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

as if these events did not add up at all.

“I overhead an argument in some foreign language, and then I heard her leader tell her she was safer on Earth,” Jennifer said. “And they talked about a moon base.”

The parents blinked. They looked at Zormna again.

But the blonde merely shrugged. “I was watching Firefly upstairs. I borrowed it from Brian Henderson. She probably heard that going on when she hit her head.”

“I did not overhear Firefly!” Jennifer snapped. But then she blushed. “Well, partly. But that wasn’t what I saw.”

“Do you have Skype here?” Mr. McLenna asked Zormna.

The blonde shook her head. “Nope. You can go upstairs and check yourself. My great aunt did not leave me a computer. And this place does not have internet.”

Jennifer’s father gazed darkly at her and tromped up the stairs to the junk room. He had to duck underneath the wooden carving.

Jennifer’s mother sighed, caressing the bump on Jennifer’s head. “You really hit it hard. Poor thing.”

“I didn’t hit it hard. She punched me!”

Jennifer scowled at Zormna—who just blinked at her as if the very idea was entirely unthinkable. The girl was a better actress than Jennifer had given her credit.

Her father came down, sighing. He gave Zormna a brief look before going straight to Mrs. McLenna and his daughter. He sighed again, patting Jennifer on the head. “There is nothing up there but junk.”

“She jury-rigged it!” Jennifer jumped onto her feet. Pointing at Zormna, she shouted. “I know what I saw! She fixed the TV to phone home or whatever. That girl is an alien!”

Her parents blinked at her, pale-like.

Zormna turned her head with contained exasperation, like she didn’t want to show the parents she thought their daughter was an idiot. And she said, “The TV was on pretty loud. I apologize for—”

“NO!” Jennifer glowered at her. “I am not wrong! I saw what I saw! I know what I heard!”

“Jennifer,” her mother wrapped her arm around her, stroking the bump on her forehead with a damp cloth. “You hit your head pretty hard on that beam. I’m sure it was nothing but a dream.”

Jennifer touched the bump on her forehead again. It was swollen and tender.

She looked over at Zormna. The blonde still watched her with her brows pinched over her doleful eyes—but there was something intense in the girl’s gaze that was a mite too focused. Jennifer’s heart jumped. Zormna was waiting for something.

“I didn’t hit my head on the beam!” Jennifer said again. “Zormna punched me! She tackled me when I tried to go home to tell you what I saw. And she must have dragged me back here!”

The parents exchanged looks. But already Jennifer could see that it was no good. The fallen beam. The bruise on the forehead. And obviously Zormna had been watching a sci-fi TV show with funny language and a mention of Earth as a foreign place. Jennifer had admitted it. No way would anyone sane believe her.

“It wasn’t a dream,” Jennifer said, but it came out feebly.

Her mother wrapped her arm around Jennifer again, patting her gently in a hug. “It has been a stressful day. I think we need to get you to home.”

Jennifer swayed there, feeling dizzy.

Maybe…maybe it had been a dream. Zormna did look concerned. Maybe she had imagined it. Darren had been getting really persistent lately with all his ‘alien stalking’—annoyingly so. Maybe he really was rubbing off on her.

But the memory was so vivid. It had to have been real.

Jennifer shook them off after a few paces. “I’m fine.”

And she scowled at Zormna, tromping to the front door.

“You and I need to talk,” Mr. McLenna said, pulling Zormna aside.

The girl blanched and nodded.

But Jennifer’s mother followed her daughter down the walkway outside, steering her to the car.

“You go on ahead without us,” Jennifer’s father said to her mother.

Mrs. McLenna nodded.

Jennifer looked back. Her father turned back inside the house, closing the door with just him and Zormna inside. For a second Jennifer imagined the tiny pale thing growing scales and claws then pouncing on her father with fangs to violently suck out his blood.

“Is Dad going to be safe with her?” Jennifer muttered as her mother started the car.

Her mother snorted. “I think the question is, will she be safe with him?”

Jennifer blinked at her.

Sighing, her mother said, “If she did hit you in in the head to cover up something else—” Hope swelled in Jennifer’s chest. “—a misunderstanding,” her mother firmly added. Let down, Jennifer hunched in her seat. “Then she’s in real trouble.”

But Jennifer wondered. A girl who could take down Ted ‘Lead Weight’ Hamilton three times in a row (and who makes their state champ wrestler nervous) was not a person to be trifled with—alien or not.

 

Chapter Twelve: Paranoia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“One of the important secrets to success is to be able to keep important secrets”—anon—

 

A humbled Zormna Clendar returned home with Jennifer’s father two hours later. Jennifer watched as her father nudged Zormna up to her in the living room. With a ducked head, not meeting her eye, Zormna said, “I am sorry I let you get hurt.”

Let her get hurt? Jennifer stared in confusion. What kind of confession was that? Was that even an apology?

“I will have that wooden beam removed immediately,” Zormna said. “Your father has volunteered with Mr. Henderson to get it taken down tomorrow.”

Jennifer hopped up from the couch. “The beam did not—”

 “I apologize for the pain I caused you,” Zormna said.

