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

That made Jennifer smile. And though she sighed with resignation, she said, “I’ll help. It may make you more normal.”

Zormna rolled her eyes at that last remark.

But she immediately showed Jennifer the specifics on the flier. The details were a little iffy, and she wanted to make sure she hadn’t misinterpreted them. There was so much she still did not understand about the cultural expectations for a girl her age in the United States. And if she was going to do this, she was going to do this right.

But they didn’t get far in discussing the particulars of the flier before Kevin walked up and waved them over to the hill towards the main school building.

“Come on, you guys. Let’s go over to the Senior Lawn. Two guys are having a Chubby Bunny Contest.”

Zormna knew the word chubby and the word bunny, but she had no clue what kind of contest used a fat rabbit. It sounded cruel towards furry animals, whatever it was. She looked to Jennifer for an explanation. But the girl just smiled with pleasure and dragged Zormna off the grass by her wrist. Zormna offered no resistance. It was all part of playing the normal teen. Finally she nudging Jennifer in the arm and asked, “Chubby Bunny Contest?”

Jennifer’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah, it’s where you see how many marshmallows you can fit in your mouth and say ‘chubby bunny’. It’s really funny. But the teachers don’t want us doing it, ‘cause they say it’s dangerous.”

Zormna rolled her eyes. That kind of juvenile thing. Back home at school boys did this chugging contest that was very similar. It was usually a boy thing. The girls weren’t that stupid.

There was already a substantial crowd around the lawn when they arrived. People were standing on the railing to look over the mob, and some even were giving piggy backs for a clear view. Kevin pulled Jennifer by the hand as they squeezed into the throng to get a closer look. Zormna tried to follow, but she could barely see above the wall of heads and backs. Times like these, Zormna hated being on the shorter end of five feet. And she really wasn’t in the mood to push her way through a crowd.

The muffled words “chubby bunny” were smothered in the multitude of oohs and ahs among cheers that rumbled into deafening roars in waves. The group in front of her laughed, but Zormna could not see a thing except the writing on the tee shirt in front of her that said EAT ME RAW. A gagging sound broke through some of the laughter. Then a cheer. Zormna stood on her toes to see, pushing harder between two people to slip closer inside. It was too tight for her to fit, no matter how hard she pushed.

When she attempted to push in again, something warm stroked her right shoulder, groping underneath her sleeve like fingers. It touched her mark.

Automatically, Zormna twisted her arm around, knocking back the hand from her shoulder, grabbing the arm of her molester. She whipped her head back toward the offender. Her eyes set first on the hand that had been under her shirt sleeve. Pale, with scars. Then she took in his face.

‘Jeff’ jerked away his arm, clutching it as though he had burned it. His fathomless blue eyes pierced into her soul as he stepped back with so much comprehension. “Tarrn.”

Hardly breathing, Zormna’s face drained to ash gray. She lurched instinctively from him, pressing against the crowd to escape, though there was nowhere to go.

Yet ‘Jeff’ backed even farther from her. He practically stumbled over the boy behind him, in retreat. Then he pushed out of the crowd and was gone.

Horror whipped through her. Zormna shoved through the people in front of her, tumbling out of the throng onto the open lawn. She looked up for that boy. And though her eyes searched this way and that, onto the buildings, the red top, at the doors, and on the lawn outside the circle of people, ‘Jeff’ was gone.

Her hands shook. She clenched them to stop it, but they wouldn’t. He had seen her mark then at the Olympics. And now, he was making sure it was real. What was she to do? Grabbing her sallow face, stricken by the thought of what just happened, Zormna’s mind froze.

*

The Chubby Bunny contest was over. Matthew Macintyre, a senior with enormous space in his cheeks, won. His opponent had retched into the garbage can, contemplating skipping the rest of school as the large crowd dispersed. Kevin could not stop laughing. And though it was gross, it was funny. Both he and Jennifer returned to their lunch tree, walking hand in hand. They had almost forgotten Zormna—as they had ‘accidentally’ lost her in the crowd. Kevin admitted he didn’t really want Zormna along, but he assured Jennifer that the ‘little brat’ would be safe in a crowd of fellow schoolmates.

But Zormna was not on the edge of the crowd as they had expected. They found her back at the tree, stooped on their bench, staring inconsolably at the ground between her sneakers.

“What’s wrong, Zormna?” Jennifer was still smiling. “Did you miss the contest?”

Zormna gazed at up her with a stomachache-grimace. “Much worse.”

Dread sucked the happiness right out of Jennifer’s body. She knew that look on Zormna’s face. She sat immediately next to her. “Did you see a new FBI agent sneak on campus?”

The blonde cringed. “No. Not them.”

Kevin glanced to Jennifer, anticipating the big revelation he was hoping for. Fact was, he had been nagging for some kind of explanation over why the FBI was so interested in Zormna since her return. Jennifer had (sort of) lied and said it was because Zormna was an illegal alien. Kevin didn’t accept it. He wanted to know if Zormna was not in fact connected to the Irish Republican Army. That seemed to him the only logical reason for the government’s interest. But when Jennifer had laughed at that, he demanded a better explanation. Even now he was waiting to be proven right.

 He looked expectantly at Zormna.

But Zormna said nothing, holding her head in silent agony.

“Then what is it?” Jennifer impatiently asked. “Is this something we can’t talk about in public?”

Zormna shook her head.

