Page 126 of Demons Dig Donuts

Indy cupped Mr. Heiss’s cheek, pulling him in for another kiss. He let this one linger, mumbling, “It is amazing how you can be nice and still, like, a total asshole at the same time.”

Mr. Heiss sighed and cracked a tiny smile. “I am very talented.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, maybe I will try to listen better or whatever.” Indy rolled his eyes.

That was when he noticed the sky darkening again.

Very dark.

He looked up.

“Okay,” he said slowly, “but maybe we can talk about this, uh, later? Because that seems to be a slightly bigger problem.”

The gargoyle who had grabbed Indy was back and had about fifty of his friends with him.

Fucking fabulous.

Mr. Heiss narrowed his eyes. “Where is your leshy?”

“Good question.” Indy blinked as he looked around, spying a familiar flash of green crawling up over the edge of the roof. “Dill!”

“Tell him to shield you or get you the hell out of here,” Mr. Heiss said firmly as he set Indy down. “Now.”

“What are you—”

“We do not have time. Did we not just have a discussion about listening?”

Dill managed to make it over the edge. He seemed out of breath as he lumbered toward them, staring at the incoming swarm. “Grow?”

“No time,” Mr. Heiss said quickly. “Protect Indy.”

Dill gave Mr. Heiss a stubborn look, but he grabbed Indy in a bear hug, wrapping him up in a thick tangle of vines and foliage.

“Hey, hey! No!” Indy protested. “I do not want to go in the ball!”

“Ball,” Dill said simply.

“Who’s your boss, huh? Me or him? Dammit, Dill!” Indy tried to squirm but soon he couldn’t move at all. He could see through a tiny crack in the leaves, and he had no idea what Mr. Heiss was about to do.

First, there was light.

Sky blue, deep cerulean, violet, and then shining white so bright that it stung Indy’s eyes.

Next came a flutter, and the wings in Mr. Heiss’s back doubled.

Wait, tripled.

Now he had six magnificent wings, three on each side and descending in scale, and all of them were scorched and burning with the incredible light. Dozens of eyes suddenly erupted from the feathers, lavender and gleaming and full of flames. His crown exploded with pale purple fire, strange black tendrils curled over his body, and then the light completely whited out his form, obscuring Indy’s vision of what was happening.

It was over in seconds, and Indy was only aware Mr. Heiss had taken off into the sky because the ball of light moved upward right into the middle of the gargoyles. He hadn’t been able to see all of the transformation, but he was certain Mr. Heiss had gotten much, much bigger.

And more eyeball-y.

Eyeball-ish?

Whatever.

There was a loud thwoom followed by the screaming and howling of the gargoyles, and the entire sky lit up. Car alarms went off, sirens pierced the air, and there was the definite sound of something crashing—maybe a truck. The ball around Indy shuddered from the blast and then teetered forward, drawn in by the incredible back draft.