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

slid down quietly, watching Jafarr peer back into the main road before examining the alley with those dark, searching eyes of his. He did not see her, though. Immediately, he jogged into the path over the plastic garbage bags and around the heavy cans. He emitted another irritated huff and broke into a stride near the middle. He took longer steps to the next road.

Zormna resumed breathing once he had passed.

Following along more quietly in the shadows until Jafarr crossed Pennington Avenue into the alley adjacent to the one he was in, she waited until she was sure he was no longer watching the road. Immediately, carefully, Zormna followed him.

Her heart thumped louder in her chest.

Jafarr looked back again before crossing Edge Road. Then he continued along his street as if he were inclined to go up Star Watching Hill and into the woods. But he halted on the corner first.

Looking back once more, he scanned the road with a disgusted grimace. Yet he still missed her. Honestly, she started to wonder if he was losing his touch. But then, this time Zormna looked down the way they had come like he had.

Nothing out of the ordinary was there. No FBI car at least. After all, if he hadn’t spotted her, whom else would he be looking for?

He continued up Greenwood Road until he reached the very edge of the city where the pine trees literally hedged the yards five houses from the corner. Beyond that, the paved street turned into a dirt road, leading into the forest. Jafarr really seemed to be going straight for the wood. But that was nonsense. Jennifer said his house was near it. Not in it.

Sure enough, when Jafarr passed yet another squared hedge he made a sharp turn to the left and crossed golf course trim-level grass to a to a white-and-brown, mostly one-story, nineteen-seventies styled house with an apartment above the garage on the right-side driveway. Jennifer had described it, but at the time it had made no sense. Now it did.

Waiting for him to go inside, Zormna snuck a breath. She crouched closer to the trimmed bush.

But Jafarr stopped before going into the house. Lingering on the lawn with one more searching gaze the behind him, he watched the road intently.

Three butterflies flew by his head. The wind breezed silently within the tree leaves on the street, brushing his long bangs from his forehead in a way that allowed his searching stare to see better. But he was still not looking in her direction.

Zormna glanced down the road once again. Except for some sudden movement near the overgrown juniper bushes on the corner lawn—probably a cat—there was neither car nor kid to be seen of for over a block.

Glaring at the empty street, Jafarr hopped up the stark concrete steps, opened the front door, and let the door close with a swinging bang.

He was probably looking out the window, Zormna figured. She could not see for sure. Not from where she was hiding.

Creeping from behind her hedge to a nearer spot along his property to get a better look at the place, she prepared to run also. If anything, she needed to pick up identifying features she could use so she would recognize the place when she returned.

Al’s truck was parked on the road. Good sign.

The driveway was also full. She counted the cars. One was a Buick. Beyond that, past the front corner of the house, she noticed the bumper to yet another car. The style and make were unclear. Three cars.

Deciding to get a better look of the place, Zormna crawled further along the square-trimmed hedge for an unobstructed view.

“Zormna.”

She jumped, almost cresting the hedge top. Falling back into the bushes, Zormna whipped around for attack. The moment her eyes set on who it was, Zormna realized why Jafarr had been so uneasy. And she moaned.

“Go away, Darren.”

She immediately crawled back towards the alleyway for cover.

“What are you doing?” Darren whispered, crawling on the grass next to her to keep up, peeking back over the bushes. “You’re spying on Jeff, aren’t you?”

Too much. Zormna clenched her head and hurried on her haunches. She’d have to run back into the trashcan alley to get away from this jerk. Her opportunity had been destroyed by an idiot. There was no way she could deal with Darren and Jafarr at the same time.

Backtracking through a few yards to Cottonwood Lane, Zormna headed south, straining with effort not to clobber Darren for destroying the past few hours of work. Her pace quickened with each step. Anger surged at the boy idiot, leaving her nothing of this expedition but to pound the pavement before the FBI could catch up with them next.

Jumping over the trashcans in her way then kicking through them towards Kennedy Street, Zormna finally stomped onto the open sidewalk. Going four more blocks, she went directly to her house on the corner. There was no way she could return to the McLenna home in that state. Not with the ‘alien hunter’ on her tail. Dealing with the parents required a calm spirit, and she was anything but calm with Darren on her heels.

“Can you slow down?” Darren panted, still close behind her. Despite his long legs, he could barely keep up.

“No.” Zormna tromped up the front steps to her great aunt’s home, digging into her pocket for her keys. An FBI car was already parked across the street.

“What is your problem?” Darren jogged up the walk after her, skidding to a stop at the base of the stairs.

Swinging around almost an inch away from the idiot when he hopped up them to the top step, Zormna snapped, “You are! Leave me alone!” 

Darren looked mildly affronted, swaying on the stoop with wide eyes.

Zormna yanked the door open and went inside the house.

