Bones in the Sand, Julie Steimle [best books to read for students .TXT] 📗

moment. "Al' delrein osdel'orn knapp'narr o'rem trii VOIC nas'op del'or neem syafa prav.[9]"

Zormna nodded sighing resignedly, speaking very earnestly. "Al nas'op lamd sa Dural Korad delrein oomtor'or sya'gep ozah syafa sru sor.[10]"

The other agreed, nodding. "Em jamok'om rein trii tell'en ray dooena - al'ee Alea Arden.[11]"

Zormna smiled. "Ganda neem.[12]"

The space-suited men dragged the screaming Kyle on board one of their spaceships. Kyle screamed as he, in vain, struggled to get away. Vehmently casting threats toward Zormna, Kyle looked likely to chew his limbs off to get to her - but they stopped quickly because the soldiers punched him in the stomach.

"What about you?" Zormna said, turning to Professor Dumas. "If you stay, I doubt the FBI will leave you alone."

The professor nodded, sighing. "Then I must go."

Zormna smiled at him and bowed. "They can arrange a safe place for you to...you know, relocate, if you want it."

He shrugged, his expression showing that he didn't think that was likely. Yet he answered with a bow, "It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope you really are the One. Perhaps one day we will meet again."

"Perhaps," she said, nodding to the professor.

"Maybe when you are queen." And he smiled.

Zormna's cheeks flushed. She averted her gaze.

He then patted Jafarr on the shoulder and said, "Keep singing. You'd make Zeldar Tarrn proud."

Jafarr's ears went hot and he stepped back near Zormna as the soldiers around them stared more.

Professor Dumas then turned and embraced his still stunned colleague. They patted each other firmly on the back to seem more masculine, and they parted. Once the rotund professor stepped on board the bright ship, he shouted back to his friend, "And don't worry! You'll get credit for your work when everything settles out! I'll make sure of it!"

Overwhelmed, Professor Pratte waved back, watching as the bright ship that closed up, taking the professor and a handful of soldiers into space.

The air stirred up once more, sending dust into the air like a great cloud.

The shuttle-sized ships lifted the unearthed ancient space ship off of the ground by tethers and unusual gears they had strapped on the machine. Within minutes, the entire noisy fleet was up in the air with the crashed ship, blowing around the dirt and the tents and making such a dust storm that everyone had to shut their eyes. The ships lifted into the darkness. And in a snap, the bright lights and noise vanished. Everyone stared up through the dark dust to the sky, attempting to make out the outlines of the ships. But they were gone.

Everyone looked back to where Jafarr and Zormna stood.

Jafarr rested his arm around her as if he was comforting her. His voice barely was heard, saying, "That took a lot of guts. I know you wanted to go with them."

She nodded. Then they both walked back to their tent.  

"Gone!" Professor Pratte's voice echoed all across the desert that early morning.

The sun had risen, but the camp had so altered that looked as if it had been turned into sand dunes. Most of the people around the camp were too tired to get up until late.

"That confounded Professor Dumas! That old liar! He took everything!" Professor Pratte snapped, digging through the notes that had been in his folder. "Even my daily journal! Gone!"

A few groggy faces peered into the camper then shook their heads, going back out again to see what was going on.

"Blast you lying old codger!" their professor shouted to the sky.

Zormna and Jafarr were up with the sun. Jafarr was already on his cell phone talking with some guy code-named D, while Zormna was sweeping out all the dust that had collected in their tent.

"They should be here after lunch," Jafarr said, turning off his phone with a pleased, yet tired smile.

"Not Minas again," Zormna moaned. "Jafarr, that guy has roving hands. He nearly grabbed me when he delivered the casket."

Jafarr smirked. "You can ride with old Bill. I'll go with dear Mike."

She nodded and lifted the tent pole up to undo the whole thing. She lifted the other leg and the thing collapsed.

"How do you figure we take this apart?" Zormna asked, looking up at him.

Jafarr shrugged. "I dunno."

When they did figure it out and had the whole mess crammed back into their tiny drawstring bags, which was a feat since such technology was not anything either person was accustomed to, they cleaned up the rest of their belongings. They had stuffed their empty backpacks and hoisted them onto their backs. Then they took one last look at the dust-covered campsite.

"Leaving already? I'm surprised you two don't stay to gloat," Agent Sicamore said, puffing on a cigarette as he walked over the dirt-covered hills toward them. All of the archaeological evidence of aliens was gone. His visit to the site had been for nothing.

"Well, we've got school," Jafarr said, adjusting the strap on his pack. "And I don't think we can afford to miss another week."

"Why do you bother with this charade? School? Pretending to be a normal kid?" Sicamore took another drag on his cigarette and waved it at them.

"I am a normal kid," Jafarr retorted, acting hurt. His eyes glittered with hidden amusement though.

