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

was creepier.

“Please take a seat,” Jeff said.

Kevin stiffened. “Just tell us what’s really going on.”

Jennifer glanced to the front door, her eyes on the locks. Jeff had set them once they were all inside.

Alex had nearly pinned Darren to the couch with his arm and a glare. Mostly he was keeping Darren away from the lamps with a finger pointed into his face while telling him to keep his paws to himself.

Jeff took a spot next to a forbidding man whom Jennifer knew as their Uncle Orren. Jennifer’s eyes turned on the two fair skinned college-aged boarders also, examining the red haired one’s fair blue eyes and the blonde’s broad physique. All together, Jennifer could see the genetic resemblance. Aliens were in the house.

Zormna shook her head. She walked past Jennifer to Jeff’s side. They stood together—a first. She said to Kevin, “Before we do that, we need to know what Darren told you to get you here.”

“Has he threatened you?” Jennifer approached Zormna with a glance at Uncle Orren and the other men in the room. ‘Aunt Mary’ seemed to be more concerned about the amount of dirt they had just tracked in on her nice clean carpet rather than the topic at hand.

Shaking her head, Zormna sighed. “No. The truth is we came to an understanding.”

Kevin’s mouth opened with surprise.

“An understanding?” Jennifer looked at Jeff with increasingly wide eyes, whispering. “What kind of understanding? You said he was some kind of terrorist.”

Zormna groaned. “Rebel. You assumed he was a terrorist.”

“Same thing,” Kevin interrupted, fixing an inspecting scowl on the redhead and the blonde. “Isn’t the IRA a terrorist organization?”

Alex broke into a snicker. Glancing at the others, Jeff’s older brother dropped onto the couch next to Darren. “He thinks we’re Irish.”

Jeff pressed his lips together in a smirk, folding his arms across himself. Zormna merely turned her eyes to the ceiling again.

Kevin’s face went hot. He pointed at Darren. “Well, he thinks you guys are all from Mars, which is why you were harassing her at school. But I won’t believe that ‘cause that is just complete nonsense.”

“I think we can let him go,” Uncle Orren announced with a nod to the door. “I don’t mind him knowing were part of the IRA.”

The others of his group murmured likewise that it was fine for them.

The tension in Jennifer’s body relaxed. This was a good alibi. There were lots of Irish in Chicago. It would support the Streigle brothers’ claims. If they could convince Kevin and Darren that these people were part of the IRA, it would be perfect.

“They’re not Irish!” Darren protested.

Al shoved him back down in his seat. “Idiots are not allowed to comment.”

Kevin shook his head and turned toward Zormna. “Look. Just tell us what’s really happening. Are they part of the Irish Republican Army? Is that why they are threatening you?”

“No. Kevin.” Zormna looked to Jeff who sighed and shook his head. “They were not threatening me. It was my mistake. All of this was a misunderstanding.”

Jennifer frowned deeper at Jeff who, for whatever reason, stood there listening to Zormna defend their household as if it were the natural thing to do. It was as if they had not been adversaries at all. The fact that Zormna was taking her cues from Jeff made Jennifer angry. Jennifer wanted Kevin to break his jaw with a hard punch.

But all Kevin did was open his mouth in a stare at Jeff. “Then why did you tie her up? I saw the bruises.”

Those of the household stared at Zormna, going pale. Aunt Mary ran off then came back with a first aid kid, digging out some balm. Zormna accepted it with a mild huff, as if bruises were nothing.

Darren raised a hand. “Can I say something?”

Jennifer closed her eyes, dreading anything he would say. Likewise, Zormna lurched away from Darren like he had lice, staggering closer to Jeff. She opened the balm container.

“No.” Alex rested his arm over Darren’s shoulders so he couldn’t rise either.

“It is just a little thing,” Darren persisted, glancing to the tall senior who was keeping him down.

Alex slapped the back of Darren’s head. “We don’t care.”

Kevin nodded, thinking likewise. He inched away from the space nut.

“Alright,” Jeff said after surveying the scene with a look to his elders. “Before we just call this a complete misunderstanding and part ways, I want to hear from you what Darren told you.”

“Ugh.” Kevin cringed with a glance at the space-crazed boy then shuddered. He took another step from Darren. “Do I have to repeat it?”

Chuckling, Jeff shook his head. “No. Never mind.”

But then he peeked at Jennifer. She recoiled, clenching her arms across her stomach.

“But I would like to hear what your girlfriend told you,” Jeff said.

The odors of camphor, and clove oil rose into the room as Zormna rubbed the balm onto her wrists, massaging them.

Kevin frowned. “Jennifer hasn’t told me much at all. But I know something is up. Because, I mean, Jen’s been shaken up and weirded out by Miss…” he glanced at Zormna, whispering, “…psycho blonde here since way back—even before all that FBI stuff. And with her parents acting crazy after the Olympics, and you freaking Zormna out—I know they’re keeping secrets from me. I just want a clear explanation of what is going that does not involve aliens.”

“Parents acting crazy?” Jeff’s Uncle Orren repeated, peeking once at Zormna.

Zormna kept her eyes averted, still rubbing on the balm as if that were the only important thing. Jennifer wondered what had been said about her parents. Her chest tightened.

Jeff exhaled. He peeked at Zormna who sat down on the arm of the couch, rubbing a hand against her temple as if the balm might help with a headache also. His Aunt Mary cringed. Jennifer realized that the woman was resisting the urge to tell the little blonde to get off the couch arm. It was weird. After all, why defer to the person who just broke into the house? In fact, Jennifer began to realize, everyone in the room was giving Zormna a deferential amount of room. Either that, or they hated the smell of the balm.

