The Secret of Zormna Clendar by Julie Steimle (great reads .TXT) 📖

her teeth. The look on her face agreed with that he did not know. But she disagreed with the rest.

“So from here on you are to come directly home,” his father said. “You are to study there.”

“The house will get dirty,” she cut in.

“You can clean it on Saturdays with Todd to help, if you wish,” his father said. “You have that yard sale to do anyway.”

Both Zormna and Todd groaned.

His father looked inclined to forget the house ever existed, if he had his way. And Zormna appeared distracted. Her eyes trailed behind them at a passing car on the street. She frowned.

“And you need to make up with Jennifer,” his dad finally said.

“I tried,” Zormna said.

“Try harder,” his dad replied.

But Zormna only moaned.

When they made it home, Mr. McLenna strode inside to the kitchen for a brief word with Todd’s mother. Then he went upstairs to speak with Jennifer. The subject was obvious, as Todd and everyone overheard it. Jennifer needed to learn to be civil—even if she believed that an alien was living with the family.

Todd glanced over to Zormna with a roll of his eyes, but Zormna was not where he had expected her to be.

The tiny blonde stood at the front window, peering through the crack in the sheer curtains at the road. Her brows were knit together. Her dark green eyes were sharp and inspecting. Todd tried to follow her gaze but she turned abruptly from the window when he approached.

“Oh.” Zormna blushed. “Sorry.”

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Zormna walked away, heading into the kitchen. She immediately volunteered to set the table, which was currently Mindy’s job.

Todd parted the curtains and looked out at the street.

Nothing out of the ordinary was there. Except…

On the road was a car he had not seen before. And inside it sat two men in suits.

Todd frowned.

People don’t just sit in cars.

*

Being civil to a trumped-up blonde who was possibly an alien was not Jennifer’s strong suit. But civility was necessary. Especially if she wanted to convince her parents that Zormna was the problem and not her. So Jennifer was polite to Zormna at dinner. She was also polite to Zormna at breakfast. She had to, to let Zormna fall flat on her alien face.

That was the plan anyway.

However, Jennifer noticed that Zormna had adjusted enough that she no longer behaved so weird. The girl went about the daily routine as unobtrusively as possible. In fact, Zormna hardly protested the things she had previously objected to. She hardly retorted in her defense now. And she absolutely had no reactions that gave herself away herself as an alien. And though on the afternoon on the following day after school the girl occasionally peered at Jennifer with her unnerving green eyes—a gaze lifted over a passage in the encyclopedia about Istanbul while Jennifer attempted to do her homework in the kitchen with Kevin—there was little sign that the girl was waiting for an opportunity to strike. In fact, the girl looked resigned, and grimly bored.

Bored…until the next day.

First off, despite her father saying she couldn’t go to her great aunt’s house alone, Zormna had gone anyway. She had that rebellious streak which Jennifer had hope would get her into trouble. The girl had snuck off from the house the moment she came home and discovered the parents weren’t going to be there until near dinner time. But when Zormna returned that Friday evening, the blonde closed the front door with a sharp snap then peered out the thin gap in the curtain. The orange and gold light illuminated most of the front room through the sheer curtains. The opaque goldenrod drapes shrouded the rest of room in shadow.

Jennifer noticed her doing this while walking down the stairs from her room. No one else was there with them.

“What are you doing, you alien?” Jennifer said.

Sneaking a fleeting glance over her shoulder at Jennifer, Zormna scowled then peered back out the window. “I thought you weren’t talking to me.”

Jennifer walked into the front room towards the curtains. Passing Zormna, she flung the drapes wide open and stood in the center.

Zormna quickly jumped back, pressing against the wall.

“It sounds like your contractions are getting better,” Jennifer said with justified sarcasm. “You’ll be blending in real nicely as soon as you get rid of your accent.”

“Oh, ha. So funny.” Zormna remained where she was though, glancing to the open view.

Jennifer followed her gaze. Parked across the street, she saw a dark blue sedan. It hadn’t been there before. Inside the sedan Jennifer could barely make out the shapes of two men who were clearly watching the house. Relief coupled with delight swelled over her.

“Ha! You’re being followed!”

Immediately the blonde pushed off the wall. She stomped out of her hiding space back into the depths of the house, tromping around the banister and up the stairs. Undoubtedly she was retreating to her attic room. Following her progress with her eyes, a smirk curled on the corner of Jennifer’s mouth. Though her parents might not believe her, there was someone who might. Jennifer said loud, “You know, I think I’ll just go outside and tell them everything.”

She practically skipped to the front door.

Zormna lurched to a halt, only halfway up the stairs. She hurdled over the banister, dropping to the carpet below, then sprang to the front door before Jennifer could open it. Her hands pushed against it. “Don’t you dare!”

Jennifer pulled back. The little blonde’s fists were balled up, like she would punch Jennifer in the face again. But all Zormna did was flip the lock switch with a glance at the window then forcibly jerk Jennifer aside. “I did not want to stay with your family, remember! I wanted to live in my aunt’s house all by myself, remember! I did not ask for your help!”

