Turns out controlled magic was not as easy as it seemed. The next spell I tried was a levitation charm. I accidentally almost sent Alex through the roof instead of the pencil. I like to think that the important thing was that I didn't. He didn't agree. I wanted to try a tickling charm but Alex flat-out refused. Most of the spells I couldn't try because I didn't have the right materials, or a willing test subject. I did try an enlargement spell. It didn't work. Apparently that was beyond my skill level at the moment. Even so, I went home happy, and Alex promised to meet me at the library the next day. I got home after dark that night, just in time for dinner. I ate quickly, and kept making eye contact with Luca, and then looking away quickly. I wanted so badly to tell him everything. But at the same time, I enjoyed spending time with Alex. Just the two of us, laughing and poking fun at each other. After dinner I made my way towards my room. Luca stopped me before I could go in and turned me to face him.

"Okay, you've been looking at me all night. What's up?" He asked.

"What? No I haven't. That's crazy. Why would I do that? Nothing's up." I said all of that very quickly. I like to think that I am....was.... an excellent liar. But I could never lie to Luca, and he could never lie to me. It was just part of our relationship. I had never before kept a secret from him, especially not something this big. He looked at me skeptically and I caved almost immediately. So much for resilience.

"Get in here," I said, pulling him into my room. I shut the door and took a deep breath.

"Okay, seriously. If you killed someone, I do not want to know. Plausible deniability and all that," Luca said nervously.

"Wow. Such faith you have in me," I replied sarcastically. He rolled his eyes in response.

"Alright. What did you need to talk to me about?" He asked.

"Well--"

"Wait. Don't tell me. It's about Charlie?"

"Um. No. Actually--"

"Alex?"

"Not really, no. It's--"

"Someone else?"

"Will you shut up?" I said, struggling to keep my voice low. He closed his mouth and nodded mutely. "Thank you," I breathed. "Okay. I'm not really sure how to tell you this, but I'm kind of a... magician?" Luca looked at me blankly and then busted out laughing. He crumpled to the floor in laughter and started rolling around, which seemed a bit much to me. I thought briefly about trying the tickling charm on him, but managed to restrain myself. Truly a feat of extreme self control. He got ahold of himself and stood up, wiping a literal tear from his eyes.

"Wow that was good. Thanks. I needed that," he said. He turned to leave. I decided that I would have to offer him proof.

"Tincidunt," I said, experimenting with a locking charm I hadn't gotten to try earlier. I heard the lock click, signifying that the charm worked. Luca looked at me in surprise.

"Okay, come on. That was totally planned. I don't know how you did it, but magic isn't real," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You know I couldn't lie to you," I responded, a hint of pleading entering my voice. He laughed.

"Maybe but magic still isn't real."

"Oh for god's sake get your head out of your ass," I snapped.

"Wow. Okay. I can see you feel very strongly about this. I still don't believe you, but okay. What do you need from me?" He said with a placating gesture.

"Well....nothing. I just wanted you to know."

"Alright. Now I know. If you don't mind, I'm going to my room now."

"Resera." The door unlocked.

"You have got to teach me how to rig that up," he said on his way out. The door closed with a bang behind him. I sighed heavily. I don't know why I thought he would believe me. I just did. I sat on my bed and sighed again. Whatever, I told myself. I don't care if he believes me. I still have Alex so who cares. Right?

"Right."

"Thank you." I responded.

"You're quite welcome." It took me a very long second to realize that I was alone in my room.

"What the hell." I said, sitting up from where I had lain down on my bed.

"That is actually quite accurate," the voice said.

"Where are you?" I asked, scanning the room with my eyes.

"Where do you think I am?" The voice was a little raspy. Male. And...British. My eyes fell on my backpack.

"Okay. Fine. What are you?" I tried.

"Well I'm a demon of course," the voice responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. It sounded like it was coming from my backpack. I slowly made my way towards it, not taking my eyes off of it.

"Right. A demon. Of course you are. And why are you in my backpack?" I picked up my backpack and unzipped it quickly before backing away again. I was not taking any chances.

"Well you set me free. How was I supposed to know I was going to end up in your...what did you call this thing? A back. Pack? Forgive me, love. It's been so long since I've been out and about." Something peaked it's head out of the opening, and when I say something, I mean it. It crawled all the way out, revealing itself to be something that definitely belonged in a cartoon. It was a little gargoyle. It even had a pointy tail and horns. It was rust colored with bright, blood red eyes. "No need to stare love," it said.

"Oh excuse me for staring at the creepy little demon gargoyle that just climbed out of my backpack," I responded, my natural tendency towards sarcasm taking over in a stressful situation.

"Ah. Forgive me for my lack of manners. The name's Asmodeus. Pleasure to meet you."

"As in... the prince of hell?" I asked.

