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

head in the toilet to rinse off the mud in one crazy swirly. Eventually, however, when Zormna eventually emerged with a puffy-eyed glare at Jennifer, her head still caked, she knew the answer.

Zormna pulled on the water faucet so that it dumped into the basin with a roar.

“Ok,” Jennifer said, deciding she had been patient long enough. “Zormna, what was that all about? What is going on? And what was that ‘number eight’ thing I heard you say to him?”

A weak chuckle came out of the girl. Zormna shook her head. She wiped the mud off her forehead. Examining her reflection with a return of smugness, as though the coating of muck were a trophy, she said, “I am never going to lose you on that, am I?”

“No, you won’t,” Jennifer said. “I’m not going to give up until you tell me the whole truth—about everything.”

The blonde’s expression grew sickened, yet she nodded. “Everything is a very big topic. And it is best that you don’t know everything.”

“I can take it,” Jennifer said.

But Zormna’s eyes said, ‘No, you can’t.’

Drawing in a breath, Zormna led Jennifer outside, walking slowly. She said, “I really did tell you all I can about how I know Jafarr. As for the whole ‘number eight’ thing…well, I actually apprehended him seven separate times. So…this is the eighth.”

Jennifer frowned. She asked directly, “Why are the FBI not really looking for your great aunt’s killer? Why are they just watching you?”

Zormna cringed, groaning. “Let it go.”

But Jennifer shook her head. “No. You know I can’t.”

“You should,” Zormna said. Looking Jennifer square in the face, she whispered, “Your parents came to America to get away from the complications of Home.” But she said the word home like it was a secret. “And they would not want me to complicate your life with the troubles from Home. So Jennifer, trust me when I say ‘let it go.’ Because you really should. ”

“Meaning?” Jennifer said it just above a whisper.

“Meaning…” Zormna glanced to the stands, “you might be the one watched next.”

And she continued on back to her class.

Jennifer did not follow. Unsettling chills had rippled through her. She immediately escaped to the safety of her classmates.

Her classmates had questions for her, of course. Did Jeff really challenge Zormna to a wrestle? Did Zormna really beat him? Rumor had spread fast to those who had not seen the fight. Most could not wrap their brains around the fact that Zormna Clendar had bested their state champ, even though photos were now circulating. Ingrid just saw someone’s really bad YouTube coverage on her phone. Mostly heads were in the way.

The school bell rang over the loudspeakers. Everyone on the fields rose up to start into the events again.

Jennifer bumped into Zormna once more that day at the obstacle course where their classes were in line for the timed race. Zormna’s class had just completed it. Her best time was just put at the top of the list. No doubt she awaited another award. There was still mud in Zormna’s hair, but most of it had been sprayed off with super-soakers by her classmates. Her shirt was entirely soaked. The thing was, she wore an undershirt beneath it, so the boys were grumbling. Modest to the end.

“Here comes the mud queen,” Lucy said as they passed by.

Zormna ignored her, going straight to Jennifer. Smiling again, Zormna said, “Hey, I have a few more events to face. But I was thinking, there is a dance after all this, right? I’ll see you then?”

Jennifer nodded, growing more bemused that a super-ninja would care about a dance.

Zormna smiled broader, turning to go with her class.

“But I’ll see you in the swimming competition this afternoon,”
Jennifer called after her. “You did tell me you were in one of the races—and this is your first time at really swimming, right?”

Glancing back, Zormna grinned wider. “Yep! Does that mean you will cheer for me?”

Shrugging, Jennifer waved her off. “Might as well.”

 

The rest of the afternoon’s enthusiasm wound down into a restful march by the time everyone gathered at the indoor pool. It was the final event. Most of the students who had stayed to watch collected on the narrow bleachers set up inside along the wall. The rest was standing room only. A lot of the onlookers stood on both sides of the pool or peered in the opened windows.

Due to time constraints, only five events would be held for swimming, but with several heats. Jennifer sat in the stands, wondering which event Zormna had been chosen for. Zormna had told her that her class had elected her to swim all the races for the girls until Zormna admitted to them that she had just barely learned how to swim. Since then they only asked her take part in one race. The question was, which race? They said they would decide during the Olympics, and Zormna had not updated her.

Several competitions had already finished. Jeff had even taken second in the butterfly for boys. His pals and classmates clapped him on his scarred back congratulating him at a job well done. Jennifer shuddered, taking in those terrible scars. They always gave her a mixture of pity and the creeps.

Then she spotted Zormna. She came out from the restrooms with a washed head and wearing a clean tee-shirt over her swimsuit. But not the one they had bought for swim class. Jennifer had heard about the argument Zormna had had with Coach Baker about the shirt. But she also knew that for these races to be fair, Zormna had to ditch the shirt. It was per the rules, and even she could got get out of them. Zormna had not said anything about it, but Jennifer knew she was terrified.

The blonde waited her turn, shivering from a chill that no one else felt. She peeked around several times at the different faces that were fixed with expectation on her—and not just those of her teammates. Darren watched from Zormna’s right, leaning on the wall near the window. Jennifer could see him getting his camera ready to take pictures. Just below where Jennifer sat, on Zormna’s left, Todd watched with all his friends eagerly waiting. Jeff was smirking particularly, rubbing his wet head with a towel while remarking something to Brian that made Brian shake his head. Mrs. Ryant, with her class, stood on the pool edge cheering as giddily as a little girl. Zormna averted her eyes from the Federal agents that stationed themselves near the door not far from the bleachers on Jennifer’s side. Yet Jennifer could see Zormna rubbing her clammy hands, much like one who was about to walk the plank.

