If the alarm hadn’t been enough to rouse Kyle, the half-empty soda bottle thudding to the floor when he reached for the clock finished the job. Luckily, the cap had been screwed on properly - a rarity in his house - and there was no spill to clean up. The only thing for him to do was wonder how the bottle had gotten there in the first place.

“Ryka?”

There was no answer. Ryka was generally nocturnal, and Kyle had a feeling the demon had just drifted off. He often woke up, or stayed up, long enough to greet his host in the morning, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself.

And this was one of those mornings Kyle really wished he were awake. Because Ryka had only been out a short time the night before, and Kyle had been the one to get into bed. Something he certainly hadn’t done with the help of half a liter or so of highly caffeinated, sugary soda.

He was still puzzling on the problem when got up and started toward the kitchen for his coffee. Eyes half closed, he shuffled to the counter, filled a mug and headed for the living room. But he froze mid-step in the front of the fridge.

Scrawled across the bottom of the grocery list he always kept there, in huge, sloppy lettering, was the word “Vodka.” Slowly, he finished his step, leaning in closer to the list, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. But no, there it was. And that was certainly Ryka’s handwriting.

Kyle’s head was starting to hurt. This had been happening far too much recently. Somehow, Ryka was doing things he wasn’t aware of, and Kyle well knew that if Ryka was in control, he was supposed to be watching. He really didn’t have a choice. So whatever was going on just didn’t make any sense.

It was time for some answers. “Ryka, wake up.” Really, he hadn’t expected it to be that easy. “Come on, Ry, I have something to ask you.” Still nothing. With a sigh, Kyle tried a new tactic. “How about a beer?” This, he had been sure would work. He never let Ryka drink in the morning. Not even on weekends. The lure still wasn’t enough, though. Instinctively glancing around, Kyle mumbled, “A hand job, maybe?”

There was a brief glimmer of hope when Ryka made a noise that sounded like an affirmative, but Kyle quickly realized the demon was just talking in his sleep. “Seriously? That’s not even good enough? Well, shit.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to get any information out of Ryka this early in the day, Kyle tore the list off the notepad and threw it in his briefcase. He had a whole free period after lunch to interrogate the demon, and he was desperate enough for an explanation that if need be, he’d come home and resort to whatever means necessary to find out how Ryka was doing things without his knowledge.

***

“Were you drunk when you wrote this?” Adam asked, handing the grocery list back to its owner.

“What? No. That’s Ryka’s handwriting.”

“He’s asleep, right?”

Much to Kyle’s frustration, the answer was “yes.” The school day was half over, and he still hadn’t heard anything from Ryka. That was unusual in itself, but today in particular it was incredibly annoying.

“I probably shouldn’t say anything, but it’s really messy. I mean, one of my cousin’s kids just started learning to write, and hers is about a hundred times better than this.”

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“He’s so coordinated, and yet he writes like this. Though I guess demons don’t have much need for good penmanship. He can read, understand, and presumably speak more languages than are in use today, but he didn’t really know how to write. I showed him years ago, but not well enough, apparently.”

They were sitting in Kyle’s classroom, the only place at school Kyle felt even remotely comfortable discussing Ryka-related subjects. And since the demon had yet to wake up, even during Kyle’s free period, Kyle had asked Adam to come help him brainstorm. Suddenly, Kyle realized that if he didn’t know, Adam certainly wouldn’t. Trashing Ryka’s horrid handwriting was making him feel a little better, though.

“I’d blame it on him being a lefty, but ….”

“Wait, he’s a lefty?” Currently, Adam was watching his friend twirl a pen in his right hand. And he was sure he’d seen Kyle correcting essays, and that he’d used his right hand when writing comments on his students’ work.

“He is. I’m not. Well, I think he’s actually pretty ambidextrous, but he picked up the pen with his left hand the first time and it stuck.” Saying that Ryka didn’t really favor one hand over the other was only an assumption. Aside from drinking and smoking, there was really only one task Kyle frequently saw Ryka use his hands for, and he usually used both for that.

But he shook the thought just in time to hear Adam comment “That’s … unusual.”

From the look on his face, it was apparent that Kyle thought this was the least unusual aspect of the situation. “It was weird trying to teach him. But, anyhow, I just can’t figure this out. He put stuff in the bag I packed for the senior trip I didn’t know about,” Kyle explained, purposely failing to mention exactly what that stuff was, “and last night wasn’t the first time since then that I’ve found things out of place around the house.”

“I wish I could help.”

“Thanks.”

***

That night, while Kyle was dozing off on the couch, Ryka finally woke. Hey.

“Did you have a nice nap? Or should I say coma?”

I was still paying attention, Ryka informed him, sounding as groggy as his host.

“Just choosing to ignore me?”

You got it.

Kyle sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. The TV remote slid off his chest, but the TV was off before he could even think of reaching for the device. Ryka saving him the trouble. “That doesn’t make up for it.”

What will?

There was no doubt Ryka knew what Kyle had been wanting to ask him. And Kyle was sure the demon had been sleeping all day just to avoid this discussion. Because if Ryka did deign to answer, he had to tell the truth.

“How about letting me in on this new trick of yours?”

Trick? Ryka asked. Being a pain in the ass wasn’t lying. But it sure was fun.

“Really, Ryka?”

Fine. The demon didn’t sound pleased, but Kyle knew he was finally going to get an answer. You’re going to kick yourself. You were all worked up that something really bad was going on, huh? Well … it’s really just that you don’t remember.

“How can that be?”

I just wake you up, summon myself and do whatever I want while you’re half-alseep. That easy.

Exasperated, Kyle covered his face with his hands. “Do you have any idea how tired I’ve been? How worried?”

Yup.

“You’re an ass. No, that doesn’t quite cover it. I don’t think there’s a word that does.”

“Demon,” maybe?

“Shut up. Why are you doing this to me?”

I was bored. I’ll stop.

Fully prepared to continue arguing, Kyle froze with his mouth open. It took a few moments to process what Ryka had said. “You’ll stop? Just like that?”

If it keeps you from bitching, sure.

“You’re really too much.”

I like to keep you on your toes.

“There’s no need.”

We’ll see.