Page 146 of Demons Dig Donuts

“No, no, dear.” Gammy shook her head. “Fae family lines are a bit complicated, but they are not truly related to King Zolrya. I don’t even think they’re related to each other, though they are both princes who rule together over their own kingdom somewhere here in Faerie. No, hmm, Zolrya and Talos had Misingno, Cryptomis, Gordium, and mmm… Oh! Suzie!”

Indy was curious about the ins and outs of fae family drama, but he was having trouble looking away from the severed head. He felt Mr. Heiss’s hand gently squeeze his shoulder as he stared down into Misingno’s lifeless gaze, but it did little to comfort him.

“Call me. Now.” Mr. Heiss ended the call and gave Indy his full attention. “We can go back if you’d like. You don’t have to be here.”

“No, it’s okay.” Indy reached for Mr. Heiss’s hand. “It’s not my first dead body, but maybe my first one that’s been chopped up into pieces? That’s new. It’s…”

“What?”

“We just saw him. And he was fine. And now he’s dead.” Indy frowned. “It can really be taken from you. At any second. No matter who or what you are. Life, I mean.”

“All the more reason to live it fully, yes?” Mr. Heiss offered a small smile and kissed Indy’s hand. “I do believe that is what someone told me today.”

“Yeah…”

Misingno’s eyes were nothing but vacant pools of black now, and the swirling, blinking colors were all gone—wait, blinking?

Why the hell was Misingno blinking?

Severed heads should be gross, dead, and definitely not blinking.

A rainbow of color returned to Misingno’s eyes, and he grinned. “Oh! Hola. What’s up, every—”

Indy shrieked and kicked Misingno’s head as hard as he could.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

“Not cool!” Misingno wailed as his head flew across the porch, bounced, and rolled into the house.

“Indy!” Mr. Heiss hissed.

“Did you—” Gammy squealed and waved her hands. “Oh! That, that was probably bad!”

“I’m sorry!” Indy growled between clenched teeth. “I wasn’t expecting the fucking head to talk! Okay?”

Mr. Heiss scrubbed his hands over his face.

Nyp looked faint.

Misingno’s torso wiggled and flopped, his legs scootching close enough to reattach themselves. His arms were next, and then his headless body was able to push itself up and stand. It wobbled, turned this way and that, and it seemed confused.

“Over here, handsome,” Misingno called out—well, his head anyway. “Little baby steps forward. There we go.”

The body lumbered over and then kneeled to pick up Misingno’s head and put it back on his neck. “Oof, youchers. That wasn’t fun.” He turned around to face them, narrowing his eyes. “Did one of you do this? Because that was not nice.”

“What? No!” Nyp squealed. “Never, never!”

“Don’t lie. I hate when people lie.” Misingno rubbed his neck. “You can’t say never because it still could happen. You might kill me later.”

Nyp choked on air. “What?”

Mr. Heiss bowed his head. “Your Highness, I—”

“Ew, nope. None of that.” Misingno placed a finger over his lips and winked. “It’s a secret.”

“As you wish.” Mr. Heiss cleared his throat. “Do you know who tried to kill you?”