Part 24 (1/2)

'Can't we have one night out without talking about stravagation and Talia and . . . and weird stuff?' she protested when Ayesha dragged Sky, Nick and Georgia off to the kitchen, outside the immediate range of the loudspeakers. There was still a heavy thudding underlining Ayesha's frantic attempts to explain what she had seen.

'Who could it have been?' Georgia asked Nick, ignoring Alice.

Ayesha stared at Nick. 'He didn't look totally unlike you,' she said. 'Older, early twenties, I'd say. But he had the same sort of nose and cheekbones. Only he was wearing fancy clothes.' She lowered her voice. 'A bit like, you know, that Lucien when he came here.'

'Definitely Talian then,' said Sky.

'And probably a di Chimici,' said Georgia. 'You're sure it was Matt's book he was holding?'

'Absolutely,' said Ayesha. 'I couldn't mistake it.'

'Of course it was a di Chimici,' said Nick. 'Who else but a member of my family would steal someone's talisman and try to use it to get here? It must have been one of my cousins. Or maybe my brother Fabrizio.'

'The thing is,' said Ayesha. 'Whoever it might be, it looks as if he succeeded, at least for a few moments.'

'And whoever it is has got Matt's talisman,' said Georgia. 'That means he can't get back.'

Nick looked stricken. 'We've got to help him,' he said.

'But how can we?' asked Sky. 'My talisman and Nick's take us to Giglia,' he explained to Ayesha. 'And Georgia's takes her to Remora. We couldn't get to Padavia and back before nightfall.'

Ayesha looked blank.

'He means daybreak,' said Georgia. 'Night and day are reversed between there and here.'

'So there's nothing we can do?' said Ayesha in despair.

'I'm sure the Stravaganti in Padavia are all working to get him back,' said Georgia.

'And there is something we can do,' said Nick. 'We can go round to his and look after that end of things.'

'Don't be daft,' said Sky. 'How can we get in? His parents will be in bed and, even if they aren't, how can we just show up and say, ”I think your son might be lying comatose in his room and we'd like to look after him till he regains consciousness”? They'd go spare.'

'I've got a key,' said Ayesha, taking her key-ring out of her black sequinned bag.

Enrico eyed Matt's face with an almost professional air.

'You look horrible,' he said.

'You're no oil painting yourself!' said Matt, wincing. 'At least I've been beaten up.'

Alfredo had done his best with hot water, warm cloths and a tincture of arnica. But if anything, Matt looked worse: the arnica turned a sort of orangey-purple on his skin, mottling his face with a second layer of bruises.

Enrico had followed him back from Filippo's, guessing correctly that Luciano wouldn't need him to stay there any more.

As soon as Alfredo had finished ministering to Matt, he busied himself providing lunch for everyone, never happier than when the house was full of unexpected guests.

An argument was raging among the Stravaganti about how to get Matt home.

'I must go and get him another talisman,' said Constantin, white-lipped. 'One from his world.'

'But it will be the middle of the night there,' said Luciano. 'You'd be completely disoriented. And what are you going to find as a talisman at that hour? A takeaway kebab? Let me go. I know people there. There are three Stravaganti who would give me something, let alone my parents.'

'And I'll goe with ye,' said Dethridge. 'I am tired of staying here, keping out of the waye of daungere.'

'I wouldn't say you were doing that,' said Constantin. 'No Stravagante is beyond danger in this city, at this time.'

'You are all forgetting something,' said Rodolfo. 'This is not a case like Luciano's where a new talisman from the other world can take Matt back. His body is still in both worlds. He can't get back without the spell-book.'

There was a horrified silence. It was broken by Enrico.

'Then I'm your man,' he said cheerfully. 'I'll steal it for you.'

He held up a hand to still the chorus of protests.

'Which of you here has ever stolen anything?' he asked.

There was silence.

'I thought not. Look, I know Rinaldo di Chimici; he'd let me into his place and I bet Filippo would too if the Cardinal's still there.'

'Let me help,' said Cesare. 'I can't stravagate but I can do anything that would help at this end.'

Rodolfo was looking hard at Enrico. 'I don't know how it is that that you have gained Luciano's confidence,' he said. 'But I don't forget that you tried to kill my wife. Why should we trust you?'

'But I didn't, did I?' said Enrico. 'It was my wife I killed at least the woman who was going to be my wife. And I got rid of the Duke. Where would the young Cavaliere be today if I hadn't switched the foils?'

No one felt very comfortable with this view of the situation. Both Cesare and Luciano had been captured by this man and most of them knew what he was capable of.

'I'm not claiming to be a reformed character,' said Enrico, looking round at them. 'As I told the Cavaliere, it's just that I don't want to work for the di Chimici any more. That's when my troubles began, spying for that Rinaldo. His Eminence, as he is now.'

'I think perhaps we have to trust him,' said Constantin. 'He's our only chance of getting the talisman back.'

'Agreed,' said Rodolfo reluctantly. He turned to Enrico. 'But if you betray us, I shall search you out wherever you are and you will regret it.'

Alice had gone home in disgust. Sky was torn in two but, in the end, he put her into a taxi outside his house and paid the driver in advance. Then he put a note through the door to let his mother know he'd be staying over at Matt's. The other three texted home with the same message. Then set out for Matt's house.

'This is crazy,' said Sky. 'Even with your key, how can so many of us get in without their hearing us?'

'It'll be all right, as long as we get into his room,' said Ayesha. 'We can say in the morning that he let us crash after the party.'

'Well, that will work if he wakes up,' said Georgia.

Still, it was a tense time, unlocking the front door and crowding into the entrance hall.

'We'd better throw the bolts,' whispered Ayesha. 'Or his mum will notice in the morning and think he stayed out.'

They crept up the stairs, trying to sound like one teenager instead of four. But the weirdest thing was letting themselves into Matt's room. He was there, but not there.