Page 24 of His Human Believer

“Then which is it?”

“I have told you what the record claims. I have told you what I believe.” I look around the foyer. “I believe there is no actual Skyggjar, but there is a legend that causes harm and needs to be ended. But there are also claims, that right now, while the alignment is happening, that there is an actual Skyggjar in your midst. You are entitled to hear both sides of the argument because it is your offspring and not mine.”

Skoll crosses his massive arms. “So that is why you took that ridiculous vow? In order to put an end to this legend?”

And there it is.

“Twelve months of celibacy,” Idun says, with something close to awe.

“He swore it in front of the entire council,” Bergelmir confirms. “Bane told me. It is in the permanent record.”

“Twelve months.” Skoll shakes his head slowly. “I could not do one month.”

Aegir sips his drink. “You could simply be incorrect about the creature and have given up pleasure mating for an entire year for no reason at all, Coalstone.”

They all start smoke-laughing, thinking this is enormously funny.

Hannibal does not join in the laughter; he is looking at Margaret.

Because Margaret Reyes is sitting nearby and the scent of her arousal for me wafts through the air.

Bergelmir does not change his expression at all. “This will be a very long ten months,” he remarks.

Smoke escapes my nostrils. I cannot prevent it. “My recommendation is this…” I say, getting us back on subject. “Do not cancel your human holiday, but do not hold it on the alignment. Move it one diurnal in either direction. This way, you will be covered either way. If I am wrong, and the legend is real and there is a Skyggjar, your offspring are safe. And if I am right, again, your offspring are safe.”

“No,” Riley Touchstone says.

“Ms. Touchstone⁠—”

“The entire point is to have Halloween on the alignment, Dr. Coalstone. It happens once in a generation. Everybody on this planet is going to be outside that night anyway, looking up, eating, standing around in the dark with their families. That’s already happening with or without our holiday.” She spreads her hands. “So I put Halloween on top of it. Costumes, candy, carved gourds, kids going door to door in the dark. On the one night the entire planet is already outdoors.”

“I understand the appeal⁠—”

“Move it one diurnal and it’s a party in a gated community. On the alignment it’s the first public human Halloween on Tarvos and other beings can feel like they are part of the fun.” She shrugs. “You’re asking me to remove the only reason it works.”

“And nothing has happened,” Aegir says. “That is the part I keep returning to. Nobody has been harmed. Six offspring have seen gold eyes looking out of a jungle, that’s it.”

“Seven,” Hannibal says quietly.

“Seven. And it walked up to Dagr, made a sound and then ran away.” Aegir looks at me. “That is not a predator, Coalstone. Whatever else it is.”

“Nor do we know what it is,” Chloe Touchstone adds. “It could be a being in a costume.”

Several heads turn.

“I’m serious. There’s a human holiday in nine diurnals that is entirely about dressing up as frightening things and jumping out at beings in the dark, and this planet has been hearing about it for a month.” She lifts a shoulder. “It could be somebody having a joke at our expense. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing anybody’s ever done.”

“What do you think, Margaret?” Avery questions. “Do you think we need to cancel Halloween because it’s during alignment? Do you think the Skyggjar is real?”

Margaret straightens. She looks around the foyer. “I’m not part of Dr. Coalstone’s investigation. I’m not his colleague, I’m not on his record, and nothing I say in this room goes into his findings or onto my show. Ever. I’m a houseguest with an opinion and you should weigh it exactly that much.”

“Noted,” Bergelmir says.

“Okay.” She sits forward. “I do think that the statements from the children are important. I think we aren’t giving them the level of importance they should be allowed because they come from children. But I think that their combined stories of golden eyes and Dagr’s recent sighting, are very important. He gave a physical detail that isn’t in any of the other five accounts. I’m not telling you what’s in that preserve. But I do believe that something is going on. This isn’t nothing.”

The foyer is very quiet.

And I am —