Zormna caught her laugh before it woke up the other campers.

"How long can you play this game? What do you think it will accomplish?" the agent persisted. "We already know what you are."

Zormna peered over the desert and tugged on Jafarr's sleeve. "They're coming. We'd better go before they get over here and wake the whole camp."

Jafarr nodded. He glanced at Agent Sicamore and said, "Sicamore, some games are meant to be played. Just leave it at that."

He turned and marched after Zormna across the desert to meet the bikers who had come early. Minas waved at them, beckoning Zormna to ride with him. But Jafarr cheekily replied that Zormna wanted to ride with old Bill this time. Old Bill lifted his head as if pleased to hear it. But Jafarr shot old Bill a look that said if he touched Zormna, he'd kill him. Several of the bikers laughed as they took off into the desert highway again.

Agent Sicamore peered them, clenching his teeth. He took another drag on his cigarette and dropped it on the ground, stepping on it. "One day..." he murmured. "One day...."

 

 

[1] "It's over here!"

[2] "It's you! Alea Zormna! The kevin said you were on special projects but I didn't expect to find you here! How are you? What are you doing on Earth?"

[3] "We found the ship and the bones of Arrand. The ship is still half buried over there."

[4] "We put Arrand's remains in a box and left it on the ship."

[5] "Then you sent the distress signal,"

[6] "That man's not to know more than I tell you now, ok?"

[7] "What do you want me to do with that one?"

[8] "That's the favor I need. Can you lock him up on the moon base?"

[9] "I don't suppose sending him to ISIC would do you any good."

[10] "I would rather that Dural Korad didn't know anything about any of this."

[11] "We swear not to tell a soul - even Alea Arden."

[12] "Thank you."

Chapter Fourteen: Help

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" 'Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla,' wailed that superhuman note - great waves of sound

sweeping down the broad, sunlit roadway, between the tall buildings on each side." p. 133

 

 

Monday morning, Jeff and Zormna arrived at school as they always did. They were prepared for the stares and the rude remarks from their classmates, and they both held what homework they expected to do for the last week, completed and finished - all except for Mr. Humphries' English class. Their teacher had a habit of making up assignments as he went along, and there was no way to predict the papers they would have to write. All they could do was finish reading the text he assigned and hope for the best.

They sat in their usual seats, near the middle of the left side of the room, next to the outside windows. Brian was already in his seat talking to Adam Arbor. And Joy was scribbling in her notebook when they arrived. The half-empty classroom of students stared at the two as they walked across the room to their desks. Brian and Adam stopped their conversation. Brian shook his head as he stared at Jeff. "Where did you go off to? A cave? You look absolutely white."

Jeff glanced down at his sheet white arms and shrugged. "I do look a little pale, don't I?"

"A little? Jeff, if we turned off the lights you would be glowing." Brian shook his head then glanced at Zormna.

"Where did you go?" Adam asked, leaning over. "Mr. Humphries blew a gasket when he saw you two were gone again - and all week. Where did'ya go?"

Zormna shrugged. "Arizona." She sat down in her desk and opened her notebook. "Can you tell us what assignments we missed?"

Joy lifted her head, her eyes piercing with a hint of jealous accusation. "You two are in deep trouble. I heard Mr. Humphries talking to Mr. Vicksler about your ditching. I hear he's going to suspend you both."

Jeff winced. "That would be a problem."

Brian nodded tersely. "Why did you take off again? Aren't you both on probation?"

Shrugging as if it didn't matter, Jeff opened his notebook and said, "We had an emergency."

"An emergency?" Adam said, peeking once at Brian and Joy.

"In Arizona?" Joy added, sounding unconvinced.

Zormna nodded, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," Jeff said, ripping a sheet of paper out of wire notebook. "One of Zormna's relatives crashed in Arizona, and we had to identify the body."

All three blinked at Zormna who side-glanced Jeff, her bow-shaped lips curling into a smirk.

"Uh, huh," Brian replied, shaking his head a smidgen. "Tell me another one."

Jeff smiled innocently. "The FBI was there."

Adam laughed. They could tell from his tone that he considered the pair of them the two biggest liars he had ever met. But he also admired that.

Joy sunk back in her seat, frowning...especially at Jeff whom she usually liked.

Zormna saw her look and sighed, turning around to face her. "That wasn't a lie. They were there."

Brian glanced at Zormna disappointedly, and shook his head. "Whatever. Anyway, Mr. Humphries wants both your heads for ditching, so you two had better watch it."

Zormna moaned. "Can't he just settle for our homework? I finished reading the stupid novel."

Jeff sighed in agreement with his own brief nod.

The class filled up almost soon after. Many were asking the two where they had run off to, but they stuck with their story that they both went to Arizona where a distant relative had crashed and they had to identify the body and give it a proper