“He’s right here!” She turned on the light.
Ix’thor tried to dart away from the beam, but he was trapped in the corner. When he hid himself in his robe, her hand darted out and wrapped around his leathery body. “I’ve got him!”
But she didn’t have him. Tiny claws slashed at her hand, right between her finger and thumb.
“Eeeeeee!”
* * *
“I hate him!” Mathilde said through her tears. Mother wiped at her face, at the bubble of snot that was hanging from her nose. “I don’t want a demon! I hate demons!”
“Oh, sweetie,” Mother said. “It’s just a tiny little cut. He was just scared of you, that’s all.”
“I don’t care! I don’t want a demon! I want a pony!”
Nana shook her head. “Sometimes ponies bite too, child.”
Mathilde had had enough of this. “They do not!”
“Oh, you think so?” Nana said. “When I was a girl, my best friend, Sheryl, had her finger bitten clean off!”
Mathilde looked up through a blurry curtain of tears. She couldn’t tell if Nana was making fun of her or not.
“You have to be careful with animals, Matty-Patty.” Mother stroked Mathilde’s hair. “Sometimes when they’re scared they lash out. They don’t know any better.”
“But I was being careful!” Why didn’t anyone believe her?
Mathilde looked up at the sound of Father’s footsteps.
“Well that’s that,” Father said. “He’s back in his cage. I don’t know how he got out of there, but he’ll need a cutting torch to do it again.”
“I don’t want him in my room!” Mathilde said. “I can’t sleep when he’s in there.”
Nana sighed. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Fred. I’m sorry. I’ll take him back to the store tomorrow.”
Mathilde suddenly felt queasy. Too late, she remembered her promise, her pony. “Wait!” Mathilde said. “I didn’t … really mean it. He can stay.”
Nana and Mother looked at each other. Nana looked like she was laughing at something, but Mother didn’t look so amused.
“Do you really mean it?” Mother asked.
Mathilde nodded.
“Because this is your last chance,” Mother went on. “If you say you don’t want him one more time we’ll give him to someone who does.”
“I know.” Mathilde looked at her knees.
“You have to promise you’ll take care of him, and be gentle with him.”
“I promise,” Mathilde said. “I’ll take good care of him.”
* * *
There was cake at the party. It was chocolate with white frosting and candy sprinkles, just like Mathilde wanted. And there were lots of presents, including a camera and a unicycle and eleven different kinds of toy pony.
Mathilde smiled when she opened each present, and because Mother was looking she made sure to say thank you to everyone who gave her something—even Aunt Maggie, who wasn’t actually there. But she wasn’t really happy. Even the unicycle, which she had asked for specially, didn’t make her happy. When Robby Ferguson asked her if he could play with it, she said she didn’t mind.
“This is so cool.” Robby wobbled on the pedals, gripping the back of the couch. “I’m gonna get one for my birthday.”
“I already have one,” said Becky Hamilton. “It’s okay. But I like riding horses better. Daddy says I can have one of my own for my next birthday.”
“Yeah right,” Suzy Feldstein said.
“It’s true!” Becky tossed her hair in her stuck-up, Becky-Hamilton way. “I made him promise.”
“I did get another present,” Mathilde said. The other children all looked at her. “You want to see him?”
* * *
“You have to turn the lights down.” Mathilde turned the dial down to a murky gloom. “He doesn’t like light.”
“What’s in there?” Becky Hamilton stepped back. “It’s not a snake, is it?”
“Sh!” Mathilde said, because she felt like it. “It’s not a snake.”
Mathilde opened the curtains around the cage and turned on the special red light in the lid, then stepped back.
The cage had changed since the last time she’d seen it. Ix’thor had moved around the pebbles at the bottom and stacked them up into a high-backed chair. He had taken apart his cardboard box and used it to build a little tower. Another piece of cardboard had been fashioned into a wide, diamond-shaped sword with tiny skulls carved into the blade. In the dim red light, it looked like every pebble in the cage had been worn down slightly to resemble hundreds of itty-bitty multicolored skulls.
WELCOME TO MY DOMAIN, Ix’thor said. FOOLS. DID YOU THINK YOU COULD DEFEAT ME?
“Wow!” Robby said. “That’s cool!”
“What kind of demon is he?” Suzy asked.
“He’s a Dark Lord.” Mathilde felt the first stirrings of a real smile.
“No he’s not,” Becky said. “Dark Lords have horns.”
Mathilde puffed up. “That shows what you know, Becky! This one was born without any horns.”
“Does he do any tricks?” Robby leaned in to peer through the glass.
“Um…” Mathilde hesitated. “Not yet.”
BOW BEFORE ME!
“You shouldn’t actually bow,” Mathilde said. “That just encourages him.”
“Oh, man!” Robby was practically hopping up and down. “He’s so awesome! I want a demon too!”
“I can’t have one,” Suzy said. “My mom’s allergic to demons.”
Mathilde smiled at Suzy. “You can come over here and play with Ix’thor if you want.”
“Really?”
“It’s not that big a deal,” Becky said. “It’s just a demon. What good is a demon who doesn’t even do anything? I bet he bites.”
Mathilde’s eyes widened and she pressed her lips together. Why did Becky have to be such a stuck-up brat? Why did Mother even invite her, anyway? Mathilde wanted to punch her, right in her turned-up nose.
FOOLISH MORTALS, Ix’thor rumbled. NOW BEHOLD MY TRUE POWER!
The inky clouds rolling around the bottom of Ix’thor’s robe rolled up for a moment, as if being sucked back into his body. Then, his cardboard sword held over his head, Ix’thor emitted a burst of crimson fire from his hands. The eldritch flame danced along the edges of the blade, licking and curling, but not burning.
Robby looked like he was about to pee his pants. “Wow! You said he didn’t do any tricks!”
“Well…” Mathilde tried not to look too smug. “Maybe he’s
