Chapter 18: 18. Magic is Not Easy

____Aby____

Around a week passed, and little changed. I walked to school and went for walks around the park in the day, and at night, I went into the other world, as Ahmad, to do my apprentice duties. It wasn't too difficult, provided I avoided my family. School was a bore. Running in the park was exhausting. My apprentice duties calmed my mind. I only had two for now. Filling and emptying the bucket, and taking care of the garden. Picking away the insects, and watering from time to time. Cahil took care of the more specific work.

Come to think of it, he was still ignoring me. He didn't avoid me anymore, but if I glanced at him, he would look away. Once I caught him in the act. His face, I remembered, looked as if he wanted to kill me. Grandpa was busy, so I saw him less and less often. So was Sahar, I supposed. We didn't have many opportunities to meet.

My real family was quiet. LiMei had calmed down somewhat, but I still wasn't taking any chances. I took note to stay clear of her and Jun. LiMei sometimes threw temper tantrums- she was loud and dangerous when she was stimulated, which was often. The tantrums were random. Jun was different. Outwardly, he looked stiff and quiet, someone who wouldn't bother other people. But once he got mad, then he was worse than LiMei. LiMei's bark was worse than her bite, while Jun bit without warning. Brother Wu pretended I wasn't there, which was fine by me.

I sat in my seat, smack dab in the middle of the class, as usual. Class was a bore. Teacher Wang talked about addition, which, according to her, was 'extremely fun'. I participated, but only for the free plums. I wondered when we would start proper math.

"Suddah jah." I muttered under my breath. "Shuddah jal."

"Shuddh jal."

That wasn't it. I stopped and tried to remember how exactly I made that sound. Grandpa had a much better pronunciation, but I wasn't half bad. At least, I wasn't half bad as Ahmad.

"Shuddh jal." I said again, my voice filled with frustration. It didn't work. Why didn't it work?

Words of Power. I was only taught two this week- Shuddh jal, 'purify water', dhool hatao, 'clean dust'. It was something similar to another language, however, it had power. Perhaps that was why it was called Words of Power. It was fitting. You only needed to say the words, also called spells, for a magic-like effect to work itself on the object you have in mind. However, the power was very restrictive, and it wasn't very suitable for combat.

For example, the spell Shuddh jal didn't didn't work if you weren't touching the water in question. It didn't work on water that was flowing, and it didn't work on things like sewage or urine or milk. I tried it on all those things, but apparently they didn't count as 'water'. It didn't cleanse the water of anything large or alive, like for example, a person, or rocks. Most importantly, it didn't work on Earth, for some reason. At first, I thought it was because I was pronouncing it wrong- then I realized that wasn't the case. I practiced the words for a long time, and to be frank, though they weren't easy, they weren't difficult, either. They were commonly used in the other world.

It might be because of the system. There were no systems on Earth. It might be because of some other difference between Earth and the other world, DB-yadda-yadda-I-can't-remember-clearly. It wasn't because of my body- I tested it on some other people. I tested it on my teacher, who did properly say the words, albeit with a butchered accent. Nothing happened to the water in the fishbowl.

When someone spoke Words of Power, you could feel it. A tingly feeling that traveled up your bones to your stomach.

"Shuddh jal."

"Aby?" Teacher Wang said in a delighted voice. "Speak louder, we can't hear you. The answer to two plus two is?"

"That wasn't an answer." I said flatly.

"The answer is?" Teacher Wang repeated again. I felt sick at the sound of her encouraging voice.

"I said I'm not interested in saying the answer." I said, eyeing Teacher Wang's desk. Today there were no plums, only star stickers. Useless. What could I do with a sticker? Why did Teacher Wang give them out? They were a waste of resources and would only cause global pollution. I read about it in the library last weekend. Pollution was one of the biggest factors that could lead to world destruction.

Teacher Wang did not notice my distress.

"Maybe if you give me a plum." I said again.

"The answer is?"

I wondered when she would stop smiling. "Four." I said at last. I said it confidently. Teacher Wang stuck a star sticker to my chest. As expected, the sticker had weak adhesion. After only third period, it fell to the ground. I stomped on it. Then I picked it up and put it in the trash can.

Lunch, the part of the day I looked forward to the most. It was the reason why I walked to school every day, and I suspected it was also the reason why Jun let me go to school every day.

