Page 128 of Demons Dig Donuts

The whooshing flapping of wings signaled Mr. Heiss’s return, and he landed beside Indy. “Indy! Are you all right?”

“Great.” Indy tried to poke out a single finger through the ball to reach Mr. Heiss. “Whenever Dill is done playing Toss the Gargoyle, can we talk to him about getting me the hell out of here?”

“Of course.”

“What, uh, what did you do?”

“I solved the problem.”

“By making it rain gargoyles?” Indy scoffed, clearing his throat and trying not to cough again. “Pretty sure that’s a bad idea with the whole keeping monsters a secret thing.”

“I’ll deal with it later. Luke can take care of it and—”

“Ew, ew, ew. I’m good. Fine.” Indy made a face. “Never mind.” He sighed. “So, uh…” Their eyes met through the tangle of leaves, and his heart skipped over itself.

“What is it, Sonnenschein?” Mr. Heiss lightly touched Indy’s finger.

“It’s just…” Indy curled their fingers together.

“What?”

He could tell Mr. Heiss the truth right now—about his deal with Mr. Kalt, the cancer, being abandoned, all of it. He was getting sicker. He was dying. He had no idea if Gammy would really be able to help him, especially given the speed at which his symptoms were returning…

And only getting worse.

The ring glittered on his hand where their fingers remained locked through the foliage, and a sliver of doubt crept into his mind. There was still a chance that Mr. Heiss was playing him. This could be a trick, and Indy had to face facts.

It was easier to believe that Mr. Heiss wanted to use him rather than believe he actually cared about him.

“You really couldn’t stand the idea of a gargoyle taking me out, huh?” Indy grinned, teasing in a little singsong voice, “You like me.”

“Oh my God.”

“You think I’m sexy.”

“Shut up now.”

“You wanna have my babies.”

“What? I—” Mr. Heiss growled. “I should have let the gargoyles eat you.”

Indy just laughed.

Once Dill released Indy from the leaf ball, he healed his injuries. The ones from the gargoyle’s talons were simple enough, but Indy could still feel that dreaded heaviness in his chest as the cancer ate away at him. It was easier to breathe now and he didn’t feel like he had to cough, so maybe Dill’s magic had done him some good after all.

Not a cure, but at least something to help hold him over until they could return to Gammy.

Mr. Heiss brought Indy back down to the sidewalk once Dill was done, but they took the very boring way down the fire escape. His little fiery sky kaboom had already drawn way too much attention. The resulting chaos included a power outage, at least three wrecks, and lots of curious people poking dead gargoyle bodies amongst a sea of police cars, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles. Mr. Heiss herded Indy back to the shop as men in suits who were definitely not human and included Luke arrived to sort through the mess.

Probably about to pull some Men In Black style shenanigans or whatever it was monsters did to hide shit when they fucked up.

Not that Indy was mad about that. He obviously very much appreciated Mr. Heiss going supernova demon to save his life, but he had a feeling the rest of the Mostro Family would not be pleased.

Judging by the shitty looks Lou and Sariel were both sporting when they returned to the flower shop, Indy was pretty sure he was correct.

Neil had been holding Lou close, but he broke away to greet Indy with a big hug. “Hey! You’re okay!”

Indy forgot how to use his limbs for a moment before he awkwardly returned the hug. “Uh, yeah. Thanks to this big guy here.”