. I’m sorry, Neal. Look, I’ll see you tomorrow at the studio. OK?”
After they hung up, Neal picked up his book, The Genius of Alfred Hitchcock. He tried to read it, but couldn’t. He could only think about Lynda all alone in her house.
Lynda sat in the living room and stared at the television. She missed Neal. She had really been looking forward to going out with him.
Whatever made her parents think that she was safer here, alone, than at the crowded Pizza Palace with Neal? Did they think Elizabeth hadn’t already found out where she lived?
That thought gave her the creeps.
She decided to phone Neal again. Even though he couldn’t come over, she would feel better if she just talked to him.
She called his number.
“Hello?” his father said.
“Hi. This is Lynda. May I please speak to Neal?”
Neal’s father didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he said, “Do you mean he’s not there? He left here an hour ago. He said he was on his way over to your house.”
Lynda closed her eyes. “He’s not here,” she said.
“That’s strange.” Mr. Portis sounded worried.