Jennifer sighed, wondering if that meant ‘No, they couldn’t’ or ‘No, they could’. But then a worse idea came to her. She leaned nearer and whispered, “Did you see your great aunt’s killer? Is he near?”

Zormna sighed. She slowly shook her head. “No. No. Not that.”

“Then what?” Kevin sounded petulant. His hands were on his hips. “We can’t help you if you don’t tell us.”

Lifting her head then straightening her back with a stiff neck, Zormna said to Kevin, “You can’t help me.”

“Ugh!” He threw up his hands. “You are hopeless! Look! When you are done wallowing in your own misery, give us a call. You may find that there are some things you can’t handle alone.” Without another word, except to grumble to himself, Kevin tromped off.

“Kevin!” Jennifer called after him.

Zormna grabbed hold of Jennifer’s arm, and shook her head. “Don’t. He would not understand. Besides, when this is all over he’ll be glad he was left out.”

Jennifer was not so sure. Kevin liked being in the know. He hated secrets the same way he hated cliques, clubs, and private jokes. If he couldn’t feel included, he always left the participants of the exclusive group alone. Even now she watched her boyfriend petulantly yank open the door to the school entrance, letting himself back into the main building.

Sighing, Jennifer cleared her throat and scooted nearer to Zormna on the bench. “Now that he is gone, is there anything you can tell me?”

But Zormna mouthed, “Not now.” With her eyes, she gestured toward the building.

Jennifer tried to be inconspicuous when she peeked, but she could tell when she saw the janitor that he saw her look. She groaned. Maybe it was better to be direct. “Well then, tell me about why you think Darren Asher’s theory about aliens is stupid.”

“Ugh!” Zormna wrapped her head in her arms. “Where do I start?”

“Do you believe in aliens?” Jennifer asked, hoping for some truth.

But Zormna only snorted. “In what sense?”

Shrugging, Jennifer said, “That human-like lizard beings came from Mars and constructed the pyramids. That the crop circles are landing sites. And the elongated skulls that anthropologists have found are in fact alien heads. And there are bug-eyed aliens abducting human beings all the time for…for…gross perverted experiments.”

Zormna gazed darkly at her. “That’s what Darren says?”

Jennifer shrugged again. “I dunno. It’s what’s in all the tabloids.”

Nodding, Zormna chuckled. Then she shook her head.

“What do you think is true?” Jennifer honestly murmured.

“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you,” Zormna replied, deadpan.

Jennifer stared at her straight. It took her a second to realize Zormna was teasing.

“That is so not funny.”

But she laughed.

*

After school, in the girls’ locker room where Jennifer changed out of her practice clothes, Zormna snuck in and pulled her aside near the showers. “You asked me if I believed in aliens. What were you intending with that question?”

Looking to see if anyone was listening through the locker-room clamor, Jennifer asked, “Am I going to grow really green eyes and pale skin like you?”

Zormna stared. “Why would you? Your parents don’t look like that?”

Closing her eyes, Jennifer shook her head. “No. No. I mean will I develop any alien traits?”

Shaking her head, Zormna heaved a sigh as if Jennifer had said the most amusing, if not childish, thing she had ever heard. Zormna chuckled out, hand to forehead, “Jennifer. I am human. All people from Home are human.”

But Jennifer remained doubtful. Zormna did not act or look entirely human. She was way too pale, and way too strong. In fact, Jennifer had learned that Zormna, despite her small stature, weighed ten pounds more than she did. Apparently it was all bone and muscle.

“However…that theory about aliens building the pyramids is not far off.”

Jennifer’s eyes widened on her. “Are you serious—?” But Jennifer saw the smirk was still on Zormna’s face. “What do you really mean?”

Nodding, Zormna said, “Alien is such a funny word. All it means is foreigner.”

“Be. More. Clear.”

“The aliens that built the pyramids were us,” Zormna said.

Jennifer drew in a breath.

“No lizard people with elongated heads,” Zormna said. “But human beings—or rather the survivors of our ancient apocalypse. Not my nation, but another one.”

Jennifer settled down, listening with wide eyes. “You already had an apocalypse?”

“Ten thousand years ago.”

Ten thousand? That wasn’t too long ago. Didn’t scientists clock human beings on the earth a lot longer than that?

“There is no alien takeover like your people think.” Zormna angled her head lower to meet Jennifer’s gaze so the conversation remained between only them. Many of the girls were clearing out of the locker room though. “Our people have migrated to this place for thousands of years. What do you people say? ‘Been there. Done that.’ We’re immigrants. For all I know half this town could be Arrassian. So many have red hair.”

“Red hair?” Jennifer bristled. “Is that an alien trait?”

“Ugh.” Zormna moaned, hanging her shoulders. “No…. Stop with the alien thing. It is a racial thing.”

“Racial?”

Zormna nodded.

“A very long ago, ‘Homo sapiens’ evacuated to this world. Those refugees started from scratch here. They were left with no tech, and no history except oral. They survived as cavemen, as you will,” Zormna said. “While my people remained Home to rebuild.”

Jennifer stared, horrified. It couldn’t be true! “But I saw a Discovery Channel episode about—”

“Your people’s dating methodology is inaccurate. Carbon dating—tch!” Zormna shook her head with annoyance that scientists were stupid enough to believe their science was perfect. “And when your scientists assumed those Australopithecines were predecessors to human kind, we let you believe it. There is no missing link because they were not anything human.”

Zormna knew the word Australopithecine? What was that anyway? Jennifer was about to ask, but Zormna