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

“…What do you mean weird?” Brian asked.

Joy sat down next to Zormna and put her arm around her. “You are going to be ok.”

Zormna closed her eyes. She so wanted to believe that.

“…Remember when Jennifer lost her mind a month ago and started to believe Darren Asher’s story that Zormna was an alien?”

“…Yeah?”

“Well, I never told you this, but I think she still believes Zormna is an alien from another planet.” Todd chuckled, but with pain. “And when Zormna bumped into Jeff and it all spilled out that they knew each other, Jennifer got all stalker like—and that was before the FBI picked Zormna up.”

“Did the FBI really pick her up?” Brian asked.

All the girls were listening at the grate now, holding their breaths. Joy looked to Zormna. But Zormna just shrugged and mouthed that she didn’t know what happened.

Then the front door opened and closed. They could feel it and hear it. The windows shook slightly. Makayla jumped up shouting, “Mommy’s back!”

“No!” Joy grabbed hold of her sister’s arm. “Not yet. They said they wouldn’t be home until after five.”

A male voice called out to the pals in the kitchen, though it also echoed up the stairs. It was a voice so familiar that Zormna stiffened.

“…Hey guys. What’s up? You wanted me to come over?”

Brian answered him. “Yeah. I’m glad you came. There is something I want to talk to you about.”

“Something we can’t say over the phone?”

Brian emitted an uncomfortable grunt. Todd answered for him. “No. We need to have it out. Why is Zormna still avoiding you?”

Their friend emitted a groan. He shifted his feet with a turn. “Oh, for pity’s sake. Is this another intervention? Is she here?”

“Actually, yes,” Brian said. “She’s upstairs with my sisters playing princesses.”

Jeff groaned again. “Now that’s ironic.”

“But we won’t make you meet her if that is really so hard for you,” Todd bit back.

“Not hard,” Jeff said. “Complicated.”

“How?” Brian asked.

Exhaling loud with a slump against what the girls guessed was the kitchen counter, Jeff replied, “In that there is a lot more involved than I can talk about.”

His friends remained silent.

“Look,” Jeff said, “I have things I’d love to ask her myself, if can. Like, did the FBI really kidnap her?”

Todd replied, “Jennifer thinks so, and so does her boyfriend.”

“But why?” Jeff asked.

“Because the FBI have been following her for over a month now,” Todd said. “And I overheard Kevin say something to Jennifer about him seeing Zormna at the old insane asylum near his house.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Are you sure?” Brian asked Todd with clear doubt.

Todd sounded resigned when he said, “Yes. The FBI came to our house just after she returned. And they hadn’t been on the street the entire time she was gone.”

The boys went silent for a time.

Joy looked to Zormna who nodded again.

Then Jeff said, “Ok. Another question. Why did Zormna come to Pennington?”

“She told you already. She had an aunt here,” Todd said.

“No.” It sounded like Jeff had kicked the counter. “I mean, she had it great back at her school in Ireland. Why didn’t she stay where she was?”

“Oh…” Todd thought for a moment. “I think I overheard something about that. Zormna was talking secretly with Jennifer around the time the FBI showed up—She’s here because she is hiding from some people out to kill her. Remember, her parents were murdered.”

“So that really is true?” Brian asked. “Is that why she is afraid to be alone right now?”

Todd must have nodded because all the girls heard were, “That and I think she’s scared of you.”

“Me?” Jeff reacted with convincing bemusement. “But she can kick my butt.”

Ruth busted into a laugh. Joy slapped her hand over her sister’s mouth, lifting a finger to her own lips with a shake of her head. Joy looked to Zormna who listened with bated breath. Her eyes had gone wide, her mind taking it all in.

“I’m just saying what I’ve noticed,” Todd said.

Jeff huffed. “I see.”

Brian moved, perhaps closer to Jeff. “What is going on between you two?”

They could hear Jeff move away. “Nothing. Nothing between us. Just tell me this, after the Olympics—you know, when everything really went crazy—what was the argument that made Zormna run off in the first place?”

A painful groan came from Todd. He shifted his feet. “Uh, yeah. I told my folks about that funny mark on her shoulder, and they just…you know…looked like they wanted to kill her. It completely freaked me out.”

“Your folks?” Jeff repeated with clear surprise. “Oh wow.”

All the girls in that room listening could picture Jeff standing there in the kitchen swaying as though blown by the most shocking news possible. It was in his voice.

“Oh, my. Oh boy…I gotta go.”

 His feet thumped out of the room, Brian and Todd going after him.

“What is it?” Todd called in chase. “What happened?”

They heard the front door open with a bang against the wall.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go. But Todd,” Jeff called loud enough for the entire house to hear. “Do me a favor and keep an eye on her?”

The door closed before they could give an answer.

“Keep an eye on her?” Joy mouthed, lifting her eyes to Zormna again with complete disbelief.

“Is the FBI really following you?” Ruth asked.

Zormna nodded, cringing down in the pink room.

“Cool.” Ruth sat back and nudged Makayla who didn’t understand much of what went on at all. She was combing her hair with the plastic brush, humming to herself.

“But why?” Joy asked, leaning back with a frown. “They don’t do that. Not unless you are into drugs or committed some federal crime.”

Slumping against the wall, Zormna murmured, “They claim to be investigating my great aunt’s murder.”

Joy’s face contorted with more doubt, watching Zormna. “But you don’t believe that.”

Zormna shook her head.

Makayla jumped up, swishing the many folds of her dress in her little hands, a big grin in the center of her face. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and show the boys how pretty you are!”

