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

it is imperative that we get the truth. Are you aware of the circumstances surrounding the death of your great aunt?”

Zormna nodded, barely. Her eyes were wide like that of a terrified little animal. It almost looked cute—except cornered animals were known for going crazy savage.

“Everyone says you FBI killed her.”

He sighed. Yet he noticed the look in her eye. “But you don’t believe that.”

Stiffly, and just a tiny bit, she shook her head.

Sighing again, Agent Simms said, “You know better.”

The girl cringed, then nodded.

He asked, “Were the people who killed your parents the same people who killed your great aunt?”

To that, Zormna shook her head more decidedly. “Not likely.”

“But they are connected,” he said.

She averted her eyes.

“Do you know anything that can help us in this investigation?” Agent Simms asked as Agent Hayworth continued to write down facts and observations.

The girl slowly closed her eyes. She breathed in and out, deliberating. She didn’t seem likely to trust them, but they hoped she would anyway. Finally, Zormna answered, “Look. When coming here, I had hoped I would be safe here. I never expected…” She cringed, and swallowed, rethinking her response. “What frightens me the most is that my great aunt was safe before you FBI had investigated her. But after…” She frowned accusingly.

Agent Simms stiffened. Hopefully it wasn’t visible.

And she continued with, “Which makes me think her killers have a connection with you. So in a way, my friends are right in that the FBI killed my great aunt.”

“Now wait—” Agent Simms lifted up his hands in protest.

“And you people being here is not just a bad thing for me,” she said. “What about the McLennas who took me in? Can you ensure their safety?”

Agents Simms and Hayworth stood aback. He then looked to Mrs. McLenna who had been wringing her dishcloth again to the point that her hands were going red. Of course this was the woman’s worry also.

“I assure you, Mrs. McLenna, you and your family will be kept safe.” But he turned to Zormna. “However, we have come to warn you that the killer is most likely still at large and might try to harm this young lady. We will do all that we can to prevent that, but we need her help to ensure the murderer’s capture.”

Mrs. McLenna looked anxiously to Zormna.

Despite all the assurances, the girl’s expression had turned dry. Clearly she did not believe him.

With a nod to Agent Hayworth, confirming his notes, Agent Simms said, “We’ve been on this case for a while, without any resolution. If you will cooperate, we might be able to resolve this.”

Zormna shrewdly eyed him with an intense, weighty stare. She bit her lip before she responded. “What do I have to do?”

The agents smiled together.

Simms said, “For now, just let our agents follow you around. We’ll watch your house—this one and the other one. We’ll have agents stationed at the school for your protection—because we also are concerned about a mole in our operation.”

“A mole?” Mrs. McLenna took in a sharp breath.

“That’s an inside operative,” Zormna sardonically responded. “Common in spy movies. Also known as a double agent.”

The mother shot Zormna a dirty look. But of course she knew that.

“Our agents will watch your back,” Agent Simms said.

“And if the agent you sent to watch my back is the mole,” Zormna asked. “What then?”

Mrs. McLenna’s shoulders hung with exhausted familiarity at Zormna’s terse arguments. They could tell the mother was definitely holding back her own retort. The girl definitely would be in trouble after they left.

“I am going to defend myself, you know,” Zormna said.

They blinked, vaguely registering what she meant.

But Mrs. McLenna put a hand to her forehead like she had a headache. “No…”

“I most certainly will,” Zormna snapped back with a sharp look to the mother. “What would you do if someone attacked you? Self-defense is perfectly permissible—”

“I don’t want you fighting in school,” Mrs. McLenna retorted.

The two agents mentally added it up. They had heard also about the incident with the wrestler. But they knew Zormna was not thinking about some high school squabble.

Agent Hayworth gently put a hand on Zormna’s arm. “It would be best to leave your protection to the professionals.”

Zormna jerked sharply out of his grip. “I can take care of myself.”

The agent pressed his lips together, frowning. He glanced to his partner.

“Are we done here?” Zormna asked, angling her head to the side with all the cynicism she carried.

The agents shared yet another look. Agent Hayworth took one more note. They nodded to her. “We are done if you agree to cooperate.”

“Ok. Ok…” Zormna rolled her eyes. She walked straight to the attic door and opened it with a nod to the two men.

Agent Hayworth heaved in a sigh. Gathering up their documents and stuffing them back into the zipper-folder, he closed his notebook, tucking away his pencil. Neither man removed their eyes from her as they walked to the door, though.

Mrs. McLenna lingered with the inclination to spank the girl.

Before Agent Hayworth went through the small doorway, he said, “Zormna, don’t try anything foolish. Remember, your aunt was a full-grown adult, and she could not see her killer coming. You are still a child and do not understand the dangers of the world. You might think nothing can harm you, but that attitude is self-defeating. Let us help you.”

Zormna rolled her eyes, clenching the side of the door as though she would slam it in his face.

He stepped into the hall.

Then Agent Simms passed through. Mrs. McLenna followed him, glancing back at Zormna, looking mortified. It was as if she had just discovered her houseguest ripping up her curtains. That little girl was definitely in trouble.

Agent Simms handed Zormna a small white card. “If you need anything, call this number. We’ll come anytime you need us.”

