The time is ripe. The stage is set. The stars have aligned. 

I’m not sure about the last one, actually; I don’t have a telescope. It’s just an expression, anyway. The book says this ritual only needs the things I’ve already set up. 

My room looks like a tsunami has swept everything away. My bed has been pushed into the corner of the room, and all of my books, my clothes, my television set and gaming consoles, all of it, has been shoved aside to make way for the big, chalk circle I’ve drawn in the centre on the floorboards. Each point of the twenty-one-pointed star in the middle of the circle ends in a candle, and twenty of them are already lit. All that’s left is to light the final candle and then boom! Demon. 

Hopefully. 

“Doing your homework, buddy?” My dad says from outside my door, knocking on it three times to let me know he’s coming in. My eye twitches, staring at the chair that I’ve shoved underneath the door handle. He tries to open it, but the chair stays put. I hear an exasperated groan. “For God’s sake, Nelson, what have we told you about blocking the door?” 

“I’m busy!” I yell back, flicking the lighter in my hand on and off. “And don’t use God’s name in vain!” 

“This is the third time now. If you do this one more time, I’m going to remove the door, got it?” 

“Yup!” I hear his footsteps recede, and I breathe a sigh of relief, turning my attention back to the final candle. I walk around the edge of the circle, careful not to touch it with my foot, and kneel next to the unlit candle. I flick the lighter, putting it to the wick, and my heart lurches as it begins to burn, the flame flickering brightly. I leap back, slamming against the wall, and squint, raising my hands ready to protect my face. 

A fiery, evil, scaly demon is about to enter our realm, and I’ll be its master. It’s gonna be so hot in here in a second. 

Any second now. 

Any moment. 

It’s gonna happen. 

I lower my hands, blinking at the circle on the ground. Maybe I lit the last candle too late? Or maybe the star isn’t drawn right. 

I groan, walking to my bed and sitting on it, pouting. I spent so much time on this! I missed family dinner; I even gave up my gaming time! 

I lift the covers of my bed, ready to go to sleep and forget about this disaster, before I’m stopped by a rush of roaring heat that blasts directly into my face. A column of flame has erupted from the circle, rushing up into the ceiling like a furnace vent. I cover my face, yelping with pain, and a flash sweat forms on my forehead. The heat ends as quickly as it starts, and the column of flame dies down, leaving a circle of soot and burnt drywall on the ceiling. 

“Am I late again? Ah, piss.” A high pitched, irritable voice squeaks up from within the circle, and I look down to see a miniature, red, winged creature standing there, complete with horns and a barbed tail. He’s squinting at me. “What are you, a tiny human?” 

“I haven’t hit my growth spurt,” I murmur without thinking, my eyes wide and fixed on the beast in front of me. 

“Good excuse, tiny.” 

“Well… Well, you’re a tiny demon!” 

He crosses his arms and pouts at me. “I’ll have you know that I am the tallest Imp in my domain!” 

“I wanted a bigger demon.” 

The Imp looks around, surveying the chalk circle. “A bigger demon? With this piss-ass tiny circle? Is your brain as tiny as you are?” 

“How big’s the circle supposed to be?” 

“How big’s the demon you want?” 

I think about it for a second. “Really big.” 

“Then the circle needs to be really big, genius.” 

“This circle is really big! It covers my entire room!” 

“You kidding? It’s fucking tiny!” 

“Hey!” I shout, frowning at the demon. “No swearing!” 

He gives me an odd look. “You summoned a demon. And you’re worried about swearing?” 

“Swearing is for bad people only.” 

“Are you—” he clears his throat, looking to the sky and screwing his eyes shut, balling his hands into fists. “Alright. Okay. Anyway, what evils will we commit this night? Murder? Robbery?” 

I lay flat on my stomach, reaching down and grabbing my school bag, rifling through it. After a few moments, I pull out a book. “Homework.” 

The Imp scoffs. “Very funny.” 

“I’m serious.” 

He looks at me.  

Then he looks at the book.  

Then back at me.  

Then the book. 

“You’re serious.”