Excerpt: The Magi of Istanbul (Gothic Fantasy)

"I'm going to a meeting now," he said. At her disappointment, he thought for a minute and then said, "But maybe Timur can help you." He caught a clerk walking past and said something in Turkish, and then turned back to Zuzu. "Timur knows the archives. He can find you what you need."
Timur came walking towards them. He was dressed in summer weight robes like the other clerks, which Zuzu thought was much better than his usual football shorts. The ponytail did not look half as stupid. Marcus explained to Timur what Zuzu wanted and then left them. Timur led Zuzu along the stacks.
"Turkish, " he said, nodding in approval. "You don't waste any time."
"I just hate not understand what it being said around me."
"That would bother me, too." They turned down a narrow aisle with books on either side. He glanced at Zuzu, "Is your sister here?"
"Yes."
"So, um, what does your sister like? I mean, what kinds of things is she interested in?"
"You should ask her that yourself."
"Then you should learn Turkish yourself."
Zuzu rolled her eyes, even though she appreciated his move. "Horses," she said. "Dafne loves horses."
"Here we are." Timur reached up and pulled down a book. It was large and bound with dark leather. He carried it out to a table and opened it up. It was written with Arabic letters.
"What kind of writing is that?"
"It's Ottoman Turkish. Ah, here it is." He brought a long thin piece of paper out of one of the pockets of his robes, and carefully wrote out the spell in the same script in a hand that moved from right to left. He rolled up the piece of paper. "Now. You must eat this."
"What?"
"You must eat it, chew it really well, so the knowledge is broken up an moves throughout your system. Eat it with your lunch."
"Are you sure it will work?"
"I've never used it, but it should work."
Zuzu nodded and pocketed the slip of paper. She thanked Timur and hurried to find Dafne and their tour guide. At lunch in the refectory she put the piece of paper in her mouth after the soup and before the meatballs. She wondered how long it would take before she could understand and speak Turkish. She listened to the conversations at the next table, but understood nothing. She would have to tell Timur his spell had not worked.
After lunch they went to the library.
"It doesn't work," she hissed at him.
"Be patient. Why are you so impatient?"
"I have so much to learn!"
Timur laughed. "Where is your sister? I have something to show her."
"She's up there somewhere," Zuzu said. "Show me some books on hippogryffs."
:::::
Asuman was there at dinner again. She always sat at the head of the table and presided over the meal. She had Dafne and Zuzu on either side of her, although Dafne did not see why she had to be there as Asuman was clearly interested in Zuzu. That evening when Asuman was discussing something with Nazmiye in Turkish, Zuzu all of a sudden started speaking Turkish. The entire table fell silent. Asuman swiveled around to look at her.
"You are speaking Turkish," she said. That much Dafne could understand. "Come on then, tell me about your day."
Zuzu began to describe her day and the astonishment at the table quickly turned into amusement, and then into outright laughing. Zuzu looked at them all and frowned. She must have said something like "What's the problem:"
Marcus, from the other end of the table said, "Your Turkish is excellent. It's just the dialect."
"Whats a dialect?"
"The pronunciation."
"What's the matter with it?"
"It's seventeenth century."
Zuzu blushed deeply and Dafne heard the English curse words that came out under her breath.
Asuman, struggling not to laugh, asked where she had got the spell.
"From Timur."
As if on cue, Timur emerged from the cottage with the astral system and walked across the garden towards them. Before anyone knew what had happened, Zuzu had raised her wand, propelled him into the pool, and then run to poolside to curse at him as he swam to safety. Dafne looked at her mother, whose face was buried in her hands. Her father sat shocked for an instant before he sprinted over to the pool and helped Timur out. Then he turned to Zuzu, pointed to the house and said, "House. Now." He took her by the elbow and marched her indoors.