Mr. McLenna nodded behind her, affirming that the apology was acceptable.

But Jennifer groped the back of her head. When she had gotten home she had discovered dirt ground into her scalp. Zormna had attacked her and pinned her in the alleyway. She had not been mistaken. No beam had knocked her out.

Not that her father would believe her, because her mother sure didn’t when she showed her the dirt.

Jennifer pulled back. “Not good enough.”

The blonde blinked at her, frankly astonished. But only just.

Turning away with an eye-roll, Zormna’s expression said, “Fine. If that is how it is going to be…” Yet her mouth said, “All the same. I apologize.”

“Well, I don’t accept,” Jennifer ground out through her teeth.

“Jennifer!” Her father stared in shock at her.

Stepping back from them both, Jennifer pointed at the blonde. “She is lying to you. And I am not going to pretend that some beam hit me in the head.”

With that, she stomped up to her room.

Jennifer overheard her father say, “She’s quite set in her mind, isn’t she.”

Her mother replied, “I guess it’s her nature.”

Jennifer slammed her door.

In her room, she fumed. Her parents believed that alien over her. Apparently the little minx’s allure affected everyone but her.

But Jennifer checked herself. Alien? Really? Was it possible that she did misunderstand what she had overheard?

Jennifer ran over the events in her head again. Firefly was muted up until that Nazi in blue came into the room. And Zormna had muted it again after the man had left. There was no way she would have mistaken that that old man in green had said for TV dialogue. The sound was not on. So, no way was she wrong. She had heard what she had heard.

But Jennifer glanced to her closed door, then at Mindy who was gaping at her with big eyes.

“What are you staring at?” Jennifer snapped.

Mindy got up and hurried out of the room. “You. Psycho.”

She rushed into the hall before Jennifer could slap her.

The sounds outside the room had risen then lulled as Mindy tattled that Jennifer was being a bully.

Then Jennifer heard Zormna say, “Maybe I should just leave. Perhaps it would be best for all concerned—”

Unfortunately, Todd cut the girl off. “No! No. Jennifer is just flipping out. She hit her head and doesn’t know what she saw. She’s just jealous of you. That’s all.”

Jealous? Jennifer’s face warmed. She may have been in the past, but this was not jealousy.

She wanted to go out and put her brother right. But Jennifer stopped with one hand on the doorknob. The scenario played out in her head in fast forward. Todd would take Zormna’s side. Predictable, really. He was already her pet, mooning over her when she wasn’t looking. All his friends were, except for the Streigle brothers. They probably could see the girl for what she was. Maybe traumatized people had a link to that sort of thing. Todd’s other friends were so naïvely taken in by Zormna. Especially Brian. As for Mindy and Andrew, they had worshipped Zormna since day one. The big sister they had always wanted. Someone who would entertain and pander to them. And her parents were obviously convinced that Zormna had not attacked her.

She was alone.

Jennifer let go of the doorknob and staggered back to her bed. Alien or not, it was her fault this dangerous person had ended up in her home. All that was left was for the slasher movie to start.

She pressed her hand over her mouth, unable to breathe. How could she protect her family?

From downstairs, she overheard Zormna reply to Todd, “But I really do think I ought to start pursuing legal emancipation now. I do not wish to make things unpleasant for your family.”

Hope swelled in Jennifer’s chest. That was the solution. Get her out.

“Oh…for the last time,” her father replied with exasperation. “We are not even considering that until you are sixteen. Fourteen is too young.”

“I have sufficient—” Zormna protested.

“No. And that is final,” Mr. McLenna said.

And hope evaporated.

But one thing stuck in Jennifer’s head. Zormna did not wish to stay with them. She did not wish to linger in the neighborhood. That was the point of her video chat with those people. Jennifer was about to go down and chime in with Zormna. But she stopped herself. Todd would see her actions as jealousy. And her parents would see through it altogether. It was best to take another tack. She had to prove that Zormna living with them was a bad idea. Then they would decide it on their own.

*

Jennifer was had lost it, Todd decided. The night before, after the whole getting hit on the head thing, Jennifer refused to eat with the family. She said—and this was embarrassing—that she would not eat with ‘that alien’ at the table. Now morning, Jennifer refused to walk with Zormna to school.

Zormna just stared at Jennifer from the top of the kitchen steps while Todd’s sister stomped ten yards ahead of everyone. It was clear on the blonde’s face that she thought Jennifer had a screw loose.

“Wait it out,” Todd said, walking with her rather than riding to school with his friends. “It may take a while, but she’ll eventually come to her senses.”

Zormna sighed, yet she averted her eyes in a way that said she highly doubted it.

And to be honest, so did Todd.  

Jennifer was a grudge-holder. He knew that much about his sister. And though he had no doubts that Jennifer had confused a sci-fi TV show with reality, he was not sure how long it would take for her to realize that she was letting her jealousy take over her reason.

Probably forever.

Zormna and Todd parted ways once at school with a shared nod and sigh. Todd met up with Brian and Alex at the morning