Page 19 of Demons Dig Donuts

“I should be fine, but I really shouldn’t expend more of my powers.” Gammy tested the line of salt with her foot, and she flickered like a scene skipping on a DVD. “Oof. Ow.” She did it again with the same result. “Ow.”

“Gammy, quit it.” Indy sighed haggardly. “Just give me a second, okay?”

“What are you going to do?”

“You really think this is my first time being tied up?” Indy grinned. “Oh, please. Watch and learn.”

Personal enchantments for pleasure were fairly common. There was everything from being prepped and lubed instantly to the spell equivalent of a little blue pill, and there were even some to make certain parts of the anatomy vibrate. Indy had dabbled in all of them for both work and his personal life, but it was the one for hypermobility he was very thankful for at the moment.

He effortlessly dislocated his thumbs to slip out of the ropes, mittens and all. It burned like hell even with the enchantment to ease the way, but he ignored the pain to focus on tearing the mittens off with his teeth. He popped his thumbs back into place and then got to work untying the rest of the ropes.

“Ow?” Gammy cringed. “Didn’t that hurt?”

“It’s fine.” As soon as Indy was free and up on his feet, he kicked the salt to break the circle. He stretched, cracked his neck, and then patted down his pockets. No phone, of course. He’d left it back home. He had a stick of gum, a blob of lint, and two pennies.

Not great.

“Oh!” Gammy clapped. “The gum! All that! Put those inside the circle of salt for me. Yes, yes, and fix the circle!”

“Okay?” Indy chuckled but did as she asked. “Whatcha cooking up?”

“Something to help get us and our little friend out of here.” Gammy kneeled and drew a complex-looking symbol on the floor. There was a faint hint of light but then nothing else. She scooted over and drew another. “I’ll need you to power it.”

“And how do I do that?”

“When I tell you to, you stomp down here. You may feel a small pinch—”

“A pinch?”

“It’s the spell taking a teeny bit of your life force—”

“Gammy!”

“You’ll get it back!”

The door opened, and Floppy Ears walked in. He stopped short when he saw Indy was free, grimacing in annoyance. “Really?”

“Yeah, really!” Indy flexed his fingers, trying to gauge what kind of monster he was dealing with. Definitely magical, but some sort of earthly beast judging by the purple.

Many animalistic monsters were Terrestrial, as in originating from Earth. They were arguably the most diverse group and therefore had the most variety of banes, repellants, and weaknesses. Indy would need to choose his weapon carefully, something with a broad range of effect to increase the chances of affecting this particular one.

Or just pick up the chair and beat him with it.

That could work too.

“You need to sit back down,” Floppy Ears commanded. “We are working out how to remove the Artifact and—”

“Oh, you mean this?” Indy wiggled the ring. “This Artifact right here? Yeah, well. I can tell you that one, it will not come off. Two, I think it’s broken because Dill might be a chicken.”

Floppy Ears blinked. “Dill…?”

“Yeah. That’s what I named him. What’s yours?” Indy smirked. “Flopsy? Mopsy? Or Cottontail?”

“Aw!” Gammy cooed. “Because of his bunny ears! They are precious.”

“Absolutely precious,” Indy cooed back in agreement. “Oh! Is it Peter?”

Floppy Ears glared. “I am the one who decides how many pieces you’ll be leaving in. It is our job to purge this city of its corrupt leadership, and you will not stop us! The—”