The Host (The Host 1)

Three times that week, always during the sleeping hours, someone came to check on us.

The first time it was Kyle.

Jared's sudden lunge to his feet woke me. "Get out of here," he warned, holding the gun ready.

"Just checking," Kyle said. His voice was far away but loud and rough enough that I was sure it was not his brother. "Someday you might not be here. Someday you might sleep too soundly. "

Jared's only answer was to cock the gun.

I heard Kyle's laughter trailing behind him as he left.

The other two times I didn't know who it was. Kyle again, or maybe Ian, or maybe someone whose name I hadn't learned. All I knew was that twice more I was woken by Jared jumping to his feet with the gun pointed at the intruder. No more words were spoken. Whoever was just checking didn't bother to make conversation. When they were gone, Jared went back to sleep quickly. It took me longer to quiet my heart.

The fourth time was something new.

I was not quite asleep when Jared started awake, rolling to his knees in a swift movement. He came up with the gun in his hands and a curse on his lips.

"Easy," a voice murmured from the distance. "I come in peace. "

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying," Jared growled.

"I just want to talk. " The voice came closer. "You're buried down here, missing the important discussions. . . We miss your take on things. "

"I'm sure," Jared said sarcastically.

"Oh, put the gun down. If I was planning to fight you, I would have come with four guys this time. "

There was a short silence, and when Jared spoke again, his voice carried a hint of dark humor. "How's your brother these days?" he asked. Jared seemed to enjoy the question. It relaxed him to tease his visitor. He sat down and slouched against the wall halfway in front of my prison, at ease, but with the gun still ready.

My neck ached, seeming to comprehend that the hands that had crushed and bruised it were very close by.

"He's still fuming about his nose," Ian said. "Oh, well-it's not the first time it's been broken. I'll tell him you said you were sorry. "

"I'm not. "

"I know. No one is ever sorry for hitting Kyle. "

They laughed quietly together; there was a sense of camaraderie in their amusement that seemed wildly out of place while Jared held a gun loosely pointed in Ian's direction. But then, the bonds that were forged in this desperate place must have been very strong. Thicker than blood.

Ian sat down on the mat next to Jared. I could see his profile in silhouette, a black shape against the blue light. I noticed that his nose was perfect-straight, aquiline, the kind of nose that I'd seen in pictures of famous sculptures. Did that mean that others found him more bearable than the brother whose nose was often broken? Or that he was better at ducking?

"So what do you want, Ian? Not just an apology for Kyle, I imagine. "

"Did Jeb tell you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. "

"They've given up the search. Even the Seekers. "

Jared didn't comment, but I could feel the sudden tension in the air around him.

"We've been keeping a close watch for some change, but they never seemed overly anxious. The search never strayed from the area where we abandoned the car, and for the past few days they were clearly looking for a body rather than a survivor. Then two nights ago we caught a lucky break-the search party left some trash in the open, and a pack of coyotes raided their base camp. One of them was coming back late and surprised the animals. The coyotes attacked and dragged the Seeker a good hundred yards into the desert before the rest of them heard its screams and came to the rescue. The other Seekers were armed, of course. They scared the coyotes off easily, and the victim wasn't seriously hurt, but the event seems to have answered any questions they might have had about what happened to our guest here. "

I wondered how they were able to spy on the Seekers who searched for me-to see so much. I felt strangely exposed by the idea. I didn't like the picture in my head: the humans invisible, watching the souls they hated. The thought made the skin on the back of my neck prickle.

"So they packed up and left. The Seekers gave up the search. All the volunteers went home. No one is looking for it. " His profile turned toward me, and I hunched down, hoping it was too dark to see me in here-that, like his face, I would appear as only a black shape. "I imagine it's been declared officially dead, if they keep track of those things the way we used to. Jeb's been saying ??I told you so' to anyone who'll stand still long enough to hear it. "

Jared grumbled something incoherent; I could only pick out Jeb's name. Then he inhaled a sharp breath, blew it out, and said, "All right, then. I guess that's the end of it. "

"That's what it looks like. " Ian hesitated for a moment and then added, "Except. . . Well, it's probably nothing at all. "

Jared tensed again; he didn't like having his intelligence edited. "Go on. "

"No one but Kyle thinks much of it, and you k

now how Kyle is. "

Jared grunted his assent to that.

"You've got the best instincts for this kind of thing; I wanted your opinion. That's why I'm here, taking my life into my hands to infiltrate the restricted area," Ian said dryly, and then his voice was utterly serious again. "You see, there's this one. . . a Seeker, no doubt about that-it packs a Glock. "

It took me a second to understand the word he used. It wasn't a familiar part of Melanie's vocabulary. When I understood that he was talking about a kind of gun, the wistful, envious tone in his voice made me feel slightly ill.

"Kyle was the first to notice how this one stood out. It didn't seem important to the rest-certainly not part of the decision-making process. Oh, it had suggestions enough, from what we could see, but no one seemed to listen to it. Wish we could've heard what it was saying. . . "

My skin prickled anxiously again.

"Anyway," Ian continued, "when they called off the search, this one wasn't happy with the decision. You know how the parasites are always so. . . very pleasant? This was weird-it's the closest I've ever seen them come to an argument. Not a real argument, because none of the others argued back, but the unhappy one sure looked like it was arguing with them. The core group of Seekers disregarded it-they're all gone. "

"But the unhappy one?" Jared asked.

"It got in a car and drove halfway to Phoenix. Then it drove back to Tucson. Then it drove west again. "

"Still searching. "

"Or very confused. It stopped at that convenience store by the peak. Talked to the parasite that worked there, though that one had already been questioned. "

"Huh," Jared grunted. He was interested now, concentrating on the puzzle.

"Then it went for a hike up the peak-stupid little thing. Had to be burning alive, wearing black from head to toe. "

A spasm rocked through my body; I found myself off the floor, cringing against the back wall of my cell. My hands flew up instinctively to protect my face. I heard a hiss echo through the small space, and only after it faded did I realize it was mine.

"What was that?" Ian asked, his voice shocked.

I peeked through my fingers to see both of their faces leaning through the hole toward me. Ian's was black, but part of Jared's was lit, his features hard as stone.

I wanted to be still, invisible, but tremors I couldn't control were shaking violently down my spine.

Jared leaned away and came back with the lamp in his hands.

"Look at its eyes," Ian muttered. "It's frightened. "

I could see both their expressions now, but I looked only at Jared. His gaze was tightly focused on me, calculating. I guessed he was thinking through what Ian had said, looking for the trigger to my behavior.

My body wouldn't stop shaking.

She'll never give up, Melanie moaned.

I know, I know, I moaned back.

When had our distaste turned to fear? My stomach knotted and heaved. Why couldn't she just let me be dead like the rest of them had? When I was dead, would she hunt me still?

"Who is the Seeker in black?" Jared suddenly barked at me.

My lips trembled, but I didn't answer. Silence was safest.

"I know you can talk," Jared growled. "You talk to Jeb and Jamie. And now you're going to talk to me. "

He climbed into the mouth of the cave, huffing with surprise at how tightly he had to fold himself to manage it. The low ceiling forced him to kneel, and that didn't make him happy. I could see he'd rather stand over me.

I had nowhere to run. I was already wedged into the deepest corner. The cave barely had room for the two of us. I could feel his breath on my skin.

"Tell me what you know," he ordered.