He rushed in on her heels with a leap, slipping to the side with a long-legged sashay towards the open living room. Then he strode right around the nearest couch, grinning with an assessing nod-of-a-glance at the state of the room. Immediately, he sat on the nearest couch, making himself comfortable. A cloud of dust rose up from a cushion. He coughed.

“You should dust.”

Of all the… At first she just stared at him, a million swelling emotions overloading her sense of self-control. In one stride from the door, Zormna reached for Darren’s shirt to drag him off her couch.

Reached.

But she did not set her fingers on her lousy neighbor because she took one peek out the still-open doorway and saw that familiar blue sedan. The agents inside had a perfect view inside the house. If it wasn’t one thing, it was the other.

Zormna’s eyes took in the room again. Yes, it was dusty, but not untouched. They had been there recently.

Stiffening, pulling back her hand, Zormna spun back from the couch and jogged to the front door. She slammed it shut with a firm bang to tell them to go away. Once the deadbolt was in place, Zormna stuck her eye to the peep hole.

Hold it together, she told herself. Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep a level head. You are not alone. They can’t hurt you without a witness seeing, even if it was only that idiot Darren Asher.

She glared back at him.

Darren settled more into his seat with a smile. He emitted a pleased sigh.

Snarling, Zormna braced her forehead and hands against the painted wood, using every bit of her strength not to pounce on the fool and smash his head into the wood paneling. He had, after all, ruined everything. That’s all he ever did—ruin everything.

But first things came first.

When Zormna regained control over herself, she took one sweeping glance over the first floor of the house and drew in a breath with a nod. She crossed into the kitchen first.

Darren watched her expectantly. Perhaps the fool was waiting for her to attack him again. He seemed to have masochistic enjoyment for being beaten up. His grin definitely revealed his enjoyment at being inside the old place.

But since first things were first, Zormna did her best to ignore him. She went about the kitchen scouring every place conceivable for a bug. The FBI would be choosing less conspicuous spots by now, so she had to be thorough. She groped the underside of cupboards and drawers, on top of screws and inside the oven. Grabbing the wooden rolling pin from the drawer near the sink, she smashed each bug with a satisfying BANG!

Darren jumped. Quickly dropping his casual posture, his smile faltered. He leaned out from his seat to watch.

Zormna patted the rolling pin in her palm and placed yet another bug she had found in the old-fashioned telephone onto the cutting board. She let the bug have it hard, imagining it to be Darren’s face.

Darren jumped higher.

She hardly peeked at him. No need to. His stupid interest would keep him where he was, protecting his ‘claimed territory’ until she either physically removed him or he was dead.

BANG! She smashed the bug she had dug out of the trash can.

He jumped with it.

Zormna lingered in the kitchen briefly with another feel-over until she was satisfied she had gotten them all. Then she went into the living room, meandering through it. The FBI would have been more thorough…so she examined the furniture to see if they had been shifted any. Good thing she had not dusted recently. Traces of their meddling were everywhere.

Darren watched her grope along every bit of the room. She went from book shelf to wall space, smashing parts of it with the rolling pin. His eyes widened with each BANG.

“Zormna, what are you doing?” Darren asked after Zormna had slammed an unabridged encyclopedia the size of a hat box onto the floor. “Making that noise isn’t going to drive me away. You can’t make me think you are crazy. I know all about you.”

Her eye fixed on him for a second. If only she could smash him. But Zormna dropped that thought as she realized he was nothing more than a child who knew no better. Why had her great aunt entertained this idiot with stories about Mars anyway? Didn’t she know it would eventually cause her trouble?

Zormna went about the rest of the room, ignoring Darren as if he were the most boring thing in it. It took about three minutes or so to get at the rest of the bugs.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted, getting off the couch.

He finally crossed the room to where she lifted a lamp off a table. Under it was another watch-battery-sized bug. She had found different varieties around the house over the course of their presumed surveillance.

His eyes widened. “That’s a—”

Zormna dropped the bug on the ground then smashed it with a wailing BANG of the rolling pin.

Darren froze.

After groping the room for a few more hiding spots, sure she had got them all, Zormna finally crossed to the front window. She parted the curtains just enough to peek out. Those in the sedan were clenching their ears, probably cursing at her loud enough to be heard outside their car even with the windows up. She almost laughed.

But then stupid Darren tromped after her. He yanked the curtain aside and stood in the gap, looking out—no tact at all.

Zormna jumped out of view, scowling at the idiot.

Stupidly, he stared at the car. Then he looked to her. His limbs were shaking. But instead of having the sense to realize how dangerous being spied on by the FBI was, the moron practically choked on his excitement. “Bugs! That’s what those were! Aren’t they? You’re amazing!”

Zormna wanted to hit her head against the wall. Why did idiots like this exist?

Immediately she shoved him to the door. “Great—now get out.”

But Darren’s big feet and long legs braced against the linoleum. He hardly skid. He was just too tall for one shove. She’d have to take him down to get him out. There was no other alternative. Maybe she could toss him out