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

and setting bugs around the house. The house had been a wreck then, and it had been not at all what she had thought parties were supposed to be like. This one, the Christmas one, had been much better. Cozier. Truthfully, it was the best gift after such a bad morning.

Jeff brought out the kitchen trash bag and let Zormna dump the last remaining boxes inside. He tied up the bag and sighed with relief as he looked up. "Done."

Zormna nodded, agreeing with him.

He then gazed seriously at her, watching her dark green eyes avert as her fiery blond curls concealed part of her face. He could tell she was trying to hold onto the feeling of that evening. He placed the bag down at his feet. "Zormna, are you going to be all right tonight?"

She tried to smile. "I'll be fine."

Jeff frowned, thinking. "I could stay downstairs and keep an eye out if you want. You know, at least until we can get a good home security system for this place."

Zormna smirked while hefting up the trash bag. Shoving it towards him, she said, "I think I will be just fine. I've got locks and keys, and I don't believe the FBI would stoop to kidnapping me on Christmas Day."

Jeff frowned deeper still, grasping the bag in his fists since wringing necks in frustration was wrong. "Why do you have to be so stubborn? I offered for you to stay at my place with us. Zormna, it's not safe."

She shook her head with a heavy sigh. "I know it is not safe." Grasping his hands, she stared into his eyes as she said, "Jafarr, I know it isn't safe. But I have got to stand on my feet sometime. Besides, the last thing we need right now is people seeing you and me in a house - by ourselves. You know what they'll think."

Jeff smirked wryly.

"That's right, our reputations." Then shaking his head, he said, "I don't care about my reputation, Zormna. Forget that. What I care about is that you are safe."

But her eyes darkened. Zormna stepped back from him with a growl, letting go of the trash bag. "I know, I know, so the revolution will succeed with a Tarrn at the head. I get it. The whole prophecy thing."

"Do we have to go into this again? Tonight?" Jeff rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head. "I'm tired, and I don't want argue with you."

She grit her teeth, arms folding tight across her chest as she scowled toward the window.

He stepped toward her, extending an arm to comfort her.

She pulled away.

Putting his arm down, he said, "Zormna, you know everything I told you about the prophecy. You know it has to be you."

She scowled more. "So you are just going to let the other Tarrns die?"

Jeff flushed. "Of course not. You know I wouldn't want that."

"But you said only the very last Tarrn was supposed to lead. You said so yourself." Zormna stared him in the eye, steely with criticism.

"Zormna, I can't...I just can't argue with you tonight." Jeff shook his head, carrying the trash bag towards the backdoor.

Zormna followed after him, tears coming. "Jafarr! You have to promise me you'll save them too. Promise me!"

She grabbed him by the arm. He halted. Jeff had learned a long time ago not to resist in this case. In the past she would have forcefully thrown him as she was an accomplished martial artist. But here she only insistently hung on with tight fingers.

"I'll try," he muttered staring at the plastic bag.

"Promise me!" Zormna said again, her eyes burning with tears.

He sighed again, quietly. "I promise, I'll try."

Her grip squeezed his arm, but at last let go, dejected.

He quietly went out the back to where she kept a large trashcan outside. A thin layer of snow covered the paths he had scraped earlier that afternoon before the guests had come. The cans had about two inches of it. Kicking off the snow upon reentering the house, Jeff walked past her to the front door, murmuring quietly as he opened it, "I have to go. Don't forget to check all the locks."

Zormna didn't even look at him. Her eyes remained on the carpet.

Jeff watched her. Chills of dread ran through him. He looked about the house at their makeshift security measures. The storm windows were up, so she had that protection. And they had secured every lock so that they were functional, including with old fashioned methods of security. The gas fire was on in the grate in the fireplace, and the rest of the house was properly heated. He knew which room she would be sleeping in, one on the second floor with good escape routes if she needed them. And she had her cell phone. But he hated leaving her alone. She tended to sulk when left on her own, feeling despair and loneliness creep over her. After all her entire family had been murdered and she had the FBI following her. And as for the rest, the thing she accused him of, honestly how could he argue it with her? He knew she was the one the prophecy talked about. She was the one to save their people and lead them in the revolution against the High Class regime that ruled their world. And though he had promised to find and protect the other Tarrns for her sake, he knew in the end she would be the last. It felt kind of pointless.

Zormna quietly huffed and marched to the back to lock the door. She then took one look at Jeff and glared. "Go already! You're letting the cold air in."

Jeff nodded stepped through the open door onto the frosted porch. He turned one last time and gazed at her. "I mean it. Double check all the locks on the doors and windows tonight, ok?"

