Duality by Rowan Erlking (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

last letter it has gotten easier to skip another.

Besides all of that, I found five other spells I want you to try. I’ve enclosed it. Just don’t let them see you do it. You did say you wanted a cure for foot fungus in your showers, right? I’ve also enclosed the one for acne. You can sell it to that jerk, Manna, but give it free to others if they need it. It’s really easy.

Anyway, what is up with me? I’ve been busy working with Ludy tending to the pregnant women around town. We’ve gone to Supar Township once or twice where she has a man friend, and she keeps promising to take me to Donleri City so we can visit the bay the next holiday, but she is such a busy woman. There are five women pregnant that are ready to pop. I’ve already helped out with ten births now, so it doesn’t make me ill to watch anymore. Still, I keep dreading the day when I will become pregnant. It is not a pretty experience. It is no wonder mother died. Most of the women we see are close to death when they give birth.

That besides, how are you?

Malkia

*

Dear Malkia,

Manna did it. He at last did it. Head Magician Jimmit (you remember him) caught him sneaking into town to fraternize with the local girls. And I don’t just mean fraternize either. One of the merchants stormed the school, demanding that the magicians keep us students chained inside. He started calling us a ton of ugly names, so much that I offered to draw a hate ward around the school to protect us. Head Magician Jimmit looked at me funny then laughed. But he also had Manna locked up in detention with plans to get him interned at a place that will work him really hard. Did you know, the second term here all seventh year students go out and intern for a business to practice magic? I get to go out someday and do that.

I’ll see you at winter vacation. 

Bernum

*

Dear Bernum,

That vacation was way too short. I hardly got any time with you and Dennik. And what was that all about Schoolmaster Beyan hogging all your time to ask about magic school? Since when did I become invisible?

Well, that aside, I was glad to see you and Dad and Dennik again. Dennik is getting taller. He’s also been busy since we’ve been gone. I think he now knows more herbal remedies than I do. That means I need to study more. By the way, here are more spells for you.

You know, I looked ahead in the spell book Ludy has, and I realized something. There is not one spell here for growing fingers on a hand that doesn’t have any. There are a few I think I can try to straighten out Dennik’s foot, but it looks really complex. It may take me a few years to learn it. I’ll copy them down for you. However, I keep reading warnings throughout my book that says not to tamper with nature, that by doing so we may accidentally end up creating a demon. I don’t want to turn Dennik into a demon. I don’t want what people say about him to actually become true.

I’ll keep looking for a good spell.

Malkia

*

Dear Malkia,

The school is very quiet without Manna. I celebrated the first day back, but then got bored the rest of the week.

I looked up spells for Dennik also. I had to sneak into the library to do it, but when I was caught the librarian merely tried to help me find the right book. Since then he has been researching with me. I think I’ve made another good friend. His name is Kladdus. He had a daughter born with a cleft pallet. His mother-in-law killed her before he could stop her.

Classes are the same old thing. I’m actually at the top of my class, reading ahead and trying many spells.  So far, I’ve found the same thing as you. There are lots of warnings about changing things from their natural state. I’m worried that we might not be able to cure him after all. Right now I’d be happy to simply cure his foot so he could run without hurting so much.

Bernum

*

Dear Bernum,

Wow, the year has flown! I’ll be going to Donleri City this summer, but I promise to come visit before you go back to Yolund for your second year. Ludy is visiting a close friend who is a sailor, and I get to meet some other “midwives-in-training”. We can exchange spell ideas and maybe I can at last find a cure for Dennik.

We’re twelve come this next month. Twelve. Do you know what that means? For me it means the girls will stop looking at me as just a kid. Ludy says I am to start dance lessons besides my magic lessons. She also says I’ve mastered all the basic herbs, so now I have to focus on brewing mixtures for balms and things. She also said I have to start dressing like a woman. I’m not sure what that means. I certainly hope it doesn’t mean I have to wear a turban like her. She is planning to take me to some dress shops to pick out some suitable clothes. Let’s hope Daddy won’t get upset with her choices. Ludy has what Dad would call somewhat extreme tastes. The other women just don’t dress like her.

See you soon!

Malkia

*Year Two*

Dear Malkia,

I wish the vacation could have been longer. I wish you could have visited with us more than just a week. That Ludy is a slave driver. Does she ever give you a real day off?