"Well aren't you clever." I had a hard time believing that this ugly little gargoyle thing could possibly be a demon prince of hell. As if reading my mind, he looked down at his body and laughed.

"Oh how embarrassing. It seems you've caught me in my devil-on-your-shoulder form. I do believe a quick costume change ought to be in order don't you?" I stared as he was enveloped in a thick cloud of black smoke. When it cleared I had to fight the urge to let my jaw drop. Asmodeus now looked to be around 18 or 19, tall, with pale skin, jet black hair. The only things that hadn't changed were his bright red eyes. But even those looked somehow better in that new body. He was wearing a crisp, dark suit. He was hot as, well....hell. He grinned at me and I could see a mischievous glint in his eyes, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. "Like what you see love?" He asked innocently. I realized I was staring and quickly looked away. My gaze went back to him almost immediately.

"How did you get here?" I asked. Anything to break the silence.

"I do believe I've already told you that. You set me free. Thanks you very much for that by the way. Being stuck in a book really is no fun at all. It's been ages since I've tortured a soul."

"Right. And how did I set you free?"

"Well I imagine you unlocked the lock." I did a mental face-palm. That stupid unlocking spell must have done more than unlock the door. I really should have read the weird little paragraph that had been on that page. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I have been so stupid? Then again, it wasn't really my fault was it? I mean, what kind of idiot locks a demon in a book and makes it so that close to the easiest charm in the book lets it out? Really. Not my fault at all. But the question wasn't whose fault it was. What the hell was I going to do with a prince of hell? I was already a little surprised that he hadn't killed me. "Kill you? Why on earth would I kill you? That would be silly. You did set me free after all and I'm more into torturing already dead souls. Killing is always so quick. Souls can't die so I can carve, and carve, and carve and—"

"Thank you," I interrupted. "I get the picture, but how did you know know what I was thinking?"

"Well you told me of course," he said, tapping his head for effect.

"You read my mind? That is so creepy on so many levels. Not cool at all. I would really like you to get out of me now." I realized almost instantly that I could have phrased that better. He raised an eyebrow at me and I mentally face-palmed again. "My head. Get out of my head," I amended.

"Oh believe me love I have no desire to be in your mind. Unfortunately that's not how it works. You set me free, so now I am bound to you. Your humble servant and all of that nonsense. Don't you just hate magic? Basically I am permanently implanted in your mind. I can read your mind and, should you choose, you can read mine. Although I wouldn't recommend that. Might drive you insane." Asmodeus picked at his cuticles delicately.

"What do you mean bound to me? Can't I just order you to go away?" I asked. I thought it was a perfectly good question but he laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd heard in his eons of existence.

"Oh goodness that's good. When I said 'bound to you' I meant it quite literally. I cannot be more than like 50 meters from you."

"Right. So what you're saying is that I'm stuck being followed by a demon for the rest of my life." I prayed that he would say no, but unfortunately...

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. Glad you understand." He laid down on my bed with a sigh and stretched out like a cat.

"Fine. Fine. Just, can you change shape again? Something less...human? I think people might start to wonder about some creepy boy following me everywhere."

"Nah. I rather like being human."

"I thought you couldn't disobey me."

"Well that all depends on phrasing doesn't it? Yes. I can turn into anything. It's one of the perks of being me."

"Fine. Then I order you to turn into something that isn't human." He smirked, an evil twinkle entering his eyes. I really should have known better. Wording and everything. I blinked and was face to face with an alligator. Or maybe a crocodile. I can't tell the difference. I stifled a scream, which in itself was a feat of extreme bravery. "Not what I meant," I squeaked.

"What would you prefer?" The alligator snarled with a pointy toothed grin.

"A cat. Actually, a kitten. I command you to turn into a kitten." If an alligator could roll it's eyes, this one would have, but it did what I said. A moment later, a little white kitten with those bright red eyes was in front of me. I'm gonna be honest, I was definitely expecting a black kitten.

"Happy now?" he grumbled.

"Would you rather be a fly?" I asked with mock innocence. He backed a way a little bit and hissed. "That's what I thought. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep now. I'll deal with this," I waved my hands around vaguely at the situation I had gotten myself into. "Tomorrow." He stood at the foot of the bed. If a cat could glare, that would be what he was doing. I grabbed my pajamas and went into my closet to change. No way was I undressing in front of some kitten-shaped demon. I climbed into bed and closed my eyes. I felt a soft little head nudging my hand up and opened my eyes a little to see the little demon kitten trying to burrow under my arm. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked sleepily.

"If I am going to be a kitten, I might as well act like one," Asmodeus said huffily.

"Oh whatever. Fine," I sighed. I closed my eyes again and fell into a sleep filled with dreams of magic and all of its possibilities.