The Secret of Zormna Clendar by Julie Steimle (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

officer,” Jennifer interjected.

Her parents sharply lifted their heads. Their eyes quickly flickered to Zormna who was still moping. Her sandwich sagged in her thin fingers.

“She went to a military school,” Jennifer said, glancing at her also. “She told me he sent her here…for her safety.”

She had to make sure they knew.

And they nodded slowly, their eyes carefully taking in Jennifer’s expression.

“What else did she tell you?” her mother asked.

Shrugging, Jennifer said, “That she’s finished with school. She said she graduated. But don’t worry, I told her you wouldn’t let her stay home. I mean, both of you will be off at work, right? She has to go.”

“I could take a job,” Zormna interjected, looking up from her uneaten sandwich.

Both parents sighed. They shook their heads.

“No one would allow that,” their father said. “You would be arrested for playing hooky.”

Wearily, Zormna nodded. “Jennifer made that clear enough, thank you.”

But she shook her head and went back to moping over her sandwich.

“You already graduated?” Todd exclaimed. “How old are you?”

“Todd…” his mother interrupted before Zormna could reply. “Did you finish with backyard?”

He moaned, turning back around. “Yes. It is all cleaned up.” He then looked back to the blonde, “So, are you some kind of genius, or did you just take the GED?”

“G. E. D?” Zormna stared blankly, peeking once to the parents.

“It’s a test,” Mr. McLenna supplied. “For early graduation. You can take it if you want.”

“You have to be at least sixteen to take the test,” Jennifer cut in.

Her parents cast their daughter a puzzled glance.

Zormna frowned. “What is with you people and age limits?”

Their parents chuckled.

“So how smart are you?” Todd pressed.

Groaning, Zormna rolled her eyes over to him.

He grinned eagerly, waiting. His blue eyes shown with honest interest.

Zormna’s sulky expression slipped off. “There was a course completion test that I took when I was twelve.”

Their parents drew in breaths.

She nodded to them. “I passed it then.”

They shared yet another look. Jennifer was getting sick of those looks. So secretive. She didn’t like it. She asked her parents, “Did you take that test?”

Both of them nodded.

“But not at twelve,” her father said, making it clear that it was uncommon.

“What age do you usually take it?” Todd asked, now even more curious.

They looked to Zormna before responding. Their mother said, “Once you have completed with your school work—usually by sixteen for the bright students. But most start at seventeen.” Then she stared harder at the blonde, looking her up and down. “Did you really take it at twelve years old?”

Zormna shrugged apologetically.

“Early developer,” their father murmured.

“So, you’re a genius,” Todd said again.

Jennifer frowned. Was that why Zormna talked down to people?

But Zormna gazed out the kitchen window. “Just ahead of my class.”

Both parents shared looks again, nodding with chuckles.

“What’s your IQ?” Todd asked.

But Zormna blinked at him like the blonde she was. “I. Q?” Once more she peeked at the parents for some clue.

Jennifer snorted. “Probably 70.”[1]

With a chiding look to Jennifer, her parents opened their mouths to retort. They never got that far.

“Our test had 150 points possible.” Zormna frowned at Jennifer. “Anything over 100 is considered brilliant.”

“So, what was your score?” Todd looked to his parents.

They blushed.

“Admittedly,” their father said, “I earned the average score on the test, which is about an 80. That usually means you are a functional, rational adult.”

Zormna nodded in agreement. Their mother didn’t say anything, but they could tell she had gotten a slightly higher score than he did, but did not want to admit it in front of him.

“What did you get?” Todd asked Zormna.

Zormna immediately averted her eyes. To the parents she asked, “I cannot presume those test scores are applicable here, are they?”

Both adults shook their heads.

“Incompatible systems, I’m afraid,” Mr. McLenna replied. 

Sighing heavily, Zormna nodded to herself, trying to remain composed. “I see.”

 “What was your score?” Todd asked again.

Zormna ignored him. “So, all I would have to do is enroll with the school here? And I would attend…when?”

Seeing Zormna was going to cooperate without any fuss, Mrs. McLenna relaxed. Their mother had been bracing for some kind of fight, as the intensity in Zormna’s eyes indicated, to her at least, a combative personality. She took up another sandwich half and nibbled on the corner. “Probably starting Tuesday, at the earliest.”

Zormna’s frown deepened.

Todd leaned nearer to her. “Come on. What was your score?”

Mindy and Andrew watched attentively. Jennifer braced for one of Zormna’s mildly hidden brags.

Yet Zormna silently stepped away, nodding with more of a bow to their mother. She did the same towards their father with no inclination to answer Todd. “Very well. If you do not mind, I am going to retire upstairs. I feel…jet lagged.”

Both adults nodded, dismissing her with a wave.

“Retire,” Mindy snickered with Andrew. And Jennifer rolled her eyes.

“Why won’t you share your score?” Todd rose after her. “Was it that bad?”

Lurching to a halt just before the stairs, Zormna turned around with that dark green-eyed glare of hers. “It procured a 130. Satisfied?”

And she tromped up to the second floor, though her walk later eased into a march. The attic door catch clicked open and shut in the following silence.

Jennifer’s brows wrinkled together. She looked to her parents.

As did Todd. “What does that mean?”

Their parents palely stared after the girl. After another of their shared looks, Jennifer wondered if she would ever get an explanation.

“It means,” their father said, clearing his throat and regaining his composure, “that living with her is going to be complicated.”

Jennifer decided that was an understatement.

