If I'm honest, the next week went by in a blur. Asmodeus would help me with my magic, which turned out to be very wild and unreliable, in the mornings before school. He would then take the shape of a small snake and curl up in my backpack. I would meet up with Alex after school in our little place in the library and we would pour over the book, occasionally trying some of the spells. At one point I tried one of the more difficult ones and set my biology textbook on fire. Alex didn't know about Asmodeus. I couldn't pinpoint exactly why, but I didn't want him to. There was one time when he caught a glimpse of Asmodeus in snake form and nearly screamed. That was when I found out about his fear of snakes. I assured him that Salazar was very friendly.

Don't judge me about the name. I panicked. And when a Harry Potter fan panics that's what happens. I still went to soccer practices, but I was distracted, and the coach could tell. He pulled me aside one day and asked if I was alright.

"I'm fine," I lied, and tried to focus on the drills.

And then everything that could have gone wrong did. During that week, Asmodeus had pestered me to talk to the other demons.

"They won't take no for an answer," he assured me one night.

"I can handle them," I promised.

"You really can't. You don't know who you're dealing with." I, foolishly, ignored him.

It was the night after that conversation that I came home to find the house completely empty. I knew that mom and dad were having a date night, but I had thought Luca would be there. I didn't think much of it until I went to my bedroom and found it completely ransacked. Someone had been looking for something, and I had a sneaking suspicion about what it was.

"Asmodeus, come out," I said nervously. He slithered out and morphed back into his normal, human form. 

"I told you," was all he said.

"Oh yeah because an I told you so is exactly what I need right now."

"Well it seems you were lucky this time. All they did was mess up your things. It's a good thing you take that book with you everywhere." I thought about the fact that I hadn't seen Luca. I tried to convince myself that he was at a friend's house, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't shake the feeling that he was in trouble. I set my backpack down and took out the book. I was about to start flipping through it when I heard Luca's voice.

"Luna, come out here!" He called from down in the backyard. Weird. Why would he be down there? It was already dark out. I looked out the window, trying to make out his shape. There he was. I sighed. It was cold outside. I didn't really want to go out, but I did. I went downstairs and out the backdoor to find that Luca was no longer alone.

"Hello there." She was a woman, with hair darker than midnight, and skin as pale as the full moon. Her eyes were completely white. Her voice was silky and calming, but there was something underneath those smooth tones. Something cold and harsh. A sort-of, I would kill you in a heartbeat kind of thing. 

"Mother?" Asmodeus had appeared next to me. He looked shocked. 

"Oh Asmodeus. Still slumming it with these--" she looked at me distastefully "creatures?" Asmodeus didn't respond. My mind was racing. If this woman was Asmodeus's mother, then she would have to be Lilith. I wasn't sure how that information could possibly help me, but at least it was something. 

"Let my brother go," I said, fighting to keep my voice even in the presence of the literal mother of demons. 

"I would be happy to. I just require a little something in return." 

"What do you want from me?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew exactly what she wanted, but I needed to buy some time. Perhaps an amazingly clever plan would come to me! Wishful thinking, I know. 

"I want the book." Lilith could see right through my attempts at deception, and unlike every other villain ever, she didn't elaborate on her plans. Maybe I could make her.

"What do you want it for?"

"I have my reasons." Apparently not. 

"Okay. Okay. Just let me get it for you. It's up there," I said, pointing to my bedroom window.

"I'm glad we understand each other." Lilith smiled a cold smile. She had won, and she knew it. I backed up slowly, not taking my eyes away from Luca for one second. He was just standing there, silent, but I could see the fear in his eyes. For one horrible moment I thought, well now he has to believe me about magic. I quickly banished that thought. Now was not the time for 'I-told-you-so's', no matter how much someone may or may not deserve it. I reached the threshold and ran into the house, up the stairs two at a time, and into my room, where the book sat open on my bed. I flipped through it rapidly. There had to be a disguise spell in here somewhere. After a minute, much too long, I found it. It was toward the back of the book, with those small dots going about three quarters of the way across the page. I had never attempted something this complicated before. I looked at the incantation and was relieved to find that no extra ingredients were necessary. I grabbed a random book off of my shelf and placed it next to the spellbook. I splayed my fingers out over the book and poured all of my energy into the incantation.

                      "Obtenum, obtenum, sub a specie, nemo erit, quid vere mendacium.

                        Celare, occultare, nemo erit sentire, aliquid quod posset esse vera.

    Nec odor, nec sapore, nec visu, nec tactu, nec sonus erit ostendere, quid inveniri potest."

This was the tricky part. I had to make up an incantation to transform the random book into what would look like the spellbook. I let the magic flow through me, guiding me to the right words.

                                "Nuc iam non estis vos, dicendum, quod tibi, qui es. 

                                    Te amet, te lux, te sunt, omnes creaturae noctis.

              Tu doce, magia, et ego discere, tempus necessarium pro mundi verto.

                                Extra, intus ex, ostenderet quod non habet dubium.

                                       Esse quae vult oculis eius, sed non in medio."

Half of me expected nothing to happen. The other half expected that the magic would be too much for me and would consume me, dooming me forever to be half-existing on the spiritual plane. I found out that was possible from Asmodeus after I complained that he didn't want me trying some of the more difficult spells. Suffice it to say, that bit of information shut me up pretty quickly. 

Anyway, none of me was prepared for it to work, but it did. I saw the cover of the book--apparently it was "The Grapes of Wrath", no great loss there, shimmer and change until it resembled the cover of the spellbook perfectly. I prayed to God, who I now knew to some extent was real, that this would work. I tucked the spellbook under my bed and took the duplicate, running downstairs, hoping Lilith hadn't been too suspicious by my long absence. As I leaped to the floor from four stairs up, my legs crumpled underneath me. 

Damn, I knew that magic had seemed too easy. I struggled to my feet. Apparently, Nico Di Angelo had been right. With great power does come great need to take a nap. I stumbled to the back door, trying my best not to look as exhausted as I felt. Everyone was standing exactly as they had been. Asmodeus was staring at the ground, as if his mother was about to scold him for eating ice cream before dinner, Luca was still just silently standing there, and Lilith was look at me impatiently. 

"What took you so long you insolent child?" She hissed as I approached, still struggling to stay upright, let alone come up with a clever response. 

"I have it," I managed to get out. Lilith smiled sweetly.

"Wonderful. Hand it over." I did. She looked at me suspiciously. "No begging and pleading? No fight at all?"

"I just want my brother back. I don't care about some stupid book," I lied. She gave me a suspicious squint again, and flipped through the pages. I was about to collapse. I could feel it. I fought to keep my eyes open. If I fell she would know I was lying to her. She would kill Luca, and me just for good measure, then she would take the book herself. Asmodeus looked from me to the book, and shook his head. I heard his voice in my mind.

"Don't," he said, or thought, or whatever.

"Don't worry. I didn't give her the real book." I looked at him and saw something like panic in his eyes.

"Get your brother and run. Now."

"She'll only catch us. This will work. Don't worry."

"I could tell it wasn't the real book as soon as you brought it out here. So can she. Go. Now!" It took me a moment too long to process what he was saying. When I finally did, my eyes went wide with shock. I lurched forward, but my tired legs couldn't move fast enough, and Lilith was ready. With an almost bored flick of her hand, Luca's head did a one-eighty degree turn, and he fell to the ground, neck broken.