Back at school, the magicians are testing our skills to see what level they should start us on this year. I got thrown into the top class of my grade, but I’m more than a little nervous sitting among them, especially since Motik is not here with me, and all of these guys seem so serious. I cracked a joke in class once and none of them laughed. The teacher glared at me then asked me if I had been placed in the wrong class. What am I to do? It isn’t like we can’t have fun while doing magic at the same time.

Miss you.

Bernum

*

Dear Bernum,

No kidding about people not liking fun while doing magic. I was goofing off in the kitchen the other day, just trying out a funny spell that makes soap foam up really, really big and Ludy chewed me out for making light of magic. Yeah it made a mess, but the foam helped clean the kitchen in the end. What was there to complain about?

As for life here, I’ve made a few friends I haven’t told you about. There are these girls that keep asking if I have a brother so I told them you were off at magic school, and they put up such a fuss asking about you, and to be honest, I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of it. So, I have this friend, Trikket, and she wants me to tell you that if you ever come to Kibilla that you should look her up.

Personally I think this is all so silly. I mean, we’re only twelve years old. We shouldn’t even be thinking about marriage at all until we are fourteen. I don’t plan on marrying until after I’m seventeen. I can’t imagine being not finished with my magic studies, and all of a sudden married. Besides, I’ve learned that childbirth is less dangerous for a woman in her twenties than for those as young as my friends.

Malkia

*

Dear Malkia,

You can tell your friends that if I ever go to Kibilla, it will probably be after I’m seventeen. I intend to intern in Northborder Township. I heard about this great job there for the border patrol. You know that kid in that fairy tale book we found years ago—Dodo? You know how he used his magic to help people later in the story to catch demons? I think I want to do that. Head Magician Jimmit said that people who learn both types of magic are most suited to that kind of job. I think also we could teach people the difference between a demon and human being. That way people will stop picking on people like Dennik who are simply different.

About school, my studies keep me very busy. I still go to the library and I still am trying to find the spell that can cure Dennik, but I am starting to think that maybe there is no cure for his hand with the missing fingers.

By the way, did I tell you? My classmates have no sense of humor. I cast a spell summoning someone’s pencil case, and I sent the case to someone else’s desk, just as an experiment, you know. Well, that one guy punched the one whose desk it ended up on, even after I told them I did it with a spell. They didn’t believe me. I think they all think I’m a dunce.

I miss you.

Bernum

*

Dear Bernum,

     Time really flies. I swear it was just a moment ago that I read your letter at the start of the term and now it is already winter vacation. I’m going to the winter celebration with Ludy instead of going home. She’s bringing a man friend. She has so many of those, I’m starting to wonder about her character. Each man friend is new. She doesn’t like to stick with one for long either. I asked her about it, and she said she didn’t think she had time to care about marriage. She said after helping with so many births she never wanted to go through it herself. I have to admit, that is persuasive…except those babies are so cute once they are washed up and grown a little.

That aside, things here are pretty much the same old thing. I’m kept busy. I’ve tried those summoning and sending spells. They are wonderful. Thank you. I hope the spells I sent you with the herb packets have also been helpful. Maybe what you ought to do with those wet blankets is really zing them with a good spell. Magic with no sense of humor is just boring.

Malkia

*

Dear Malkia,

I missed you during winter break.

I started this next term like you suggested, and boy did I zing them, which is probably why Head Magician Jimmit has now punished me with scrubbing the bathrooms for a week. Apparently I zinged them a little too well. All it was, was a little conjuring spell with a bunch of flies. I made them swarm over the heads of the main jerks in class. The teacher whipped them out, but not before they started to go after him too for making those gestures. Anyway, it was worth it. They don’t think I’m the class dunce anymore. None of them knew that spell and some were asking for how I did it. I taught it to Motik, warning him about the trouble it caused me. I think he’ll be in detention with me soon.

Bernum

*

Dear Bernum,

I met the funniest boy. He’s sixteen. He and I met in the market. He’s training to be a milliner. Not an interesting profession, unless I suddenly decided to be a hat-wearer. I’m still trying to decide. The only thing I don’t like about him is that he won’t eat broken crackers. He’ll pick them out and hand them to others, but he insists on perfection with all the things he buys. He says it is a sign of refinement, but I keep thinking he would throw rocks at Dennik if he saw him.

Malkia

*

Dear Malkia,

Summer is coming. You had better come home this year for a full vacation. I don’t care what that Ludy says about it. We’re your family and she is just someone you learn from. Insist on it.

No luck