 *

 

Utter silence from the upstairs attic set the tone that Saturday afternoon. Normally Todd would have turned on the TV and watched ESPN, but instead he peppered Jennifer with questions about the blonde while his parents involved themselves in clandestine whatever-it-was negotiating with some guy at a website and on the phone. It wasn’t until Mindy and Andrew dragged a board game to the attic door and knocked for Zormna when that changed.

“Zormna, come out and play a game with us.”

Zormna stuck her head out with blinks at the pair, rubbing her eyes. They were red around the edges. “What is it?”

Andrew lifted up the box. “Do you want to play Clue?”

Blinking at the box then their eager faces, Zormna’s red-rimmed eyes softened. Nodding, she stepped out of the attic.

But they did not play the game for very long. Jennifer overheard Mindy and Andrew explain all the rules of the game to the last detail for Zormna, including the cards, and the note sheets, and what the purpose was.

She didn’t get it.

Some brainiac.

Finally, in the end, Andrew suggested they play tag in the backyard.

Jennifer didn’t see, but she knew Zormna was barely taller than Andrew, not quite hitting five feet yet. So, of course the younger McLennas believed it would be a fair game. But Jennifer wondered, especially since Zormna was so…military. Eventually, after cleaning her part of her bedroom, she had come to fetch Mindy to clean the rest. But when she stopped at the sliding glass door to open it, her eyes took in Zormna as she was playing with her younger brother and sister on the back lawn.

Jennifer drew in a breath. The blonde was expertly standing on one hand for her applauding brother and sister.

The setting sun reflected off Zormna’s ghost-white legs as if they were alabaster. Golds and reds shone in her radiant blonde hair, hanging upside down from her head like licking flames. Then Zormna executed a backflip. Apparently they had abandoned the game of tag.

Instead of going out, Jennifer lingered at the large back door, watching them. It was entrancing, really. In the rosy light, the peculiar blonde performed more back flips, handsprings, cartwheels, and other gymnastic tricks Jennifer could not identify—one after the other. It put Jennifer in mind of a ninja. An Irish ninja, if that was possible. They probably wore green masks and hoods. Jennifer chuckled at the image in her head.

Zormna was incredibly limber—even able to flip backwards without any hands on the ground. And she was also showing her little brother and sister how to do them.

That was kind of nice. Yet, it annoyed Jennifer that Zormna relaxed around kids and preferred their company. It had to be rectified. But how?

One thing was for certain, this foreign blonde was definitely the active type. Zormna grinned the more she sweat, touched the grass, enjoying the breathless pounding in her chest, red-cheeked and happy. That 130 test rating was probably a lie, Jennifer finally decided. Todd had goaded the girl into it. Smugly folding her arms, Jennifer smirked to herself on that thought.

By the time the sun was beginning to duck behind the horizon, Zormna had shown both of the youngest McLennas how to do a round-off and a cartwheel. Then she gave them pointers on how to walk on their hands, doing it at almost a run.

“Holy cow.” Todd walked to the sliding glass door from wherever he had been that afternoon. He stood next to Jennifer. Leaning against the glass, he watched Zormna with widening eyes. He set his hand over his mouth. Zormna had just back-flipped to right herself.

Zormna grinned madly with a nod to Andrew as he tried to copy her. Mindy also attempted it, though Zormna had to spot her along the back. Mindy could do it on her own after three tries.

So could Andrew.

Both were soon walking on their hands, red-faced, grinning, and giddy with excitement.

Then Zormna joined them, challenging them to a race.

“What the…” Their parents joined Jennifer and Todd at the sliding glass door, watching all three racing on their hands.

“Show us something else,” Andrew said, dropping onto the grass with a laugh after he crossed the hose they were using as a finish line.

Mindy fell down after him onto the ground, clapping. “Yes!”

Zormna flipped back onto her feet. Her proud smile was not for herself though, but for them. Admittedly, she was a good teacher. Jennifer wondered if maybe…she could teach her too.

“Ok. Let me think of something.”

Jennifer waited, leaning closer to the glass. Todd drew in a breath. Their parents, however, fixed their eyes on Zormna with deepening creases in their brows. Their lips pressed together.

“This is an advanced combat move,” Zormna said, setting her feet apart. Taking two steps forward, Zormna quickly performed an airborne flip combined with what looked like a karate kick. She touched down on the grass so lightly that her feet hardly made a sound. That military school really had taught her martial arts. She was definitely a ninja.  

Right away their parents yelped. They slid the door open. “Stop! That’s enough.”

“Be careful! You could hurt somebody.” Their mom reached for Mindy.

Both Mindy and Andrew grimaced. Their shoulders slumped as their mother checked them for scrapes and bruises.

Zormna’s smile vanished. Sweat dribbled down her forehead to her chin, adding to the damp discoloration of her borrowed shirt. She heaved a breath with a faint roll of her eyes when she saw the parents. Yet as obedient as a samurai, she bowed to them. “I will be more careful.”

She took a step back to show she had no intention of harming anyone.

Cautiously, the adult McLennas watched her, sneaking yet another infuriatingly secretive look between them. Jennifer noticed the look had their more familiar, yet paranoid, concern. Both parents withdrew to the porch where both of them pulled up two chairs and sat down to watch.

With another nod towards them, Zormna turned back to the youngest McLenna children. She lowered her voice into an apologetic whisper. Jennifer could not hear what she said to them.

Disappointment washed over both Andrew and Mindy. Both children moaned that it wasn’t fair.

However, Zormna hiked up her grin and said, “Let me teach you, instead, how to do a repeated back flip.”

“Cool!” Andrew hopped forward.

Jennifer finally stepped out onto the porch. Todd also came out. Both of them leaned against the back wall, silently watching. Jennifer bit the inside of her lip. She felt a little silly thinking it, but she