I wasn't very popular with the students.

Teacher Wang was a nice, but not very bright soul. She told me I was pretty, which was true, and then she told me I was 'mentally challenged', which was also true. I was currently undergoing many challenges. Then she told me I was 'helpless' and 'bullied'. That was not true. Being called helpless was an insult- being called bullied was a lie. I wasn't being bullied. Probably. I don't have much experience on this subject.

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I ate alone in the corner. The meat was great, as usual. Today we even had fish fried in cornmeal! That wouldn't be a surprise itself, but the surprise was the number of meat dishes- usually there was one or two meat dishes. One was normal, two was if we were lucky. However, today we had three! Three meat dishes! Fish, meatballs, and there was also spam.

I sat alone in the playground, wondering who to talk to.

The older girls played together, as they always did. They brought their sticks to school. Apparently they collected it themselves by rummaging around bushes or snapping off low hanging branches off trees. I watched as a girl screeched "No! General!" Another girl pretended to fall over.

I couldn't participate in their activities. They didn't like me. The older boys played soccer. Others were playing with a skipping rope. I didn't particularly value those skills, so I didn't bother going close.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around.

"Aby!" MeiHui said proudly. "Mama bought me a new cooking set. Do you want to play with us?"

I hesitated. There were a bunch of girls in the corner, doing activities with a tiny plastic pot. There were also other tools. They were squatting on the floor. The girls all looked around my age, and we all had similar builds. I was still on the small side, but, I mused, there wasn't much of a difference. Activities were possible. I stepped closer, interested. MeiHui beamed proudly.

"I'm Ai." One of the girls said. She had a missing front tooth, and short black hair cropped to her shoulders. "I'm the dad. MeiHui's the mom, LeiLei is the daughter, and YingYing is the son. XiaoQing is the baby."

I looked around. My brows creased. The plastic knife was dull. A useless item. The pot was filled with plants- most were bitter to the point of being inedible, a few were mildly poisoned. There were edible plants, but that didn't matter- they were processed with the plastic knife on top of dirty rocks. They weren't even washed, they were covered in dust. Nobody could eat that.

"You could be the pet." Ai said. "Puppies are cute. You can be a puppy."

She stood up and patted my hair. Her hands were dirty, but it didn't matter- my hair wasn't exactly what you would call clean. I would need to take a shower soon. Baths were too dangerous. LeiLei and YingYing also stood up to touch my head. XiaoQing stood up, or tried to- she was the smallest of the bunch, I noticed.

"QingQing, you're the baby." MeiHui chided. "Babies can't stand up!"

QingQing sat back down on the floor with a pout.

"QingQing, it's time for your din-din!" MeiHui also squatted on the floor. She picked up the plastic pot with squished dandelion leaves and, using the spoon, shoveled it to the girl. The mixture didn't look edible, but I kept watching. It wouldn't be me dying of infection, and I was curious.

QingQing opened her mouth. MeiHui pretended to put the spoon in her mouth, then threw the mixture away. I looked at the dead plants and decided that this wasn't for me.

Pollution and micro-dust and city gas meant the plants in the city weren't good for consumption. Bad processing and no condiments meant even if the plants were healthy, they would be rendered unedible. And the plants were bitter. They weren't even boiled. Johnson grass, wild parsnip, giant hogweed. I thanked Grandma for my country education.

"You said you had a cooking set." I said to MeiHui. looking up from said cooking set which I doubted was a proper cooking set. "Nothing here looks edible."

MeiHui's face flushed. "Of course it's e-di-ve!" she declared. "It's more e-di-ve than anything you have!"

She said the word carefully, like she was not good at pronouncing it. I tilted my head curiously.

"Do you know what 'edible' means?" I asked.

MeiHui's face was completely red now. I backed away from her. She made such wild claims, but she didn't even know what the word 'edible' meant, I thought. Was she an idiot, or was she that confident in herself?

"Of course I know what e-di-ve means!" She yelled.

"What does it mean?" I asked again.

And it was quiet in the playground once more. I curled up in the corner of the yard, alone and pleased to be alone. With a satisfied expression, I yawned. My eyes closed, and I fell asleep under the gentle breeze and sunshine, with the sound of thousands of energetic children. When my eyes opened again, the yard was empty.

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