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legs and claw-shaped feet. No one passed plates. The plates and platters walked on their own to serve diners. Blinking backastonishment, he watched as the silver teapot tilted in midair. The darkest black liquid he had ever seen poured into his cup, steam rising.
    “We drink tea, Kolya.”
    He lifted his teacup and took a sip. He almost spit it out. Not only did it burn his tongue, it was also bitter.
    Nick set his teacup down and began eating, nearly gagging on his food. What he would have given for one of Grandpa's all-you-can-eat adventures!
    Isabella and her tiger sat at the other end of the table. Periodically, she tossed bits of food in the air, which the tiger caught in her mouth. He wished he had a tiger that obeyed him like that. No one would tease him as the new kid in school if he had a tiger.
    The Grand Duchess leaned back against her chair and appeared to fall asleep. Soon, Nick heard her soft snores. He continued eating, aware that family members were stealing surreptitious glances at him. He bowed his head and tried to avoid looking at any of them.
    A short time later, a man entered the room dressed in long black robes. He wore dark, horn-rimmed glasses, and his black hair was cropped close to his head.
    “Isabella… Nicholai,” he announced. “Time for school.” He clapped his hands like he was a king. “Come!”
    Inwardly, Nick groaned. If he were at home, he wouldstill be in bed watching cartoons and eating sugary cereal right from the box. This was shaping up to be the worst summer ever.

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    T HIS IS OUR CLASSROOM?” NICK SURVEYED THE ROOM WHERE he and Isabella were to be tutored privately. It reminded him of Madame B.'s, full of books and jars of strange ingredients. Just as in the library, some of the books were not only in different languages, but different alphabets. The jars were filled with powders in every shade of the rainbow, and liquids—some of which glowed ominously. Spiders—big, fat, hairy spiders that gave him the creeps—sat in jars, their legs twitching, webs spinning up to the lids that Nick hoped were on tight. Mice in gilded cages sat on their haunches, staring at him and occasionally running their tiny paws over their whiskers. As Nick walked, they turned their heads as if they were watching him.
    His teacher sat at a large wooden desk at the front of the room, its legs ornately carved like tree trunks twisted withvine. The teacher's robes billowed up around him as he settled into his high-backed chair, as huge as a throne, and he pointed to two smaller desks in front of him.
    “I am Theo, Damian's brother. Today, Kolya, you begin your journey into magic.”
    Nick narrowed his eyes, looking closely at Theo. “That makes us cousins, too, then?”
    Theo nodded. “You are related to everyone in the clan either by blood or marriage. Now, we must begin. You have a lot of catching up to do.”
    Isabella leaned her elbows on her desk. Her tiger sprawled on the floor, looking like a large rug. She breathed slowly and steadily, occasionally twitching her nose and once even curling her mouth into a smile, as if having a dream.
    “And I’m really going to learn magic?”
    Theo nodded. “But as with all lessons, we must learn from the past. We must look backward before we can cast our eyes forward. Isn’t that right, Isabella?”
    She sighed. “Yes, Theo.” She turned to look at Nick. “You’ll learn very quickly that Theo loves history. It's his favorite subject.”
    Theo waved his hand and said something in what Nick guessed was Russian, and a crystal ball—bigger even than Madame B.'s—floated through the air, then settled on a pedestal on the corner of Theo's desk.
    Theo looked at Nick and Isabella and winked. “Ordinary teachers have projectors and chalkboards. I have this. Behold… the watchmaker. ”
    Nick stared as the ball grew smoky, then turned a rich amethyst color, then red, and finally, as if a curtain had parted, the ball was