Wayne stared at the bushes in front of him, wondering where it had all gone so wrong. He hadn’t meant any of it; the Bombe Alaska wasn’t supposed to be an actual bomb, the Tiny Raspberry Fools should not have been able to shout political slogans, and GingerDead Men? Well, he doubted Mrs. Wilson would ever forgive him— even if he had created the cookie to honor her late husband.

Wayne started at The Horrific Little Bakery as a dishwasher, working his way up to become the best shock-pastry chef in New York. But these young kids with their fancy tools and terrifying chemicals that somehow made it past the FDA were quickly eclipsing his old-fashioned methodology.  When that compounded with the pandemic lockdowns, Wayne nearly went out of business until he discovered a new direction.

His ingredients were fine, and his technique was perfect, so it had to be the leadership of his new staff that was the issue. It wasn’t that his new staff didn’t want to come in and work, he rather suspected they never left his bakery. But they were prone to not follow the commands of their evocation. The tricks his treats performed were to be based on human methods, not supernatural.

He’d never had strong management skills, which brought him to the book sitting in his lap. He opened it to page one, chapter one. “Why is Demon Training Important?”

Wayne sighed. He had so very much to learn.