Page 141 of Demons Dig Donuts

“No, silly!” Gammy giggled, but then she gasped. “Oh! But I bet I could! Like, a nice crack that made you feel like you were holding a fluffy kitten or taking a sip of hot cocoa or—”

“Gammy. Crack later. Answers now.”

“Oh, oh, yes.” Gammy shook her head. “Remember how I thought the sampaguita was being used to potentially purify the negative energy of nasty, dark ingredients?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wrong. No, no, it’s much worse than that.”

“Huh?” Indy frowned. “What’s worse than nasty, dark ingredients and negative energy?”

“Fae.”

“Oh. Yeah. Yeah, that’s definitely worse.”

Gammy gestured to the crushed pills in the butter dish. “The sampaguita is not only increasing the power of this drug and making it even more addictive, but it’s also there to stabilize the potential effects. Plus, eh, I think it may be trying to recreate one specific result.”

“But it’s fae magic.” Mr. Heiss scowled. “That’s impossible. The very nature of their powers are nothing but chaos.”

“Which is why they’re using the sampaguita.” Gammy waved at the bubbling pot. “Think of it like magical sandpaper. With every new batch, they’re refining the effects, or at least, trying to. While I don’t think it’s possible to be a hundred percent accurate every time, it’s going to do whatever it is they want it to! At least most of the time.”

“And what exactly are they trying to do?”

Gammy crossed the kitchen to a big plastic bowl full of what appeared to be liquid rainbows at a low boil. “They’re trying to recreate a dream.”

“A dream?” Indy followed her to peer inside the bowl curiously. “How the hell did they get a dream in there?”

“If it’s truly a fae’s magic, then almost anything is possible,” Mr. Heiss replied, rolling his eyes as he summoned—what else—a big tray of fresh donuts. “They can take memories, your first breath, all sorts of nonsense.”

“Like what Missing Guy did,” Indy recalled. “Right. Got it. I mean, I don’t entirely, but yes. It’s weird.”

“Can you see what dream was used?” Mr. Heiss picked up a chocolate donut covered in sprinkles. “Or is that beyond your ability?”

“Making you choke on that donut is within my ability, buster,” Gammy warned. “Just because Indy is sweet on you doesn’t mean I won’t teach you what a wrong-side-up cake feels like.”

Mr. Heiss grimaced. “My apologies.” He tipped his head and offered a surprisingly pleasant smile. “Please. Are you able to see it, wise and beautiful witch?”

Gammy pursed her lips, humming thoughtfully. “I know you’re only saying that because you’re kissing my booty right now… but I’ll take it.” She waved her hand over the bowl and the bubbles stopped. “Here. Look.”

The rainbow shifted and created shapes, and the image of a classroom appeared. Judging by the perspective looking out over the students, the dream was from that of the teacher. As it was literally happening from their point of view, the only parts visible of their person were their hands and the lower half of their arms. They appeared to be a human man wearing a dark green sweater. They pointed at rows of mathematical problems on a whiteboard, turned to gesture to the students, and then went back to pointing at the board. There was sound, perhaps the teacher speaking, but it was weirdly garbled like the adults on Peanuts.

But then…

The students screamed.

Okay, that was crystal clear.

The teacher’s vision jerked all around in alarm and then trembled as they stared down at their hands.

Hands that were no longer human.

Scales sprouted over their skin, bright blue and slick with slime, and claws curled from the ends of their fingers. The sleeves of their sweater ripped and split open as their body grew bigger, and the students hurled threats of calling the police and having them sent to a laboratory to be cut open and dissected and…

The dream ended.

The rainbows shifted and the dream started again.

Gammy waved her hand, and the bowl went back to bubbling rainbows.