He departed after his partner. Zormna shut her bedroom door the moment they were in the hall. Not quite with a bang, as the door was a thin wooden thing. But the lock inside clacked shut. All of it said “GO AWAY!”

Both men glanced back at the closed door then looked to Mrs. McLenna who wrung her dishtowel again.

“She’s still…uh…adjusting,” the woman said.

Agent Simms nodded understandingly. “She’s young still. But she’ll learn.”

The mother grimaced, then led them back down the stairs.

The McLenna children peeked their heads out of their bedroom doors where they had scrambled in hiding to keep from being seen after listening at the door. They had heard the entire conversation. The older male minor, Todd, followed his mother down the stairs as the agents went through the front door. They delivered cordial good-byes and a promise to return when they had news. The youngest two snuck right behind their older brother, watching their mother through the stair railing.

The two agents went out to their car. The meeting had been productive and informative.

Agent Simms called their supervisor as Agent Hayworth started the car.

*

Jennifer’s mother shut the front door with a slump against it, gazing skyward with exhaustion to where undoubtedly Zormna was sitting overhead. But Jennifer, who had seen and heard it all with Todd and the others at the attic door, crept back to the attic room. Jennifer pushed on it to see if it really was locked.

 It wasn’t.

But then Zormna was probably waiting for their mother to come up and chew her out. It was the soldier in her, Jennifer suspected. Zormna also seemed familiar with being in trouble.

Pushing the small door open, Jennifer peered in at Zormna who was watching the FBI agents from her small window. The girl’s back was rigid. Her posture, thinking as tensely as a cornered fighter.

Zormna turned when she heard her bedroom door open. Upon recognizing that it was Jennifer and not Mrs. McLenna, she scowled and sat on her bed. The blonde slid an encyclopedia off of her shelf and she lay down on her belly in an attempt to ignore the intruder, starting where she had left off before the FBI had come.

It took all Jennifer had not to grab the nearest item to throw at the girl. Zormna was just too nonchalant. Yet with self-control, Jennifer said, “Do you believe what they said?”

Zormna lifted her eyes from her book. “Still listening at doors?”

Jennifer’s face went hot.

Yet turning her eyes back to her book, Zormna replied, “I thought you were not talking to me.”

Jennifer exhaled loudly. “I’m not—mostly. But this is an exception.”

Zormna chuckled, almost wearily. Her wicked green eyes flickered back to Jennifer with so much criticism that it was impossible not to feel like she was being mocked. Yet Zormna replied, “There is no way I would trust them. They’re government. And as you well pointed out the first day I met you, government cannot be trusted.”

Ugh. Jennifer wished she had never implied that. She so wanted to trust the FBI right now. She needed to be able to trust them. But Zormna had a point. Were they truly there about a murder case? Or were they there because the little foreigner was an alien? —Or just someone dangerous? A person of interest. That’s it. That’s what they called it. Jennifer nodded to herself, leaning against the doorframe.

And why would an alien trust the FBI? Especially if the locals didn’t. Watching the blonde read from the encyclopedia, fittingly studious for any human weirdo, Jennifer knew the game had only just begun.

Zormna lifted her eyes with a glare. “Are you there to hold up the door?”

Jennifer sourly laughed to herself and took one long retreating step out of the attic. She closed the door behind her.

Despite all bratty behavior, Zormna had not yet exhibited any strange alien tendencies. She had not drooled over their beds at night, and she had not possessed anyone. In fact, all she seemed to do was what she had said she was doing—hiding. It made Jennifer feel silly. It was silliness, wasn’t it? Yet, she wondered, who would come next to her home? The CIA? SETI?

Glancing once more at the attic door, Jennifer’s also thought about what Zormna had asked the FBI to do. Protection for the family. Not just for herself. Somehow, Jennifer knew Zormna had meant it. And it made her hate Zormna just a little less.

*

Todd noticed a defined change in Zormna the morning after the FBI visit. She was in a darker, more pensive mood. She said very little to anyone in the McLenna household the entire morning, going through the motions while brooding. Jennifer watched at a distance, keeping away as usual.

And just as the FBI had said, someone waited outside to follow Zormna to school. He was not conspicuous at all—though Zormna spotted him the moment she stepped out the front door. A jogger. He had earphones stuck in his ears as if he were listening to the radio. He was jogging in place, checking his pulse. Todd only noticed because Zormna halted on the step, her shoulders dropping in annoyance.

Jennifer shoved past her with a grunt. She didn’t even look at the man in the gray sweat suit. And Jennifer strode into the street at a fast pace, as always, leaving them both behind.  

But Zormna lingered on the step with a glance back into the house. Their mother watched Zormna with thinly pressed lips and tapping fingers on her forearms. The evening before, they had a brief, terse discussion about polite behavior and respecting authority…and another one that morning to remind the girl. It had not been a pleasant morning altogether

The Irish blonde drew in a breath, closed her eyes then drew in another one before marching down the steps to the street. Todd went with her.

The jogger did not follow until Zormna had crossed the road towards the school. Todd noticed. But when he did, it was as if the man were cooling down from a long run and just wanted to take it slow.

A few times Zormna halted in her walk, rolled her eyes to the sky with a glance back at him. But