The race before Zormna’s started.

Zormna and the others with her took their places in line. She pulled on her swimming cap and adjusted the straps while tucking in stray hairs, glancing up at the coach. Coach Baker delivered Zormna a warning glance, lifting up a finger then pointing to her tee shirt.

“Have patience. I am taking it off.” Zormna’s voice echoed in the east end of the hall.

A few people laughed when they heard. Several boys craned their necks to get a good look.  Jeff among them.

The other heat was over within seconds. The top racer was congratulated and told to step to the side for the final heat.

When the call for her heat came, Zormna walked barefooted to the edge of the pool. With another glance towards Jennifer’s side of the room, Zormna reluctantly peeled the shirt off her pale back like she would a cherished and needed skin, though she just tossed it to the side of the pool.

Boys and girls drew breaths.

And why not? The view all the boys in her PE course had hoped for presented itself in all its glory—from Zormna’s sleek, rounded feminine curvature, showing off her flat stomach, and lean legs while the shaped bodice allowed a view into her cleavage. Her muscular arms and calves proved that Jeff’s loss in the mud pit was no fluke. And when Zormna stepped alongside the other competitors, her pale white skin off-set by her peach suit, contrasted so much against everyone else’s darker complexions that she looked more foreign than ever.

‘Almost alien’, whispered in Darren’s voice in the back of Jennifer’s head. Jennifer shook that thought off. To believe in aliens was to be nuts. She had to stop thinking that way.

The call to get ready came.

All the swimmers crouched on their marks. Zormna shivered with goose bumps, taking her place with them perfectly.

The crowd held its breath.

The starter pistol cracked.

Jerked into action, Zormna and the rest dived into the water.

Everyone going fast, the water splashed and tumbled around them as the swimmers struggled through it. They all reached the other end, touched, and turned. None inelegant. Zormna flew alongside her competition as if she had been swimming her entire life. And everyone cheered their favorite.

The racers touched the end. A quick heat. Zormna came in third.

“Not bad for a person who could not swim two weeks ago,” Jennifer heard Alex mutter to Jeff.

“Admittedly, I’m impressed.” Jeff nodded while scratching his head.

Todd laughed. “I told you! She’s been working like crazy on it.”

Jennifer looked down at the pool below, chuckling to herself. Though Zormna would not go on to the final heat, she did amazingly.

Everyone down below climbed out of the water, rushing to their class teams for a warm towel while the next contestants took their places. Only Zormna lingered. Shuddering, she clung to the pool edge with a calculated glare towards the far door. Jennifer wondered what the problem was.  

Below, Coach Baker emitted a moan. Walking to the pool edge, he called for Zormna to get out so the next race could begin.

Nodding, Zormna sighed resignedly.

And the boys ogled as (with a hop and a heave) Zormna pulled herself out of the water. They leaned in with hormonal sighs of longing as the water pulled her swimming suit tight to her skin.

Anxiously, Zormna searched around for her discarded shirt.

But one of her teammates had picked it up. Chuckling, that teammate brought it to her with a skip, along with a towel. Zormna ran to it, much to the chagrin of the coach and his pool rules. She yanked the tee shirt over her head like a protective shield and twitchily glanced under her arm at the place where the FBI were—then hastily she peeked towards Todd’s group.

Jennifer looked also.

The FBI agents were no longer there, which was puzzling.

As for Todd’s group… Jennifer heard Todd ask Brian, “What’s that on her shoulder?”

Looking back to Zormna, Jennifer spotted a distinct circular impression in Zormna’s skin, like a welt, on her exposed right shoulder. No…it wasn’t a welt. It was that symbol from that uniform worn by that guy Kevin and Zormna’s friend Salvar. Like a brand.

Her school had branded her? Ick.

“What’s that?” Jeff asked, looking also.

Zormna tugged her sticky-damp sleeve over the mark and ran straight to the restroom as if she had just spotted assassins with sniper rifles.

Jeff rubbed his eyes with a blink after her. “That wasn’t…” The light flush in his skin immediately drained to vampiric pale, as if he could possibly look more like death.  

“It looked like some kind of mark,” Brian murmured. He glanced to Jeff, “Have you seen it up close?”

Jeff slowly shook his head, staring at the empty space ahead of him.

“That looks painful,” Todd muttered.

“Maybe it is a gang thing,” Mark muttered. “You know, some kind of Irish gang sign.”

“Maybe that’s why she always keeps her shoulders covered,” Jonathan said.

Quickly, Jeff hooked his arm around his brother’s neck and whispered closely into his ear. From her vantage point, Jennifer could see the ash-white panic in Jeff’s face and the widening of Alex’s eyes. Complete disbelief filled Alex’s expression. Jeff held him tighter, hissing even lower so that neither Todd nor Brian or the others could hear what he was saying. Nodding slowly, Alex drew in a slow breath. “I see.”

Alex immediately hopped