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press and the other paraphernalia, with no one working at it.
    Professor Constantin looked at him expectantly.
    â€˜This,’ he said proudly, ‘is my Secret Scriptorium.’

Chapter 5
    Spellbound
    â€˜Er,’ said Matt. ‘What’s secret about it?’
    â€˜This is where I print the books that are not officially published by the University,’ said Constantin. ‘That one you are still holding, for example.’
    Matt looked at his talisman.
    â€˜What is it?’ he asked. ‘Why is it a secret?’
    â€˜It’s what I think you’d call a book of spells,’ said Constantin. ‘And such things are dangerous in Talia at present.’
    I should never have listened to all those Harry Potter tapes when I was a kid, thought Matt. Books of spells – what next? Was Constantin going to pull out a wand and reveal himself as a powerful wizard?
    But he found himself unwinding the leather straps round his book, curious to see if he could read it in Padavia. The fuzzy black type stared back at him, still impenetrable.
    â€˜May I?’ asked Constantin. He took the book, opened it at random and intoned:
    â€˜â€œ Remedium contra fascinum, sive oculum malum. ”
    That’s old Talic for “Cure for the evil eye”. Or rather the results of it.’
    â€˜What is it?’ asked Matt.
    â€˜The cure? Oh, a vessel of water placed on the forehead of the victim. Pour in oil and if it forms into the shape of an eye, then he really has experienced the Jettatura – the evil eye. You can then, as it were, ‘blind’ the eye with grains of salt and that takes the curse off.’
    â€˜No,’ said Matt, a bit thrown by the seriousness with which the Professor had given the explanation. ‘What I meant was – what is the evil eye?’
    â€˜You don’t have it in Anglia?’ said Constantin, surprised. ‘It’s a kind of negative energy. Some people have the power to curse crops or animals or other people just by looking at them.’
    â€˜Cool!’ said Matt. He found himself immediately thinking of Jago Jones.
    â€˜You approve?’ said Constantin.
    â€˜Well, it could be useful, I suppose.’
    â€˜You can’t make yourself have it, Matteo. You either have the power or you don’t.’
    â€˜But how do you know if you’ve got it?’
    â€˜You find out by accident, usually, when you cast an envious – or even an admiring look – at something or someone and then crops die or people get sick. Then you have to choose.’
    â€˜Choose?’
    â€˜Whether you will learn the discipline to control it. Or whether you will use it to curse. Either way you have power.’
    Matt was silent, thinking about different kinds of power. He knew he was supposed to think the better kind was not using the evil eye but he was still attracted by the thought of zapping people. One person.
    â€˜So is my book full of cures?’
    â€˜Yes. And curses. Blessings too, of course. Potions, incantations, enchantments, hexes, charms – spells, in fact.’
    â€˜So is there magic here in Talia?’ asked Matt, feeling foolish as he did so.
    â€˜Some people call it that,’ said Constantin. ‘I think it’s time I told you about the di Chimici.’
    *
    Grand Duke Fabrizio was getting nowhere in tracking down Luciano. He was pretty sure that he was not in Giglia. Fabrizio had sent soldiers to scour every palace, house, shop, bottega, church, farm and monastery in the city. No one knew anything of the young Bellezzan’s whereabouts and in the end, Fabrizio had to accept that he had escaped.
    The arrest warrant was valid throughout Tuschia, so he had sent messengers to Moresco, Fortezza and Remora, where other members of his family ruled. If Luciano had left the region, he would be arrested if he ever set foot back inside di Chimici territory in the north.
    But that wasn’t enough for