Sharing a glance with Joy, Zormna emitted an achy chuckle and got to her feet.

She descended the stairs as the little girls dragged her along, right to the entryway where the boys were whispering together. Brian lifted his gaze to the ‘done-up’ blonde practically coated in gobs of rouge and glittery eyeshadow. But they mostly fixed on the stricken look in her eyes.

“So, you heard that, huh?”

Zormna nodded. “Through the heating vent. Did you want me to hear?”

Joy stood behind her, waiting for Brian to answer, but he merely nodded.

“So,” Zormna exhaled with strain, her eyes flickering to the pair of them, “Are you going to keep watch on me now?”

“Watch your back, yes,” Todd said, with a sharp nod.

Brian pressed his lips together, thinking.

Zormna chuckled wearily, averting her eyes to the floor. Her posture relaxed. “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s what he meant.”

“Says who?” Brian walked up the steps to meet her. He plucked out the comb that stuck crazy from the bundled-up curly bush his sisters made of her hair. “You know, Jeff isn’t a bad guy. He may look it, but he’s really…”

“A poet?” Zormna snorted then passed Brian, going the rest of the way down the stairs in search of a bathroom. She plucked out the other hair things and handed them back to Ruth, one by one. Ruth frowned but passed them to Makayla who kicked up a small, yet ignored fit over how the princess was no fun anymore. Makayla then skipped into the kitchen to get a cookie.

Todd laughed. Shaking his head, he folding his arms. “No. But now that you mention it, he is a musician. He owns his own electric guitar and a few other weird instruments in his closet.”

Halting, Zormna turned back in a stare. But then she remembered. “Of course. It runs in the family.”

Both Todd and Brian stared, both surprised. Brian was the first to speak. “It only surprises you for a second. Why? How do you know him so well? Really. The absolute truth.”

And he waited for it.

Using a casual shrug, Zormna had no need to hide her blush, as the color all over her cheeks was already red enough. “Oh, I did research on him…ages ago.”

“Research?” Todd, Brian, and Joy asked, almost together—way too interested

Zormna lifted her hands in retreat. “Look, when I first encountered him back Home, I had trouble with him there. So I…I did a little research on him. I actually know a lot about your friend. Private things.”

All three leaned in.

“But why?” Brian asked.

This time Zormna averted her eyes to the ceiling. “He was… interesting.”

A grin cracked across Joy’s face.

Brian and Todd shared another look. Undoubtedly all their imaginations were running wild with speculation.

However, as Zormna ran her fingers through the fuzzy batches of her hair she resumed her search for a bathroom, leaving them to their amazement. She found a half-bath just off the kitchen and shut herself in it. It took several minutes and a lot of soap to scrub off the pink and glittery blue that supposedly made her ‘princessy’. She had to get her hair damp to tame the frizz. Otherwise she would be going back to the McLennas looking like a clown. And though Jennifer would have enjoyed it, she had her pride. Besides, she had no desire to entertain the watching FBI.

When all the blush was off and her curls were a little damp and a great deal tamer, Zormna marched back to the front room where she announced to Todd she was ready to go home.

*

Which was fine with Todd….

He thanked both his friend and Joy for lunch then walked with Zormna back to his home, hardly speaking until nearly there. He was the one who broke the silence.

“You researched Jeff because he was interesting?”

Zormna blushed. She could not hide it this time.

He sighed and shook his head. “Wow. So…why is it you two can’t get along?”

Zormna did not answer. She seemed distracted by her own thoughts.

“See, I just don’t get it.” Todd examined the look on her face. “Before, it was like you two were still holding grievances over some stupid argument.”

She opened her mouth in protest, but didn’t say anything.

“But now…now you act like he scares you,” Todd said. “He scares you, but the FBI doesn’t.”

“Oh, they scare me,” she murmured. He thought he saw her peek behind them, but he could not see what she was looking at.

“Not before,” he replied, watching her face carefully. He wanted to help her.

Nodding, Zormna sighed again. “True. Not before. Before I thought they were a joke.” She exhaled heavily, thinking on it. “My mistake.”

Todd stared at her, wondering where she got that impression of the FBI. But then his mind went over all the portrayals of the FBI in TV and movies. From Die Hard to Chuck—the FBI had always seen a little inept.

Yet not dropping the topic, he said, “But Jeff?”

Cringing as if he stomach pained her, Zormna shook her head. Her curls softly swished in a shampoo ad way, captivating Todd—especially with how her expression turned tragic. “He…”

She clenched her teeth, shaking her head more.

“Did he do something to you?”

Zormna abruptly lifted her head and shook it. “It’s not like that. But Todd, Jafarr—‘Jeff’ knows things about me that could get me killed.”

Todd paled. “What?”

“So do you, actually,” she said.

He blanched. “What do you mean? I would never hurt you.”

Zormna sighed. “True. Not purposefully. But…”

Then he realized it. He had told his parents about the mark on her shoulder. And they had changed towards her. He felt sick.

“I don’t blame you, because I didn’t warn you about it,” she murmured. “I was being ridiculously careless, and—” she shook her head. “‘Jeff’ saw it.”

“What do you mean?” Todd was entirely confused now. “How’s that more scary than my parents flipping out about it?”

Cringing, Zormna whispered, “Like your parents, he knows what it means.”

Todd blinked at her then leaned nearer, whispering, “What does it mean?”

Shrugging, Zormna admitted, “I don’t actually know. My parents were killed before they could completely explain it