She had to tell her Mummy it was taking longer than planned, but thankfully she didn’t mind. In the end it took her eight days before she had something she was satisfied with, but the circle finally felt like it hummed with anticipation. Magic! A proper magic circle. She’d kept the basic design the same, but substituted in some runes from The Hobbit instead of the Hebrew or English letters. They looked more magical but it took her a few goes to get ones that felt right, that clicked in just the right way. She drew them with determination, trying to wish them to work. She tapped her magic wand on each rune and sigil after she finished drawing each one, and sometimes it felt like a tiny spark of static leapt from the wand to the symbols, leaving her feeling a little drained and tired. She wished twice as hard while drawing the sigil of her favourite chosen demon inside the circle in the containment triangle. It felt perfect, and she just knew it was all going to work. It took a long time get everything done to her satisfaction, and she went to bed early for two nights in a row. Daddy worried she was sick when she didn’t want to stay up late reading like usual, but she reassured him that she was just tired and that he needn’t worry. Only her Daddy was allowed to check on her at nights all week – she didn’t want Mummy to see her magic circle and guess at her surprise.