“Oh, yes you did!” Jennifer escaped from the corner with a side-step. She pointed right at the blonde, her accusing finger the only weapon she had.

“All I wanted were directions!” Zormna moaned out. “I did not ask to go to your school. I did not ask for you to follow me everywhere, and I did not ask for you to spy on me.” 

But Jennifer was too angry to care. The girl had knocked her out and made her look like she was crazy to her own parents.

“Don’t you understand?” Zormna’s voice had begun to shake. Her eyes welled with tears. “I do not need any more complications to my life! I do not know what you overheard that day, but you do know that I am here in hiding. I have told you that myself.”

But Jennifer did not want to be played. The alien was just trying to mess with her. What other lies would an extraterrestrial tell to infiltrate a home?

“Look,” Zormna closed her eyes, a flicker of remorse crossing her face. “I am sorry I… sorry I made you look… that I knocked you out and dragged you back, making it appear to be an accident. But you were being hysterical. And you would not listen to me.”

Jennifer flustered, stiffening. The girl had admitted it. Finally! But that did not mean Jennifer would forgive her. Not after what she had done.

“What you overheard was not what you thought,” Zormna persisted, her voice cracking with emotion. “And I am asking you now; please do not talk to those people out there. Not now. Not yet.”

“Not yet?” Jennifer pulled back, frowning.

Sighing, Zormna nodded and wiped tears away with the back of her hand. “Have you not watched enough TV? They are probably your FBI. They’ll do surveillance for a while, research their target then eventually come in officially with some kind of story as to why they are here.”

FBI? Hope swelled even more within Jennifer. She looked out the window again. Darren was right. They had come just like they had for the crazy lady.

“You know my great aunt was living unharmed until after the FBI came—” Zormna said.

“Because she was an alien,” Jennifer snapped, still staring at the vehicle.

Zormna rolled her eyes. “Because she used her neighbor’s electricity, and they thought she was running something illegal in her house.”

Jennifer turned her eyes to the ceiling. Zormna was right on that point. The FBI probably did not find out the old woman was an alien until after they investigated her.

“I know you are upset. But what is going on is not what you think.” Yet Zormna said it like any word to the FBI would kill her right now.

“Then what is really going on?” Jennifer asked, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

Zormna averted her gaze to the carpet. “I… What you overheard should have made it plain enough that my life is at risk. Why can’t you leave it at that?”

 “Because,” Jennifer said through her teeth, her anger returning, “You are not what you seem, and you did knock me out.”

“Do you have any idea what it is like to be afraid for your life?” Zormna protested. The blonde was in tears, falling to her knees with a pleading stare. “I have lived my whole life in terror that one day my enemies would find me and kill me.” Zormna’s voice cracked. “You have lived your whole life safe and protected in this…” she waved her arm around the room while searching for the word, “…haven from danger. Please! I am begging you. Do not tell them anything. It wasn’t until after the FBI came that my great aunt was killed. And I don’t want to die.”

A chill swept through Jennifer.

Staring at Zormna Clendar—her ashy face, her swollen, red-ringed eyes, her clammy hands, and absolute wretchedness of her posture, bowing nearly to her—Jennifer realized something. Zormna Clendar was at her mercy. And for that matter, had been since her arrival. The blonde, wherever she was from, was completely out of her element, even if she was some kind of super ninja. The proverbial ball, as it were, was in Jennifer’s court. Zormna was absolutely terrified.

The front door unlocked then bumped open against the soles of Zormna’s shoes. Todd stuck his head in the gap, irritated at first. But then he looked up at Jennifer and regarded the pair of them. He huffed once at Jennifer with a scathing remark behind his lips. But Zormna quickly popped onto her feet, wiping her eyes and putting on a face that said for him to go by and not interfere.

Todd pulled the rest of his body inside the house and shut the door with a commiserating look for the blonde. But he respected her wishes.

Still glaring at Jennifer, Todd wordlessly walked around Zormna and his sister to the kitchen. But he still watched them, shaking his head.

Jennifer looked back to the alien girl. That imploring gaze remained, begging Jennifer, pleading with Jennifer to please, please not say a word. But their conversation was over. Mrs. McLenna entered the kitchen from the side door with groceries and immediately started to make dinner. Andrew and Mindy charged down the stairs past both girls to the TV set to watch a late afternoon cartoon. The house was full of commotion. No conversation would be private after that.

Jennifer shook her head and took a step closer to Zormna. “Fine. I won’t tell. But I’m still not talking to you. You attacked me, and that is not forgivable.”

Zormna nodded, breathing in and out to regain her composure. Jennifer watched the girl square her shoulders, and clear off any other remains of her emotional breakdown, walking directly to the stairs.

Walking to the window, Jennifer looked out at the dark sedan on the street. The FBI were watching her now. If Zormna really was a threat, then they would take care of it. Time would make things right.

Jennifer pulled the curtains closed.

*

Todd and Jennifer were not the only ones who noticed the arrival of the blue sedan to their neighborhood. Their parents started to double-check all the locks on the windows and doors at night. And