She cast him a testy glare, but it faded into one of lonesomeness.

"Fine," she said, marching to the door to close it after him.

He stepped down to her walkway into the cold night and listened for the door to catch. He heard the dead bolt lock and the chain lock clasp on the other side. She would be vigilant, but he still worried.

Thinking as he walked over to his motorcycle that was parked to the side of her driveway. Sweeping the snow off of his seat, Jeff threw his leg astride it and jammed on the motor. He gazed up at the house to watch Zormna extinguish all the lights inside, excluding the outside lamp, which she left on for security reasons. All that was left were the green and red Christmas lights hanging around the front. It was the first time that house actually felt not haunted.

Then he turned his eyes across the street where the usual FBI car sat. He gave it a hard stare then revved his motor. Rolling slowly down the driveway to the road, he steered to the vehicle wherein the two agents on duty watching the house were eyeing him like they would a shark approaching a diver's shark cage. One had gripped the ignition key in case they needed to go quickly. But Jeff merely parked next to the driver's side window and rapped his knuckles on the glass.

The men inside deliberated for a second before one of them rolled down the window against the protests of his already chilled partner. The agent in the driver's side seat said, "What do you want?"

Jeff thumbed over to the house. "Hey. Take care of her, would ya? If she's not alive and well in the morning, I'm coming after you."

The man stared at Jeff, watching him as he revved up his engine and start off into the neighborhood. Fact was, it the FBI's fault Zormna's great aunt was dead. Long story. And the FBI were terrified of Jeff - another long story. At this point, all of them were interested in keeping her alive.

Heading home, Jeff rode carefully across the icy and snowy road to the edge of town. He parked his bike in the garage at the side of the seventies style house and dusted off his snow-covered jacket before stepping into the clean and spartan front room. His home was nothing like Zormna's house or the McLenna's home. His so-called Aunt Mary (who really wasn't his aunt at all) liked to keep her place spotless. In fact it was so spotless that it lacked all the decorative frilly stuff that Zormna's great aunt had gotten into. While the house Zormna inherited was filled with landscape paintings and carvings, crystal and china, Victorian furniture and fancy pillows, and a player piano, Jeff's home had one painting of a field, two blockish couches, a couple utilitarian end-tables and a glass coffee table. And it smelled of household cleaner.

They had a small Christmas tree on the coffee table for show - but it was obvious that they really didn't celebrate Christmas any more than a utilitarian atheist did. Not that they were atheist. On the contrary, they were devout believers in the Arrassian religion, which dated beyond ten thousand years and believed in things like prophecy, prayer, and the existence of eternal truths. The Arrassians did not use physical symbols in their religion like other faiths did. Most of their symbols were political. 

Closing the door behind him, Jeff looked to see if anyone was still up. The house was still. It was nearly one in the morning, which made it a terribly long day for Jeff. It had been at the crack of dawn, nearly six-thirty a.m., when Zormna had called him, and he had not rested at all since then. He had spent the entire day at Zormna's getting things decorated and homey for the party. He had to keep Zormna's mind occupied with other things besides being thrown out of the McLennas' house. Jeff knew she had become attached to that family, regardless of the way Mr. and Mrs. McLenna had treated her. He could see it in the way she lingered with Jennifer like a sister. Or with Todd, seeing him as a brother - much to Todd's disappointment. Or how she enjoyed spending time with the youngest two McLennas, showing them how to do things while also enjoying their pure innocent fun personalities. And though she was the same when she spent time with the Henderson family, the McLennas house was the only real home she had known for over nine years. He knew she didn't want to leave it. It was something she had secretly craved, being raised an army brat.

Jeff looked at his watch and scratched his head. It was late. No one was up, and he told himself that things would be fine until the morning. He figured he had better get a good night's sleep so he would be ready to set up Zormna's security system and hook it to their house system the next day. That way he could keep tabs on her while not being at her house. Thing was, he didn't want Zormna to start without him.

There were days it annoyed him that Zormna was as skilled at technology as he was, as she had enormous pride in her abilities. For once, he'd like to have her sit back and let him to the job himself, his way. But he knew her personality. She was so pig-headed, she probably would do set up her security system all herself, and then it wouldn't be compatible with their system...and they would have to start all over.

On that dreadful thought, Jeff walked down the hall to his bedroom. He dropped his jacket onto the chair next to the bed where there was a line of musical instruments which he knew how to play. Zormna's wink at him during caroling during all the declarations that he ought to be a music star was teasing. A good number of his ancestors were famous musicians and singers - equivalent to Elvis as a