Page 5 of Demons Dig Donuts

“What’s wrong?”

“Some asshole stuck a ring on me and I can’t get it off. I’m pretty sure it’s fucking cursed. So. Yay.” Indy flopped on the couch beside her, offering out his hand for her inspection.

As it turned out, Gammy was personally responsible for her things popping back up at the house. She’d needed something to bind her soul to the mortal plane, and instead of choosing one item, she had chosen them all. Once she’d seen that Indy was taking them, however, she’d decided she could use a change of scenery and chosen to stay with him instead.

Waking up one morning to find her trying to cook breakfast had resulted in screaming, a small fire, some tears, and then very awkward hugs since Gammy was still getting the hang of interacting with the mortal world.

Making her hands solid to grab ingredients or open a cabinet was one thing, but hugs usually resulted in part of Indy’s body going through Gammy’s because fully materializing was difficult.

“Oh! Hmm.” Gammy took Indy’s hand, turning it this way and that as she poked at the ring. “It’s quite old. Very powerful magic here.” She squinted. “How interesting.”

“You mean how cursed it is?”

“Did you even look at it, sweetie cakes? It’s a memento mori piece, I believe.”

“A mo-what now?”

“Memento mori. Remember that you must die. Jewelry with a fun flair for the macabre, including mourning jewelry. Victorians were fun like that, you see.”

“The stuff with, like, hair and whatever in it? From some dead person?”

“Yes, that.”

Indy stared down at the ring.

It was a little picture of a path winding through a forest with some kind of lidded pot at the end of it. The path was made up of tiny white fragments, maybe bone. The forest was strands of carefully arranged reddish hair. The lidded pot was something black and dull, like an unpolished stone.

Considering the other morbid bits, Indy really didn’t think it was a stone.

“Creepy. So, extra cursed.” Indy grimaced. “Can you get it off?”

“No.” Gammy frowned deeply. “There is something inside the ring that is not letting me. It doesn’t seem to be causing you any direct harm—”

“It’s ugly. Does that count?”

“Aw, I think it’s pretty.”

“Then you take it.”

“I’ll need some time to work out a spell to separate it from you. Safely.” She patted Indy’s arm.

Her touch was always cool but soft, though it did little to comfort him right now.

“You’re sure it’s not going to, like, make my skin fall off or something?” Indy chewed at the side of the ring.

“No. The energy feels, mmm, protective.” Gammy shrugged. “After all, it didn’t set off any of your jewelry, did it?” She tapped Indy’s earring. “The protection spell on those babies is one of my own. Whatever is in that ring shouldn’t be malicious.”

“Shouldn’t be?”

“Yes!”

“Should? As in, there is still a chance?”

“Shush, sweetie cakes.”

Indy flopped across the couch. “Come on!” he wailed. “This is such bullshit. It could be sucking out my soul or something right now for all we know!”

“Don’t be silly. It doesn’t smell right for that.” Gammy waved her hand. “Now! Pause the tape. I need to see who wins this lip sync.” She melted into the couch and then disappeared.