Page 50 of His Human Believer

“You certainly do.”

“Mama said I have to not get it dirty until⁠—”

“Mitry,” Avery cuts in.

Mitry claps both claws over her own mouth.

“Until what?”

“Nothing.” Avery smiles.

Hannibal comes in from the vehicle bay wearing a formal sash across his red chest and nice black pants and his most ornate silver belt buckle. He is enormous and looks like a male who would very much prefer to be wearing his uniform.

“Hannibal.”

“Margaret.”

“Why are you wearing a sash?”

“I have been instructed not to answer.”

“Instructed by whom?”

“I have also been instructed not to answer that.”

He crosses to the dispenser with the dignity of a male who has been given orders and intends to follow them exactly. Avery quietly hands him Sela, who is also dressed in a charming outfit and a bow in a band around her head.

And Dagr is at the table eating. His hair is wet from the cleansing unit and there is no chalk left on his face anywhere. He is eating an enormous quantity of something with his elbows on the table.

Mitry says something I don’t catch.

And Dagr laughs.

It’s the first time I’ve heard it since the gourd yard. I have to turn around and look at a cabinet for a second.

Skylo is under the table with all three heads on Dagr’s feet. He came home from the med lab this morning, there’s a shaved patch above his shoulder the size of a dinner plate with a seal over it, and he’s moving stiff. But he greets me with three puffs of smoke from all three heads.

“Has anybody heard from Vidar?” I ask.

Everyone in the kitchen answers at once.

“Nope,” says Avery. “Haven’t seen him since before the alignment.”

“He is well though,” Hannibal responds.

“No idea where Coalstone is,” says Dagr, to his plate.

I look at all three of them. “What the heck is going on with all of you?”

“Get in the car,” Avery orders.

On the drive over to parts unknown, my best friend hands me a small black box.

I raise an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

“Do not open it. Put it in your pocket.”

I sigh and do as ordered.