 “Women have their secrets, you know,” Jeff said.

Kevin moaned. “Not like this! This kind of secret is like…like…like hiding Anne Frank. Is this some sort of Irish thing? Are you really from Chicago?”

“Do you believe the FBI would have left me alone if I wasn’t?” Jeff asked.

Jennifer sighed. Hope rose.

But Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know you. None of you sound Irish or look Irish—except for that red-haired guy there.” He pointed to the college boarder.

“He’s a renter,” Jeff said, shrugging. “The apartment above the garage. And not all Irish are red haired. That’s a stereotype.”

Kevin shook his head. “Whatever. I just know something else is going on.”

Shrugging, Jeff lifted his chin after a long thought. “Ok. What would you like me to say?”

Kevin was unable to speak. He staggered backward, eyeing up the wrestler again. Then he looked to Jennifer who was trying not to look worried. “Hold on. Hold on! What are you saying? Are you saying you are an alien?”

Darren looked hopeful.

The two men standing in the back chuckled.

Kevin’s eyes whipped sharply to them. “What do you think is so funny? This is crazy!”

The redheaded college guy cocked his head back with a smirk. “That’s right. Crazy. So go on home, kid. We’re just making this up to freak you out.”

But Kevin shook his head hard with a peek back at Jennifer.

In panic, she said, “Stop it! Just admit to being IRA and end it all.”

All the eyes of the household turned heavily onto her. The redhead narrowed his gaze into a glare, as did the blonde. Orren and Mary clenched their jaws with disdain, surveying Jennifer as they would cockroach that had invaded their home. But Alex and Jeff shared a cringing look. It sent chills down Jennifer’s back.

The second the older ones of the household inch toward Jennifer, Zormna hopped off the arm of the couch and put herself between them. “Hey! She is not the enemy. She’s an American. Remember?”

Zormna glared hard at ‘Uncle’ Orren the most.  

Hiding behind the girl they had come to rescue, Jennifer felt foolish. Yet, Zormna was the super-ninja. And these people looked almost murderous.

Kevin also stepped up, but to Zormna. “She what?! What do you mean she’s not the enemy? Is this more Irish stuff?”

“None of us are Irish, kid,” the redhead said.

 Jennifer nervously peeked at her boyfriend. Kevin looked really confused.

Stepping forward, gently nodding to Jennifer, Jeff rested a heavy hand on Kevin’s shoulder and looked him hard in the eye. “I think you really need to sit down.”

Kevin shook him off. “No! I need a straight answer! What is going on?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Darren was grinning so much his face would crack open if he smiled any wider. “This is an internal alien matter. And you and I are witnesses to history in the making. This is so cool!”

Kevin staggered back to the opposite couch, though he didn’t sit down.

Jeff looked so weary. He looked to his brother. Alex slapped a hand over Darren’s mouth, resisting the urge to smothering him.

“Shut up, you moron!”

“A straight answer, huh?” Jeff shook his head. “The truth?

Kevin nodded.

“Fine.” Jeff looked immensely sorry, rubbing his forehead as he said, “The long and the short of it is that I, and my family, are part of an illegal immigration organization—one which helps people leave bad political situations. That’s where the whole rebel thing comes in.”

Kevin stared.

Jennifer did also.

“The thing is, I am not American either,” Jeff said.

Kevin’s eyes got wide.

So did Jennifer’s, but for a different reason. He wasn’t going to actually admit to the alien thing, was he?

Jeff shrugged. “I’ve studied English for years, and it had been my dream to come here one day. I’ve been to St. Louis and Chicago. So, technically I am from there, just not originally. And for the record, Zormna and I did meet at her military school—when I was trying to commandeer some vehicles for our cause.”

Kevin looked to Zormna who watched Jeff roll out his tale so masterfully while massaging her bruises with balm. In fact, she listened like she wanted to hear the end of his story to see if it had a happy ending.

“The thing is, Zormna isn’t exactly Irish, either,” Jeff said.

Zormna blinked when he said that, then blushed, ducking her head between her shoulders. She peeked at Kevin.

“She’s from my country,” Jeff said. “But she was shipped to that military school when she was young when she lost her parents, for her protection. Do you understand now?”

Darren grumbled under Alex’s smothering hand. 

“Now, I don’t really care what you believe about us. Just along as you are not stupid about it,” Jeff said. “What I do care about is our need for quiet. Now Darren has a loud mouth, talking about aliens and all that nonsense, which has not been helpful because we are illegal aliens. But this is what we can tell you—Zormna and all the rest of us are from the same place. The country is closely connected to Ireland. Which is why Jennifer’s parents took her in, thinking she was Irish—until they found out differently.”

Kevin drew in a breath. He stiffened with a look over at Jennifer.

Darren’s eyes went wide with excitement, adding things up in his stupid alien-paranoid way. But Jennifer shot the boy a dirty look that said she’d kill him if he ever told anybody what he suspected.

“Jennifer didn’t know until Zormna got here,” Jeff said. “Which, I believe was why Jennifer started to act a little weird, because she was wigging out over the discovery. She didn’t know she also wasn’t Irish. It is also why her parents are so paranoid.”

Kevin’s expression softened on her. Jennifer shrugged apologetically.

“The thing is, our people have been migrating to the US for over hundreds of years.” Jeff shared a glance with Zormna. “Our country is small—just one city, actually.